gtrdude485 Posted March 12, 2008 Posted March 12, 2008 I am looking into upgrading to a c2d rig and was wondering how my current setup would fair as a HTPC. I will be using my xbox 360 to do most of my gaming so I basically want this to do basic stuff: be able to record HDTV (act like TIVO), watch movies, and to house my music/picture collection. I will probably end up networking the PC for access anywhere in the house for music, movies etc. I would also like to have an interface like Windows Media Center that I can use a remote to move the cursor but don't want to put a whole new OS on it. I think thats about all the functionality i need... Maybe to be able to upgrade to a HDDVD drive later on. Is something like this possible? Thanks for the input Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
red930 Posted March 12, 2008 Posted March 12, 2008 It should work fine for 95% of anything you'll need it to do. If you decide to encode movies it'll take longer of course, and you may have trouble watching full 1080p movies, but I suspect it'll perform admirably. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtrdude485 Posted March 13, 2008 Posted March 13, 2008 any suggestions as far the gui and possibly a remote goes? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_bowtie Posted March 13, 2008 Posted March 13, 2008 I am going to say that the only limiting factor would be the 3200 cpu....as Technodan said it may have issues doing 1080 movies but thats all in the cpu for that rig...I had a 3600 dual core and a 6600gt and it did 1080 just fine...it only lagged when starting Anit-Virus during a movie but setting it to scan manually solved that... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
red930 Posted March 13, 2008 Posted March 13, 2008 any suggestions as far the gui and possibly a remote goes? I still haven't found a gui that works consistently and efficiently. MCE or whatever comes with Vista is probably your best bet at the moment. The Yahoo! one sucks, as do a handful of others I've tried but can't seem to recall their names at the moment... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtrdude485 Posted March 13, 2008 Posted March 13, 2008 shoot. I'll check out some others. I would rather not go to vista. Don't really want to pay for a new OS. And doesn't it need 2 gigs of ram? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
red930 Posted March 13, 2008 Posted March 13, 2008 shoot. I'll check out some others. I would rather not go to vista. Don't really want to pay for a new OS. And doesn't it need 2 gigs of ram? To run effectively? Yeah. But I meant MCE XP is a good choice, or whatever the Vista version is. SO if you've got MCE already I'd stick with it unless you don't like it. Do a search for an open source one, I don't remember the name off the top of my head but I really wanted to try it out. Unfortunately it didn't work on XP x64 so I couldn't use it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtrdude485 Posted March 17, 2008 Posted March 17, 2008 ok nice. I'll check it out Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joalaielna Posted March 18, 2008 Posted March 18, 2008 If you plan on using ClearQam For your HD, understand that MCE XP Can't do this. But supposedly Vista MC Can. If your using OTA you should be ok with XP MCE. I use XP MCE for all my needs...I LOVE IT. Have it networked with my other computer that is just storage for 1tb of TV. As far as I can tell there is no better remote than the windows one. It just layed out perfect. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtrdude485 Posted March 22, 2008 Posted March 22, 2008 how does clearcam fair against OTA? I'm assuming that's recording/decoding software as I am new to the HTPC area. how much space does, say a 1hr show in HD take? for my card i was thinking about getting one of the new dual input hauppage cards. not exactly sure how expensive 2 boxes is a month for HD though so maybe not but I hear the hauppage cards are the best... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joalaielna Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 Um...Not sure on size...You can set it to store in many different sizes/compression. But prolly about 4 gigs per hour. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HITandRUN Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 I would say stick to windows! Buy a 3800+ X2 for little more cpu power and as for the remote I would get something from Soundgraph! Their stuff is awesome and comes with software where you can manage and view you movie/picture/music collection as well as many more things like online radio etc. I use this one and I'm very happy with it! It does all the stuff I need it to do! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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