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ShadowTD · 18-05-2009, 11:10

This has been a long standing idea that I've finally got in gear over. I very rarely watch subscription channels but really like BBC HD. I decided to build a Windows 7 TV Server and watch it through my Xbox. Popped out yesterday and lashed £250 on:

Pentium D E5200 (basically a c2duo with slightly less cache)
Gigabyte GeForce 7100/630 MicroATX motherboard
XFX GeForce 9600GT
2GB Kingston RAM
Qube case

I'm using an old Sony DVD-RW and 80gb PATA HDD I had lying around for the time being. Tuners are a Hauppauge WinTV DVB Stick and a Nova HD-S2. I'll be adding another DVB Stick at some point.

Thoughts:

God these 775 coolers are horrible to install. There's a nasty bow in the board that looks horrible, but I swear I'm doing it right!
Damn. No 6-pin power connector for the graphics card. Running with on board for the time being which is fine apart from HD content.
I did want a board with a 9300 but there were non in. I was persuaded by the seller that the motherboard would work with GeForce Boost/Hybrid SLA and the 9600 would run through the on-board HDMI connector. I can't try this yet, but there's no mention in the MB manual and I think he might have been wrong.
The system's a lot quieter than I thought it would be.
My word the GUI for Media Center on Win7 is sexy.
I need to sit here and manually 'merge' the DVB-S and DVB-T channels using the 10-foot interface for MCE. This will Take Some Time.
Not sure if the PATA hard drive is a bottleneck. MCE seems to become rather unresponsive when things are recording.

OK, there's no premium content, but the usability is excellent and oh the shinyness!

I'll post up again as I progress, or if anyone has any questions.

18-05-2009, 11:10	#1
ShadowTD Inactive Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Loughborough (Langley) Services: 200Mb & SH2ac Posts: 823	Media Center V+ replacement This has been a long standing idea that I've finally got in gear over. I very rarely watch subscription channels but really like BBC HD. I decided to build a Windows 7 TV Server and watch it through my Xbox. Popped out yesterday and lashed £250 on: Pentium D E5200 (basically a c2duo with slightly less cache) Gigabyte GeForce 7100/630 MicroATX motherboard XFX GeForce 9600GT 2GB Kingston RAM Qube case I'm using an old Sony DVD-RW and 80gb PATA HDD I had lying around for the time being. Tuners are a Hauppauge WinTV DVB Stick and a Nova HD-S2. I'll be adding another DVB Stick at some point. Thoughts: God these 775 coolers are horrible to install. There's a nasty bow in the board that looks horrible, but I swear I'm doing it right! Damn. No 6-pin power connector for the graphics card. Running with on board for the time being which is fine apart from HD content. I did want a board with a 9300 but there were non in. I was persuaded by the seller that the motherboard would work with GeForce Boost/Hybrid SLA and the 9600 would run through the on-board HDMI connector. I can't try this yet, but there's no mention in the MB manual and I think he might have been wrong. The system's a lot quieter than I thought it would be. My word the GUI for Media Center on Win7 is sexy. I need to sit here and manually 'merge' the DVB-S and DVB-T channels using the 10-foot interface for MCE. This will Take Some Time. Not sure if the PATA hard drive is a bottleneck. MCE seems to become rather unresponsive when things are recording. OK, there's no premium content, but the usability is excellent and oh the shinyness! I'll post up again as I progress, or if anyone has any questions.