Media Centres?

[Blank2k3]

These things have snuck up on me, so i havent a clue about them.

i know people are building/buying them for like £1000 etc.

but.. why?

whats the differance between a media centre & a PC with a TV Card?
do u use them to replace your set-top box? (for Sky/Cable)..
do u get free TV via them or something?
whats the cheapest u can build 1 for?


just a few questions, as currently im absolutely clueless as to why ppl pay £1000+ for a media centre PC when standard cable TV does the same thing.

 

[gambit6259]

A media center can be used to do a variety things but the main reason people build or buy them is to record TV and have TiVo like functions. The biggest difference from a just a PC with a tuner is the Windows XP Media Center edition interface. It provides a pretty slick interface to watch and record TV, play digital music, and look at digital photgraphs.

 

[linux_0]

They do awesome things :-D

Like all this:

http://mythtv.org/modules.php?name=MythFeatures

You can build one for as low as $350 - $400 USD or 188 - 215GBP.

Granted you can make a MUCH nicer one for 1000GBP but that's kinda overkill.

You can build a really decent one for about 500 - 600GBP


You can use something like this config here:

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=3213166

http://spare2.com/budget.html

and throw in one or more recycled $15 ( about 9 GBP ) TV Tuner card ( s ) from Hauppauge or for a bit more retail ( about 20 - 30 GBP ).

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_goplus.html

You can get the nicer cards with hardware mpeg for about 80GBP or so. Of course it varies on your actual needs.

You can use more than one card or a card with dual tuners to be able to record multiple shows at the same time, you can get as fancy as you want to get.