Dell Dimension 4100 make a good PVR?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I have a Dell Dimension 4100 with following specs:

800 mhz Pentium 3

512 megs ram

40 gig hard drive

Windows XP Pro

21" monitor

CD drive only


What Im wondering is if I could make a good PVR (Tivo clone) outta
this thing? Does it have enough horsepower and resources??

Initially Id just like to ut a DVD drive in this thing and be able to
hook it up to a standard 32" analog TV and play DVD movies with it.
Can that be done cheaply to start with?

Then....Id like to put a TV card and PVR video card in it to record TV
programs to the hard drive....and watch them later on the 32" analog
TV

Advice? Can I do this at reasonable cost with above hardware?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

me6@privacy.net wrote:
> I have a Dell Dimension 4100 with following specs:
>
> 800 mhz Pentium 3
>
> 512 megs ram
>
> 40 gig hard drive
>
> Windows XP Pro
>
> 21" monitor
>
> CD drive only
>
>
> What Im wondering is if I could make a good PVR (Tivo clone) outta
> this thing? Does it have enough horsepower and resources??
>
> Initially Id just like to ut a DVD drive in this thing and be able to
> hook it up to a standard 32" analog TV and play DVD movies with it.
> Can that be done cheaply to start with?
>
> Then....Id like to put a TV card and PVR video card in it to record TV
> programs to the hard drive....and watch them later on the 32" analog
> TV
>
> Advice? Can I do this at reasonable cost with above hardware?


This equipment should work. We had experimented with something
similar about 4 years ago. This time around, I'd opt for a much
faster processor, perhaps a HT P4 300 MHz running under WinXP.
And also the fastest AGP video card and at least 1 GB of RAM if
not 2 GB. And if video editing is going to be involved along with
storage, then the largest and fastest HD's that can be installed.

 

[hh]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I would think you would need a much faster processor to do any "real time"
recording.
HH

<me6@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:0v2q80djpe31meoc40jqst2g1hedqul116@4ax.com...
> I have a Dell Dimension 4100 with following specs:
>
> 800 mhz Pentium 3
>
> 512 megs ram
>
> 40 gig hard drive
>
> Windows XP Pro
>
> 21" monitor
>
> CD drive only
>
>
> What Im wondering is if I could make a good PVR (Tivo clone) outta
> this thing? Does it have enough horsepower and resources??
>
> Initially Id just like to ut a DVD drive in this thing and be able to
> hook it up to a standard 32" analog TV and play DVD movies with it.
> Can that be done cheaply to start with?
>
> Then....Id like to put a TV card and PVR video card in it to record TV
> programs to the hard drive....and watch them later on the 32" analog
> TV
>
> Advice? Can I do this at reasonable cost with above hardware?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

>This equipment should work. We had experimented with something
>similar about 4 years ago. This time around, I'd opt for a much
>faster processor, perhaps a HT P4 300 MHz running under WinXP.
>And also the fastest AGP video card and at least 1 GB of RAM if
>not 2 GB. And if video editing is going to be involved along with
>storage, then the largest and fastest HD's that can be installed.

Yeah.... Im actually wondering if it wouldnt be just as wise to go
ahead and buy a true "media PC" with all the necessary hardware in it.
Rather than piece mealing a systmem together. However... it would
only cost me a max of abt $180 to use my current 4100 system.

Actually it might cost me as little as $50 to make it into a PVR if I
buy the hardware from NewEgg.

They have a LeadTek card pretty cheap right now

see link

 

[hh]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Realtime capture requires a much faster processor than a PIII 800. You
likely could capture to your hard drive, if it is fast enough, then burn
from there.
HH

<me6@privacy.net> wrote in message
newsqts801djf4pt9o3l9obbgavevqnncll2m@4ax.com...
> >This equipment should work. We had experimented with something
> >similar about 4 years ago. This time around, I'd opt for a much
> >faster processor, perhaps a HT P4 300 MHz running under WinXP.
> >And also the fastest AGP video card and at least 1 GB of RAM if
> >not 2 GB. And if video editing is going to be involved along with
> >storage, then the largest and fastest HD's that can be installed.
>
> Yeah.... Im actually wondering if it wouldnt be just as wise to go
> ahead and buy a true "media PC" with all the necessary hardware in it.
> Rather than piece mealing a systmem together. However... it would
> only cost me a max of abt $180 to use my current 4100 system.
>
> Actually it might cost me as little as $50 to make it into a PVR if I
> buy the hardware from NewEgg.
>
> They have a LeadTek card pretty cheap right now
>
> see link
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

>Realtime capture requires a much faster processor than a PIII 800. You
>likely could capture to your hard drive, if it is fast enough, then burn
>from there.

Im not looking to burn DVD or do video editing

Instead Im looking for a PVR.....something that acts like a VCR but
uses a hard drive instead