MadTripper.com

I recently pieced together a home theatre pc. I thought XP Media Center was a cut down version of XP Home but after using it, I found it to be very interesting to say the least.

I was able to gather some components that I had around and the only purchase was for a PVR card. This takes your tv input and enables you to record live tv among other things. I have antenna reception and it still works great. Media Center uses the wireless card in the computer to receive station listings from the internet. It updates every few days and keeps two weeks of listings in the guide. You can record per instance or set it to record a series.

Additionally, you can watch DVD's, access music collections, and browse internet tv. I am in the process of backing up our DVD collection to another computer. This works out great because we don't have to load DVD's to watch our favorite movies. Our children have a habit of treating our DVDs like a set of legos so once our movies our backed up, we won't have to worry about scratches and missing discs.

The cost would be about $700.00 if you wanted to build your own. Media Center Edition runs about $109.00 currently and the PVR cards range from $50.00 to $300.00 dollars. Eventually I will add another card which will enable us to watch one show while recording another or record two shows simultaneously.

My current setup is more or less a beta test for what will go into the new house. I'm trying to lay it out so we can have one media server with all of our movies and music on it and access stations in the appropriate locations. IE kitchen, bedrooms, living room, garage...

Shoot me a note if you have questions on setup, design or configuration.

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