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[benn600]

I just setup our kitchen with a HTPC and as soon as I had a good computer with DVI output, I knew S-Video wouldn't cut it going to the 13" CRT TV with VHS player, LOL.  So we took our Samsung 19" TV and placed it on the turntable.  It is much better, obviously, because it is larger, higher resolution, sharper, progressive, DVI, thinner, lighter, nicer looking, etc.

However, I don't have a solution for television now.  We always had TiVo and Xbox (for video content) hooked up to a very nice Radioshack video switching box.  It worked very well (we have three of them around for older S-Video equipment switching).  Anyway, we definitely need an easy way to view television on this computer screen/HTPC/TV.

My initial instinct is to assume I'll need a video capture card in the computer.  I actually have at least three different ones already but would like to ask some questions first.  How well does Media Center handle television?  Does it provide recording capabilities?  If I could, it would be neat to just take TiVo out and use Media Center.  I could put TiVo somewhere else.  Originally I was planning on putting TiVo through the HTPC and then (assuming) I would just select TV from the main menu and it would open up the capture card which would be set to S-Video input.  Then, TiVo would be in control and MC/HTPC would basically provide S-Video -> DVI conversion and the audio routing from TiVo to the HTPC's sound card for the 2.1 speaker system I have.

Jim was saying they are looking into more TV streaming and such so that would be amazing if I could add a capture card to my server and have it stream TV from its capture card over ethernet.  Then I wouldn't even need the television line there!  Ethernet is much more available around our house than the TV cable is.

[glynor]

I use an ATI 550 Pro based TV Tuner card (a Sapphire branded one, but they're all about the same), with it's S-Video input connected to my digital cable box (used to be my DirecTV box before I switched to cable).  It's pretty good.  I've never been real sure that I've gotten my deinterlacing settings quite right.  It works well for most things, but watching sports sometimes looks "jumpy".  Again though, I'm pretty sure this is due to my settings being wrong for my hardware setup, but I've never taken the time to fix it.

For hardware, Nvidia makes a well-regarded Dual Tuner card that gets good reviews, and of course there are all the Hauppage cards.  I'm NOT a big fan of the new ATI 650 based cards because they include a vaguely defined DRM component.  ATI won't say what that means, but I suspect it has to do with the Broadcast Flag and I don't play that game.

I don't personally use MC for TV on my HTPC, but only because I want the computer to act as my TiVO (and MC does not have an integrated Electronic Program Guide).  I use BeyondTV for this, and it works well.  I've also use SageTV, and actually liked it better than BeyondTV in a number of ways.  However, way back when I tried it SageTV had a bug with my tuner card that made me end up going with BTV instead.  Apparently that bug has now been quashed, but I haven't tried it again.

If all you want to do is use MC as a simple tuner and "input viewer" for the S-Video feed, then MC should work PERFECTLY well.  It actually has a lot of great features!  I just wish it had a EPG and could truly act as a TiVO all on it's own!

[benn600]

If all you want to do is use MC as a simple tuner and "input viewer" for the S-Video feed, then MC should work PERFECTLY well.

Thanks a lot for that...that's exactly what I needed to know.  For once, I'm not begging for more features!  At this point, I'm perfectly satisfied using my TiVo and MC together.  But actually, if we can pause TV, that may be enough.  We don't usually watch too much TV and we just have TiVo Basic service.

It seems like it would be easy for MC to utilize the free guides available.  Aren't MythTV and other tivo replacements able to receive free guide information?  Perhaps I will try the TV tuner first and see if it does what we need.  If it does, then we'll drop the TiVo.  It will make this viewing area much simpler and cleaner.  We have a little table that would be cleared off if we didn't need the TiVo.

I'm going to pull out one of my few capture cards and see if I can get something going, hopefully tonight.  Everyone is a bit upset that we went from TV + DVDs to only MC with no TV or DVD "player" -- all our DVDs are loaded on the server and AMAZINGLY accessible through theater view.  However, we still need TV.

[JimH]

You can connect your TiVo to the input of a TV card and use MC to display the TiVo.

[benn600]

I made some progress.  After seeing some Hauppauge cards on the Best Buy web site, I decided it was worth an extra $20 to get it right away because we are hurtin a bit without TV.  So I ran (drove) to Best Buy and what do you know, they don't have anything I was expecting to buy.  So I end up choosing a slightly more expensive but less appealing USB solution.  It works fine and I am pleased with it except for the fact that it does not have a digital tuner.  For less money, Best Buy sells an internal solution that has a digital tuner.  I don't know why I would buy an analog tuner now because of the switch over.

So I am investigating now possibly buying an internal solution online and returning this USB solution.  It does seem a bit slow at times and I'm wondering if that's because MC gets MPG2 video?  I know it's hardware encoded to MPG2 for transfer over USB.  Do internal solutions provide better fast forward speed and speed in general?  I don't like having the external box--the computer is big enough to house a PCI card.  Plus, I'll end up saving money with the internal solution while getting an upgrade.

I have removed TiVo from the area.  I personally don't watch much TV and no one else is ever really concerned with recording too much.  Besides, MC can still record on demand.

Our viewing area is SO much simpler now.

13" CRT w/VHS -> 19" Samsung LCD (very thin bezel--an older but amazing looking display)
No more TiVo
No more Xbox
No more ethernet switch (because needed 2 ports before)
No more cake pan to elevate TiVo so the DVD drawer can open (lol)
I wrapped the cables to the monitor in some tubing so it looks even nicer.

Plus, the monitor is still on its rotating stand and the cables tubing is tethered to the monitor so they follow nicely as it is turned with little resistance.

MC's TV functions are perfectly adequate for my uses.  My personal usage will lean heavily on the DVDs stored on the server and audio.  The only question now is if I should upgrade the intermediate switch to gigabit?  The computer and second switch are gigabit--there is just a middle switch that's not.