Computer for TV viewing..My thoughts..what do you think

[hardwork12]

EDIT in Bold

What I wanted was a way to play MP3's, CVD'S, SCVD's and definitely wanted a PVR. When I found that a DVD player just to do the non PVR stuff seemed to be in the $200 USD range for the quality I was happy with I started thinking about changing direction. To do this linux will be the best OS so I will just have to learn it. Here is my thoughts.

With a TV card with a remote and hardware real time mpeg encoding It seems that I can get acceptable video for my PVR and it will be remote controlled (saves me from buying a $150 VCR or a TIVO).

The CPU for this using linux can be anything over 400mhz that should be cheap and plenty of CPU capability for divX so this would make my main PC a place to author the divX and I can play them on both my PC and TV. Seems like a big advantage.


Can get a black desktop case so it coordinates with my Hometheater system.

Using the program TightVNC and a network hook-up to my main PC allows for complete control of the computer near the TV without having a monitor, keyboard or mouse by the TV. This program is FREE. This program allows complete maniipulation of a remote PC anywhere and uses passwork protection. The network connection also has the obvious advantage of transfer of files between my powerful main PC and the remote PC for TV viewing.

Downside would be that the best video out on the PC is S-video not component video. I could be wrong but this video should be good enough for divx playback as well as CVD etc. It will not be good enough for DVD so I will leave that to my inexpensive DVD player (non-progressive scan and not SVCD compatible but units like this can be had for $60 easy).

Cost estimate:

TV card with remote and hardware encode $150
DD5.1 capable sound card $ 40
hard Drive say 60 gig $ 70
Computer (AMD+Motherboard+memory) $150 (easy)
BLACK case $ 45
network card + cable $15
DVD Drive $40
Video card with s-video out $80

Total Project $590
(about the price of a PVR standalone and a new DVD player) and I already have a CPU 900Mhz, a geforce 2 GTS video and 256 meg of ram just sitting around doing nothing so that should lower the cost of the project to around $400 for me.

Main advantage is the system is easily upgraded to the newest codecs , formats etc and is easily repaired. All of the components used would carry 3 year warranty in general, also a plus. Should be able to be software modified easily as new things and hacks are needed.

Well anyway this is what I am thinking about. Did I miss something? AM I crazy (very possible ). Sure would be a fun project anyway.

What do you all think (please be kind )

[DivXExpert]

You know I was planing to do the same thing. Are you sure that no video cards support componant output? You might want to add at least a CD burner to that list. You gonna keep all those 700meg divx files on your HD? youll run out of space eventually. Don't forget 6 speakers for the soundcard.

[hardwork12]

Good point do I did not look to see if any video cards have component output. Will have to look. I would have to guess if they do they will cost mega bucks. But I will look.

My plan is to burn the movies and such that I want to keep on cd-r. It would be hard to find CD-r media that will not work in a PC based DVD player. Anything temporary like the PVR use is mostly what the hard drive was for. For temporary video that I need the fast main system for I could use CD-RW's or transfer over the network I have 100 baseT set up in my house.