Media Center and 2 TV Tuners

[beric3236]

I have a silly question. I am getting ready to build a media center using Windows MCE and would like to use 2 tv tuners. The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-K8N51GMF-9, and has it's own video card on the motherboard. The processor means very little because I will probably use a AMD 4.2g dual core, with 1gig of memory. Does any one see any problems. Yes I've looked into the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR500MCE dual tuner, but with the reviews that it got at Newegg, I am very leeary of it. I have settled on 2 Hauppauge WinTV-PVR250MCE's but don't know enough about how to set them up to make me dangerous. In my mind, I know it should work, but I am not to sure how. If not I can go to just one tuner, but what a waste. Thanks for the help.

[mlofaso]

Officially MS supports 2 SD tuners out of the box. When you install MCE it justs asks you for your cable provider so it knows you're not using an antenna or cable-box and downloads the correct program guide. Really couldn't be simpler, so no worries.

BTW, it is possible to put 3 or more tuners in MCE by tricking it with a registry edit. I found the details at thegreenbutton.com and installed a 3rd tuner. For MCE thegreenbutton is one of your the best sites for getting info.

Just FYI, I ran MCE 2005 on an Athon 2000+, 512MB with 2 tuners for over a year and thought performance was excellent...recently upgraded to Socket A 2700+ when adding a 3rd tuner. Any processor you buy off the shelf today can handle MCE easily I would imagine 'till you start messing with HD. Maybe spend that extra money on an XBox 360 as an extender. I think it plays games too


Have fun, it's not hard to do at all.

Mark
http://www.TheHTPCRecord.com

[beric3236]

Thanks for the quick reply Mark, altho I do feel awfully silly after visiting the web site for Microsoft MCE and it also stated that I could put two tuners in the computer. I did not know about the extra tuner and will bookmark it. I will keep you posted as to what I do. Again Thanks.