Help with DVB-T and other issues with MCE 2005

[IanDizzyfish]

I am in the midst of building a media PC - at the point where I have speced the obvious stuff - hard drives, cases, DVD drives etc. - but now I am getting to the tricky bit - graphics cards, sound cards, TV cards.

My choice seems to be determined by two main things : 1) what I actually want to do (duh !) and 2) What software I am going to run to achieve this.

My main requirements are -

1) Ability to watch one live TV channel whilst recording another (different) live channel
2) Elctronic program listing (for UK DVB-T transmissions)- integrated with the recording side of things
3) Pausing live TV
4) Storing TV/camcorder footage to DVD (so DVD is aplyable on standard set top DVD player)
5) Storing CD's - MP3's and transferring them to USB devices (portable MP3 players)
6) Ability to do several of the above at once (eg. record camcorder footage to hard disk/DVD whilst watching TV)
7) Idiot proof (My wife/dad/son need to use it --- Sorry !)

I know that I need two tuners (I would prefer DVB-T) or a dual tuner card - but I do not know if Microsoft Media Centre 2005 edition will let me do the above (their website is OK for beginners - but I cannot find a tech spec).

Any help on MCE 2005 capability in these areas would be greatly appreciated (I do not want to buy the wrong hardware/software).

[yoda313]

Here's a list of capture cards that are MCE compatible from www.cnet.com:

http://reviews.search.com/search?q=mce&nodeid=8903&mode=products


As far as dvd burning, mp3 storage and usb capability that should be automatic. As long as the mce pc has a dvdrw drive and a usb port theres no reason you shouldn't be able to do all that like a standard pc.

[IanDizzyfish]

I know I can do all this using standard XP apps ! The point is, can I do it all from the MCE2005 front end ? If I cannot, then there is no point in getting MCE2005 (the MCE 2005 front end is probably the only thing simple enough for wife/son to use).

It is very difficult to determine if you can do stuff simultaneously with MCE 2005 eg. recording a TV program is simple with MCE, so is uploading camcorder footage - but will the MCE front end let me do both at the same time ?