Currently I have a Tivo HD (Dual Tuner) with a multi cable card. I use the Tivo to both record TV (obviously) and stream NetFlix. Over the past year I have trimmed back my cable package to the point that the cable card is not really needed anymore. The only reason I still have the Tivo is it’s easy for my wife and daughter to use and I subscribe to the “HD Package” for my locals. As it turns out, all of my HD locals are available via Clear QAM.
The second part of the equation is the PS3. I use it to play Blu-Ray movies and steam my DVD collection from my Windows Home Server (Twonky Media Server). This works well, but the PS3’s menu system is not very good. I have to remux MKV files (MKV2VOB) to play on the PS3. Also, depending on the temperature in the house, the cooling fans in the PS3 ramp up to near jet engine DBs drowning out the movie.
After extensive reading and some testing it looks like Windows Media Center 7 will do everything I need in one box. Now I just need to spec out the hardware. I have some hardware that I would like reuse and I’d like to stay away from the larger HTPC cases.
What I have:
[list]
[*]CPU: Intel E8400
[*]Blu-Ray: LG 5.25″ Combo Drive[/list:u]
What I want:
[list]
[*]Motherboard: Asus P5Q-EM (Micro-ATX)
[*]Case: SilverStone SG02-F (SFF Micro-ATX)
[*]PSU: Undecided
[*]RAM: 4-8gb of whatever is on sale
[*]TV Tuner: Undecided (Dual tuner preferred)
[*]OS: Windows 7 (x86 or x64?)[/list:u]
What I want to do with it:
[list]
[*]Use my 720p/1080i 50″ dislpay and optical 5.1 audio setup (1080p display in the future)
[*]Record both analog and HD TV with 2-4 tuners
[*]Play Blu-Ray and DVD movies via optical drive
[*]Stream NetFlix
[*]Stream MKV, VOB, DivX, FLAC and Pictures from my Windows Home Server
[*]Stream Pandora or Slacker internet radio[/list:u]
I have no interest in playing games on this box. I need just enough graphics performance to play Blu-Ray and make sure the WMC UI is not glitchy of laggy. Any suggestions or recommendations would be great appreciated.
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