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November 07, 2004

Cheapest PC for PVR?

I'd like to assemble a dedicated PVR out of a PC, and have already purchased Beyond TV and a Hauppage 250 card for this. Unlike many people who want to do this kind of project though, I do not already have an old PC that I can use as my base system. I also don't have deep pockets, so I would like to purchase the cheapest new PC I can get that will do the job.

(Provisos and parameters: 1) I know I could get a dirt cheap system used, but I want to be covered by a warrantee. 2) I don't want to fuss around with buying a bunch of cheap parts individually that may not work well together. I'm aiming for high reliability and don't want to waste a lot of time. 3) I don't need to fit the thing in my stereo cabinet, so I don't need a HTPC-style case.)

I've been surfing around awhile and this seems like a pretty hard challenge. Most current PCs are made with gaming in mind. They have much faster processors than you really need for a PVR that uses hardware encoding, so they may run hot and require a noisy fan (bad). They often come bundled with stuff you don't need for a PVR (speakers, printers), but lack what would be desirable in a PVR system (e.g. a really HUGE hard disk, lots of PCI slots to add additional tuner cards, etc).

Can PVRBloggers recommend manufacturers/retailers that fill the bill?

Oh -- one last wrinkle. I have to be able to buy it in Canada.
-- Kevin O'Neill

November 7, 2004 in Home Theater PC, media servers

Answers

Buy any machine targetted for office work - a lot of Dells, HPs, etc. You can probably work with a Celeron machine, and don't pay manufacturers rates for RAM - buy it aftermarket and upgrade. All of the standard brands will fit the bill, you should be able to use Froogle.com, PriceWatch.com, or Shopper.cnet.com.

Posted by: MegaZone at Nov 7, 2004 1:43:02 PM

A machine that seems to fit your recommendations is the Compaq Presario SR1110nx, which can be bought for about CDN$500. However, like other inexpensive business machines (including the Dell Optiplex series), it comes with video on the motherboard and has only 3 PCI slots. After using one of those slots up for a video card that will output to TV (such as an ATI All-in-Wonder), you have two free for video capture boards. I guess that would be enough. But do I have to worry about conflicts between the on-board video and the add-on card?

Posted by: Kevin O'Neill at Nov 8, 2004 3:01:54 PM

uuummmmm...

Posted by: bill at Feb 2, 2006 8:08:33 AM

actually no you dont have to worry about conflicts 98% motherboards automaticaly disable the primary graphic controller when a new pci one in inserted or agp

Posted by: ryan at Apr 12, 2006 9:00:43 PM

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