On topic because if it's HTPC I'll be doing it myself :-)

We have a four year-old Philips DVD/HDD recorder that has worked 100%
reliably until now, but alas it's now developed an intermittent fault
and can't be relied on, so it has to go.

Basic requirements - doesn't have to be hi-def as we aren't bothered
about that and we don't watch a lot of movies, but it would need twin
Freeview tuners so that we can pause live TV, record one channel while
watching another, record two channels while watching playback of earlier
recording etc., etc. One thing our Philips machine has that's invaluable
is what they call a "Time-shift Buffer" - it's like a 6 hour long
conveyor belt IYSWIM :-)

I'd literally never heard the term "Home Theatre PC" until just
yesterday and I quite like the idea of building my own but, although
I've built about 50 computer systems for family and friends over the
years, I've never built one for the sole purpose of watching/recording
TV before and I know nothing about that so a few questions come to mind.

First question - we have an Amstrad DRX890 Sky+HD box (but we don't have
the HD subscription) which has one HDMI socket that connects to the TV
(a 3 year-old Panny 42" plasma) and one SCART socket which connects to
the DVD/HDD recorder. When I've got something on the Sky box that I want
to keep, I send it by SCART to the HDD of the DVD/HDD box and then
record it onto DVD. Can an HTPC have a SCART input to accept recordings
from my Sky box? If not, how do I do it?

Second question - All recorded programmes are important. People only
record what they want to see so there's no room for error - I don't want
to have the first five episodes of a six-ep series and then miss the
all-important climax of the final episode, so are home-built, HTPCs 100%
reliable? I don't want to have to constantly reboot, tweak, fiddle, lose
important programmes - I just want it to work with a minimum of fuss
like our Philips DVD/HDD recorder has done for the last four years.

Finally, can anyone point me to a website or other group for more
information. Google throws up a few but they are dated from 2007 and
2008 so not much use now.

Thanks

John wrote:

I'd literally never heard the term "Home Theatre PC" until just
yesterday and I quite like the idea of building my own
can anyone point me to a website or other group for more
information.

If you're not afraid of Linux, then look at mythTV, if you go that way
choose your tuner cards and graphic card caarefully ... I've just bought
an new AMD Fusion based netbook and suspect an ITX motherboard based on
that APU would make a good basis for an HTPC.

John for more information, informed opinions and friendly advice, try the UK
AV Forums at http://www.avforums.com/ . There's a dedicated area for
computers, and a dedicated sub-area for home entertainment PCs, both
commercial and self-built.

My impression, for what it's worth, is that the HCPC route *is* prone to
fiddling, adjusting, hair-tearing and the like. In your position I'd
replace the Philips machine, my personal preference being for the Panasonic
range (but not perhaps the very latest models, which have been widely
criticised for slugishness in operation - something I can confirm from my
own experience).

Bert

In article ,
says...

John wrote:

I'd literally never heard the term "Home Theatre PC" until just
yesterday and I quite like the idea of building my own
can anyone point me to a website or other group for more
information.

If you're not afraid of Linux, then look at mythTV, if you go that way
choose your tuner cards and graphic card caarefully ... I've just bought
an new AMD Fusion based netbook and suspect an ITX motherboard based on
that APU would make a good basis for an HTPC.

Cheers Andy but I've never touched Linux before and think it would
involve too much learning/fiddling for me at the moment - but thanks
anyway.

In article ,
says...

John for more information, informed opinions and friendly advice, try the UK
AV Forums at http://www.avforums.com/ . There's a dedicated area for
computers, and a dedicated sub-area for home entertainment PCs, both
commercial and self-built.

My impression, for what it's worth, is that the HCPC route *is* prone to
fiddling, adjusting, hair-tearing and the like. In your position I'd
replace the Philips machine, my personal preference being for the Panasonic
range (but not perhaps the very latest models, which have been widely
criticised for slugishness in operation - something I can confirm from my
own experience).

Bert

Thanks Bert, I'll have a look at avforums but if there's a chance that
I'll lose any recordings and have to fiddle and tweak, I may well take
your advice and go with another dedicated DVD/HDD recorder.

John wrote:
In article ,
says...
John wrote:

I'd literally never heard the term "Home Theatre PC" until just
yesterday and I quite like the idea of building my own
can anyone point me to a website or other group for more
information.
If you're not afraid of Linux, then look at mythTV, if you go that way
choose your tuner cards and graphic card caarefully ... I've just bought
an new AMD Fusion based netbook and suspect an ITX motherboard based on
that APU would make a good basis for an HTPC.

Cheers Andy but I've never touched Linux before and think it would
involve too much learning/fiddling for me at the moment - but thanks
anyway.
Its not that ad a all.

I have nearly all the functionality you want/need in 'Me TV' using a
hauppage dongle for freeview.

Not sure if there are satellite doofers.

MythTV is quite a big install, but its not beyond possibility.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

MythTV is quite a big install, but its not beyond possibility.

But as Bert said, it can fall into fiddling & adjusting territory, I've
had to re-compile kernels 3 times over the years to fix bugs, or bodge
stuff to work.

Andy Burns wrote:

But as Bert said, it can fall into fiddling & adjusting territory...

Which can be acceptable (and might even be fun) if you're the sole user of
the setup and OK with computers, but John said:

People only record what they want
to see so there's no room for error...

If this is going to be something for all the family to use, a PC-based
arrangement is almost certainly not the best approach.

Bert

Bert Coules wrote:

If this is going to be something for all the family to use, a PC-based
arrangement is almost certainly not the best approach.

Agreed, see http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/WAF