Media Centre PC for school - Page 2

nicko.dvz · **27th July 2008, 06:43 PM**

Ok, so what about a DVico Fusion HDTV DUAL EXPRESS?
That's the only one I've found so far with dual digital tuners. I'm sure I'm not looking hard enough though.
I'll keep trying.

pie123 · **27th July 2008, 07:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicko.dvz

Ok, so what about a DVico Fusion HDTV DUAL EXPRESS?
That's the only one I've found so far with dual digital tuners. I'm sure I'm not looking hard enough though.
I'll keep trying.

The Hauppauge HVR2200 is a dual tuner.

Damo

DDH · **27th July 2008, 07:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicko.dvz

Um. Hold on, the HVR2200 only has one tuner on it (so two in with both cards), right? I need four tuners all together. This can be done right?

The HVR2200 is dual PCIe card, so two cards = 4 tuners.

nicko.dvz · **27th July 2008, 10:15 PM**

Oh right,
I must've misread it then.
Thanks again, I'll go with two of those, thanks.

FrAsErTaG · **27th July 2008, 11:09 PM**

Currently the biggest bang for buck drives are the Samsung 640GB drives
They are being sold for $103 at my wholesaler which i think is bloody great value and working out per gb for $ it was the cheapest pick! and they offer a 3 Year warrenty. The more drives the quicker the access with a raid setup

pantonious · **27th July 2008, 11:12 PM**

750Gb for $99

http://www.netplus.com.au/products-l...0Hard%20Drives

i can tell you how to get free shipping possibly if you're not in perth

vshiva · **28th July 2008, 02:15 AM**

Also check out these two options to be used as an extender. You will not be able to play games with it as with the 360 but it serves the purpose for a lesser price.

1. MVIX USA 760HD or 780 HD (http://www.mvixusa.com/mvixcompare.php)
2. DIVX Connected (www.divx.com/connected/)

The difference between the 2 is basically the UI with the divx connected is excellent but could be better on the MVIX. And also the mvix unit plays all most video and music files but with the divx connected unit you hav to convert some files to xvid with the included converter.

And with tuners, i went with a relatively cheaper Winfast PxDVR3200H and it works just fine. It tunes digital and analog tv. And the number of tuners you need depends on the number of equipments you wish to connect.

oztraliana · **29th July 2008, 12:24 AM**

I doubt that the proposed setup will be useful over the longer term. My guess is that the school will decide eventually to go for a more comprehensive and proven solution (ie something like clickview) despite the extra cost.
Sorry to be negative but I have seen (and done myself) so many ad hoc 'solutions' that turn out to be no solution at all and have only resulted in the waste of time and money. The biggest loss is usually the waste of time as people wait for the ad hoc solution to be proven inadequate.

nicko.dvz · **29th July 2008, 06:35 PM**

@vshiva: Games aren't really a problem (nice bonus though!), it's the Media Centre interface that we were going for anyway. Depending on the prices when we buy them we might go for one of those Linksys Media Center Extenders or the D-Link version - it's just that they were pretty close in price (at least the 360 Arcade) last I looked, and the 360 does the nice graphics transitions too.

@oztraliana: Ok, so the primary use of this is to record TV and have it available to two (maybe three) theatres, in an easy-to-use interface. I don't think it gets much simpler than MC, especially since more and more people are starting to get it at home. The WebGuide part is just a bonus (I haven't even told them about it yet, they didn't go with ClickView because they wouldn't use the features, and they probably won't use much of WebGuide). Everyone was really happy with the demo of the existing Media Centre system.
Also, if we did want to move down that on-demand part, it's built right into Windows Server 2003 (well, you have to press install in the components section, but its there waiting), Windows Media Services - it has an on-demand option.
But thankyou very much for your opinion, I'm not ignoring it.

@pantonious: Wow, that is cheap.

pantonious · **29th July 2008, 08:32 PM**

FYI, we are actually getting a new system as we are building a new Senior Library...

i can't remember the brand name, but pretty much it records every channel, all day, everyday and stores it for ~1-2 weeks.

Which is really good because it makes it so that they don't have to set things to record, a teacher can see something that night come into school the next day and ask for it.

Its a pre-build system, comes in a CoolerMaster Stacker Case (same that i have for my gaming rig

)

If you'd like, i can find out the brand of it for u? we are still keeping out websceduler machine for backup purposes...