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Media Center 2005 Hardware required question

697 Views 6 Replies 7 Participants Last post by stanger89, Dec 1, 2004

MD_HT1

Discussion Starter · Oct 25, 2004

Basic question, Can I do an MCE 2005 install without

a Tuner card, an X800 pro video card for HW

video capture, and the ir-blaster to change a digital

cable box's channels (essentially an off-board tuner).

Further detail:

I am planning on building a Media center PC to use

with a Comcast Digital Cable box exclusively (no

need for a tuner card)

I think I read somewhere that MCE 2005 will allow the

install as long as you have at least a MPEG-2 capture

card and the IR-blaster to change an external tuner

box's channel.

The ATI Radeon X-series of cards include Video in and

Video out capabilities with HW MPEG-2 encoding.

I have verified that the X-series cards are MCE 2005

compatible as well.

I am going to get a new MB with an Athlon64 3200+

with 1GB ram, sound, etc. (all the other basics)

Can someone verify that this is an acceptable HW setup

for MCE 2005?

Thanks for any help.

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1 - 7 of 7 Posts

stumcgoo

· #2 · Oct 26, 2004

I have an old celeron 400 that i was hoping to install mce 2005 on.

I thought I would be able use it for playing music only. But from what your saying I wont even get it installed since I have no capture card! Is this right?

Cheers

stu

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Derek K.

· #3 · Oct 26, 2004

I just installed mce 2005 this weekend without a capture card or remote. You should be fine.

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epking

· #4 · Oct 26, 2004

while were at it, i have a similar question too

I have a pinnacle deluxe capture card analog/dvi and I was wondering if I could do similar to what MD HT1 is doing...namely, use an external reciever, in my case directv and then use the pinnacle capture card. This would be better for me than having to go out and buy a tv tuner/capture card, when i really don't need it since i'm using directv.

Thanks if anyone knows the answers to our questions...also, even a link to faqs or something would be good. I can only find very basic type info.

Also, I might as well add, are there any hdtv tuner cards officially supported? I know there has been some controversy about this, I'm just not up to speed on all of it, and how or if its resolved.

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CJO

· #5 · Oct 26, 2004

stumcgoo- From what I understand, you can install it without having the tuner / capture cards, you just won't get the full functionality.

MD_HT1- I think that you still need a tuner card to get the channel lineup.

CJ

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white_2kgt

· #6 · Dec 1, 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by epking
while were at it, i have a similar question too I have a pinnacle deluxe capture card analog/dvi and I was wondering if I could do similar to what MD HT1 is doing...namely, use an external reciever, in my case directv and then use the pinnacle capture card. This would be better for me than having to go out and buy a tv tuner/capture card, when i really don't need it since i'm using directv.

Did you ever find a solution that works with the Pinnacle Deluxe card? I have the same setup and I can only get it to work in Studio so far. I've only tried a handful of software though so any pointers would be very helpful!

thanks,

--chad

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stanger89

· #7 · Dec 1, 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by MD_HT1
The ATI Radeon X-series of cards include Video in and

Video out capabilities with HW MPEG-2 encoding.

Even if you could do it, I wouldn't want to, no video cards (AFIAK) have true FULL hardware encoding, some may have hardware assisted encoding, but it's not the same. You'll be better off just getting a tuner card (like the PVR 150/250).

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