Using a PC as a media center
Media PC setup for the following:-

As you can see from the setup diagram below, all I need now is a HD TV with a vga input :)

All inside or connected to a SFF PC

The PC spec is nothing out of the ordinary except that 300Gb hard disc and slightly fancy graphics card.

The real magic is DigiTV, these tiny little boxes allow the PC to recieve and record freeview tv or radio. You also get a 7 day EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) over the airwaves and digital teletext (not used that yet).

The supplied DigiTV software sits minimised on the desktop most of the time as we rarely watch live freeview TV.

I mentioned magic.... I have a single master & slave DigiTV tuner setup, the main difference is that the master unit has an IR reciever built in. With these two tuners I can tune into TWO multiplexes, each multiplex has up to around 8 channels. DigiTV software takes care of which tuner to use and switching between multiplexes etc. The magic part is that DigiTV can record any number of programmes simultaneously so long as they are all transmitted on two mulitplexes. I could record BBC1 & BBC2 with one tuner whilst recording E4 & Channel 4 on the other. Not only that, if I also want to watch another channel I can do that too so long as it's on one of the multiplexes the tuners are using.

Pretty damn good eh? If that weren't enough it is possible to add more slave tuners should the need arise.

I choose to use Digiguide over DigiTV's EPG as it is far more flexible and covers at least 14 days and also covers my NTL channels otherwise not obtainable through freeview.

Digiguide + DabDig = freedom

The DabDig plugin for Digiguide allows series, single films or all manner of expression matches to be automatically recorded. This has transformed our viewing habits as most of our viewing is now from recordings - what we want, when we want - fantastic!!

Digiguide simply initiates (through DabDig) the DigiTV software to record whatever we tell it.

The graphics card *can* be used to record from NTL but so far I've not bothered - have to remember to leave the correct channel on etc. Usually easier to simply watch it live. The card also has a TV out feature which is my current method of outputting to the TV. My next TV will have a VGA or DVI input which will make for much better picture resolutions. I'm running only 800x600 and that's a bit fuzzy for small text.

With 300Gb of space I have transferred all photo's and MP3 to the Media PC. We recently discovered a nifty bit of software called myHTPC (Home Theatre PC) which is a 'pretty' programable interface to start recordings, watch freeview, play music, view photo's.......etc

Screen shots from myHTPC. As you can see I've made some extra options of my own (games, netgap site, photos). Pop round for a demo if you're interested.

Below: The .txt entries give information about the programmes. Like series no's, what it's about etc

PC Specifications:- Other components:- Software:-