Need help setting up Media Center

[alig]

Hi Guys! I need some help here choosing which OS for setting up Media Center for my home using an old PC - AMD Athelon XP - 2600+ , Graphics Card - NVIDIA GForce Integrated GPU with upto 128 MB onboard shared RAM. I also have a TV Tuiner Card (Frontech, I think) - it has AV in and the normal input for cable etc. NO HDMI Slot.

Right now I have Windows 7 Ultimate Installed on it. I tried out Windows Media Center. Everything works great but I have 3 issues.
1. My system is not giving an output of Full HD- I have connected the PC to LCD through normal cable - you know the Monitor cable. So I am using 1200x 1000... something resolution right now. The Thing is my motherboard is MSI and the model is old and there are only XP drivers availble for this sucker.
2. After installing windows 7, my Audio hardware was not detected (NForce Audio- NVIDIA), so I installed XP drivers and I have sound. Now the problem is when I play a movie through Windows MC the sound is choppy and Asynchronized.
3. I didnt even bother with installing drivers or looking for driver for the TV Tuner card with Widows 7. Its an old TV tuner Card.

As far as I can tel I have following options -
I - Install XP , install proper drivers for all my hardware, including the TV tuner Card. In this senerio do you think I can hookup Airtel DTH with my PC and would That be useful?
II Install a Linux Edition of Media Centre , either Linux MCE or Mythbuntu/ Myth TV. In this case I am not too sure if it will detect all the hardware specially considering that I had problems installing Ubuntu 9.04 on the same hardware.

I want to use the MC to watch Downloaded Videos maybe stream videos from Youtube etc. Also I would like it if I could hookup Airtel DTH through the TV Tuner Card but its not Essential.
What do you guys think I should go for?

Videos
https://youtube.com/watch?v=b-yNCqj_MXs
https://youtube.com/watch?v=4P50FqUwgtA&feature=related
https://youtube.com/watch?v=yGfqrx5dVUI&feature=related
https://youtube.com/watch?v=bRwKJKlMyds&feature=related
Links
About Mythbuntu | Mythbuntu
Welcome to LinuxMCE

 

[alig]

waiting for someone to reply. Is anyone here using a PC as a Media Centre. Please share you experience.

 

[alig]

Hello! I thought That you guys were a bunch of Geeks. No one's up for a challenge. BTW I reinstalled XP drivers in compatibility mode under Windows 7 and they work fine now. Movies run fine now and the Visual on my 42 inch LCD is just awesome, but it would be really great if I could just convert my old pc to a full fledge Home Theater PC or HTPC as they call it. Please help me out!

 

[agantuk]

I doubt there are many folks who use the comp as a Media Center. In any case, what are you trying to set up?

---------- Post added at 11:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:20 PM ----------

As in, where are you stuck

 

[alig]

I doubt there are many folks who use the comp as a Media Center. In any case, what are you trying to set up?

---------- Post added at 11:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:20 PM ----------

As in, where are you stuck

Not really Stuck at present. Here is the situation, I have a 8 year old computer with the following specs
AMD Athelon XP 2600+, 1.5 Gb Ram, 80 Gb HDD, TV Tuner Card, NVIDIA onboard. I have read a lot of articles about how people have successfully converted their Old PC's to Home Theater PC's (HTPC). As in these PC's have Media Centre Programs like Windows Media Centre, XMBC, Boxee, Linux Media Centre etc.
What I have been able to do is to install Windows 7 and Setup Media Center on it. It works great on my TV. I have Airtel BB with their Wifi installed at home and this computer is hooked up by LAN to the Router. So now what I am able to done is that Windows Media Center monitors the Video/Music/Picture Folders and I can download whatever content I want from the Internet and watch it on my LCD in Full HD. The quality is pretty awesome, also I have a 5.0 Creative sound system attached to the PC which makes it a pretty awesome experience.
Other additional benefits are on windows (GAMES), emulators for Nintendo , Super Nintendo, Mame, PS1 PS2 etc etc... Not to mention direct streaming from online websites like Youtube, Surfthechannel - the latter has pretty much everything I need for streaming.
The thing is the hardware is kind of old and so I dont have proper drivers for somethings like Audio(although 7 has installed the xp drivers in compatibility mode and it works fine) and my TV tuner Card(I will tryout the driver which are for XP but I doubt that they will work).
I was looking into a Linux based solution because well Linux supports pretty much all the hardware except for my TV Tuner Card, and maybe that too who knows.
If I can get my TV tuner to work I can actually time my recording for shows/movies - strip them off the ads, and watch them whenever I have time, and that sounds like a pretty good Idea for me.
Do you think I should just stay with 7 or move back to xp for which I have proper drivers for all my hardware?

---------- Post added at 11:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:34 AM ----------

P.S - I am going to test the system for a few days then if its good, I am going to get one of the compact cabinates for it, and probably add Card reader also to it, maybe a Blue Ray player later on when its more affordable.
Also a good thing about Linux Media Center specifically is that it can use any phone with bluetooth as a remote control, also other functions like Web Security camera for home, can also control various appliances in the house( I'd have to look into it and see how fee sable it is and weather the required parts are infact available in India..)
I also installed Boxee on 7 and right now using Boxee remote from my phone to control it. It runs on Wifi.

 

[alig]

Just an update guys. My HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer) works great with windows 7 and xp drivers undercompatibility mode. I have yet to try my TV tuner card with Airtel DTH. I also installed google earth on the HTPC which looks great, recently took a tour for Disneyland CA, USA. It was pretty awesome how you can watch everything on TV just lying down on your bed or couch with the help of a wireless mouse( I used wifi mouse/Keyboard - iPhone & iPod touch). Still trying to figure out what other applications would be good for HTPC, I have Boxee , XMBC , Windows Media Centre, any other ideas? I have utorrent for the torrent AHEM! needs ...

If anyone is interested I can take some sreenshots/Pictures and put them up here. Also if someone else tries this at home, with windows , linux etc please share ideas here.
Thanks again!

Home theater PC - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

P.S. -
Got an idea maybe i'll add some emulators to HTPC, I have a usb joystic lying around . It should look something like this -

https://youtube.com/watch?v=pWblYr21VYM