Just dumped cable, need help with HTPC or similar device

A friend of mine just cut ties with his cable company with the intention of going with an OTA + HTPC (or equivalent device) setup. We are planning on hardwiring his house with Cat6 cable and using the existing coax cabling for the OTA programming.

He currently has a Dell Box running XP Pro with a Xeon 2.8, 1GB Ram, and 70G free hard drive space. VGX is an ATI FireGL V3100. He also has an Xbox 360, and PS3 device.

The goal is to be able to watch/record live TV, access netflix, and access movie collection on (3) sets across the house simultaneously if needed.

I am trying to figure out the most cost effective way of doing this without having to buy a ton of equipment and upgrade everything but am thinking I may have to buy 2 xbox 360s, and HDHomerun device, a Win 7 license, and probably a bigger harddrive for the Main pc.

Being that I am probably way behind on technology, I was hoping the combined knowledge of the kind folks on this forum could give me some suggestions or alternate methods of achieving my goals for my friend.

If there is anything I am leaving out, please let me know. Thank you in advance.

See this thread for some discussion on affordable setups. However, without a W7 license, your best bet is to buy a cheap computer. You can find good sets for <300 -- even less if you go refurb. What you have may work but it'll probably stutter, especially if you're trying to access from it as a server. You just need a dual core that runs over 2GHz which is basically all CPUs from the past 5 years, though you'll probably want to add in a cheap GPU as well. Any lowest end ATI HD GPU over 4XXX series (including the 4350) will be fine and shouldn't cost over $20.

As far as tuners go, you don't need an HDHR if you only have one computer. The point of HDHR is for every computer on your network to have access to TV. You may be able to find cheaper ATSC tuners (almost certainly).

PS3 + PS3MediaServer can do almost everything you want with some setup. I'm not sure about viewing recorded TV, but def movie files. If so, you'd only need to buy one other device (ie a cheap 360).

You have 3 different goals:
1) watch/record live TV
2) access netflix
3) and access movie collection

If I was to do this I would put on 1 computer a atsc tuner along with my movie collection. On this pc I would set it up as a DLNA server to stream it to the remote devices.

Since everything is networked up at each tv I would use something like a Logitech revue or other device (some blu-ray players,apple tv, etc as long as the device supports netflix and dlna).

3 htpc's, hdhomerun, cheapo nas like the DNS 323's or the HP server sold not too long ago.

The htpc's can be used older dual core machines +5450 cards. I have a similar setup as is. Been loving it for years.

newsgroup, sabsnzb in combination with couch potato for automatic download of tv shows ? Simplest and doesn't require any additional hardware besides from a PC

Newegg has a Sapphire 6450 on a shell shocker deal today for $24.99 after MIR. That should do nicely for a HTPC.

Link [newegg.com]

just get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6856173023

They guys over at Assassin HTPC have a guide on their homepage that literally is exactly what you need!

I was reading it today and then read this post and couldn't find the address fast enough to send to you.

Below is a link to their homepage and right in the middle is a PDF guide that's called "Assassin HTPC Guide to Eliminating Cable"

http://www.assassinhtpc.com/

Explains all of the above question in it!

Don't know how you could get much more of a perfect response than that!

Quote from redscare24 : They guys over at Assassin HTPC have a guide on their homepage that literally is exactly what you need! I was reading it today and then read this post and couldn't find the address fast enough to send to you. Below is a link to their homepage and right in the middle is a PDF guide that's called "Assassin HTPC Guide to Eliminating Cable" http://www.assassinhtpc.com/ Explains all of the above question in it! Don't know how you could get much more of a perfect response than that!

An excellent first post!

Personally, I think that guide downplays (or perhaps illustrates) how difficult it is to eliminate cable in a cost-effective manner. It relies heavily on torrenting or usenets/subscription services. That wouldn't be a problem (since they cost much less than "cable") but it's easy to forget that you still need to pay for internet and most cable companies cost only 10-15 more for cable TV on top of internet (some actually charge less than internet alone if you get the basic package. And no HTPC can replace cable for a sports fan.

However, it is a nice guide that will be very helpful for many users. IMO, though, HTPCs are best for replacing cable boxes and DVRs as they can do so cheaply, in a more user-friendly manner (I prefer WMC7 over the Fios and Comcast boxes), and with far more features (multi-channel recording, media streaming over the internet, media server features, integrating TV, movies, and music, etc.). Replacing cable will only come when the entire telecom structure of the country changes and we start to see online companies offering cable channels in their own packages.

Thanks a bundle all the replies. Torrents and any other illegal downloading methods are out.

I'd use one of these and an antenna:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Magnavo...r/14291489

Quote from zzyzzx : I'd use one of these and an antenna: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Magnavo...r/14291489

For that price you can damn near build or buy a HTPC. You get the benefits of a DVR plus a way to stream anything you want.

Quote from V0RT3X : newsgroup, sabsnzb in combination with couch potato for automatic download of tv shows ? Simplest and doesn't require any additional hardware besides from a PC

This. Everyone else is making suggestions that are far too much work (and $$).

Quote from SlickRook : Thanks a bundle all the replies. Torrents and any other illegal downloading methods are out.

Is it more illegal to download a TV episodes vs. recording it yourself (DVR)? I think not