[OT] TIVO

[Mark J. Dulcey]

josephc at etards.net wrote:
> I used a shuttle case, which looks very l33t in my audio/video rack. The 
> downside is most only have one or two PCI slots, so multiple tuner cards 
> would be out.
> 
> For the record, my specs are 256MB RAM, P4 1.6 o/c'd to 2.2, haupage 
> tuner card, and a $40 dollar video card w/ S-Video out

The MicroCenter flyer that I got yesterday has a box (Gbox P4 Mini 
Barebones, on the front page) that looks neat for that sort of 
application - though again, no multiple tuner cards, since it has only 
one PCI and one AGP slot. (It's similar to the Shuttle box that you 
used.) Still, you could get two tuners by installing an All-In-Wonder in 
the AGP and a tuner card in the PCI slot - or to really go for the gold, 
install an HDTV tuner! Or for a low budget system, add a cheap tuner 
like the Hauppauge and use the integrated video, which has S-Video out - 
you could bring the thing with a total hardware budget of under $500 
with careful shopping.

The main challenge with convergence PCs is getting them quiet enough to 
use in a TV viewing situation. The smaller boxes have the advantage of 
smaller cooling fans, but you still have to choose your CPU cooler 
carefully.