New HT System

djs488 · 05-19-2007, 10:00 AM

Hi Everyone, I'm new to the forums. I'm getting a new home theater system, and believe I'm going to get a plasma screen. However, I have a number of things I want to be able to do, and I'm not sure what is the best way, or what components, I need to do them. Here they are, in no particular order:

1) Record HD shows from DirecTV and my HD antenna onto a large (upgradeable) hard disk.
2) Be able to create DVD's of saved content. (Hi-def cannot be done, correct?)
3) Watch HD-DVD and/or Blu-Ray Discs.
4) Be able to watch my live TV over the internet on my laptop.
5) Be able to control my DVR over the internet from my laptop.

Now, it's possible that I cannot create a system that can do all these things, but I don't know where to start. Is TiVo the best option for DVR? Would a HTPC be worth my time? Can I do 4) and 5) with a slingbox, or something else?

Thanks a lot for your time.

Dave

bassman99floyd · 05-19-2007, 05:43 PM

I never read the forum on TV preference, plasma or LCD, but my preference is LCD. I say this because picture quality of an HD LCD TV is as good, if not better then plasma while viewing from several feet away. LCD may not look as perfect if your inches away, but that's not how you watch a big screen any way. LCD has a user friendly system to replace the light source within it, which will eventually burn out as years go by. It's pretty much as easy to change a lightbulb in a lamp, as it would to change a bulb in an LCD TV. Once the light source burns out on a plasma screen, it's gone for ever.

1) Record HD shows from DirecTV and my HD antenna onto a large (upgradeable) hard disk.

I believe if you contact DirecTV, they can rent you an HD-DVR.

2) Be able to create DVD's of saved content. (Hi-def cannot be done, correct?)

Once you record a show with the HD-DVR, use the video/audio out on the DVR to like inputs on DVD-R.

3) Watch HD-DVD and/or Blu-Ray Discs.

Buy HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player. (I'm not sure why you asked that?)

adam613 · 05-19-2007, 06:44 PM

It sounds like you're going to want a Home Theater PC of some sort. Windows Media center will let you record TV shows from your cable box, save recordings to DVD (I think), and stream to other devices. There may be ways to control it remotely, I've never tried that. Since it's a PC, obviously you can put in whatever hard drive(s) you want.

However, you'll need to use an external DVR (either the one from DirecTV, or a Tivo Series 3) if you want to record HD, as there are no consumer-level TV cards that can record HD from a digital cable box. You can only record OTA HD to a PC.

You can also get Blu-Ray and HD-DVD drives for a PC, but I have no idea how well these work.

djs488 · 05-19-2007, 06:59 PM

Well, I went to Best Buy today and had a look at some components. I was shown a HD-DVR (not a TiVo, but I cannot remember the name) that had a 320GB hard drive, which seems pretty good. The sales rep said DirecTV would not work with TiVo for some reason. Also, that particular DVR had a firewire output to hook into a pc. Also, he said a SlingBox cannot broadcast HD content, even at reg-def. Is this true?

joseph westcott · 05-20-2007, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djs488

Well, I went to Best Buy today and had a look at some components. I was shown a HD-DVR (not a TiVo, but I cannot remember the name) that had a 320GB hard drive, which seems pretty good. The sales rep said DirecTV would not work with TiVo for some reason. Also, that particular DVR had a firewire output to hook into a pc. Also, he said a SlingBox cannot broadcast HD content, even at reg-def. Is this true?

I would go with DishNetwork's PVR. I hated my Directv system. It always locked up and the picture quality was not as good. DishNetwork is giving a free PVR with subscription now.

HTPC's are expensive, loud, create a lot of heat, and really can't match the video quality of a good DVD player.

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