I just got a computer for school yesterday its an HP Pavillion a 1140n with a 17 inch envision flat screen. The CPU is equipped with XP Windows Media Center Edition 2005. I have no prior experience with a computer that has Media Center....do i have to buy a tv tuner to be able to watch/record tv or should that be with the computer. Any other comments would be greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance

Christoph

 

if the computer doesn't already have a TV tuner, then yes, you need to get one to be able to watch TV using media center edition. My Sony came with it built in, I use it as my DVR all the time, its great!

 

Probably already has a tuner.

 

My ATI “All in Wonder” TV card has a TV coax connector right on the card.
Tuner is built in.

 

how good is the quality of the tv...and how well does the recording of live tv work?

 

Image is clear, DVR function works like a charm

 

I agree.
But make sure if you plan to record, have a large Hard Drive.
The DRV eats up quite a bit of space on the highest setting.
I think it’s like 1-GIG (or more) per hour just like a TiVo or ReplayTV unit.
It’s nice to do short videos though.

 

Yup, you need that big drive. My local comp usa has 500 gig hd's on sale for 200 bucs.

 

I think there is no compression, its 1 GB for 30 mins. Pretty crazy.
No problem for my 250GB HDD

 

yeah i have a 250 gb hd on that...and i might add another 200 or so cuz they're are ridiculously cheap

 

i just found out that the computer doesnt have a tv tuner built in. Now...whats are there better and worse...cheaper and more expensive tv tuner's? Which one should i get...anybody have any recommendations?

Thanks

Christoph

 

ATI All in One Wonder TV tuner on ebay. That's where I got mine.

For the 2005 edition, you can get more than one tuner so that you can watch one channel and record another one.