[Cialug] media center

[Matthew Nuzum]

Hi, I am thinking about a whole-house media center. It would be a server
that could record shows, store copies of DVDs and other media and be
controlled by front-end devices hooked up to TVs.

I was wondering if anyone has some experience doing the parts of this. I am
going to invest some money and would like it to work as painlessly as
possible. I need to:

Choose where to get my content: mediacom, dish, directv (other?)

How should I record the content: hdhomerun, pci/usb tv tuner (other?)

How should I watch the media? I.e. what software should I use? I'd like to
be able to control it via a remote, watch hi def, have surround sound,
watch/pause/record live TV and most of all, be very easy to use.

I've seen devices like the SageTV HD Theater
http://www.sagetv.com/hd_theater.html or Roku HD
http://www.roku.com/roku-products and PC operating system net-tops like the
Acer Revo.

Have you read any practical hands-on reviews or tutorials of people doing
this?

Oh, and one last question... how does a person hook something like this up
to surround sound? Do you plug your devices into the TV and then use the
TV's output into your stereo system? I'm really new to HD.

-- 
Matthew Nuzum
newz2000 on freenode, skype, linkedin, identi.ca and twitter
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