[musiclover]

My parents have an a semi decent 40 inch TV that would require S-Video inputs, like the old school vcrs. They also have a nice sound system, a vcr, and old stereo, a dvd player, and a selector that they can no longer get to work for them.. What this means, is that they can basically watch TV, but nothing else.. When I look behind their entertainment center, it is a tremendous array of chords that is nearly impossible to decipher.. They cannot watch dvd's or movies anymore, because of the mess....

So it got me to thinking.. What about replacing most of it with a Media Center TV.. They do not get cable.. Instead they have a new digital tv intenna. I would keep the stereo ampliphier, and speaker system, but otherwise look to replace the whole mess, with a single PC running windows 7 and Media Center..

I wanted to get other folks thoughts on this. Eventually, I would love to help them convert all their old Analog movies to digital. If there was a single video card, that came with TV tuner, and some sort of input adapter to old school vcr, that would be sweet.

But mainly, I want to know if you all think that a media center TV would work well with their 40 inch Panasonic. If the channels would be clear, or as clear at least as they currently are. If it would be too confusing for them.. It is hard to imagine a setup more confusing then what they currently have, but at least they can currently watch tv..

Thanks for your response in advance..

[hulkinator]

Since you would have to disassemble the mess in order to do your Media Center setup, it is worth sorting out the cords and equipment and making certain that the existing setup is impossible to use. A little organization goes a long way.

Converting analog movies to digital takes a long time, because you have to play through each one in order to capture it on the computer, and then go through the file conversion work, and then organize the files appropriately.

It sounds like a really cool idea, but just know that it is going to be a lot of work if you decide to go through with it. Again I'd make sure the existing setup absolutely cannot work at all, or without a cheaper and simpler option like getting a different audio receiver.

[musiclover]

Converting all the old home videos etc.. will definitely be a lot of work, but it needs to be done none the less.. Analog movies degrade over time, where as digital movies backed up in multiple places will last.. I live in an all computer, no tv family myself.. We do not watch regular or cable television, instead providing all our entertainment needs on the pc alone.. We do not have a TV tuner, and really do not miss it.. Having never set up a media center tv for anyone, or used one aside from opening media center from time to time to explore it's options, I was mostly wondering if such a pc would get decent video quality on one of these somewhat older TV sets, and if it would be simple enough to use. Yes, I could delve into the cords. I took a look at them again yesterday, and can say, it is extremely daunting.. I would rather abandon most of the equipment if possible in favor of a simplified setup, assuming there was no loss in terms of what they currently have. Would a Media Center PC with TV tuner get the same video quality as a TV with digital intena?

[DoubleHelix]

Ease of use depends on how comfortable your parents are with technology. I wouldn't say a Windows Media Center computer is easier to use than a DVD player and stereo.

You can't convert the VCR tape movies to digital. They're copyrighted.

If they currently have a stereo and listen to the radio, I don't believe a Windows Media Center computer can replace that functionality. I haven't seen any FM tuners available, and if they like either public radio or a local station, those can't always be replaced with Internet radio.

I don't see how a computer would reduce the number of cords. You'd still have 2-3 cords coming from the computer (power, HDMI or audio and video). And if they still want to use the VCR, you'd have to connect that to the TV.

[musiclover]

The movies are old home videos, not copyrighted... I do not think they care about any of their old vhs movies, but if they do, I can leave a vcr connected for that purpose. There are plenty of TV tuner cards out there that also get FM radio, but they generally do not use that very much, which is part of why I am interested in this process, so that they can listen to internet radio, pandora, etc.. Their stereo still has tapes.. I will probably have to take a snap shot of the back of their current stereo to do it justice. I am guessing that there are over 100 cords, some of which are in use, some of which aren't, and the mess is horrible. Yes, I could delve into the mess, and maybe get things working.. 2-3 chords, even 7-10 chords would be a huge improvement. The man who sprouted the mess is a mechanic, a pack rat, and he has been tinkering with all this stuff, adding to the mix so long, that sorting it out, is going to be a huge task.. He is decent with computers, as is his wife. My goal was to unhook everything, cept the core stereo and sound system, pull all of the chords out, plug in a computer.. connect to TV and stereo, and have Media center auto start on boot..

My main question at the moment is, will the video quality coming from the TV tuner on the PC be roughly the same as the video quality coming from their Digital antenna to their TV.. If their video quality will decrease, then I think it is not a good idea..

[DoubleHelix]

Right now they have a direct connection to the antenna. If you route the connection through the computer, the quality could be limited by the type of connection available. If it's an older TV, I doubt it has HDMI which would provide the best signal.

Really, I think you're "over solving" a simple problem by adding another complicated piece of technology to the mix. What they have should work fine. If there are 100 cords behind the TV, there's a big problem. It can be easily solved by sorting them out which you'd have to do anyway.

[lordsmurf]

Home recordings still carry signal errors that are often mistaken for copy protection by various recording devices. Anti-copy is nothing more than an artificial error, after all. Easy to see why confusion happens.

In 2009, you're hard pressed to find a quality analog>digital capture device. The best ones are no longer made. You can still find them used, but they're largely AGP or PCI devices -- which usually don't fit in small HTPCs.

You need to do a lot more reading on video capture, it's not as easy as connecting a VCR into a computer and hitting record. It's not like hooking up two VCRs.

More on this topic at http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/foru...ct-help-9.html

For most people, it's not the amount of wires, but the number of remotes you have to have now. And don't even try those "one remote" gadgets -- those are even more cumbersome, usually. To make it "easy", I generally suggest a plain HDTV with a DVD player. Separate the sound system, retire the VCR (shoot it, bury it -- you'll be better off buying a quality VCR off eBay for the conversion work).

[musiclover]

Well, considering I have not received a single "go for it mate" answer in this thread, I am tempted to do as suggested and delve into their cord den, sort the problem out.. My main hope was to just consolidate things into one system, one remote, that could do it all, and offer them the added benefit of internet radio, youtube etc..