Question about PC tuner system

[SatelliteAV]

I wouldn't be afraid of building your own. My last HTPC build parts were picked up in one trip to Fry's and assembled in about two hours. It took days to load software, but one would do that with any computer.

The specific parts list from 1 1/2 years ago is now outdated, so won't bother. But here is a general build list for my HTPC:

Case with multi-card reader and multiple front panel I/O ports.
Motherboard with on-board video for status monitor
Processor
Video Card for main monitor(s)
Power Supply
Memory 8gig
Hard Drive(s) two 2TB
CD/DVR drive re writeable
Operating System
Keyboard/Mouse RF
HandHeld controller (integrated keyboard/mouse)

Added:
AverMedia Capture Card
Prof 7301 DVBS2 Card

[Dee_Ann]

Just out of curiousity, Dee, who is the motherboard manufacturer? I usually only buy Asus or Supermicro boards when I'm doing a system build. I've inherited a board from A-Bit also, which seems to be trouble free.

The board is made by intel, I assume the same people that make the CPU chips. Because of that assumption I also assumed it would be quality stuff.
It is a DG43RK model.
http://www.intel.com/support/motherb.../CS-031256.htm

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By the way, building PCs requires as much or more patience as FTA. Just as with FTA, if something is being ornery and causing blood pressure to rise, get away from it for awhile before you throw it all off the roof (or table in the case of the PC) ...

Gardening is my escape. I get my Zen on in the garden.. I spent most of my day today planting roses and rearranging 500lbs of egg sized rocks and flower pots.

I've thought about a building a nice Media PC one day -- but Dee_Ann's experience frightens me, and I think I'd end up in a similar if not worse predicament! I wonder if those who were successful would upload their pictures and specifications, and share their experiences. Perhaps a new sub-form for Media / Satellite PC systems? Especially for a complete newbie like me (although I did install a new DVD drive when my other one ate a CD last year -- I was so happy) Just a thought...

Well, just remember, I'm not exactly what you would call a computer guru.. My experience and skills are rather limited. As the old saying goes, your milage may vary..
I have a tendency to let my eyes overload my plate. I get to reading stuff online and start thinking to myself, "Hey, I can do that!" but when it comes down to it, I always, always fall short.
It took me almost a year to figure out how to put up a simple ku dish by myself. And about that long, if not longer trying to put up a C-band dish.

In other words, I'm a bit of a slow learner about tech stuff. I'm sure you can do much better than I have..

[Tron]

Intel boards are usually well designed. Perhaps this was a server motherboard. Server boards often require the use of error correcting (ECC) memory and only ECC memory. Perhaps this is the problem, not sure...

EDIT: Followed your link to the product support page, and no, it does not require ECC memory. It does suggest SPD memory, but may work without it. Perhaps there is a problem with the board itself. Motherboards do go bad, and sometimes don't work at all out of the box.

[northgeorgia]

Once I had put in the new DVD drive in my desktop computer, I felt so empowered that I thought -- hey, I'm going to try to install Linux on one of my slower laptops! So, I put in Puppy Linux, since it seemed easy to do. I wasn't impressed, though, and tried to uninstall it. Well, darn it, if I can't figure out how to do it Anyway, maybe I'm a slow learner, too. I know you're going to get that PC running at some point, DeeAnn, and can't wait to hear your impressions!

[concord]

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I need a basic board with lots of SATA connectors. Period. That's the feature I'm looking for. The more, the better.
8 connectors? Cool! 10 connectors? Way cool !! Bring it on !!

I've purchased alot from newegg and they are usually pretty good at return/replacement. Haven't returned anything in several years and I don't remember a restock fee back then, but they've grown over the years. They state their return policies (
http://www.newegg.com/HelpInfo/ReturnPolicy.aspx

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).

I doubt you are going to find more than 6 SATA connection on a motherboard, but you can always add a SATA card to it. If your system is going only act as a file server, then check out this:
http://www.amazon.com/Asus-C60M1-I-S...s=ASUS+C60M1-I


Note that it's a ITX form size, smaller than the mATX, it has 6 - 6GB SATA ports, with only one (1) expansion slot, and as always, check the manual before purchasing for the types of memory it likes.

[concord]

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I've thought about a building a nice Media PC one day -- but Dee_Ann's experience frightens me, and I think I'd end up in a similar if not worse predicament!...

Depending on what you want actions you want the media PC to perform, you can go from a small/quiet using a i3 low-watt processor, all the way to a more hefty system that will transcode (i.e. Plex server software) on the fly, read in DVD/Blu-rays and write them to your hard drive/NAS, etc. There is another place that has guides that list suggested components for a media center PC, based on what you want to do:
http://www.avsforum.com/f/26/home-theater-computers

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Once I had put in the new DVD drive in my desktop computer, I felt so empowered that I thought -- hey, I'm going to try to install Linux on one of my slower laptops! So, I put in Puppy Linux, since it seemed easy to do. I wasn't impressed, though, and tried to uninstall it. Well, darn it, if I can't figure out how to do it Anyway, maybe I'm a slow learner, too. I know you're going to get that PC running at some point, DeeAnn, and can't wait to hear your impressions!

If you installed Linux over top of your Win OS (completely re-formatted your hard drive), then all you do is get your Windows install discs and install it over the linux OS...you will need to delete/free up the Linux partitions during the install. If you a decent desktop and want to experiment with Linux versions or other OS and be able test other software, I would recommend getting VirtualBox (
www.virtualbox.org


) and use a virtual machine.