Have some questions about tv tuner from experienced users

[UptheIrons]

Hi guys, I can't seem to find the answers to my questions so I thought I'd ask here, hope you all can help.

1. If I buy a tv tuner, does the PC have to be powered ON in order to record like a dvr? If so can it be in sleep mode? If it has to be on what power setting should I use?

2. Can I set up windows media center so that I can list movies in the library, but store them on an external hard drive?

3. Can I setup WMC so it records to an external hard drive.

I have limited space on my primary drive so I was trying to find out

Thanks guys, your help is much appreciated

specs: intel g645, 4gb ddr3, 200gb main drive, foxconn rm2-h2 barebones, bluray rom, windows 7 64but ultimate.

 

[Dirigible]

Disclaimer: I'm not a computer guy. I know enough to get my stuff to work (central main computer that records, a few htpcs, nas/media server). My knowledge is not complete.

1) yes, computer must be on. Sleep mode ok. Don't understand your last question.

2) If the movies are of a type media center can recognize, yes. On a USB drive or mapped drive on the LAN.

3) don't know for sure. I believe you can record to a USB drive. Maybe not to a drive on the LAN. Worst case, record to a folder that is monitored and have recordings moved off your system. There is free software that will do this.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

3. Yes. Its in the settings options.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

1. The computer can be in sleep mode and WMC will wake it up to record, then return to sleep mode when done recording, assuming you aren't currently using it. The power setting isn't important since recording is not a CPU-intensive process.

2. Yes.

3. Yes, if by external hard-drive you mean one that is locally attached to the HTPC.

 

[LoveMachine]

Movies, music, etc. can be accessed on a network drive, but recorded TV shows must go onto a drive physically attached to the computer (including USB), and HD programs will eat up space quickly since they aren't compressed much as WMC records them. I generally have ~10-20 hours of recorded stuff, and the folder takes up over 100GB.

WMC is pretty good as a TV DVR, and is pretty easy to set up and very easy to use.