Escaping Comcast: need help on DVR system

[Spokaneman]

I plan to purchase an HD TV, digital antenna, and HD receiver for basic TV programming. I will download movies from sites like NetFlix.

I want to build or purchase a dedicated PC that will be a DVR (pause & record) and will have a large storage capability. Also, I want to spend as little as possible on the PC without sacrificing sound or video performance.

Currently spending $135/month on Comcast:eek:, I expect that my overall monthly savings will pay for my system within 18 months or less.

So far I've come up against the following questions
How much memory do I need. Recommendations I've seen suggest only 512K, so I'd think 1 Gbyt would adequate. Yes? No?
How fast does my CPU need to be?
Are these the correct connections:
Coaxial cable from antenna to TV and to TV tuner card
Ethernet (or wireless) from cable (or DSL) router to mobo
HDMI cable from TV tuner card to HD receiver
HDMI cable from the receiver to HDTV This is the list of components (and costs) that I envision:

Internet connectivity (ethernet port on mobo)--------------- included
Large disk capacity (1 TByt)--------------------------------- $100
HD TV tuner (coaxial port)------------------------------------$ 75
DVR/PVR software ---------------------------included with TV tuner
motherboard & CPU-------------------------- --------------- $125
DVD writer/player----------------------------- -------------- $ 75
2 GB memory------------------------------------------------ $ 35
ATX Case & 350 W power supply (used, from CraigsList )-------$ 50
HDMI cables (2)----------------------------------------------unknown

I will probably run the PC on MS XP Pro SP3, just because I have an extra copy.

Any suggestions, observations, comments or warnings are most welcome.

[awaj]

If you are planning on saving the shows for a long time, you can run out of space quickly, even with 1 TB. If you aren't, you could easily get away with less space. I also don' see a need for 2 HDMI cables. Many of the internal and external tuners for computers use PCI ports or USBs. The tuners can be really expensive depending on what you actually want out of it.

[Spokaneman]

I don't intend to keep recorded files for a long time. If I did, however, I'd copy the files to a DVD and store them elsewhere.

Which of the HDMI cables were you thinking I could replace with USB?

[sassie05]

I plan to purchase an HD TV, digital antenna, and HD receiver for basic TV programming.

If you buy an HD TV with a built in HD Tuner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATSC_tuner) You will not need an HD receiver.

You will need an HD capable tuner card for your PC if you want to receive and record HD quality.

[Spokaneman]

My reason for buying a receiver is to manage my audio better than my current receiver. My current receiver has a 2.1 configuration, while I need at least a 5.1 for my 5 speakers and sub-woofer.

[awaj]

with the reciever, you probably need an optical cable, HDMI is good for pictures, but you can get better sound via optical.

If you get a decent Motherboard (or Audio Card...) you can get 5.1 easily.

You don't plan on doing many games using said setup, right? If that's the case, you can get away with 2.1. TV at the moment, is not being mixed for 5.1. (I just had a course that went a little into mixing audio for TV) TV, at a later date may be 5.1. Movies on the other hand can be 5.1, but if it is coming through HDTV, it will be taken down to 2.1

[Spokaneman]

I'm not doing any games. I hadn't considered the optical cable, thanks.