OK, yesterday I was thinking about using Mythbuntu / MythTV as a PC-based media center (home theater PC). I didn't know, but it seems like Windows Vista Premium has a "media center" application which should be sufficient for my needs.
I don't want to put a lot of time into this (we don't watch that much TV), so we'll see what we get out of the box with Vista.
One problem -- our TVs are old (like I said - we don't watch much TV)!. We have a 1994-5 (??) big old Phillips TV, and a Dec 2004 Sony WEGA KV-24FS120. I'm going to try this experiment on the Sony.
the Acer Aspire has HDMI and DVI output, and no TV tuner. Maybe I could have got a TV input with a higher end Aspire, but didn't think about it when getting the Aspire a few months ago for work. The Aspire has no S-video output.
The Sony WEGA has S-video in, and YPbPr in, in addition to the old RCA yellow video in. No HDMI input on the WEGA.
It looks like I can use a DVI to YPbPr cable. I saw one on Amazon, but came with this warning :
THIS CABLE WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO CONNECT YOUR COMPUTER'S DVI PORT TO THE COMPONENT INPUT ON YOUR HDTV unless your video card supports component out function through it's DVI port (please confirm with your video cards documentation before purchasing. Some require adapter, not this cable).
My Acer Aspire L5100 says this about its video card :
* Integrated ATI Radeon X700-based graphics engine
The AMD web site says this about ATI Radeon X700 Technology :
* YPbPr component output for direct drive of HDTV displays
So maybe it will work. I grabbed the DVI-I to RCA converter cable on Amazon for about $10.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Q6RL9Q/
If it looks like I can play and catalog DVDs and other media, I may look into buying a TV tuner for experimentation with using Vista as a video TV recorder. Right now, as a TV tuner, I'm looking at one of two Hauppauge USB-based units. I'm experimenting with the Acer Aspire that I can't put cards in, so a USB solution that I could use on other computers looks good for now.
* http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr950q.html
* http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr1950.html