[idea] windows media center edition server
So, i am in the process of building a media center PC. i am turning my workstation (the dual athlon) into a media center because it being based on windows XP will still do the work i want it to do when its not acting as a media center. anyway, from what i am hearing, the MCE is limited to 2 standard def TV cards and 1 high def card. but why only 3 channels at once? what i want is a machine with way more then just 3 channels. and here is what i am talking about. there is a NTL Digibox down stairs in the living room, my sister has one, and now that im building the media center, i want one in my room. each of them have their own TV, with the exception of mine which is a PC, but lets not get too technical about that. and then there is the parents room with out a digibox, but it does have standard TV. so, my idea. have a media center server somewhere in the house with some of those Win TV PVR500 cards, the ones with dual tuners. so my machine has 5 PCI slots (i think its 3 regular and 2 64bit ones. see the photo here), why cant i just put in 5 of them cards. it would allow me to watch 10 channels at once, or record 9 and watch 1, or in my mad idea im talking about here, each person in the house to watch one channel each and record up to 6 others. with the media center, you can use 2 sources for your channels, so you can plug 2 digi boxes into your MCE. why not more? wouldent it be cool to have 4 Digi boxen in your house, and anyone in any room could watch them? using media center extenders, it is all posible, but not for that many users. ohhh, other idea: an extender for your Pocket PC! you could be walking around the house watching TV using a wireless network. just compress the video a bit and your grand. watch TV in the garden, while cooking, etc. hmmmm. anyway, thats my rant for the day.