Setup recommendations?

[Mindflayer]

I have soo many questions so bear with me.

Current setup:

Living Room
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-Decent progressive scan DVD player w/ component out to TV, optical audio to reciever
-27" WEGA Sony TV (non-HDTV, component input from DVD, S-video from reciever)
-5.1 surround system reciever (with every type of input/ouput except component)

Office
-------------------------
2 computers:
-1.8 GHZ AMD, 512 MB, 60 gig hard drive (my computer, loads of emulator roms and games SNES/Gen/Nes)
-1.0 GHZ AMD, 384 MB, 2x40 gig hard drive (my wife's, with one drive of hers full of ripped CDs in mp3 format)
-Soon going to 802.11g/b wireless network.


Alright, now that is out of the way I will get to what I want my HPTC to do and some solutions. I want a media center that can play MP3s, emulator games only (no PC games), and do TIVO like functions in my living room, I would NOT need DVD capabilities. My options are to set up a server/client relationship or just a server in the living room.

Questions:
1) If I set up client/server, is my computer good enough to act as the recorder/server (I would of course be adding a 200/250 GB hardrive to mine)?
1a) What minimums would I need in a client machine?
1b) What would need to be on the client besides XP and SageClient in order to run the emulators and MP3s or can that all be done via the server through wireless?
1c) Would I be able to stream the video over 802.11g/b reliably?


2) I have heard the PVR 350 is best quality for CRT TVs, but have also read would not work with MP3s or the emulators. I have heard Sage 2.0 has OSD but would that help with the emulators/MP3s?
2a) If the PVR 350 with Sage 2.0 will work with MP3s/Emulators would I be able to put it in the client machine and then have that act as the recorder/client but the main computer be the server?


I would prefer a client/server setup as it the lowest cost if my current hardware can handle it. If the above setup will not work than I might have to just build a nice server in the room and just move all the media over (which is an option) but it would be more expensive and thats harder to win over the wife.

Thanks for any help given ahead of time!

[stanger89]

1) A 486 could be a server if you wanted. OK, I'm exagerating here, but all the server does is write the files from the 250/350 to disk and send them back out over the network. Nothing the server does requires much power the 250/350 does all the work. So that would be a yes.

1a) Minimums is always a tricky thing, with a 350, it would be similar to the server, the 350 does all the work. Without a 350, software decoding, the 1.0 should be enough, but I'd go with the 1.8, just for headroom.

1b) Sage should be able to take care of the PVR/MP3 stuff but you'd still need whatever you currently use for the emulators, you might want to look at myHTPC to give you a nice interface to launch the games.

1c) 802.11b no. 802.11g probably, but as always I'm going to recommend wired. G should work with one client, but if you want 2 or definitely more than that you'll need to go wired.

2) The 350 can only output MPEG video or things specifically written to use it, like SageTV 2.0, so no you won't be able to use it for your Emulators. You may be able to do mp3s if you have a soundcard as well.


From what you describe you don't really need a server, one SageTV box in your living room would work for you also, and save you the cost of a SageClient license.