I finally picked up my a new card for my home-grown MCE machine.
I previously had the Avermedia M179, which is a piece of crap - don't buy it. If you used S-Video input, there was a crackle. Apparently you could ground it by running cable from the coax input to a VCR that was plugged in but not hooked up to any signal - and even then, there was enough of a crackle to make it unwatchable. Of course, you could eliminate the crackle entirely by using the coax input, but the picture quality was so pitiful that it too was unwatchable.
It was backordered for awhile, but my Hauppauge WinTV 250MCE arrived last night. This is the new MCE 2004 model that adds FM radio (MCE 2004 adds radio support, but sadly there is no recording or guide functionality yet).
I tried to install the card last night, but for whatever reason it kept recognizing it as the old AverMedia card. MCE is known to be quite picky, so I decided to rebuild it. Besides, it was a good opportunity to get the RAID striping set up with the two 40GB drives I have in there now. If I get the DVR working, I'll probably upgrade to a 120GB or 250GB sometime soon.
I still have a few things to finish tonight or tomorrow (I let it install overnight) - but it looks like I'll finally have my DVR!
The next step is to buy some quiet PC components and improve cooling. I already bought a new case for it to fit in my entertainment center (I previously had a full tower - don't ask, I was drunk when I bought it). The CPU fan is especially noisy - that'll be the first to be replaced. There's also some cool stuff you can buy like foam to coat the inside of the case to dull the sound and so on.
And while we're on the subject of Media Centers, the “Media Center Extenders” look cool. I wonder when we'll see the first of these and how much they will cost - anyone at CES and/or know more details? Microsoft is definitely making a strong push to be in the living room, and this would be a great step in the right direction.