HTPC System - Recommendations?

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Orinthical

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 7, 2004
Messages
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Just like Anarchonixx, I will be building an HTPC out of "spare parts" I have laying around the house and I would very much like to know any recommendations or suggestions those with more experience in this area might have for me.

Right now the box is up and running with XP SP2 and I have S-Video out to the TV running as a secondary monitor at 640x480 to my "tiny" 27" TV while my main output goes to a CRT monitor at 1024x768.

Specs so far:

AMD Athlon XP 2400+
FrozenCPU Speedstrip
Asus A7N266-VM/AA
512MB Samsung PC2700 CAS2 (@266) DDR333 (1x512)
120GB WD 7200RPM 8MB ATA/133
16X DVD-ROM (LiteOn)
NuTech DDW-082 DVD+/-RW
Floppy
ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 9600 PRO
3COM 3C905-TX-M NIC
On-Board sound via nForce-1 chipset (Soundstorm)

I am planning on buying a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR/250MCE to provide good quality video input from my Comcast Digital Cable box and MPEG2 Encoding.

I am assuming that since the PVR250MCE does not have TV-Output, the S-Video connector is TV-In? Or is it a dongle interface? I am further assuming that the RCA's are for standard composite/audio input as opposed to output? Just want to make sure before I map out my wires.

I am also planning on picking up this remote control as was recommended by CrimandEvil, http://www.pcalchemy.com/product_info.php/cPath/38/products_id/109 , though I do already have an ATI Remote Wonder that came with my All-In-Wonder but I don't think it will work well in MCE.

Which brings me to OS, which will be Windows XP MCE. Where I work thankfully grants me access to a licensed copy of this so I figured I'd try it out first and see if I like it. Aside from a base install of XP-MCE, what will I need to get things going?

Further; Sometime early next year hopefully I am planning on putting in an HD-capable front projector and large 16:9 ratio screen. What upgrades would you recommend at that point as far as video out and such. DVI? or at least straight DB15?

Also; since DVI has been mentioned repeatedly and seems "the way to go" -- is there any way of getting DVI from the All-In-Wonder 9600 PRO? Unfortunately it has a proprietary dongle with two standard DB15 VGA's on it instead of the usual DB15/DVI on alot of other cards.

Another thing that may throw a monkey wrench into this is the fact that I use Comcast Digital Cable. The box I have has quite a few output choices including Composite/Svideo for the video and RCA-Stereo and Digital-PCM(Coax) for audio.

I am guessing that if I went with the PVR250 system I would need to run Svideo Video and RCA-Stereo for audio?

Thanks in advance for any comments/suggestions/feedback, etc.
 
LOL, I should really get a job in sales I guess. :)

I want to preface that I don't use MCE so hopefully someone more knowledgable will pipe in about it BTW I wish I could play with it though. ;)

Okay, I'm pretty sure MCE still doesn't support software based encoders like the AIW which means that if you want to use TV with it you're out of luck. The 250MCE is perfect for it though and yes those are input only. MCE also doesn't support using two tuner cards (not really needed but is great to have, I do have two 250MCEs and find that they are"needed" lol) nor HD tuners (support is on the way though).

If you look through the sticky you'll see a link for....screw it here it is :)
Guide for Digital Cable

I don't think the 9600 AIW does DVI but I could be wrong. Up shot is you could probably sell the AIW for around $200 and buy a 250MCE and a 9600NP though, lol.

You'll want to checkout some IR Blaster to control your cable box (look in the sticky) or maybe an USB-UIRT and use your favorite Universal remote.

For HD I would suggest getting one of these.
http://htpcnews.com/main.php?id=crescendo_2200_1

I think that might be it. I loved that MB though, I use to have one and it was great. :) Great job on the specs too.
 
Orinthical said:
I am planning on buying a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR/250MCE to provide good quality video input from my Comcast Digital Cable box and MPEG2 Encoding.

I am assuming that since the PVR250MCE does not have TV-Output, the S-Video connector is TV-In? Or is it a dongle interface? I am further assuming that the RCA's are for standard composite/audio input as opposed to output? Just want to make sure before I map out my wires.
Click to expand...
You might want to look into the PVR350, it has hardware encoding and decoding. It also offer a Svideo and RCA out. If you decide to go the linux route, it has a few more options with linux, particularily the svideo out will give you a better picture with MythTV.

Also MCE does not support the AIW cards...
 
Thank you for the replies sofar -- lets examine this from another point of view then -- the only reason I can think of right now to go for the MCE is due to it's low resolution support. Sadly, my current TV (and until I get my projector hehe) is only 27" and not very high end, it has Svideo but not component, etc. It will do 640x480, though I've noticed when in overscan mode it chops off some of the edging so I'd think it's really only capable of supporting something more along the lines of 512x384. Bleh.

So, discounting XP:MCE, what are you using for your setup CrimandEvil? I read in other posts that you noted XP so are you using regular XP with SageTV or the like? Or linux with Myth?

I am by no means a guru in Linux just yet but I think I do alright. =) I have an FC2 box here that I've tortured ... er... played with... and haven't managed to crash yet. Which is a bit of an accomplishment considering I had several installs of RH9 outright eat themselves on the same hardware. =) Of course I said all that to say -- how difficult would it be to go with a linux alternative?

Or would you recommend that, given that the rest of my 'shop' as it were is Windows based?
 
Either ATi or NV cards will let you set custom resolutions so thats not a problem. What TV is it? You'll probably have to monkey aroung with Powerstrip to output to it so be prepared to feel frustrated and find as much info on your TV as possible (timings and such, check the sticky for powerstrip guides).

I'm using XP Home with SageTV and soon I'm going to be adding Meedio.

Software said:
DVDs - Theater Tek (on the way)
TV - SageTV
Music - iTunes (LOL, I like it's music handling and it displays nicely on my SDTV)
Frontend - Meedio (soon)
Video files - Media Player Classic
Miscellaneous - FFDShow and few small apps
Click to expand...
Hardware said:
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe (it's a newegg refurb so I got it really cheap :D)
Athlon XP 1900+
256 of memory (I really need more)
Two 250MCE tuners
Gainward GF2 MX (pretty crappy but it's what I have sitting around- using a VGA to svideo adapter)
Fortron Source FSP300-60PN 300w PSU (replaced my POS Antec :D)
Lite-On DVD/CDRW (finally replaced my dead DVD drive :D)
WD 120GB SE (I need to get another one very soon)
StreamZap Remote and X10 HT remote (now discontinued)
Regular PC case (building my own custom HTPC case so this works for now)
Click to expand...

I have analog cable (don't really see the need for Digital since I don't watch much TV but I do miss some of those HBO/Showtime/etc TV series). Hopefully by Christmas I can replace the GF2 MX with a 6600GT and a few more upgrades are on the way like replacing the drives with some slot loading laptop ones. I'm also interested in getting a Wireless Logitech controller and using it like a remote as well as getting either a Gyration GT keyboard/ mouse setup or a Logitech MX900 and an Apple Wireless Keyboard.

I'd say if you have the skill you could easily setup a Linux/Myth box (Myth is pretty awesome), I haven't played with Linux for the pass two-three years but it is something that I find to be equal to using XP/Sage/Meedio. Pretty much up to you if you want to go with it.

If you decide to stick with Win then I would recommend that you check out PC Alchemy's SageTV bundles, it's a hellova a deal for the software and a PVR250 card.
 
Thanks CrimandEvil. =)

I was actually looking at the PVR250/SageTV bundle yesterday after following the link you provided to the remotes and it does look a little too good to pass up. hehe So maybe I'll skip MCE and just stick to XP+SageTV.

SageTV looks to be a front-end very similar to Meedio, so what inspired you to switch if I may ask?
 
Yeah it's meant to be used as a frontend but I only use it for TV (it has a build in music player, DVD player and photo viewer) so it's just a TV app to me. I just like the way Meedio "feels" as a frontend.

So I haven't really switched since Meedio doesn't have a TV app out yet, I'm just using both. :)
 
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