[NFLnut]

I am relatively new to this topic and am looking to build an HTPC to play Bluray movies, play some streaming and Hard drive saved video, as well as record football games from NFL-Sunday Ticket to Bluray for personal archival. I am not a gamer, and the chances of me ever using the HTPC for gaming is slim, but not absolutely out ofthe question.


My question is: is there ANY advantage for me to spend the extra $300-400 for a Crossfire or SLI video card? Is there ANY advantage to watching HD video and Bluray on one of these cards?


One other thing: what would the best card be for the purpose of recording from an HD satellite DVR to the HTPC? I am thinking of going for the Intel Core i7 CPU and motherboard. I just am not certain if I also need to spend the extra $$$ on a Crossfire/SLI card if their only advantage is for gaming.

 

[Bojangles139]



Quote:
Originally Posted by NFLnut /forum/post/17007377


My question is: is there ANY advantage for me to spend the extra $300-400 for a Crossfire or SLI video card? Is there ANY advantage to watching HD video and Bluray on one of these cards?

no. onboard graphics is more then enough for any video recording or watching.

Quote:
Originally Posted by NFLnut /forum/post/17007377


One other thing: what would the best card be for the purpose of recording from an HD satellite DVR to the HTPC? I am thinking of going for the Intel Core i7 CPU and motherboard. I just am not certain if I also need to spend the extra $$$ on a Crossfire/SLI card if their only advantage is for gaming.

no. there is no current way to take DVR recorded shows and port/transfer them to a pc. an i7 cpu is big time overkill for htpc purpose. if you need to transcode videos, more cpu us better but not necessary.


CF/SLI is only for gaming performance.

 

[NFLnut]

Yeah. I knw that I can't record the bitstream or HDMI. I just want to record (mostly football games to watch during offseason) onto Bluray via component out from the DVR. What are the best HD capture cards for this purpose?

 

[Jeff Flowerday]

Absolutely no advantage. Video playback takes little graphics power in comparison to gaming.

 

[TheSkinsFan]



Quote:
Originally Posted by NFLnut /forum/post/17007452


Yeah. I knw that I can't record the bitstream or HDMI. I just want to record (mostly football games to watch during offseason) onto Bluray via component out from the DVR. What are the best HD capture cards for this purpose?

This:
Hauppauge 1212 HD-PVR High Definition Personal Video Recorder
http://www.amazon.com/Hauppauge-1212.../dp/B0018LX0DY


Records HD broadcasts in AVCHD (.TS or .m2ts) formats on your PC via component-out from your set-top box, and you can then burn to DVD or Blu-ray discs for playback in BD players.


enjoy.


EDIT: As mentioned above, SLI/CF is only needed if you plan to play new PC games as well.

 

[DJWikiera]

Scratch the extra video card and grab the Hauppauge instead. Best recorder for the money right now.

 

[NFLnut]



Quote:
Originally Posted by TheSkinsFan /forum/post/17008329


This:
Hauppauge 1212 HD-PVR High Definition Personal Video Recorder
http://www.amazon.com/Hauppauge-1212.../dp/B0018LX0DY


Records HD broadcasts in AVCHD (.TS or .m2ts) formats on your PC via component-out from your set-top box, and you can then burn to DVD or Blu-ray discs for playback in BD players.


enjoy.


EDIT: As mentioned above, SLI/CF is only needed if you plan to play new PC games as well.

Thanks to everyone for the input. So for what I want to do, which is watch and record HD and Bluray videos (until/if I decide to run the newer games) I should go with the onboard graphics and forget about an addon card?


As to the Hauppauge 1212 .. I am intrigued and can't find the quick answer to this (searched some reviews): am I understanding you correctly? I can record/encode from the DVR to Bluray format (I know it is limited to 1080i, but my DVR hasn't recorded anything higher than 1080i anyway) and RECORD IT ON A STANDARD DVD-R? So this eliminates the need to buy expensive Bluray blanks? If so, that is awesome! Also .. one of the reviews I read from June 2008 stated that they weren't able at that time to get the DD5.1 to work. Has that been addressed?


Lastly .. The Skins .. you and I both have great taste in NFL franchises!

I'm a Skins fan practically from birth. I bleed B&G. HTTR!

 

[Jeff Flowerday]

No you shouldn't go onboard unless it's the Nvidia 9400. The Intel 4500HD(onboard) will do hardware accelerated decoding but it doesn't do the other stuff as well as Nvidia or ATI.


As for which PCIx video card, go with the ATI 4670 or wait till the new Nvidias with HDMI become available, which should be any day now.

 

[TheSkinsFan]



Quote:
Originally Posted by NFLnut /forum/post/17009307


Thanks to everyone for the input. So for what I want to do, which is watch and record HD and Bluray videos (until/if I decide to run the newer games) I should go with the onboard graphics and forget about an addon card?


As to the Hauppauge 1212 .. I am intrigued and can't find the quick answer to this (searched some reviews): am I understanding you correctly? I can record/encode from the DVR to Bluray format (I know it is limited to 1080i, but my DVR hasn't recorded anything higher than 1080i anyway) and RECORD IT ON A STANDARD DVD-R? So this eliminates the need to buy expensive Bluray blanks? If so, that is awesome! Also .. one of the reviews I read from June 2008 stated that they weren't able at that time to get the DD5.1 to work. Has that been addressed?


Lastly .. The Skins .. you and I both have great taste in NFL franchises!

I'm a Skins fan practically from birth. I bleed B&G. HTTR!

I too bleed B&G, and have since birth... HTTR indeed!


That said, the Hauppage device will NOT record the shows/movies/games on the DVR cablebox itself. Rather, the component output from the cable box would plug into the HD-PVR device, and the device would then connect to your PC via USB. Using your PC's Media Center software, you would schedule and record shows onto the PC hard drive in one of the AVCHD formats. From there, you would burn them, using the PC, onto your choice of DVD or Blu-ray Disc.


I would recommend using a single Dual-layer DVD (9GB) for each football game. Just remember, even though it's a DVD, they can still only be played back in Blu-ray players since they're in AVCDH format.


I'm not sure if they ever fixed the 5.1 audio. That's one thing you might have to find out in the forums or FAQ.


Hauppage Product Page:
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html


HD-PVR FAQ and Drivers:
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/suppor...ort_hdpvr.html


HD-PVR Owner's thread here at AVSForums:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...ghlight=hd+pvr


Hauppage Discussion Forum (UK):
http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/board/index.php


As for your graphics needs, go with a single PCIe card -- either ATI4550, or better, or the Nvidia 9400, or better. If you plan to game at any point, perhaps it might be a good idea to go with something even more powerful off the bat, like a single Nvidia GTX260, or better, or the ATI 4890, if you've got the cash.

Good luck! GO SKINS!