[Ricey]

Hey everyone,

Been reading lots of threads over here about HTPCs and the FAQs and such. So much info just boggles the mind though so thought I'd just straight out and ask. I was recently looking at a video processor to deinterlace/scale standard def sources to HDTV to my 27" lcd tv. But for the price of a mid-high end video processor, why not just build a pc that does everything and more? I'm pretty new to the HTPC scene though so I'm not sure where to start. I was hoping the advanced HTPC users here could help me get started. Heres the things I want to be able to do:


-upconvert standard def sources (cable/vhs/etc) to High Def

-progressive dvd and/or convert to HD

-record stuff once in awhile

-play games once in awhile

-Dolby digital/dts/etc


I've built my fair share of regular PCs, modified, tweaked, etc but I'm not quite sure what hardware would be best for a HTPC. Could you guys give me advice on what would be best for a mid-high end HTPC? I was already thinking of a AMD64 + X700/6800GT for starters but thats all I have in mind. Not sure what else to get. Also I do have a xbox/ps2 as well, so not sure where those will be tied in to here. Thanks for your advice and input in advanced


Oh, almost forgot. For a home theater audio, would it be best to buy one that was made for home theater like Onkyo systems or should i just get a PC system and use somethin like the creative DDTS-100? Thanks

 

[Scotty L]

Hate to say it but search is your friend. If you built a couple of PCs before you're in good shape.


The audio choices you mentioned scare me. HTBs are the devil, but if you want something that works, in say a dorm room, they'll work.

 

[Ricey]

Did a bit more researching. I've narrowed my setup down a bit


-Silverstone LC03-VFD (may change, still reading reviews)

-Athlon 64 3200+ S754

-mATX mobo (havent decided, any suggestions?)

-1gb Mushkin level 2 black (222)

-200gb Maxtor SATA HD

-DVD burner (havent decided, any suggestions?)

-DVD player (may just reuse my old Sony 16x one)

-Audigy 2 ZS or M-Audio

-Video Card (i'll either reuse my X800XTPE or get a X700/6800GT)


As for the HDTV tuner/Video Capture cards, thats something I need to research a lot more on but any suggestions are welcome

As for the audio systems i mentioned, yah, my room is pretty small, dont need somethin too big or dramtic

 

[mnn1265]

Quote:

-Silverstone LC03-VFD (may change, still reading reviews)

I have the non-VFD version of this case... good choice as it's roomy, easy to cool and it looks like a componenet on your rack and not a computer.

Quote:

Athlon 64 3200+ S754 -mATX mobo (havent decided, any suggestions?)

If you're a big Athlon fan then that's great... but for HTPC use consider a P4 3.0c (or better). I like the Asus P4C800-E Deluxe w/ gbit LAN.

Quote:

DVD burner (havent decided, any suggestions?)

Just buy a name-brand and not a cheapo and you'll be fine.

Quote:

DVD player (may just reuse my old Sony 16x one)

Seriously, if you're spending all this cash to build a cool HTPC why not use it for DVD playback? It will be far superior to a DVD player and you can use post-processing to customize your display. Zoomplayer appears to be the current leader in this area - TheaterTek 2.0 is brand new and buggy though in a few months it may be very good too.

Quote:

Audigy 2 ZS or M-Audio

Take a look at Chaintech AV-710 as it does 24bit sound and has an optical toslink out and all for about $25... can't beat that.

Quote:

Video Card (i'll either reuse my X800XTPE or get a X700/6800GT)

The 6800GT appears to be the way to go right now, tops for DVD playback and of course great for gaming too.

Quote:

As for the HDTV tuner/Video Capture cards, thats something I need to research a lot more on but any suggestions are welcome

Just keep in mind you can't record HD programming from most sources... other than OTA which you can record.


I know those responses aren't complete but should be enough to get you pointed in the right direction.

 

[Ricey]

Mnn, thanks for the advice

Also, do all HDTV cards deinterlace/scale standard def (regular cable) to HDTV (aside from Dscaler)? I've read a lot about the HDTV cards but theres not much info about it. I want my HTPC to deinterlace/scale as well as a $1500 video processor so would getting a Holo3D Graph II be best or would something like a MyHD + Dscaler work just as well?

 

[Gary McCoy]

The best deinterlacer/scaler is Dscaler. This does not work with any of the analog tuners on any of the HDTV boards I know of, you need a supported-by-Dscaler analog tuner card or capture card in another slot.


The HDTV tuner cards DO deinterlace/scale SD, but the result is pretty far below Dscaler quality. The Holo3D card is supported by Dscaler, and will work with 480i component video, but it's not a tuner card, it's a capture card. The other and cheaper Dscaler capture card is the PDI Deluxe card. But if you don't need 480i component capture, use a $49 TV tuner card like the Hauppauge WinTV Go with auxilliary S-Video input.


Gary

 

[Ricey]

Forgot to mention that I have a Time Warner HD settop box (i get 3 HD channels, woopee and it uses component). I probably will need to keep it so how will I will be hooking up the set top box to the HTPC/Holo3D II? Does the Holo3D II support HD component input?

 

[Gary McCoy]

No. There is no present consumer solution to capturing either HD component video or HD over RGB (aka VGA). These are analog inputs, you cannot keep up with the uncompressed bitrate of HDTV with today's PCs, nor transfer uncompressed video over the internal PCI bus.


What today's PCs will do is manipulate the compressed and encoded ATSC bitstream of the OTA broadcast signal. You can stream this to disk and play it back and the result is indistinguishable from live HDTV.


There are a couple of solutions that allow you to record and playback HDTV over Firewire. There is no solution I know of for your HD cable box or for the Dish/DirecTV HD receivers. You would need a digital bitstream over a digital connection which you do not have.


Both the cable company and Dish/DirecTV commonly offer PVRs for use with their service. That would be my suggestion for timeshifting HD from these sources. If your are very determined, then look in the HDTV Recorders Forum here at AVS, beginning with the FAQs. There are a few exceptions to what I said, but not easy ones.


Gary

 

[Ricey]

I currently live in Hawaii so I'm not quite sure if there are many HD OTA content here so I think I'm stuck with cable box HDTV. My box does have a DVI out and firewire though (sure on the DVI, gotta check the firewire). Will the DVI out work with the HD Aux card for the Holo3D? If not I'll have to check into the firewire option.

Also, I really just want to be able to deinterlace/scale the standard cable channels from my hdtv cable box (recording would be nice but I could hold out till it gets more simplified). Is this possible or would a seperate settop video processor be more viable? Also, how would a HTPC deinterlace/scaler compare to say a Lumagen Vision HDP or iScan HD+?

 

[Gary McCoy]

It seems your inquiries are advancing rapidly. I do not like to offer opinions on hardware I do not own, and I do not own a Holo3D card. In any case, as I said before, today's PCs are not fast enough to manipulate uncompressed HDTV material in analog form.


Three things I will caution you about: 1) The existence of a Firewire output on your cable box does NOT mean there is a digital bitstream containing the HDTV programming - it might be a maintenance port only. 2) Even if this HD bitstream were present on the Firewire, the content would probably be encrypted as is normally the case with cable products - to force you to rent or buy the cable company PVR because it's the only one that will work. 3) Even if the unencrypted HD data were present, you cannot connect to Firewire with a PC unless you have device-specific drivers for the cable box - another unlikely item, the cable company would have to provide a Windows driver disk and support for such connectivity.


At this point I think you need to switch to one of the HDTV Forums and first search and then contact other owners of the same model cable box you own - again I'm not gonna presume to give specific advice on hardware I don't have myself. Best of luck!


Gary