[Lonely Raven]

OK, I'm making the jump to HD rather suddenly after coming into a little green over X-mas. I picked up a Mitsubishi HC5500 projector, but now I'm realizing my HTPC is probably lacking.


Having not planned on being able to afford jumping to HD, I didn't rebuild my HTPC with HD in mind besides being able to watch at 1024X768 on my old projector. So I have a budget Dual Core motherboard (with lots of hard drives!), a decent Dual Core processor, and a very basic video card that I was running to my old projector through a 30' DVI cable.


Now, I'm trying to read up and cram here in the HTPC forums as to what video card I should be upgrading to, and I'm seeing a lot of conflicting information as to what works passing sound through HDMI and what doesn't.


I don't have a Blu-Ray drive in the HTPC (yet) as we got a PS3 for X-mas, and the sound is your basic onboard HD sound. And with the mixed information I'm seeing here in the forums, I'm really not sure what the best video card is for me to get hooked up to my new 1080p projector!


I'm thinking about picking up a DVI to HDMI adapter today on my way home from work and just trying that out to see what and how my system works as is. But I'd like to have a clear upgrade path in mind so I know what to budget for and what to buy. It would be awesome if I could get a $100 video card that will not leave me lacking....is there such a thing currently?


Also, I'm still running an older Yammi Dolby Digital receiver...but I have plans for an Onkyo SR805 or SR876 depending on how much all my other parts are going to cost, and if I can find a great deal on an SR805!


Suggestions? Threads I should read? Help?

 

[redtyler1]

I think there are two options, one of which is good for you and the other is not.

First, you can upgrade the video card to an ATI 4650 and get LPCM 7.1 and really good video for like $70. Some people report 24p issues with this card, but that may not be an issue for you. If it is, then NVIDIA may be a better option. HOwever, the problem with an NVIDIA card solution is that you need a sound card to transfer the HiDef Audio. So, that route might entail getting a 9600GT and then the Asus HDAV 1.3 sound card (which can bitsream in Vista, now I believe). Thats more expensive- like $300.


Second, you could potentially get an NVIDIA 9300 board with does LPCM and 1080/24p. If you can recycle parts from your old HTPC, this might work. But the boards cost more than 100.


As for ease, it may be that the ATI card is the best option.


Hope that helps.


Alex

 

[soyuppy]

Read this thread. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=940972 . It will have 99% of all the answer you are looking for. I had mine built solely base on the recommended comp from Renethx

 

[Lonely Raven]



Quote:
Originally Posted by redtyler1 /forum/post/15506678


I think there are two options, one of which is good for you and the other is not.

First, you can upgrade the video card to an ATI 4650 and get LPCM 7.1 and really good video for like $70. Some people report 24p issues with this card, but that may not be an issue for you. If it is, then NVIDIA may be a better option. HOwever, the problem with an NVIDIA card solution is that you need a sound card to transfer the HiDef Audio. So, that route might entail getting a 9600GT and then the Asus HDAV 1.3 sound card (which can bitsream in Vista, now I believe). Thats more expensive- like $300.


Second, you could potentially get an NVIDIA 9300 board with does LPCM and 1080/24p. If you can recycle parts from your old HTPC, this might work. But the boards cost more than 100.


As for ease, it may be that the ATI card is the best option.


Hope that helps.


Alex

Thanks, that sounds like a good direction for me. I was thinking ATI as they have always been a little more HTPC oriented where nVidia is more game oriented IMHO. Are there any drawbacks, or upcoming formats/technologies I need to be looking at by going ATI?

Quote:
Originally Posted by soyuppy /forum/post/15506689


Read this thread. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=940972 . It will have 99% of all the answer you are looking for. I had mine built solely base on the recommended comp from Renethx

I read through much of that, and it's a bit outdated. There have been many new video cards with some format upgrades since then, no?

 

[diogen]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Lonely Raven /forum/post/15506784


I read through much of that, and it's a bit outdated.

Read page 85 of the same thread. Updated Jan. 6th this year.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...940972&page=85

 

[Lonely Raven]

Oh WOW! That's great, thanks!


(obviously I never made it that far in the thread)

 

[redtyler1]



Thanks, that sounds like a good direction for me. I was thinking ATI as they have always been a little more HTPC oriented where nVidia is more game oriented IMHO. Are there any drawbacks, or upcoming formats/technologies I need to be looking at by going ATI?


I have an Onkyo SR 606 and an ATI 4670. I had some hiccups with driver issues, but everything is solid now. If you go Onkyo, no reason not to given the price/performance ratio, make sure you use Input 1 on the AVR for the HTPC.


Alex