[dajaga]

ok i was at a computer store today i found a computer for about 1300.00 canadian. here is the specs


17" atx case 300 watt supply

msi km4m-l mobo

radeon 9600se 128mb w/tv-out, dvi

sound blaster audigy 2 6.1 channel

amd xp 2200+

512 ddr ram

40gb 7200rpm ata-133 hdd

dvd-rom

3.5 floppy

keyboard/mouse

winxp


ok what kind of card should i get for cable. i will be hooking this up to a epson powerlite home 10 projector, will i be able to make the picture more sharper and have more lines of resolution, also will i be able to watch regular tv in widescreen with out deforming the picture, also what is a good tv in, i have digital cable will i still need my digital cable box. thanks dave

 

[Greg_R]

Quote:

ok what kind of card should i get for cable.

You are looking for a video input card. There are a few options (check the recommended components listing) but you need to make sure that it will work with Dscaler. Dscaler is a free program that performs deinterlacing. Your video card will upsample the stream to the resolution you select. Beware, not all video input cards will tune analog cable. As an alternative, you can run s-video or composite from your cable box into the video input card (your cable box will switch the channels, the HTPC will simply deinterlace and scale the image.

Quote:

i will be hooking this up to a epson powerlite home 10 projector, will i be able to make the picture more sharper and have more lines of resolution

You will want to set your computer's resolution to the native rate of your projector (854 x 480 pixels) and use a 16x9 screen (since that is the aspect ratio of your panel). This will result in optimal image quality (there are further improvements like phase adjustment, etc.).

Quote:

also will i be able to watch regular tv in widescreen with out deforming the picture

No one can do this. A 4:3 image will not completely fill a 16x9 screen w/o stretching. Dscaler offers a few options for watching 4:3 content on a 16:9 display (bars on the sides, stretch, & stretch/zoom). Letterboxed items on TV (Stargate, etc.) can be watched via the zoom option (cropping the black bars in the 4:3 broadcast).

Quote:

also what is a good tv in, i have digital cable will i still need my digital cable box.

If you want premium stations, you will still need your cable box. Some video input cards will tune analog cable channels (which you'll change on the HTPC). Personally, I use DirecTV and run it through my video input card (switch channels on the DirecTV and just use the HTPC as a scaler.