[white_2kgt]

I've been reading the guides and forums here for a few days and I'm about ready to start the build. For those that have done this before I'm going to list out what I have, what I want to be able to do and then what I plan on using for the HTPC hardware. If you see a place where I could upgrade or a place where I've got to much just let me know,


What I have,

Comcast Digital Cable + HD Box + DVR (all one box) (soon to be Verizon FIOS, but as I understand it they use the same Motorola DVR/HD box)

Samsung 50" Plasma (2 HDMI, 1 VGA, NO DVI)


What I want to do,

As I understand it I cannot currently record HD content from the comcast cable to my HTPC, if this is incorrect please let me know. I should however be able to record HD OTA content correct? (Haupage 500). The main reason for the HTPC is to be able to surf the internet and record SD content (eventually HD with minor upgrades) that I usually record on my DVD Recorder when the Comcast DVR is in use.


What I'm looking to build,
CASE: ARK HTPC 400BA Black Aluminum/Steel ATX Media Center (anyone know what DVD recorders are compatable w/ this case? I see most people have to pop off the front panel of the DVD player to make it fit).
PS: SeaSonic S12-430 ATX12V 430W Power Supply
CPU: Core 2 Duo 2.4
MOBO: MSI P965 Platinum LGA 775 Intel P965
MEMORY: CORSAIR ValueSelect 512x2 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667

Graphics: MSI NX7600GT-VT2D256E GeForce 7600GT 256MB
CAPTURE: Haupage WinTV 500
HD1: Seagate Barracuda ES ST3320620NS 320GB 7200 RPM (RAID0)
HD2: Seagate Barracuda ES ST3320620NS 320GB 7200 RPM (RAID0)
DVD Recorder: SAMSUNG Black 18X DVD+R w/ Lightscribe
OS: Windows MCE


Is there some component that you've worked with that I have on my list that you dislike? Will I be able to get all the functionality I need out of MCE without going to BeyondTV or SageTV? Suggestions? Oh and I want it to be pretty quiet.


Thanks,

Chad

 

[ams123]

You will get all the functionality you need out of MCE.


Just to be clear a Hauppauge 500 card is a dual tuner card for SDTV.


Why use RAID0? You don't need the speed, which is questionable anyway. A raid 0 array just doubles your chances of loosing all of your data.

 

[white_2kgt]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ams123 /forum/post/0


You will get all the functionality you need out of MCE.


Just to be clear a Hauppauge 500 card is a dual tuner card for SDTV.


Why use RAID0? You don't need the speed, which is questionable anyway. A raid 0 array just doubles your chances of loosing all of your data.

Yes, you are correct. I've been looking at some of the other cards, I see hauppage has a 950? That connects via USB and will record HD correct, is there a PCI version? I've been looking through the WatchHD thread ( http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=590020 ) but don't much about HD capture cards, are any dual tuner? I'm new to the whole HD thing.


I picked RAID0 because I want to have one big drive to record to. I won't be storing anything on there that I'd lose sleep over if it got lost, just TV and some games. I just hate to run out of space when I want to do something. I have several RAID0's setup on my other computers. My video editing rig has 4HD's setup in RAID0. In 2 years I've lost that one once (bad HD) and in my file server I have 2 RAID0 arrays with 2HD's in each and it's been setup for over 4 years now running 24/7 never failed, I do back that up to slower drives daily though.


After looking though cases more I altered the one above to this one,

Eagle Tech CA-EC2-K Black Aluminum ATX Media Center Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...117075&Local=y


It comes w/ a PowerSupply and remote control (that will work w/ MCE right?). No card reader, I'll use an external one and the inside looks to be a little tighter but I think I can make it work. Has anyone out there used this case? Likes/Dislikes?


Thanks!

Chad

 

[ams123]

Well I don't know dual tuners well but since you want a dual SD card take a look at the Nvidia DualTVMCE. The Nvidia has a much better picture than the Hauppauge and adds some control to adjust the picture on the captured video, this saves you from having to adjust it in the display driver and affecting all you output content.

 

[white_2kgt]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ams123 /forum/post/0


Well I don't know dual tuners well but since you want a dual SD card take a look at the Nvidia DualTVMCE. The Nvidia has a much better picture than the Hauppauge and adds some control to adjust the picture on the captured video, this saves you from having to adjust it in the display driver and affecting all you output content.

Thanks for the lead on that car, it looks to be a nice SD card! I may just get that for now and when HDHomeRun supports MCE I may upgrade to that.


Thanks for the help!

Chad