Vista, HDTV Tunners and my HTPC

[JustChill]

Im running Vista MCE in my HTPC and I tried to set up MCE with my FusionHDTV5 RT Gold. I got nowhere with MCE or on Beyond TV with the fusion card. So I went to CC and got a hauppauge 1600 and everything works in MCE as far as TV. I use a Antena to receive OTA HD signal. So my main question is, should I keep this fusion hd card or not I was told that it is one of the best cards out there and I deff. receive less channels with the 1600 (no sub channels) but at least it works with MCE.
Also wanted to know if I could use FFDshow to upscale DVD within MCE. Trying to do everything within MCE.
Lastly here are some pics of my Newly built HTPC the only thing that is likely to change is the X1650 XT will soon be water cooled also.


http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/6421/computerhtpc003bj3.jpg

http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/2166/computerhtpc005ar0.jpg

http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/9284/computerhtpc007wf4.jpg

http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/7185/computerhtpc006xt3.jpg

http://img489.imageshack.us/img489/7243/computerhtpc015rw6.jpg

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/2799/computerhtpc025go3.jpg

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/3599/computerhtpc027bj3.jpg

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/3091/computerhtpc021aj2.jpg

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/4425/computerhtpc020zg5.jpg

http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/3669/115ae2.jpg

[LandShark]

really clean & very nice setup!! good to see another w/c'ed htpc!! http://landshark-racing.com/icon/thumbsup.gif x 2!!

I'm surprised you fit the BIP inside instead of outside the case! yeah, it looks a lot cleaner but I opt for easier access inside. :p oh, did you put anything/padding in between the pump and HDD case? does it get loud or vibrate mounting that way?

as for the Fusion, I've been using the Fusion5 Lite and love it! no problem at all running BTV! FYI, I've just added a HVR-950 for dual HD too, again, no problem. however, I don't use MCE so I'm not sure if MCE itself has problem w/ the Fusion card (which I honestly don't think so.....). oh, I know/heard you could use FFDShow w/ MCE, but again since I'm not using it, I don't know how too. sorry I'm not being helpful at all here.... :shrug:

[wa77ss]

:drool:

[Pinky]

That's a good watercooling job. Tight tubing! :p

I have no opinion on the tuner cards. Most of them have inherent issues so I've been avoiding using them for as long as I can.

BTW, what are those crappy speakers doing on the mantel?

[JustChill]

really clean & very nice setup!! good to see another w/c'ed htpc!! x 2!!
Thanx that means alot comming from you. It was your project (2.0) that got me thinking this could be done.

As for the BTV thing when I had the fusion card in there It would not let me choose it as a card in the setup. It was there in the list but it had a * next to it meaning I could not choose that card as my tuner card for BTV. I think it might have something to do with Vista.

The speakers are temp. Untill I move my Klipsch Pro audio from my office to the LR

[Pinky]

The speakers are temp. Untill I move my Klipsch Pro audio from my office to the LR

That's going to sound awesome!

[kovboi]

i can't say about the card, but those pics are positively droolworthy! :drool:

[Jon]

I have the Lite version and run MCE 2005 with no issues. The only problem I found is that I had to use the drivers that came on the CD. Every driver package I downloaded from DVICO's site left my card undetected within MCE.

Love my DVICO though. Picture quality is so much better than the compressed HD crap Comcast pushes through their STB units.

EDIT:

By the way, I'm considering the PVR-1600 as a replacement for my PVR-150 and DVICO cards since the board I want to move to is lacking enough PCI slots. How is the video quality on the HD side? I don't watch much SDTV, so I could really care less, but I'd really hate to take a hit on HD recordings. The DVICO will move to another HTPC, but it doesn't have the disk space for playback recording...just live PVR capabilities.

[JustChill]

Like I said I have the dvico hd gold-rt and I think that the 1600 is the same picture quality and it solved all my driver problems within vista.....
I also went to a XT1650pro from a 79000gt and I swear I see better performance with the ATI ...and let it be known I am a nvidia fanboy.......