Need Advise for HTPC Build

[Maglin]

Well I'm not building it now but I'm going to in the next few months. My goals are pretty down to earth. I have a 50" DLP Samsung HLR 720P HDTV that I want to hook the HTPC to. My receiver is an older Sony AC3 receiver about 8 years old.

I'm wanting my HTPC to be a PVR and HD-DVD and Blue Ray player along with basically being my cable box replacement (except for VoD :( ) Being as it's a 720P stream and only AC3 5.1 channel audio I'm wanting to know if these hardware will be adaquet.

So here is current pricing
Case: Antec Fusion $150
PSU: Supplied 430W PSU Free
MB: Asus P5K-VM $119
CPU: Intel C2D E2160 $83
RAM: PQI PC2 4200 DDR2 2x1GB $53
Sound: Onboard Video Card
Video: Saphire 2600XT $100
DVD Drive: LG HD-DVD, Blue Ray combo drive $300 (Ommitted from current Total)
HDD: WD Caviar 750GB SATA $190
OS: Vista Ultimate 32bit (Already own) ($111)
Tuner Card: AVerMedia AverTV M780 $119
PVR: Beyond TV $65 / Sage TV $70 (Both seem like excellent products)

Total: $884 (This is using Vista which I already own)

Now I'm not to sure what to use for a Tuner card. I'm liking the feature set of the FusionHDTV5 Express. I want to use Beyond TV with the Link on my other computers as the main PVR app. I'm just not to sure how good of a card this will be over say the SiliconDust HDHomeRun tuner.

I'm wanting to kept the entire cost under $1K. I'm unsure if the onboard video of the G33 chip set is strong enough to decode a 720P stream. If not then I would definitely go with a HD 2600 Pro DDR3. But I wouldn't get a video card unless I really had to. I do plan to get a new TV in a few years as I do want a 1080P set but this one is barely 2 years old. Also I was thinking since I want to just pass through the audio to the reciever to do the audio decoding if the on board sound would be just fine for that? I've read a little bit on HTPC's. I would like some help on making this a function item. I'm looking for cheap and good with the definite possibility of upgrading down the road. I'm not looking to OC this rig. Going to use the intel HSF. I might replace the case fans with something quieter if they prove to be to loud.

1) Which is the better HDTV Tuner card to use with Beyond TV?

2) Will onboard Sound work?

3) Will onboard Video work for 720P, and HD-DVD and Blue Ray playback?

[Jon]

1) I have a DVICO and love it. However, the HDHomeRun is a better tuner and will give you more options down the road. It's a favorite on most dedicated sites now. You might even want to consider the AverMedia M780 if the Vista Media Center is to be used. It's currently the only card that has support for unencrypted QAM within VMC by a plugin they have developed.

2) Onboard SPDIF passthrough will be fine. I use onboard SPDIF on both of my HTPCs. Any other audio transcoding will be processed by the CPU anyway, so no reason to get a hardware card that is not going to do any work to begin with.

3) Grab a 2600PRO if you're not doing any gaming and limited by budget. An XT if it's still in your budget. Onboard video is not worth the trouble...it is going to give you problems with HD-DVDs and especially BlueRay. You'll also need to count Cyberlink PowerDVD 7 Utra as an expected cost for the HD playback.

[thegreek]

3) Grab a 2600PRO if you're not doing any gaming and limited by budget. An XT if it's still in your budget. Onboard video is not worth the trouble...it is going to give you problems with HD-DVDs and especially BlueRay. You'll also need to count Cyberlink PowerDVD 7 Utra as an expected cost for the HD playback.
isn't there free solutions available? all you need is anydvd trial to play or rip then use MPC or zoom player w/ the right codecs.

[Jon]

isn't there free solutions available? all you need is anydvd trial to play or rip then use MPC or zoom player w/ the right codecs.

Not if you want your decoding done by the video card.

[Maglin]

Ok. So after some reading I think a 2600XT is the right choice for a video card. I didn't realize it helped with SD so much but it's the perfect HTPC card and cost isn't to bad. I'm thinking since I would be going with external video I can get a lower end C2D and a different MB w/o onboard video.

I don't know about micro ATX boards. Is their any one board that shines in the HTPC sector? I'm also going to use a E4500 to save on costs and one single 750GB HDD for inital start-up.

I was planing on using Vista MCE but I could just as easily use XP MCE. I would probably use AnyDVD as I don't think my TV is HDCP compliant. But beyond TV is definitly the PVR software I want to run.

So here is current pricing
Case: Antec Fusion $150
PSU: Supplied 430W PSU Free
MB: Asus P5K-VM $119
CPU: Intel C2D E2160 $83
RAM: PQI PC2 4200 DDR2 2x1GB $53
Sound: Onboard Video Card
Video: Saphire 2600XT $100
DVD Drive: LG HD-DVD, Blue Ray combo drive $300 (Ommitted from current specs)
HDD: WD Caviar 750GB SATA $190
OS: Vista Ultimate 32bit (Already own) / XP MCE $115
Tuner Card: SiliconDust HDHomeRun / Gyration MCE Remote Bundle $270 / DVICO FusionHDTV5 Express w/remote $170 / AVerMedia AverTV M780 $119
PVR: Beyond TV $65 / Sage TV $70 (Both seem like excellent products)


So as is for cheapest HTPC solution w/o HD playback at this time but be able to upgrade in the future and use for 5-7 years. Looks like $982.

[Jon]

If not overclocking, then practically any mATX board is going to be fine so long as it has a SPDIF jack on it (unless you have a breakout adapter for a SPDIF header that most include). I would stick to the Intel chipsets, so practically any Asus, Abit, or MSI (stay away from ECS, et al) will fit the bill.

If not using the capabilities of MCE/VMC, then I'd stick with regular XP and go with the Beyond Media package along with Beyond TV to keep it all within Snapstream. The MCE/VMC TV services would need to be disabled to keep from interfering and it's just not worth having the additional bloat if it's not going to be used. If using Vista, then it won't really matter anyway.

As far as going with the E4500, I'd save even a few more bucks and get a E2140/E2160 and BSEL mod it.

[LandShark]

I've been using Fusion5Lite for 1+yr, no problem whatsoever! but you might want to really looking into the HomeRun tho as I believe it's a dual tuner and works well w/ BTV. on the other hand, BM is really a joke imho, never like it since day one!

[Jon]

I've been using Fusion5Lite for 1+yr, no problem whatsoever! but you might want to really looking into the HomeRun tho as I believe it's a dual tuner and works well w/ BTV. on the other hand, BM is really a joke imho, never like it since day one!

How do you handle video files? I've never used BM...just figured it would be easiest to deal with since it integrates. Or do you use Meedios for everything except for TV (BTV externally from Meedios)?

[LandShark]

How do you handle video files? I've never used BM...just figured it would be easiest to deal with since it integrates. Or do you use Meedios for everything except for TV (BTV externally from Meedios)?

yeah, I use Meedio as the main front end, and BTV as a PVR function "within" Meedio (same goes to PowerDVD that only use to play HD DVD but also sit w/in Meedio). if you look at some of my screen pic of Meedio (on other threads), you'll see there's a "LiveTV" icon on Meedio's main page. when I click it, it will load BTV, when exit BTV, Meedio will pop back up.

and yo can also set it to load into any portion of BTV if you like. moreover, you can also import recorded TV shows from BTV into Meedio's library and create a new library like Recorded Show. so you can watch it directly in Meedio, no need to even load up BTV.

[Maglin]

Well I have a fairly open digital signal here in Kansas I do believe. Right now I'm mainly looking for PVR functionality and eventually HD-DVD and Blue Ray player. Maybe even some steaming stuffs also. I've edited my first post reflect my current build specs. It's coming in under $900 which is where I want it to be.

I think I'm going to use the AVerMedia AverTV M780 as my tuner solution. From the reviews it outperformes the PVR-1600 in almost every way. The HDHR looks to be an excellent product but it's over 2x the cost of the M780. The M780 can use the VMC for Clear QAM. I'm going to get the M780 first and install it on my gaming rig to see what all I can do with it and see how well I even like it. If I'm wrong and have next to no clear QAM channels then I'll have to either wait for cablecard stuffs or buy and cable card HTPC. :(