building htpc for the first time

[jnev_89]

hey guys, I need some help from you all. I'm moving into a new house in a few months and plan to have a pretty sick home theater setup that I'm in charge of setting up. we're already have the TV and sound setup, but now I need to get the HTPC built. I have a few questions about it that I hope you guys can answer. we want to get DirectTV. is it possible to hook it up to a computer instead of using the set-top box that comes with the service? how would I go about setting that up? I know I'll need to get a tv tuner. what's a good one to use for HD? should I get one integrated with a video card or a stand-alone one that I assume would plug into a PCI port. I want to use MythTV, but I've heard it has issues with HD content. should I use Vista instead? I'm going to be outputting to a 40-50" LCD with HDMI. what's a good (cheap) video card I should use for the HDMI output? there won't be much gaming going on. I've heard about some video cards having hardware-acceleration for HD content...

sorry for writing an essay, those are kind of my main concerns at this point, but I'm sure I'll think of more. In addition to that I plan on using a Q6600, unsure of the motherboard (any suggestions), and the case and psu I already have in my desktop. 2-4gb of ram.


thanks!

[Wicked Klown]

To use DTV with your computer without a STB you'll need one of these. (http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/08/directvs-pc-tuner-is-real/) For a good video card with HDMI and HA take a look at an ATI HD2600xt. I'm using an Abit AB9 QuadGT with my Q6600 and 2gigs ram with no issues.

[jnev_89]

what's an STB? and how's the ATI video card with linux (specifically MythTV)? last I checked nVidia was the way to go...

[Wicked Klown]

STB stands for Set Top Box meaning the sat or cable box. Not sure on Linux as I use Vista home premium. Also if your wanted to watch DTV and run linux you'll have to do so in SD rather then HD. As it stands right now no tuner card can capture HD from a sat cept the one I linked before.

[Neuromancer]

Wow good info WK

ATI has a cable card variant.. .for uh... cable...

With cable so much better then everything else right now I did not care about a sat release... just being able to record betwixt the box and tv would be awesome.

I hope this drives the market :) (doubtful)

[jnev_89]

is there a way to hook up the set-top box to the computer? would I still need a tuner card to do so? sorry I'm still learning the ins and outs of this haha.

[Wicked Klown]

Yea you can hook up a STB to the computer, just need a tuner card for it. When I had my ATI TV Wonder 650, I had my DTV STB hook up using s-video. Image was ok and could record, could do OTA(Over The Air) HD as well.

[jnev_89]

ok awesome, thanks for the reply. what would be the optimum way to connect the STB to the computer if it's all HD content?

[LandShark]

to record/tune HD content (especially from DTV), you can also use this (http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html)!!

[jnev_89]

thanks for the link. so I would connect the DTV set-top box to it via s-video correct? and then output it over component? what's the difference between the PVR and HVR? it seems like they both can play and record HD...

[jnev_89]

one more question: a lot of the video cards I've been looking at say they have a hdmi out via an adapter. I assume this is using the s-video port that all of them have. is there any difference in performance or quality between using a standard built-in hdmi port vs a s-video to hdmi adapter? specifically this was the 2600XT that I was looking at.

[Wicked Klown]

Naw ATI has a DVI to HDMI Dongle. (http://regmedia.co.uk/2007/05/14/amd_2900_xt_1.jpg)

[jnev_89]

oh wow ok that works just as well I guess. how is the quality/performance compared to a regular HDMI slot built into the video card without any adapters? is there any benefit to one vs the other?

[Wicked Klown]

Not really seeing as HDMI is the same as DVI cept it carries audio.

[curtis1552]

Hauppauge generally has good linux support, but you need to check for compatibility before buying.
To use the set top box you install it near the computer and place an IR blaster in front of the box, it automatically will tell the STB to change channels when you change the channel on the computer.

[jnev_89]

Not really seeing as HDMI is the same as DVI cept it carries audio.

ok I didn't know that, thanks.

this is what I want to get so far:

Intel Q6600
Asus P5K3 Deluxe
Sapphire Radeon HD 3870
Corsair 4x1GB DDR3 1333
Hauppauge HD PVR
LG Blu-Ray/HDDVD player

I have everything else already. does this seem like a good htpc setup?