Questions on HTPC/DVR

Since it's tax season and I am hopefully going to get a decent back and would like to build a HTPC for my 67" TV. But I have a few questions from the last time I was on here getting answers. I did some research but I guess I'm still confused.

I built a WHS server with my collection of DVDs, there is only about 300. But also my 75 Blu rays... right now they are compressed quite a bit to work with DIVX and streaming to my Xbox 360. But I would like to re-rip them to a higher uncompressed format and play with XBMC and hopefully run with Beyond TV 4.

Anyway, here is my *setup* so far.
Case: nMEDIAPC Black Aluminum
MOBO: ASUS M4A785-M
Pro: AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
RAM: 4GB
GPU: HIS Radeon HD 4670
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W
And a 500GB SATA drive.

I think this should be a decent setup, and then would be streaming from the server to the HTPC via gigabit. But where I get confused is the TV Tuner. I am with Bresnan and have the digital cable package with Starz and Encore so I have a cable box... when I asked about this before I was directed to get/go with Hauppauge HD-PVR but is that still the correct solution?

So technically I'd have the cable box, the HD-PVR and a HTPC? Cause that can get annoying, I kind of hate clutter but if that is my only solution to work with then I guess I can. But how does that work with Beyond TV and recording a certain show?

I would like to start purchasing but want to have everything in order. I would also like a dual tuner to be able to record and watch another channel simultaneously, or recording two shows at once.

Any answers/suggestions would be great. Thank you.

I cant help with the tv tuner, cause well. Ive tried it in the past, and regardless of which tuner I got, it was a pain. Im waiting for a cablecard tuner variety.

I do reccomend a ATI 5x series card or a 4850 so your card can bitstream TrueHD and DTS MA-HD over HDMI

what kind of sound system do you plan on using? 2.1,5.1, or 7.1?

Thank you jstutman for the suggestion, I found a fanless 5000 series to buy instead.

TommyD872: Right now 2.1 because that is all I am able to do for room and ease... but eventually would like to expand to 5.1. But I plan on going with an Onkyo receiver and speaker system when I do that too.

I also don't know too much about TV tuners other than what I've read. I'm planning on getting one for OTA HD, but I'm still holding out on that.

I do want to comment on your sound system. I have 2 Onkyo receivers, one in my living room (tx-sr607) with a nice matched set of Polk speakers in 5.1 and one in my office (think it's a 504) with a hodgepodge of large speakers in 5.1 also. I've really been happy with my setup, but I would urge you to make sure you get a decent set of speakers. Don't go with a bundled set, but rather get some quality bookshelf speakers on sale and I think you'll be happier. At one point I had a cheaper set of 7.1 speakers (rather cheap unfortunately) and they really were trash compared to what I have now. Even if you plan to stick with 2.1 for a little while, try to get something that is quality. Speakers can last you 20 years and paying more for a set you can be happy to keep will be worth it.

Sorry if that was a little off topic, I just wanted to get my $.02 in on the topic of speakers.

Burdman27911 said:

I also don't know too much about TV tuners other than what I've read. I'm planning on getting one for OTA HD, but I'm still holding out on that.

I do want to comment on your sound system. I have 2 Onkyo receivers, one in my living room (tx-sr607) with a nice matched set of Polk speakers in 5.1 and one in my office (think it's a 504) with a hodgepodge of large speakers in 5.1 also. I've really been happy with my setup, but I would urge you to make sure you get a decent set of speakers. Don't go with a bundled set, but rather get some quality bookshelf speakers on sale and I think you'll be happier. At one point I had a cheaper set of 7.1 speakers (rather cheap unfortunately) and they really were trash compared to what I have now. Even if you plan to stick with 2.1 for a little while, try to get something that is quality. Speakers can last you 20 years and paying more for a set you can be happy to keep will be worth it.

Sorry if that was a little off topic, I just wanted to get my $.02 in on the topic of speakers.

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Thanks for the concern on the sound system. Don't worry on the cheapy deal... I don't usually just go 'cheap' I would just buy a receiver for the mean time cause I currently have a cheap LG setup... but it doesn't have HDMI IN and out... so I have to go to the TV and then through an optical cable to the receiver... I want my receiver to do it all. Again, thanks.

But no one has ideas on the TV tuner cards?

n0irsmurf said:

But no one has ideas on the TV tuner cards?

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I'm a little confused by what you want in a tuner. You said above you were going with a Hauppauge HD-PVR? That doesn't take a tuner. You'll need a rented STB in front of it to act as the tuner and cable signal decrypter. You need one HD-PVR + STB for each simultaneous encrypted cable channel you need to DVR, so start from there.

You really need to know how your cable provider delivers the shows you regularly want to watch and/or DVR in order to really get an idea of how to configure things. I don't know anything about that cable provider.

If you're looking to DVR cable shows that are delivered as clear QAM (probably just your local channels but possibly more depending on your cable co) then you can get a single or dual PCIe tuner model. The Hauppauge 1850 or 2250 would be good choices. There is also a less expensive model from Avermedia (A188) that is popular.

glorp said:

I'm a little confused by what you want in a tuner. You said above you were going with a Hauppauge HD-PVR? That doesn't take a tuner. You'll need a rented STB in front of it to act as the tuner and cable signal decrypter. You need one HD-PVR + STB for each simultaneous encrypted cable channel you need to DVR, so start from there.

You really need to know how your cable provider delivers the shows you regularly want to watch and/or DVR in order to really get an idea of how to configure things. I don't know anything about that cable provider.

If you're looking to DVR cable shows that are delivered as clear QAM (probably just your local channels but possibly more depending on your cable co) then you can get a single or dual PCIe tuner model. The Hauppauge 1850 or 2250 would be good choices. There is also a less expensive model from Avermedia (A188) that is popular.

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Right, I know that... and I stated that I was directed to getting that... not that I would like to... personally the less cables the better. And the less clutter, the better. I mean to be able to record the History channel in HD or HGTV in HD which are channels 700+ on my reveiver is what I'm wondering... I guess I could just call them and ask for that kind of information they would be able to let me know so I can go about this?

A question: Can't one just go i3 530? That one has an integrated GPU right? You wouldn't even have to buy a GPU. That makes it cheaper and I think an i3 530 is pretty fast..

n0irsmurf said:

I mean to be able to record the History channel in HD or HGTV in HD which are channels 700+ on my reveiver is what I'm wondering... I guess I could just call them and ask for that kind of information they would be able to let me know so I can go about this?

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You can try but if they're like most cablecos they won't be much help.

If you have a recent TV with a QAM tuner you can just disconnect the cable in from the STB and connect it directly to the TV instead. Then scan the digital channels with the TV. What you get at the end is what a PCIe QAM tuner would be able to capture (although the scanned channels won't be in the same order or have channel numbers like what you get on your current STB box). You can also try here which lists a lot of ClearQAM cable lineups.

I can almost guarantee that HD stuff you get as part of an extra digital cable packge (i.e., History HD, and HGTV-HD) will have to be decrypted before any QAM tuner can pick it up. You'll need an HD-PVR or DCT instead of a QAM tuner for that.

glorp said:

I can almost guarantee that HD stuff you get as part of an extra digital cable packge (i.e., History HD, and HGTV-HD) will have to be decrypted before any QAM tuner can pick it up. You'll need an HD-PVR or DCT instead of a QAM tuner for that.

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I also think that you cannot record HD over the standard coax (which is what the normal tuners take) and would require something like the HD-PVR you had mentioned with a STB from the cable company hooked up to it. I've never really looked into the details of that as I recently cancelled my cable and just use OTA... Though I do miss Discovery and the History channel .

You could take a look at Centon's quad cablecard.

Wicked Klown said:

You could take a look at Centon's quad cablecard.

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Thank you Wicked... I guess I'll just hold out for a couple more months for that.. I assume you plug in the card? I have seen this on the back of my cable box.. but I would still need a tuner or something for the coax to come in right? Or how does this work really?

I'm really just looking for the easiest/best solution without adding more wires and more boxes under my Tv... I like a clean look.

n0irsmurf said:

I'll just hold out for a couple more months for that.. I assume you plug in the card? I have seen this on the back of my cable box.. but I would still need a tuner or something for the coax to come in right? Or how does this work really?

I'm really just looking for the easiest/best solution without adding more wires and more boxes under my Tv... I like a clean look.

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Then you'll need to plan on using Win7 Media Center not XBMC. It won't work with anything but WMC. You don't need a tuner. The Ceton InfiniTV 4 is a tuner, with a CableCARD that you rent and get from your cableco. It does not connect to a STB but directly to incoming cable and tunes requested channels from that. It actually takes the place of an STB. It will have 4 independent tuners that can simultaneously tune any combo of 4 live or DVRed channels but don't assume you can share all recordings or live TV among PC/TVs. That will depend on how your cableco flags DRM on the channels. If you want one in the next few months, you'll likely need to preorder it now.