HTPC with an old receiver

[funguygordy]

I am building an HTPC for my in-laws, who have recently purchased a 60" samsung led. Their home theater setup was top of the line...15 years ago. To prevent electronics shock I am trying to ease them into their upgrades. The HTPC will eliminate their dvd player and cd changer, so all that is left is a receiver and denon amp to work with. I am working on getting the model information from them, and will update once I get it. It does not have hdmi, and I believe the highest output is component video.

I'm trying to figure out if I should grab a sound card with toslink for cheap, and run hdmi to the TV with toslink to the receiver. Any better configurations without buying a new receiver? I am really just wanting something to bide the time considering that pretty decent receivers can be had for a couple-few hundred dollars. For now their satellite tv will be running component, so I'd like to have the HTPC running hdmi to the tv so that they can see what full HD is like.

Any thoughts would be great,

PS the build is:

AMD A6-Series AD540KOKHJBOX Dual-Core A6-5400K Black Edition APU - 1MB L2 Cache, 3.6GHz, Socket FM2, Radeon HD 7540D (192 Cores)

MSI FM2-A55M-E33 Socket FM2 Motherboard - MicroATX, Socket FM2, AMD A55, DDR3 1866 MHz, 8-CH Audio

Patriot Intel Extreme Master Viper 3 DDR3 4GB 1600

Lite ON 24X DVDRW

2TB Seagate HDD

Rosewill RRC-126 MCE Infrared Remote Control

Case to come

PSU to come

 

[funguygordy]

I have considered something like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102043

 

[Lvcoyote]

I assume by "what real HD looks like" will be for watching movies only from the HTPC?

 

[funguygordy]

Yes movies and tv shows (not cable). They live in the boonies so no netflix/hulu/etc

 

[Lvcoyote]

Ok, I' confused. They have either dish or directv right? And their package includes HD channles? Doesn't the satellite receiver have HDMI outputs?

 

[funguygordy]

Ok, I' confused. They have either dish or directv right? And their package includes HD channles? Doesn't the satellite receiver have HDMI outputs?

Dish, and I'm sure they could get an upgrade to an HD DVR (I don't think they pay for HD channels atm, but could always add it). They were running composite to their old TV, so that it could run through the receiver for surround sound. I'm suggesting they use component video from the satellite so that it can still run through the receiver.

Of course I could be mistaken, I was under the impression that you could not run hdmi from the dvr to the tv as well as an audio source to the receiver.

 

[Lvcoyote]

So they have a standard definition satellite receiver? You didn't answer my question about having available HD channels and if the satellite receiver has HDMI out or not.

What I dont understand is how you plan to get the sound from the satellite receiver to your computer, and then back out to the receiver. I understand you want to go from that sound card to the receiver using a Toslink cable, but I'm not understand how you get the sound to the computer first.

 

[Lvcoyote]

I read your last post again, apparently they do not have HD service at this time.

 

[Lvcoyote]

If it were me, I'd bypass the whole HTPC thing and just get a new receiver and a blu-ray player. You could probably get both of those for what you'll be spending on the HTPC, it wont be top of the line but it will work fine. Then just have them get a new HD satellite receiver and their done.

 

[funguygordy]

The satellite won't be connected to the HTPC at all. It will have its own channel on the receiver. The question is really only referring to the HTPC's connection to the TV/receiver. I'm wondering if it would work well to run hdmi from the HTPC to the tv, and toslink from the HTPC to the receiver to the speakers.

 

[Lvcoyote]

Yea, that would be your best option in that scenario. HDMI will give you the best picture quality, and Toslink would give you the best audio with what you have to work with. Oh, you do know that DVD's are not true High-Def? You'd need a blu-ray for true high definition movies.

 

[funguygordy]

I have a blu-ray burner on my desktop, so I will be backing up their true HD content to the hard drive. Cool thanks for the help!

 

[funguygordy]

Ok one more question.

This is their receiver ( http://www.docs.sony.com/release/STRDA5ES.PDF )

and this is their TV http://www.samsung.com/us/video/tvs/UN60EH6003FXZA-specs

It turns out their satellite has s-video, optical audio out and composite, no component. The TV has component/composite. What is recommended to get the best possible audio/video from the satellite?

 

[Lvcoyote]

Run the optical audio out from the satellite to the receiver. Composite would be the best video option of your choices there. They should definitely call Dish and get a new HD receiver though in order to use that new TV to it's potential...... Plus it will have a HDMI port that can be used to provide video to the TV.

 

[funguygordy]

Excellent thanks again

 

[notJUSTguitar]

+1 to all Lvcoyote said....
With a nice 60" hd tv, you definitely want HD service....composite in will look terrible compared to HD.