Topic: HTPCs Anyone have experience or own one?

[m666]

I've been debating for a long time now, about building or buying an HTPC
http://www.pcalchemy.com/index.php/cName/mce-systems has some great MCE Systems that all have great reviews.
I'm just weary about the price tag.  I know in the long run, with upgrades and everything it beats the cost of paying for Tivo, and you get an unlimited amount of upgradable storage.  So its cheaper in the long run, just didn't know how the quality of the playback of your stored tv programs, and how well the dvd player plays back dvds.
Anyone have experience with how well the playback is on one of these systems?

[Touti]

The best source of information I know about that is

http://www.htpcforums.com

I have a PC connected to my 42" tv but I don't use it as a HTPC, it's actually a "disguised" server so my living room doesn't look like it has a PC in it.  It built it in that HTPC casing, everybody think it's a an amplifier.

[Tracer]

I built my own and love it but, it is not for the casual user.  If you want simply plug and play get a Tivo or a cable box with DVR feature.

Some of the pluses using MCE are;
DVD upscaling better than most stand alone DVD upscallers.  Standard DVDs look great wathing them on my 47" HDTV LCD.
Automatically rips all your CD collection right to the MCE interface, no more external CD jukebox or stacks of CDs.  All of my CDs are now stored away.
Multiple TV tuner support record and watch different shows at the same time.
With a program like "My Movies" you can store your DVDs on the HD and access them.
View online content on your TV.

The major drawbacks are;
Not simple enough for most users, since this is more than just a Tivo.
To record digital cable you will still need a cable box connected to the TV card.
Only supports HD Tv over the air boardcasts.  There is a new product "HD Homerun" that allows you to record HD from cable if your cable company supports QAM.  Also there is an unsupported software app fireSTB that will record the HD digital signal from the cable box firewire port but, not many have been able to get this to work.

For your question on the quality of Recorded TV it wont be as good as watching it directly from your cable box or a TV tuner.  Since basically it has to take the incoming signal and covert it to an MPG.

If your seriously considering MCE check out the following web sites;
www.thegreenbutton.com
HD Homerun www.silicondust.com
MyMovies www.mymovies.name

My setup is as follows;
nMediaPC HTPC 100 (www.nmediapc.com)
XFX GeForce FX 5500 (this is a little outdated there are newer and better video cards)
Hauppauge WinTV PVR-500MCE (dual tuner)
Motherboard Foxconn 865G7MC-ES
Intel Celeron D 2.53Ghz
Memory 2GB DDR
500GB SATA HD
Lite-On DVD Burner
NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder
Windows XP MCE2005
Microsoft MCE remote and keyboard

I'm outputting 720p to a 47" LCD HDTV, which will support 1080 but, looks horrible when using it just as a computer for desktop functions since 1080 is interlaced.

[m666]

Yeah I'm far from the casual plug and play consumer. 

I don't however have any HD cable, I strictly watch standard cable.  (I more or less just watch TV when I'm not watching one of my millions of dvds [slight exaggeration haha])
Do most of the cards do well, are there some better than others?  any recommendations for someone that wants to record and watch two analog sources?
Honestly I would rather build my own setup, than buy a prebuilt one.

Do you notice anything as far as performance?
obviously the faster the better, but if I were to watch one show while taping another is there any drag on either?

[m666]

here is the setup I was going to build

SilverStone Grandia SST-GD01MX
Asus P5B-E P965 Core 2 Extreme / Intel E6400 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo 1066FSB LGA775 DDR2 ATX
4-8 gigs of ram, (cost)
Seasonic M12-500 500W, Silent Modular Power Supply
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500MCE
2xSeagate / Barracuda 7200.10 / 750GB / 7200rpm
Auzentech HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 Gold Sound card

I'm stuck on what video card to get, I don't know what kind i would need.
I have an older Sony Big screen TV with the only inputs being s-video, component (i think off hand) and standard red yellow and white.

total this system should only cost me about 1800 if I don't shop around for my parts to find a lower price.

[Tracer]

Becareful with the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500MCE, Hauppauge has changed tuners on the card and the newer cards have lots of problems.  They were at one time the best all around TV card.  Shop around and try and find one with the old tuners.

I personally like NVIDIA when it comes to video cards, I would suggest going with PCIe and same with your system board.  If your thinking of going BlueRay or HD-DVD sometime in the near future be sure that the video card supports HDCP, I think only the NVIDIA GPU 8800 series at this time do that.  Otherwise you might want to go with a cheaper video card with plans to upgrade your video card if you change to HD latter.  Unless your a gamer and plan on using this for games too.  Since you have an older TV be sure and get a video card that has both S-Video and DVI.  That way if you upgrade your TV at a later date you can just purchase a DVI to HDMI cable.

Depending on what your planning on doing with your system, Memory and CPU aren't huge requirements.

Go SATA on your HD otherwise you may end up with some stuttering issues.

If you go Vista MCE then stick with 32bit at this time there are issues with MCE 64bit mostly no driver support.

The system board I'm using has SPDIFF so I'm just passing through the audio to my reciever and letting the reciever do all the decoding.  So can't comment on the Auzentech.

You might want to check out NewEgg for the parts, they are usually the best price, quickest shipping in my experience.

[m666]

are there any tuner cards you recommend other than hauppauge?  or a specific model of hauppauge that is known to be a good one?

I have no plans to deal with HD or Blue-ray, not a big fan, I'm pretty content where I'm at with dvd, so not worried about that part of it.

The hard drives were going to be sata, so that's no problem, I believe my motherboard is sata only anyway.

I'll look into the nvidia boards, and cards.

I've always prefered nvidia over ati anyways. 

I'll post pictures, if i can ever get myself to start buying the components.

[m666]

another question... since I have an older TV, and would try using s-video.... would I be limited to the resolution the video card can put out?
will it affect how my dvds look when being played?

would it be better to try to upgrade my tv as well?

[JP_S]

@touti
What do you use that pc for then? if you don't use it as a htpc?

I'd personally rather have C.E. in the living room. A pc for me is something I work on and I don't want much to do with 'em privatly

[Tracer]

I can't think of any other than Hauppauge, from what I understand they haven't changed out the PVR-150 yet but, you would have to add two of those cards to get dual tuner cablibilities.  Check out the GreenButton.com there may be some suggestions for another card.

The S-Video output is going to be whatever your TV supports usually 1024x768.  DVD output looks as good as it would using a standard DVD player.  However there a several MPEG-2 decoder codecs out there so your results may vary.  I use the NVIDIA Pure Decoder and quite satified with it.   If you go with Vista then you will get the MPEG-2 codec with the OS from what I understand.  I ran mine on a standard big screen TV for over a year and had no issues.

[m666]

sounds great!
thanks for all the info

I should have room for 2 cards, so i may go that route

[m666]

I'm outputting 720p to a 47" LCD HDTV, which will support 1080 but, looks horrible when using it just as a computer for desktop functions since 1080 is interlaced.

Another question... I'm actually shopping around for a new television...
I wanted to know, can you choose what resolution you output to?  what determines your output signal?
If I bought a television that accepts 720p and 1080p or just 1080i or whatever
would that affect what television or video card I bought or could someone elaborate on what determines the signal the PC puts out.
Thanks

[Touti]

I've never set up a HTPC but I do know a little about PC's.  The video decoder in your PC (which is part of your video card) and it's accompanying drivers will allow you to select what output you want.  Just like most digital tv receivers.

Your TV should automatically adjust to whatever signal it receives as long as it supports it.  If for instance you send a 1080p signal to a TV that can do no higher thatn 1080i, it will either display nothing or scale-down to 1080i if it's programming allows it.

No matter what TV you buy, you will have to configure your PC to the resolution you want, I have never heard of a video that adjust itself to the resolution you choose on the TV.

[m666]

awesome, that's what I wanted to know, I'll look again at my video card choice and read up on it to see what it can display.

[Touti]

When you're done choosing what you want, I strongly suggest that you go to htpcforums.com and post it before buying.  Many very knowledgeable people there will be able to tell you if you're just about to screw up