After a much thought, I've decided to turn my old, spare PC into a HTPC, mainly to be used as a PVR (as opposed to using Comcast's PVR). It's specs:
Currently, the GeForce 256 DDR video card can only output 640x480 to my SDTV; that won't due (Powerstrip didn't help). My main PC has an ATI Radeon 9500 Pro that does a pseudo 800x600 desktop with good clarity, so I'm currently watching Ebay auctions for a Radeon 9200 (should be similar output).
I'd like to grab a Beyond TV bundle that comes with a TV Capture (w/ MPEG Decoder) card and IR blaster. I'm also looking for a cheap HTPC case. Finally, my questions:
- AMD 1GHz T-bird CPU
- Abit KT7A-Raid MB
- SB Live! 5.1 card
- 256MB RAM
- 60GB HDD
- GeForce 256DDR 32MB
- Win2k Pro
Currently, the GeForce 256 DDR video card can only output 640x480 to my SDTV; that won't due (Powerstrip didn't help). My main PC has an ATI Radeon 9500 Pro that does a pseudo 800x600 desktop with good clarity, so I'm currently watching Ebay auctions for a Radeon 9200 (should be similar output).
I'd like to grab a Beyond TV bundle that comes with a TV Capture (w/ MPEG Decoder) card and IR blaster. I'm also looking for a cheap HTPC case. Finally, my questions:
- I'd love to use my programmable remote from my Onkyo 595 receiver, but do I need to first purchase a Beyond TV compatible remote so my Onkyo remote can learn from it?
- Is there a better option than ATI cards for TV output? The 9200's are in the $40 range.
- Can someone recommend a quiet, ATX HTPC case for under $150?[/list=1]
I'm hoping to spend around $350 to get this up and running.
Thanks!
Mike
PS - You'd think a HT site's spell checker would recognize Onkyo