I need help/suggestions for HTPC (1 Viewer)

[Mick Wright]

I'm a newbie so I was hoping for some advice about what I need. I already have a region free Pioneer DV-343 for playing NTSC dvds. I'm bulding my htpc strictly for pal playback.
So far I have an Aureal Sq2500 soundcard with a coaxial output for the audio and I plan to get a Hollywood plus decoder card for the video.
Is a dvd drive all I need to add to this? If so I'd like to hear some recommendations for a good player. If not, please let me know what else I might need.
Btw, I'm running the video output to a 36" Toshiba via s-video.
Thanks for any help.

 

[Scott Shanks]

Mick,
The Hollywood + card already has an audio digital output port. I would run the audio out of that instead of your soundcard.
Once you get the H+ card installed, you're all set.
Just a question, though. If your Pioneer is region free, why do you need an HTPC for PAL playback? Couldn't you just run them all on your Pioneer?
Good Luck.
Scott

 

[Mick Wright]

Thanks Scott. To answer your question, my Pioneer will ouput pal but it will not convert it to ntsc. I did have a crappy apex to do that but I hated it and sold it. From what I've read the best way to convert pal is to use an htpc, since all the stand-alone dvd players that do this are cheap and glitchy and a decent stand-alone video converter is out of my price range.