Allright, walk me through it like I'm 4 years old: I want an HTPC! (1 Viewer)

[Chris]

Wow. Almost the reverse in our studies so far.

Testing almost 82 different cards by 6 different manufacturers, it takes a higher-end ATI to drive a 1080i screen with no noticable pixelatioin or problems as comparison to Nvidia.. this may change via driver, but as of right now, the best bang for buck for a HTPC is clearly (IMHO) the 6200GT or 6600GT cards.

 

[Rolando]

Hi Sami,

I would LOVE to watch more HD but it would be limited to what is on the net and T2 on the extreme edition. I cannot get OTA HD and I assume HD-DVD won't be for a little while.


So I assume this to mean that the 3200 IS NOT equivalent then to a 3.2 right? So I would need like a 3500+ to get a 3.2?

So Chris you would recomment the 6600GT over the 9800 pro?

 

[Chris]

Yes. Especially true if you are combining with an ATI HDTV Wonder or similar. Moreso if you intend to do WMV-HD DVDs. The 6600GT has hardware acceleration for the WMV9-HD CODEC, the ATI does not.

Here goes, I'm going to give you a comparison of the two cards (I can probably get screen shots for you monday)

Configuration in this setting:

AMD 3000+ 90nm
512MB DDR
Pioneer 109-B DVDRW
MCE2005 + Tweak Kit


ATI (using Both WinDVD Plat, FFDShow, ATI DVD Dec in options):

1080i setting (9800Pro) (Display: Samsung Plasma)

WMV-9 HD Pure Content 1080p encoded: 26.4% CPU Usage

DVD Upconvert:

ATI DVD Dec. 31.6% CPU; .05% Frame I/B/P Error
WinDVD Plat: 39.4% CPU; N/D Frame I/B/P Error
FFDShow: 37.3% CPU; N/D Frame I/B/P Error

Nvidia: (WinDVD Plat, FFDShow, NVDVD Dec)

WMV-9 HD Pure Content 1080p encoded: 12.1% CPU Usage

DVD Upconvert:

NVDVD: 21.4% CPU; N/D Frame I/B/P Error
WinDVD Plat: 38.4% CPU; .05% Frame I/B/P Error
FFDShow: 37.6% CPU; N/D Frame I/B/P Error

 

[Rolando]

Thanks again Chris.

Well Chris, Sami, Seth, Scott and others; I found a way might be easier. (if you're up for it).

There is a site here where you can make your "custom" PC.

follow this link and let me know what you guys would choose and why.

https://www.shoplci.com/custompc_en.asp

It would be appreciated. also want good PSU and quiet PC. looks are secondary though distracting LEDs are unwanted in dark HT environment of course.

I will ikely not buy there specifically but I found the tool useful for this purpose.

thanks!

 

[SethH]

I assume this means you don't want to build your own? The reason I ask is just that that site seems a little pricey on several things. What's your budget for this computer?

 

[Rolando]

Budget is about $1000 I guess.

Yes it is a little pricey, just using it as a guide. How hard would it be to buy all the parts and build it myself?

would it be worth it to have a store do it for me?

but as I said it is mostly as a guide to help me choose the parts.

 

[SethH]

Well, here's what I built about six months ago for ~$1050.

Abit AA8-Duramaxx motherboard
Intel P4 530 (3.0 GHz)
Antec Sonata case
NEC DVD-r/w dual layer
2 x Seagate 80GB SATA hard drives
Linksys Wireless PCI card
Gigabyte 128MB PCI-e video card
512MB (2 x 256MB) Micron DDR2 533MHz RAM

I think that's about it. Now you have a few different issues to deal with (mine's not an HTPC):

Noise: you should get a different heatsink for the CPU. I think Zalman makes some good quiet ones. Check out www.endpcnoise.com

Hard drive: get SATA drives, but you'll probably want one fairly small one for system stuff (40GB or so) and one big one for media (200GB+).

Video card: you'll want a better video card than mine and you may want a sound card as well (my board does have optical output, but I've never tried it)

Honestly, you may be hard pressed to do this for $1000. For $1500 you should be fine. DDR2 RAM is expensive right now, so either get it on Ebay or stick with 512MB for now and upgrade later.

 

[Chris]

This is a really bad assumption, especially for HTPC. The 3200+ for an HTPC is in most means, far superior to the Intel 3.2Ghz at this point in time (the Intel Pentium-M, which can be found in some upcoming desktops at 1.7Ghz is about the equivilent of a P4 3.0G in most tests we run, so keep that kind of thing in mind) processor efficiency, etc. all come into play.

You might check this link out to get an idea.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=2149&p=7

The fastest processor I've worked with this year runs at a lowly 1.4Ghz. But it would -stomp- anything else I've worked with, including P4's OC'd over 4Ghz. I mean, take them to the woodshed.

So, don't consider clock speed only to be the efficiency portion. The Pentium-M and Athlon64s are good examples of processors that get more done per cycle more efficiently then standard P4s, etc.

 

[Rolando]

I did not want to start a new thread for this, wanted to ask:

My TV has HDMI inputs. should I buy an DVI to HDMI wire for my video card's TV out or get the DVI to component adapter?

 

[Chris]

Depends largely on your card and monitor. In general, I've found that I get a better "look" using DVI, even in DVI-HDMI converters. However, some sets do not properly adjust for DVI-HDTV input, and on those, you really want component to get best results (true mostly of older sets)

 

[Rolando]

Almost forgot I had asked this here also!

Wow, has it been this long already?

Well since then I have been in such a battle over TV replacements (that might not be over) that I have totally neglected the PC.

Since then my PC has totally crapped out on me and I have been paying $50 a month for High speed cable internet for nothing!!!

So the day has finally come.

I am going to the store tomorrow afternoon (monday morning if I can't free myself) and I just want to confirm a few things.

First off a BIG thanks to all who contributed to my research.

However I can't believe it has been 6 months and I am sure some things have changed.

So Is AMD still the way to go?

am I still better off with ATI than NVIDIA???

what is the best mobo to get to ensure future upgradeability.

I have also decided that (despite advice against it) it will NOT be a dedicate HTPC. Rather it will be a PC with HT capabilities. I still want to get the good stuff.

biggest HTPC use will be backing up my movies and playing HD WMV and quick time trailers on my HDTV.

Can you please help one last time?

oh and people at first recommended I go for a HP mediacenter already made. I want to avoid this as I like keeping it upgradeable and these ready made PCs are pretty much done.

if I were to consider one would this one seem like a good one?

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pr...ogon=&langid=EN

hope to hear from you guys, thanks again!!!

 

[Matt Wright]

That link doesn't work for me. Most pre-made HTPCs are junk made by large OEMs and/or gaming PC makers who don't know squat about cool and quiet components.

AMD is still the way to go, an Athlon 64 based on the Venice core is a cool runing and very fast option.

NVIDIA has totaly smacked ATI down and is the way to go these days for HDTV output support. The GeForce 6 or 7 series is powerfull has the best DVD decoding features around and can accelerate WMV-HD.

 

[Rolando]

Thanks for the reply,

So NVIDA the way to go then. I could have sworn the consesnsus was AT last few times... something about stittering or something.

As I mentioned above Well the main usage will be as a PC, and my unltimate goal is an HD front PJ in about 2 years.

I have already upgraded to a 57" CRT RPTV and want to do the best possible scaling to 1080i of my DVDs. I would LOVE to be able to use the PC as my HDPVR but I am in montreal so there is no OTA. only from my cable box through component or DVI. there must be a way right?

I want to use it as a PC but have HT functionality. hopefully play trailers and HD WMV files from the PC onto the 57" through the HDMI or component (whichever is better).

any more suggestions?

oh and yes, a quiet PC is a MUST!!!!

 

[Matt Wright]

The only way to get anything off of your cable box is to have a firewire port on it and try the user created plugin for Firewire recording for SageTV or the user created hack for MCE 2005.

This sums things up nicely:
http://htpcnews.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7678

 

[Rolando]

cool, I took a quick look at the link and sounds promising.

what is sageTV? is it software or is it a specific card?

what videocard would I need to get to be able to do this?

or is this a capture card that would be an "add-on"?