Building my HTPC...HELP!!!! (1 Viewer)

[CraigL]

Hey all,

I'm having a colleague build me an ideal PC for backing up SVHS and laserdiscs. The big questions he had for me are the following:

1) Hard Drive???
He wonders if I should get an ATA133 or a Scuzzie Interface. Anyone?

2) Video Capture Card
From what I've read here, I should go with the Flyvideo2002/2003 since I can't really afford the Holo3d. Yes? Must have S-video in obviously

3) Audio Card
I'd like something with "Digital In" because I have a DAT that I will sometimes hook up to it. Any thoughts?


Please let me know your thoughts.

 

[Scott L]

1) In general ATA has a better price/storage ratio so you'll get more gigs per dollar if you go that route. Performance for capture won't improve greatly either way.

2) Another card to look at is the Asus TV Tuner/S-video capture card which also captures in stereo. I can't quite tell about the format the Flyvideo captures in (MPEG-1 only or also YUV/RGB) but the Asus can capture in mpeg-2. ($70 at newegg)

3) My friend has a new SB Audigy 2 Platinum and it has given him nothing but problems, he now can only get 2-channel audio out of it for it to remain stable and so it won't lock up his system. The M-audio Audiophile 2496 has a digital coaxial input. ($150 at newegg)

 

[CraigL]

Scott,

The flyvideo does MPEG-2. I wouldn't get it otherwise. This is ALL for doing DVD's.

 

[Kris McLaughlin]

Craig,
for a good soundcard have a look at the Zoltrix Nightingale PRO 6. Coax & Optical ins & outs, 6 ch. analog out as well (minijacks). Plus, it's cheap & works well. I ordered mine from that link & had no problems.

cheers,

 

[Tekara]

I'm only going to comment on the first question since it's the only one I'm expierienced with.

SCSI is more aimed at servers, multi user platforms, and graphics stations that need to move large amounts of data in a reletively short period of time. For video capture you are better off with an ATA100/133 drive as you'll get better use out of more space on the ATA drives opposed to faster seek times on a SCSI drive. don't worry about whether a hardrive is ATA 100 or ATA 133, current hardrive technology barely takes advantage of ATA66.

to reduce chances of lag or choppyness in your video captures I would go with more ram. most video capture programs will capture to the ram first then transfer to the hardrive. Typically this is done becuase RAM is substaintially faster than a hardrive. picking up a full gig of ram will work great for just about anything you want to capture.

hope this helps you out some.

 

[CraigL]

Rob,

Thanks very much for your advice. I AM getting a GIG of RAM and have decided on the 100/133. As far as video is concerned, I'm just gonna get an ATI card with Flyvideo2000FM as the capture card. Sound card is the Zoltrix Nightengale Pro 6.

So we'll see what happens!