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Wanting to build serious HTPC. (1 Viewer)

CRyan

Screenwriter
Joined
Feb 9, 1999
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I have been reading a lot over at AVS on and off for a few months - reading there broken FAQ's etc.

I already have a few basic components that will be used for this dedicated HTPC (motherboard, 2 ghz processor, and case). I have held off buying other components till I know exactly what I need. I do not need my configuration to be pretty as all the components will be out of sight.

I will be hooking this up to a digital HD projector in the next 4 months, when my HT room is finished. My main concern is scaling DVD. A second concern might be scaling satellite TV. Not sure on this one.

There are still a few points where I am unclear. Maybe someone here can explain.

I see that many use an outboard standalone DVD player where they use S-video into a capture card that supports dscaler. What exactly is the point in this? Why not just use the computers DVD player, scale it with powerstrip and there you go. I am assuming I am missing a fundamental point here.

M-audio seems to be high on the list of audio cards that will output a decent digital audio signal. Is there no way to let your computer do the decoding and do away with the outboard processor altogether? Simply take analogue outs to dedicated amps?


I think that is a good start. i am sure I will think of more after I hit "Submit New Thread."


Thanks for any clarification,

C. Ryan
 

Craig Woodhall

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jul 11, 1999
Messages
590
I will take a stab at this..

M-audio seems to be high on the list of audio cards that will output a decent digital audio signal. Is there no way to let your computer do the decoding and do away with the outboard processor altogether? Simply take analogue outs to dedicated amps?
I tried the M-audio card and IMO, there isn't much difference between that and my $50 soundblaster live card (for digital output only). as for your 2nd question, you can set the M-audio card to decode Dolby Digital and it will output the decoded signal to the analog outputs on the back of the sound card. That CAN be run directly to power amps which would mean that you wouldn't need a preamp. It also does bass management, etc.. the only thing Im not sure about is wether you can do DTS, cus I don't know if any soundcards decode the DTS bitstream. Hope this helps.

Craig
 

MikeNagy

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jun 6, 2003
Messages
83
You may not need the fancy sound card for passing digital signals out to an external processor, but there are other considerations. Such as frequency responses, dynamic ranges, THD, SNR, etc, for which you want a good audio solution. I reccommend either an nforce2 based motherboard (if your CPU is AMD and if the mobo has enough line outputs for all your speakers etc) or the M-Audio. You should be able to hook the stuff up to an amp, and at most you'd need a miniplug to RCA converter cable.

With either solution, you will have all your processing bases covered one way or another...there are software dolby digital and dts decoders in dvd playback software, and I'm sure both the nforce's audio and the m-audio revolution can do it in hardware if need be.
 

Scott L

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 29, 2000
Messages
4,457
Are you going for an HD tuner card? I just bought the MyHD mdp-120 but unfortunately I can't get a stable signal in my area (with the antennas I have anyway) :frowning:. I had planned on using a small indoor antenna with an amplifier but didn't take into account the tall trees in my backyard when inputting my info into www.antennaweb.org.

If anyone's interested in buying it for about $30 less than new ($260 shipped) lmk. It's 1 week old in box and everything.
 

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