A couple HTPC questions

[Slick5150]

Ok, I'm building my first HTPC for a friend and I have a few questions

I'm looking at using the Biostar IDEQ 200k which has a S/PDIF audio out on the back. The HTPC will be plugged directly into a surround sound receiver, so will that audio suffice for all his needs? He'll be watching movies, TV, and MP3s. That's pretty much it. Is it going to give him the proper DD/DTS on movies, and pass through decent quality for MP3s to the receiver (which I woujld assume would just take that as a stereo signal?)

Planning on using a GeForce 5200 fanless card. DVI -> HDMI input on TV. Anything I need to be concerned about there? Is this going to give a good quality picture? Again, no gaming on this PC so no worries there.

I've never even seen Windows MCE before, is it pretty much the best and only solution for his purposes? He'd want to be operating everything by remote control, so I don't know if there's a way to use WinXP + other software to accomplish everything that way.

Speaking of remotes, he has a Harmony remote that can be programed via the internet, so is there a need to get any specific remote control? Or can he just have any IR receiver hooked up and use the Harmony to control the PC?

512mb enough? Or should I just go 1GB anyways?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Slick5150]

Anybody? I could really use an answer here.

Thanks

 

[razor2025]

IDEQ looks okay choice. Although, if you want proper bit-perfect DD/DTS, you might need to look at separate soundcards. As far as video card, that's fine, as long as your friend doesn't want to watch HD content. Windows MCE is nothing but Windows XP w/ Media Center control panel. You can probably mimmick the same functionality with other software + regular Windows. Harmoney should work fine. 512MB RAM is enough for most purpose, although you might want to stock up on DDR RAM, as DDR are slowly being phased out (more expensive later). As for reference, I'm currently building up a HTPC, I found a cheap deal @ Dell for E510 desktop, so I used it as base.

Spec:
P4 521J, 3ghz Prescott
2x256mb DDR2
80GB SATA
DVD/CD-RW drive
Geforce 6600
Chaintech AV710
USB Wireless adapter
Logitech Wireless keyboard

I spent about ~$400 on the entire thing. Look at some alternative.

 

[Slick5150]

Thanks for the reply...

What video card would be suitable for watching HD content (which he does plan on doing)? Do you need to go to the 6xxx series of nVidia cards?

 

[Traire]

5200 should be good for most things. The only other option would be to get a new ATi X1xxx series card, with video decode/encode assist. But for normal HDTV stuff, a 5200 is no worse/better than a 6xxx series.

 

[Slick5150]

Thanks..

What about the remote control question? Can I just hook up any IR receiver and use a universal remote to control WinMCE?

 

[razor2025]

No, I think WinMCE only supports certain group of controllers. Using the Harmoney is a safe bet for HTPC AND being completely universal. If you just want to control WinMCE, I think you can find the MS MCE remotes for ~$20 now.