Building an HTPC, need some help

[mrSHEiK124]

I am not asking for hardware advice, I already got the covered, well, I kinda am, but its about the video capturing part
OK, thisi really a pretty confusing situation for meh, so let me explain to you my needs:

1. Replacing an FTA sat box we use for recieving Arabic channels, I've decided on the WinTV-Nexus-S
2. Replacing a VCR and a DVD player
3. Video capture from our TWC HDTV box (not in HDTV duh, most likely going to use the S-Video output on the box)
4. Video capture from our Dish Network box, again, most likely using the S-Video port or the second Composite port
5. Hardware MPEG2 Encoding is important
6. Outputting in Component (DVI is a nogo, our tv doesn't have it) to our HDTV

now i can't seem to figure out exactly how I am going to do this, if it were just one source i needed to capture from, I'd get a WinTV PVR 250 or something and get it over with
Also, if i went with BeyondTV or Sage or any of those progs AT recently reviewed, would it allow me to say, watch the FTA stream and record the Cable or DN stream? thats why the hardware MPEG2 encoding is important to me, because the most intesive hardware i'll be using is a Sempron 3100+, and Athlon XP 2500+, and if i am lucky, an Athlon 64 2800+
and as far as the YPbPr output goes i am pretty sure that i am limited to ATI's 9xxx Radeons, their AIW 96-98xx cards, and the nVidia GFFX 5700 Personal Cinema

 

[mrSHEiK124]

anyone??

 

[Goosemaster]

THIS plus and ATI all-in-wonder

The All in wonder is for inputing the VCR so you can use the TV card simultaneously to record stuff in the background. In addition, a component adapter is available

 

[RobsTV]

The system you describe will work fine for crappy SDTV.

Check out:

MyTheatre as the software package, along with plug-in MyEPG.
AccessDTV OTA hardware card for HDTV and/or cable.
Skystar2 or Twinhan1020a for DVB-S (including HDTV sat).

With the above, and only an AMD XP2000+, full PVR functions of Sat HDTV and OTA HDTV works great.
The guide (EPG) is better than anything out there, including the Dish EPG's or Cable guides!

With the above, you will easily be able to record one channel on one card, while watching another using the second card.
You can even watch an HDTV program Live using HD out, while at the same time watch a SDTV program Live using TV out.


DVB-S for HDTV requires DVB-S card to be run in software mode, not hardware mode.
When you run an old outdated technology card like the Nexus-S in hardware more, you can not run many apps or features of other programs (like EPG). Also, when you run the Nexus-S in software mode, you can not use any of it's added functions, like TV-Out.

HDTV recordings use about 9 gig per hour, so be prepared.

ATi is an excellent choice for output, and it easily is much better than the output from the Nexus-S card (Nexus-S TV out can not be used for HDTV anyway).

Another note about hardware cards.
Plain and simple NOT NEEDED today for SDTV!!!!
Sure, if you have a 400MHz PC, then maybe, but even then it is cheaper and a better solution to simply spend a $100 and upgrade to a 2GHz PC. Watching SDTV with software DVB-S card and a $50 XP2000+, CPU resources used are 3% to 7%. Now when you throw in Sat HDTV (which you can't do with a DVB-S hardware card like the Nexus-S in hardware mode anyway), then CPU resources jump to 50% to 70% or higher. The above is for Live viewing. If you are only recording, and not viewing the event at same time, then CPU resources used drop off dramatically. The hardware acceleration in the AccessDTV card does work great with HDTV, and uses almost no CPU resources. It's just too bad no one makes a HDTV card for DVB-S with onboard acceleration. (as stated, can't do HDTV with Nexus-S in hardware mode).

I typically watch my local NFL team in 100" of HD glory, while using DVB-S for outputting a Nascar race (or a movie for the wife), output to a normal 35" TV, all at the same time, using the same low cost HTPC.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

no no no! i am not recording HDTV damnit! all i'm doing is inputting my cable box (i should have never mentioned it was HDTV), AND my Dish Network box into my PC using the likes of a WinTV-PVR250 or an All-In-Wonder, i.e hardware encoding, and using the Nexus-S in hardware mode so i can record the FTA stream as its broadcasted, this way i can watch one and record the other with minimal impact on performance, my WinTV-Theatre in my rig craps out whenever i open IE or FireFox and i end up with like 40 dropped frames

elaborate on this AccessDTV OTA hardware, as i said, i am not using an OTA HDTV stream as i think i am too far away for that and i also already recieve HDTV through Time Warner

and i want one of ATI's cards or the Personal Cinema FX5700 so i can input in component simply because my TV can view it, and that way i hope i can get better text clarity than S-Video out

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: sheik124
no no no! i am not recording HDTV damnit! all i'm doing is inputting my cable box (i should have never mentioned it was HDTV), AND my Dish Network box into my PC using the likes of a WinTV-PVR250 or an All-In-Wonder, i.e hardware encoding, and using the Nexus-S in hardware mode so i can record the FTA stream as its broadcasted, this way i can watch one and record the other with minimal impact on performance, my WinTV-Theatre in my rig craps out whenever i open IE or FireFox and i end up with like 40 dropped frames

elaborate on this AccessDTV OTA hardware, as i said, i am not using an OTA HDTV stream as i think i am too far away for that and i also already recieve HDTV through Time Warner

and i want one of ATI's cards or the Personal Cinema FX5700 so i can input in component simply because my TV can view it, and that way i hope i can get better text clarity than S-Video out

read my post again then.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

sorry goosemaster, i didn't mean that comment to you, i was talking to RobsTV, yeah i did check out your post
but thats just a normal wintv pvr and a directtv kit, won't work for what i need

 

[RobsTV]

Originally posted by: sheik124
no no no! i am not recording HDTV damnit! all i'm doing is inputting my cable box (i should have never mentioned it was HDTV),

Sorry.
After reading your post again, I can now see that picture and audio quality is not where you are going (you might use composite out). The HDTV you own threw me off. Is it broke or something? Never heard of anyone that could go back to SDTV that easily, once they had HDTV, and with the parts I mentioned, it would actually cost you less money for an HTPC that is full PVR with HDTV quality. But, for each his own.

The best places to go for advice on what you seek:

#1 http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb....php?s=&forumid=26
http://www.hometheaterforum.co...s=&threadid=120328
http://dvbn.happysat.org/

Have fun with your project!

EDIT:
Couple things you should check into:
1. You mention connecting your TW HDTV cable box to the card for recording in SDTV.
Note that most HDTV boxes do not allow outputting an HDTV signal to a HDTV, while at the same time outputting SDTV through svideo or composite. Most boxes go into one mode or the other at any one time, and can not do both at the same time. You will have better results skipping the TW box, and using onboard tuner of capture device. If you have a DN 6000, it too will fall into the same thing. Can not do both SDTV and HDTV at the same time (unless new firmware corrected since last time I checked). Now again, if your HDTV is broke, and you only use SDTV, then you can ignore all of this.
2. Hardware MPEG2 Encoding is not important with modern PC's. Much of the reviews written were done when slower PC's were the norm, but with todays $100 2GHz upgrades (MB and CPU), slow PC's are a thing of the past. Almost any video card made in the past 5 years will do the job. For DVB-S, 2004 marked a huge turnaround with software and drivers, and hardware mpeg decoding is a thing of the past with these as well. While it doesn't apply to your needs, "if" you wanted HDTV, then yes, that is the place where hardware mpeg decoder still helps out. But useless for SDTV. For DVB-S, I've run 3 DVB-S cards in a PC at the same time, recording two channels while watching a third, and using an XP2000+ (1667MHz), CPU resources never hit 20%, even though none of the cards have onboard hardware decoders.

Check out the forums listed above as there are thousands of builders of HTPC's more than willing to help out a newbie. (Oops, just read your post again, and you don't need any hardware advice, because you already have that covered. Sorry again. For others thinking about HTPC's, the above links will get you on the right track.)

Sorry for the rant, but it just looked like somewhere in your research you got thrown way off track of how things are working today. None of what you want to do made sense. Connecting your HTPC output using component to your HDTV is another example. Why? Your HTPC will have garbage in (SDTV) = garbage out to HDTV. It will look no better than composite, or the signal used during capture.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

hmm, ok, for the most part you answered my question
my Scientific Atlanta/Pace HDTV box can output whatever i ask it to in component, and scales it down to 480i for the S-Video input, i've tried it before, yes i've heard of GIGO before as i used to do ALOT of TV Capping, at one point i was a part of a tv rls group, but the reason i want the Component output isn't for the quality of the TV, its mostly for the high-res gaming, and the text readability, i've tried using S-Video Out and even on our 27" in the gameroom, it looks like shiite, imagine the same effect on a 54" 1080i display, hideous.
also, the MPEG2 Hardware Encoding is just a thing that i am accustomed too, i usually have a bunch of crap running in the bg, so the less impact on CPU performance i am sapping up with TV cap, the better. also, doing Hardware MPEG2 Encoding in realtime in software is very unreliable and the easiest way i've found for software mpeg2 encoding is to do it AFTER i've capped, even with my Athlon XP 2500+, dropped frames is the last thing you want when replacing a VCR and trying to convince your parents what yer doing is better
also, i won't be watching my HD channels (only FOX, CBS, ABC, TNT HD, and Discovery HD) through the Cable Box -> HTPC setup because as i said i can have it connected twice, and inputs aren't an issue on a TV that cost you this much
same goes for the Dish Network box, it has two outputs, so i can watch one directly to TV, and one can be recording, as in while i am recording i won't see what the PC is doing, unless i use PIP or the second channel i am watching is from the FTA card
also, i know jack squat about any of the DVB-S cards, so could you point me to a good worthy card, this is the only situation where i don't care about the hardware encoding, because my parents watch it, and arabs suck at broadcasting a noise/fuzz free picture anyways
and as far as audio quality, if i go with Athlon XP/Sempron i'll have soundstorm, or if i go A64/Sempron i'll either use the onboard ALC850 on the board i am looking at or an Audigy 2 ZS Gamer

EDIT: i bolded what i changed

EDIT2: yo, whats the diff between the WinTV Nova-S and the Nexus-S, i'm liking the nova, its cheaper
oh and so far i've landed my decisions on a GeForce FX 5700 Personal Cinema from eVGA, unless i can find a better Radeon 9xxx + ATI's Component Out Adapter + Any Capture Card (mpeg2 hardware or not, i really don't give a crap, all i really need is VIVO anyways as i won't be using the tuner function, unless it goes into a digital cable-less room)

 

[mrSHEiK124]

sorry for double posting, and i am pretty sure the answer is no, are there any digital cable boxes on a card and any way i could cap digital cable without having to go through that damn box, i've already heard of those HD sets with built in Smart Card slots

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: sheik124
sorry goosemaster, i didn't mean that comment to you, i was talking to RobsTV, yeah i did check out your post
but thats just a normal wintv pvr and a directtv kit, won't work for what i need

YOu'll have to excuse me, but I still don't see how your requirements weren't met. BTV can record from S-video inputs like most other software.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

what i meant was the directtv cables are useless to me as i don't have their service, as far as buying BeyondTV for this setup, why not, anythings worth a try and 20-40 bucks

also, i included a pic of my current setup so you get a general idea of what i am trying to do
i need to have S-Video input from both of those boxes on the left (Digital Cable + Dish Network)
i will be replacing the mid bottom box with a DVB-S card
DVD player either replaced or will stay there
VCR goes bye bye

TV Setup (Photobucket Link)

EDIT: doh, AT Forums don't let ya use