Building an HTPC

[MrCodeDude]

Have some spare parts and an HTPC case, figured I have a start.

AMD Thunderbird 1.0GHz
Epox 8K3A+
512MB PC2100 Memory
S3 Savage PCI Graphics Card (you know you're jealous)
1x8GB HD
1x160GB HD

I know I'm going to need a TV Encoder, so I've decided on the PVR-150 which encodes on the fly.

Will I need a more powerful graphics card for playback? If I do, would it make more sense for me just to get a All in Wonder card?

Would this rig be powerful enough to be an HTPC? I could probably find another 512MB stick of memory and could probably scrounge up a XP 1700+ or something for ~$50 if needed. But I'm trying to justify this over a $5/month fee from Dish for PVR features.

And when I finally setup the machine, which OS should I go with?

 

[BigPete]

I'm trying to accomplish something similar so I'm very interested in this thread. Hopefully you get more feedback than I did.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Originally posted by: BigPete
I'm trying to accomplish something similar so I'm very interested in this thread. Hopefully you get more feedback than I did.

Guess not.

 

[MrCodeDude]

double post

 

[bragac200]

I have a friend who got an All in Wonder card and had a lot of trouble with it. In order for the card to work, he had to buy special software encoder drivers from ATI.

As far as OSes go, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 ($149 from Zip Zoom Fly with remote control included) seems to be the best way to go.

How were you planning on hooking it up to your television input (coaxial?)?

 

[Crusty]

I would definitely try and get an ATI card for your tv-out(unless you want to use linux, then go for nvidia)... does the S3 card even have tv-out on it?

I have a similar setup as you, pIII 1ghz, 768mb ram, pvr-250, SB Live!, and a GeForce 256 DDR.

I run Debian on it and mythtv for my pvr application. It works great

 

[MrCodeDude]

Ok, so I'll look for a cheap $50 card w/ TV-Out.

Is it worth it for me to get a PVR-150 vs. a PVR-250? I noticed the PVR-250 has Composite inputs where the PVR-150 does not.

 

[BigPete]

According to HTPC News you are better off going with the PVR-150. I dont think the inputs matter so much as the outputs, unless you are receiving a signal from a receiver of some sort instead of through your friendly coax connection.

 

[Insidious]

I can't speak to the other models, but I (very) recently installed a Hauppauge PVR-250 and am very happy with it. I don't know what is different with the 150, but doubt if it is all that significant a difference.

Both have composite input capability... anyone know more about the differences?

-Sid

PS: you'll be much happier with the hardware encoding rather than software.