Home-Theater System, Need Advices !!

[HypNoTic]

I'm planning on building a computer to put in my home theater system

It will play DVD on SVHS output, MP3 over LAN and maybe some WebTV surfing. There will be NO game on this. Therefore, i need a decent sound quality for DVD (the Hollywood plus have a Dolby Digital output, should not be a problem). A SVHS video output (...see the question under). And a 10/100 NIC (play MP3 from my server and maybe surf the Web a little when too lazy to get my azz up to the wks station). Finally, i'm going to run Linux on it.

Current specs (already have the parts)
Celeron 600a
128 meg SDRAM (overkill but it lie on my desk since weeks...)
6.4gig IDE HDD
6x DVD slot IDE
wireless keyboard w/ trackball included

Questions
I need a motherboard w/ LAN, video and sound onboard + 1 PCI Riser for a Hollywood Plus (mpeg card). What should i get ? I was thinking of any Intel 810 based board.

I need 1 SVHS video output to connect to the TV. Is it possible to output the PC SVGA via the MPEG decoder or should i take a better video card (ATI All-in-Wonder) and play DVD in software and leave the Mpeg card apart ? I think it would lower the quality too much for my taste but i need some advice on it.

I'm looking for a 1u Rackmount case with a slient power supply if possible. What should i get ?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Newegg.com is selling an MSI low-profile barebones including mobo with onboard video with tv-out for $210, which is cheaper than a bare 1U case.

A "desktop" case would be taller than 1U but again much cheaper and would let you use any ATX mobo and all the PCI / AGP slots. AGP would give you a wider choice of boards with TV-out.

If price isn't an issue, PCPowerCooling.com sells 1U cases and has "silencer" 1U power supplies.

 

[HypNoTic]

<< Newegg.com is selling an MSI low-profile barebones including mobo with onboard video with tv-out for $210, which is cheaper than a bare 1U case. >>



Newegg is not shipping in Canada and i live in Montreal...



<< A "desktop" case would be taller than 1U but again much cheaper and would let you use any ATX mobo and all the PCI / AGP slots. AGP would give you a wider choice of boards with TV-out. >>



There wont be any SVGA monitor plugged in it so is a All-in-Wonder based on Rage 128 might be able to display correctly to the SVHS on boot up ???

I'm also thinking about getting an old small-form desktop (P2-266/64ram/3.2gig/LAN/snd) from HP for about 45$ Us and simply upgrade the 1meg video card.

 

[DaveSimmons]

<< There wont be any SVGA monitor plugged in it so is a All-in-Wonder based on Rage 128 might be able to display correctly to the SVHS on boot up ??? >>



Yes, if you use the ATI (or any card with TV-out)) you can use the TV as the only monitor, though it's not a great one -- 800x600 at best and a little blurry

If you go with the HP system you'll likely need to use the hardware decoder, which I don't think passes through your vid card, just its own DVD video right? Then you'll still need a vid card with TV-out (doesn't have to be an ATI) to run the DVD software and MP3 playback. If your TV or receiver only has 1 SVHS then you'll need a switchbox for the 2 inputs.

Be sure to check whether the HP has free PCI / AGP slots, it might be a custom motherboard. Also, since you aren't using it for games any cheap and/or used vid card with TV-out should work fine.

 

[HypNoTic]

<< If you go with the HP system you'll likely need to use the hardware decoder, which I don't think passes through your vid card, just its own DVD video right? Then you'll still need a vid card with TV-out (doesn't have to be an ATI) to run the DVD software and MP3 playback. If your TV or receiver only has 1 SVHS then you'll need a switchbox for the 2 inputs. >>



The decoder is connected to the VGA card with a loopback in a proprietary format. Then the decoder can output in either VGA of SVHS/RCA to a TV or monitor. I dont know if the card is able to display the Windows desktop or just the movie stream in overlay mode ??

Hollywood+ decoder specs

 

[DaveSimmons]

<< The decoder is connected to the VGA card with a loopback in a proprietary format. Then the decoder can output in either VGA of SVHS/RCA to a TV or monitor. I dont know if the card is able to display the Windows desktop or just the movie stream in overlay mode ?? >>



I'd guess that the loopback is to play decoded DVD into a PC monitor, just like a Voodoo1/2 card -- this doesn't help going the other direction from vid card to RCA/SVHS. To see the desktop on a TV I think you'll need a VGA card with TV-out, which will be a separate cable from the decoder's own TV-out.

 

[HypNoTic]

Thanx for clearing all that


I'm still not sure if i'm going to take the HP desktop and put a TV-out card to play in software *or* build a nice little computer with 2 SVHS outputs (which will require a new receiver since my TV have only 1 SVHS input) from the hardware i already have. Here are some more questions :

How is the ATI video output in Windows ?
What about the DVD playback ???
Do they have drivers for Linux or will i be stuck in Windoze ??

 

[DaveSimmons]

<< How is the ATI video output in Windows ? >>



Most people say ATI cards have had the best TV-out since the PCI days. ATI cards have also had decent support for decoding for a long time. However, I don't think the HP's P2-266 is enough to do a good job for software decoding, even though the ATI cards provide partial hardware decoding. From what I've read you want 333-400 MHz for software decoding. So the HP is the one where you'd need both a VGA card with TV-out and the hollywood card.

A celeron 600a should work quite well for software decoding, so if you buy a desktop case and cheap motherboard (used, or VIA or 810e chipset?) you'll still need the VGA card with TV-out, but would only need the hollywood card if you don't like the quality of software decoding.

Windows will give you a much better choice of software DVD programs and MP3 programs, as well as better support for phoneline and wireless networking if you get tired of cat5 cables. Also, at least some "retail" Geforce2 MX with TV-out cards come with bundled Windows DVD decoding software, but I'm not sure whether ATI cards do.