HTPC - Some help or tips...

[SaigonK]

So I went out and bought a new 42" LG lcd tv this weeknd (120hz version) to add to the living room.
I have an older Dell 620 series PC sitting around that i have no use for and a light came on and said "why dont you build a HTPC and get rid of your TimeWarner DVR box that youre paying $12 a month for."

So I am now working on a setup and need some pointers.

My goal is:

1. Feed coaxial from the wall into the PC and view regualr cable as well as what Timewarner offers for HD in my area.

2. DVR capabilities, the wife and kids wont live without one now, so it is a must.

3. I was intending to use Windows Vista Ultimate as my OS.
(have a box here that I havent opened and figured i would throw it on there.)

Here are my questions:

1. Will this box be fast enough?

It's a P4 2.8GHZ / 2GB of DDR2 ram and I installed a spare 160GB drive i had laying around.

I also have an ATi 4500 series card, i plan to go DVI to HDMI but am not sure how this will look, etc.

I know I am leaving some details out so ask away if you have questions or need more detail...thanks!

 

[imported_Mike]

To be able to view digital cable, you're going to need to spend more money.

Digital cable meaning digital channels, HD channels, hbo/showtime/etc, you'll need a cablecard from TWC which are $3/mo to rent.

Then you'll need a cable card pc interface, ati makes both an internal PCI version and an external USB version. Both are around $300

Then you'll need a pc that can process it and a decent vid card.

 

[kalrith]

Addressing your goals:

1. You'll get some channels from Time Warner but not all. Basically with an NTSC tuner you should be able to tune all the analog channels (I think). HD channels will be digital and will require a QAM tuner. Cable companies are only required to broadcast the locals in HD in QAM, so those are probably the only HD channels you'll get. To get more you would need a cable card, and those are currently only available in pre-built computers.

2. With a TV tuner card, you'll get DVR capability. I'm using the Hauppauge 2250, which has dual tuners and can thus record two shows at once or record one while watching another. You'll need some sort of software to do the show scheduling and such. A lot of people use Vista Media Center. My computer has Windows XP on it, and I went with MediaPortal, which is a free, open-source media center. I'm still in the process of setting it up, but I'm very impressed thus far.

That box should be fast enough. The 4550 will handle all the intensive graphics work of playing the videos, and it doesn't take much juice to record shows as long as you're not doing a lot of processing (like commercial skipping). The processor might have problems with HD playback if it's doing other things in the background (like recording two shows), but I'm completely unsure on that one.

 

[s44]

Bottom line: not worth it. You can't get most of the channels, and everything is kludgy.

Buy a HD Tivo.

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: s44
Bottom line: not worth it. You can't get most of the channels, and everything is kludgy.

Buy a HD Tivo.

I agree about it not being worth it if you want to get all the cable channels; however, I have to disagree about the kludgy part. My DirecTV DVR is more kludgy than my HTPC. In my situation I'm switching to all OTA and internet TV, so the HTPC is a much better choice than TIVO. My main goal is to save money, and the TIVO fees don't fit into that. I'd also be missing out on a ton of internet content.

 

[SaigonK]

Originally posted by: kalrith

Originally posted by: s44
Bottom line: not worth it. You can't get most of the channels, and everything is kludgy.

Buy a HD Tivo.

I agree about it not being worth it if you want to get all the cable channels; however, I have to disagree about the kludgy part. My DirecTV DVR is more kludgy than my HTPC. In my situation I'm switching to all OTA and internet TV, so the HTPC is a much better choice than TIVO. My main goal is to save money, and the TIVO fees don't fit into that. I'd also be missing out on a ton of internet content.

I guess it might be if the card from TW@ is only $3 a month. My reasoning is that I pay $12 a month for my HD-DVR from them, so i could lower that by $9 a month (not a shocking amoutn...I know) and since all of my PC parts are free for this project (pc from my office, video card from a vendor that we never used, etc. etc) i dont think it woudl eb too bad...

If I get the CableCard, how do you think it would go then? The ATI card has a direct HDMI out, which is pretty sweet, and i have a wireless keyboard and mouse I am using now on my Fujitsu tablet PC that I am running in to the LCD, which would get replaced by the new HTPC.

 

[kalrith]

You should be able to connect your TV via HDMI to the ATI card and set it as your computer monitor. Be sure that it's running at your TV's native resolution and that your TV is set to PC mode. Avsforum has an excellent HTPC forum, and I suggest you check them out. Personally I bought an MCE receiver that I control with my Harmony remote. Except for certain online content, I can control everything with the remote, and it works really well. For the keyboard and mouse, I bought a Logitech diNovo Mini. It's a bit on the expensive side, but I got tired of having a full-size keyboard and mouse in my livingroom.

One thing to realize is that an HTPC can involve some work to set it up, but probably less with Vista Media Center than something like MediaPortal. I personally enjoy it and enjoy the incredible flexible I have with the computer that I wouldn't have with a normal DVR. On the other hand, a DVR can be set up in less than an hour and practically never has to be tinkered with.

If you're doing this to save $6/month and you won't watch much/any online content, then it's probably not worth it over the HD-DVR you have right now. Your electricity bill might go up $2-6/month from the extra power the computer's using so that will reduce or negate the monthly savings. Also, that 160GB hard drive is really small for HD content, which can use up to 8GB/hour. If you have 120GB free, that's only 15 hours of HD content. 1TB drives have been dipping down to around $70 lately and would hold 120 hours of HD content.

Basically, an HTPC isn't for everyone. It's perfect for me. I wanted to cancel satellite and our cell-phone plans in order to save $110/month, but I still wanted a dual-tuner DVR and the ability to watch more shows (like on Hulu, Discovery Channel, ESPN360, etc.). My HTPC is a DVR, but it's much more. I can surf the web, watch online content, use it as my media server and NAS, and use it with MagicJack as our VOIP phone server. Getting MagicJack allowed me to cut our monthly cell-phone plans and switch to T-Mobile prepaid. MagicJack and T-Mobile prepaid costs about $196/year, so my net savings from canceling satellite and cell-phone plan is $1124. Since the HTPC (including the MCE receiver, diNovo Mini, etc.) cost less than $500, I'm really pleased with the setup.

I know some of that is off on a tangent, but it's mostly in the flavor of this thread.

 

[Iron Woode]

I recently built an HTPC using similar hardware.

P4 2.8 (800)
MSI 945GCM478 motherboard
2 gb ddr2 667
Sapphire 550pro tuner
Sapphire 3450 silent
160 gb hdd
benq dvd burner
MS MCE remote with IR blaster

I ran MCE 2005 and it worked flawlessly.

Never tested it with Vista. I am now running Windows 7 RC1 on it for testing and its great so far.

 

[Texun]

One problem I encountered with Cox and my HTPC with a tuner card was that their entire channel line was 100% digital simulcast, leaving only a small (think limited basic) cable on analog. There's no legit way to get their digital content unless it's local content, which shot my plans to hell and made it useless to me. What I ended up doing works but it not pretty.

I still have the HD cable box and now use the HDMI out to my TV and the component out to my tuner card - but using the component out made it analog again. It's good analog, but it's still analog and not HD. If I want local HD then I have to sacrifice other channels including the really good HD content like Discovery, Natgeo,ESPN, etc. I also can't record one thing and watch another. Whatever comes out of my HD box is what I record, but if you get a dual tuner card you may gain an edge there.

Cox isn't the only ones to go full digital. There's a lot of bandwidth to be reclaimed and revenue to be gained by going digital and adding more content. For every analog channel they remove, as many as six digital channels can be added. I'm sure other major cable companies are doing the same thing.

The only reason they hang on to local and very limited analog channels is due to competition. Late adopters can still watch basic TV on their 1980 Curtis Mathis console without using a box. Dish and Direct can't do that.

I second the TIVO option. Less fuss and it will deliver what you want.

 

[s44]

Originally posted by: SaigonK

If I get the CableCard, how do you think it would go then?

The whole point is that you can't get a CableCard<->PC adapter except as part of an entire prebuilt system. You're SOL.

The cableco boxes are junk. Buy a Tivo.

 

[Modelworks]

Do you like the DVR you have from TWC ?
If so then keep using it over a HTPC. It is a lot easier to use a dedicated device like a DVR than it is to adapt a pc to be a DVR. Consider the cost of $12 a month/ $144 a year to what it will cost to get that pc running as a functional HTPC. Really research this because the world of PC + TV cards can be a hellish one. It is one of the most disorganized facets of the pc world.
I use a HTPC for playing back content but not recording. My DVR can do two channels at once and always works at the touch of a remote without configuring.

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: Texun

Cox isn't the only ones to go full digital. There's a lot of bandwidth to be reclaimed and revenue to be gained by going digital and adding more content. For every analog channel they remove, as many as six digital channels can be added. I'm sure other major cable companies are doing the same thing.

Charter has started doing this as well. They went totally digital here requiring every tv have a converter box. Can't get anything, not even locals without one. An extra $5 a month lease from them.