Rate my HTPC

[Varun]

Hello everyone,

This is my first try at building a HTPC. I have built many other PC's, and have really gotten into the "ultra quiet" thing lately, however the HTPC is a unique animal.

I'll be using an older computer as the base:
Athlon XP 1800+
512MB RAM
Asus A7V333 MB
GeForce 4 Ti 4200 with passive zalman heatsink
Samsung Spinpoint P80 80GB HDD

To this I want to add:
Thermaltake Tenor HTPC case
Samsung 200GB HDD for recorded TV
ATI TV Wonder Elite Theater 550 Pro w/RF Remote
Chaintech AV-710 PCI Sound card

(please note the prices are in Canadian funds and newegg is not an option in Canada)

My concerns:
1. Thermaltake has absolute ridiculous specs on the fans in the case, and I am a bit worried about 2x60mm fans for exhaust. Has anyone used this case or have comments on it?

2. Hauppauge is an often recommended TV tuner card, however the ATI one gets the nod in 2 Anandtech reviews. I do want the RF remote as well, but should I look at another TV tuner?

3. My receiver is an older model with no digital inputs (thought it has 6 channel inputs for Dolby Digital). Will the Chaintech be able to decode DD and send it to the receiver through the outputs? Should I consider a different sound card for this?

As a note I will not be using Windows MCE unless someone talks me into it. Beyond TV seems like a pretty solid software package.

Any comments and criticisms are appreciated. Once again this will be my first crack at a HTPC and I have no experience with many of the HTPC components.

 

[Varun]

bump

 

[grimlykindo]

Looks pretty good to me so far - here are some quick tips/info

CPU - You will need more power if you plan on doing any HDTV recording or even watching (disrgard if only doing normal - SDTV)

Sound Card - Yes, it will put out DD through optical/coaxial or through your analog 6 channel inputs (Assuming you meant that your older reciever has analog 6-channel inputs)

TV Wonder Elite - I have an ATI HDTV Wonder and love it (the remote is pain though...) and yes the wonder elite is a good card also

MCE - its overrated, if you already own a copy of XP to use on your HTPC don't bother

Good luck with your new HTPC!


edit- hooked on phonics worked for me :roll:

 

[mikester]

I second most of what grimlykindo said, with the exception of the sound card. That sound card seems to be a favorite for doing SPDIF pass through, but if you are going to have your sound card do the decoding, then you really should be looking at a better soundcard. Personally, I would rather spend the money to upgrade my receiver and use that $25 Chaintech card than to drop $150-200 on a computer sound card, but that's just me.

As for MCE being overrated - I disagree. Sure, there are more customizable options out there, but for what it does MCE works very well, and it was very easy to setup. I spent a few weeks trying to setup another program (Meedio) to do everything I wanted. When I switched over to MCE, I had it setup and working within a day. When combined with the free My Movies add on, it's a great package. And it's very easy for the wife and kids to use - you won't find another program with as high of a WAF (wife approval factor).

And if price is your concern - I think you will find that it's not an issue. Most of the other solutions, you'll spend $20 here and $30 there registering all the different little programs you need to make everything work. For $150 you get MCE (including the operating system) - the only other piece of software you have to buy is a DVD decoder. Most people use the $20 NVidia Purevideo decoder.

 

[Varun]

Thanks for the responses.

I will be upgrading my receiver, likely after I buy a HDTV later this year. I'll use the Chaintech for now.

If I decide to bump it up to HDTV then I'll upgrade my main PC and move the parts over. I wasn't aware of the CPU resources needed to watch HDTV through a computer.

Once again thanks and if anyone has any other comments I'm interested!

 

[thecoolnessrune]

I play 720p h.264 HD video on my P4 2.533 Ghz (533FSB) with a GeForce 4 MX 420 and the max usage I see using Nero Showtime is 45%. I'm sure if I had a capable decoding card like a 7300 or 7600 I could lower it even more. I dont think it takes THAT much to play it. However, if your running full HDTV (1080p, whereever you'd find some of that media outside of just movie trailers) you'll most likely need something beefier. But I think your current rig would work fine for 720p HDTV (The current most commonly used type).