HTPC spec - Can someone who knows about these things please check it !

Hodders

Hodders

Hodders

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Thinking about the following:

Antec Fusion Remote HTPC Case
Asus P5Q-EM

Plus CPU, Ram etc.

The key questions.

What HD Freesat dual tuner cards would people recommend that will fit in the case. I will probably be running Vista Ultimate on this or maybe XP plus Media Portal. So ideally the tuner card would be compatible ith both OSes and also importantly fit in the case !

Can the motherboard put out audio over a HDMI connection to my TV ?

How good is the onboard X4500HD graphics - will it be able to deal with 720p/bluray decoding ?

Also I will be using this as a replacement for my HD SKY+ box so I want it to be able to record 2 HD channels and playback 1 HD recording at the same time. Will a decent CPU be able to do this and will it get any encoding/decoding help from the X4500HD chipset ?

Cheers !
 
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are you wanting sky on the HTPC?

if so someone recommended these the other day, they look pretty good. to get a sky+ set up youll need 2 of them and 2 sky viewing cards tho..

digital everywhere FloppyDTV S2
 
Not really interested in SKY, almost everything is just too full of adverts or poor programs. More interested in the freesat HD content and the free to air stuff channels.

But might be a nice option to have.
 
I can't comment on the case you have selected as I finally decided to just buy a mini ATX tower type of case as I simply could not justify the cost, space and height restrictions and potential cooling issues with a dedicated HTPC case. The case I bought cost about £35 and has its own PSU, it looks really great and has none of the restrictions that I have noted.

The motherboard you have opted for is not one I would have selected. I have read, in various forums, of potential issues with watching HD content and its dependany on a faster CPU is greater than the two boards I'm listing below that can both enjoy DXVA...

I bought the Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H...

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2946

It is a superb motherboard and Asus do a cheaper one that uses the NVidia 9300 IGP (slower clock speeds) but is still a very capable motherboard.

As you seem to be looking at 775 boards I will not bother mentioning the 780g AMD offerings.

As for a TV card I bought a Pinnacle 7010ix from ebay for £30 new. A superb card and if you can grab one at that price you will be well impressed with its functionality.

I am using it with DVB Viewer and or Media Portal and it works well with either.

The simultaneous reception of multiple channels allows you to watch one channel while recording another, or to display PiP (picture in picture). Depending on the antennas connected, up to 4 channels can be received simultaneously (2x DVB-T / analogue and 2x satellite). Also, in addition to the DVB standards, PAL, SECAM and NTSC are supported, so the 7010iX is suitable for worldwide use.
Click to expand...

They do seem to be a bit like gold dust though in finding them.
 
Hodders said:
Are there not other freesat options on the market ?

Hauppauge Nova-HD-S2 for example ?
Click to expand...

look for the BGT3540 it's got dual freeview tuners, and dual dvb-s tuners on one low profile card.
The only downside to it is that it only supports dvb-s, at the moment none of the freesat channels are dvb-s2 but if any new ones came out that were you wouldn't be able to receive them.

One the CPU/chipset front I'd be inclined to get a nvidia 9300/9400 board instead like Vimes suggested and go for a less powerful CPU.
 
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