1) I recently read some tests in which PC based video cards were blowing stand alone DVD player performance away. (FAR away) That included players such as the Denon DVD-3910!
A: There are many variables to this question. Just because you have a nice video card, doesn't mean it's going to automatically blow that nice DVD player out of the box. You can use software to adjust the picture (DScaler comes to mind) and tweak it all you like, but again this does require some know how and research.
2) TivoHD...$899 + $12.95/month???? There's got to be a better/cheape way to record/playback HD.
A: Tivo *JUST* got HD recording, I've owned a DVR from my cable company for almost a year now and I can record two HD sources at once. Critics will argue my box (a SA 8300HD if you're curious) isn't as polished and feature rich as a tivo, but hey I'VE BEEN ABLE TO RECORD FOR A YEAR :P! Also I didn't pay $900 for it. That's a whole other thread.
3) Convienence...having my entire music collection ripped at the highest possible bit rate MP3's and stored on disk is hard to pass up. If I want some critical listening, I can always pull the disc off the shelf.
A: This is indeed a good reason, however you don't need an HTPC to do this. There's hardware on the market that connects to your receiver and your home network and can stream both internet radio and your music collection to your stereo.
Questions:
1) Amplification? We all go out and buy recievers with 120 watts per channel, stand alone amps, etc...what gives? What's driving the 5.1 (or 7.1) channels in a HTPC?
A: It's the exact same as plugging a device into your receiver. The computer has it's power, the receiver gives power to the speakers. I use a digital coax connection (RCA on both ends) to output the pure digital straem to my receiver -- all the processing is done there, it's DAC's are much more powerful then the ones in my computer's sound card.
2) DVR capabilities...Tivo is fantastic. How's DVR work in a HTPC? How would I hook up the PC to my cable? How does programming show to record in the future work?
A: WIth the purchase of one (or more) tuner cards you can connect your cable signal to your PC. Multiple tuner cards allows you to record multiple shows at a time. Recorded shows work just like Tivo or a DVR from the cable company would work.
3) HDTV...I've heard that you cannot record HD. True?
A: True for the moment. The reason being is you need to decode the HD stream and encode it into something your PC can use, compression is also involved as HD takes up a lot of storage space. Also with HDCP on the horizon providers can flag certain shows to not be recorded, so to understand this signal you'd need an HDCP compliant tuner card.
4) HD-DVD/Blu-Ray...Assuming down the road you can buy ad HD-DVD and/or Blu-Ray DVD drive. If I throw that into the HTPC...is the DVI out of the video card going to be able to pass the full 1080p signal? Are cards going to need to incorporate HDMI to make HD-DVD/Blu-Ray playback on a HTPC possible?
A: yes DVI can handle 1080p video. There have also been HDMI cards announced from the major players that will allow you to connect directly to your TV, HDCP is supported as well. As for HDDVD/BluRay both are in early adoption phases at the moment, ignore what any "fan boy-ish" posts may tell you. Neither is a proven winner at the moment, and yes optical drives are coming but at the moment they're about a grand a piece and the blu-ray drive for example can't even read CD's
5) How important is processor speed? RAM? Dual Core? A lot of money can be saved here if the machine doesn't need to be a monster.
A: It doesn't need to be a big Dual Xeon workstation like the computer I'm typing on, but a Core 2 Duo would do wonderfully and the lowest model is cheap(ish) and will totally rock your socks. RAM is another component I'd get a good amount of, it's so cheap these days anyways 2 gigabytes I wouldn't even bat an eye at. If you're really performance nuts you can look into faster hard drives (SCSI for example, or SATA) to improve performance there, but every piece of hardware has it's areas to get more boost.
6) (this one is specific to my Sony KDS-60A2000 tv) The TV has an HDMI input and a VGA input, but no DVI. Can I buy a DVI to HDMI cable and run that between the PC and TV?
A: You can indeed by a HDMI - DVI cable, AvCables.com sells them in good lengths. You can also use a DVI - DVI cable with an adapter on one end. Note that you'll still need seperate audio conenctions as DVI doesn't pass audio (though I'm guessing you already figured this out since it goes into your video card :P)
BONUS: Software?
A: Software is what'll make or break your HTPC experience. You can now buy Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) as a standalone product. It provides a interface that your TV can use easily, it even comes with a universal remote if I recall. It'll allow you to browse TV, pictures, movies on your PC, music files, etc. The program guide works much like digital cable box from your cable company does.
If you're into the homegrown scene there's a linux based product called MythTV which is also quite the deal, there's SageTV and BeyondTV to look at as well.
NOTE 1: If you go the HTPC route you'll only be able to record the analog TV channels (2-99) or "Basic" cable from your provider. All the digital content / subscriber content (channels that you pay extra for, like TMN or TechTV) won't work because they have to be authorized by the cable company.
There's a standard called CableCard which is essentially a PCMCIA expansion card (like the ones used in laptops) that stores all that access / account information on the card and allows you to access all the other channels. CableCARD technology is currently being ported to a PCI expansion card style of product so you can through that into your HTPC and record all the premium content / HD content as well. In time though, in time.
I hope this helps answer some of your questions, if you have any more feel free to PM/email me and I'd be glad to answer them.
- D
