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Hey HTPC Folks need your help!
#145461 08/15/06 07:35 PM
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ShaunB Offline OP
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Hello everyone,

This is my first post after purchasing a 5.1 Axiom setup back in mid February. Here is my setup M22v2 x2 on VTI VSP Stands , VP150v2, QS8v2 x2, Mirage S12 sub, Yamaha RX-V2600, Samsung 56" DLP and a tired old JVC 7 Disc DVD player. I can say without a doubt that I made the right choice and that I absolutely love them.

I previously had a 3.1 setup with a pair of floorstanding Polk LS70's, Polk center channel, Sony STR-D1011 receiver and a NHT SW2P sub. Wow what a difference.

Now I am trying to get the parts together for a HTPC that will be used primarily as a media center with some light gaming. I may have gone a bit overboard here, but I want to future proof. I have scoured the Internet for ideas for about a month now and think I am ready to begin.

I have yet to make a decision on a case so all suggestions are welcomed. I am thinking about one of the larger cases since I’ll have the room. I’m trying to think of what else to add… I am currently with Comcast/Time Warner, but will most likely be switching to Verizon Fios. If I have overlooked anything critical please ask/tell me. Here is a list of the parts I have / on order and those I am considering.

Currently have:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Computer Brain on order)

Motherboard: ASUS P5W DH Deluxe Newegg (on order)

DDR2: Corsair XMS2 2GB (2X1GB) DDR2 800 (PC6400) Newegg

HDD: 5- Seagate 7200.10 SATA 320GB 7200RPM 3GB/S 16MB buffer Newegg
I got a little carried away thinking that I could fit all 5 drives in a HTPC case..... Realistic?

Sound Card: AuzenTech HDA Xplosion 7.1 DTS/Dolby Digital ZipZoomFly Is this sound card better than the motherboard's onboard sound?

Video Capture Cards: NVIDIA® DualTV MCE for analog PVR duty NVIDIA Store

Vbox Cat’s Eye DTA-150 for OTA HDTV includes firefly remote and BTV4 PcAlchemy I will be using XP PRO with BTV 4.0 for the front end.

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon X1600 PRO HDMI PCI Express 256MB DDR3 PcAlchemy This card has HDCP compatibility.


Considering:

Vvox Cat’s Eye 164e Dual Tuner for HDTV, Vbox, hard to pass up on a dual tuner option that fills an otherwise empty PCIe X1 slot, 2 on the Asus Mobo. I hadn't seen this card for sale, so I had to inquire about this one. After being referred by Yosi Brosh at Vbox, Greg from PC Alchemy said " The DTA-164e should be available late September. The price will be around $179. From our testing of the sample we were provided the card works great for HDTV but we would not recommend using it for analog because it requires a software MPEG encoder to do analog."

For a DVD burner I see that Ben Q seems to be a popular choice.
Any power supply suggestions?
I am thinking Channel Master for the OTA HDTV antenna, with an attic placement. I am 34 miles from door to tower and Antenna Web has my local stations coded yellow. Our ABC in Dallas is VHF and the rest are UHF so I'll need a VHF/UHF antenna.

Thank you for your time, because of the novelette this has turned into, and in advance for your responses.

Shaun


Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot.
Re: Hey HTPC Folks need your help!
ShaunB #145462 08/15/06 09:11 PM
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Hey Shaun,

Welcome. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experiences.

I'm not going to be the ubergeek on this deal, but wanted to offer a couple of observations.

Putting five drives into ANY box is going to be HOT and NOISY. Now, maybe you don't care because the machine will be isolated from your listening/viewing area. But if I were going to implement that much storage, I'd put it into a separate box in a closet far away from my ears.

Depending upon your gaming requirements and how the Yamaha processes audio, you might need only the digital output from the PC to the receiver, which would probably not require a separate sound card.

Are you getting OTA HDTV now? I'd work through this in stages and make sure that is a realistic expectation before devoting resources to it. I'm about as far as you from the transmitters, but I'd need a huge directional antenna on a huge mast with a rotator to get usable OTA HDTV. Very different topography, I'm sure.

I've had excellent service at both PCAlchemy and Newegg.

I bought a Silverstone LC-10 and a Seasonic power supply. Satisfied with both. Tharkun has (I believe) an Ahanix 601 case. He or Ben (Inane), along with sirquack, nickbuol and a host of other folks are likely to be helpful. Ben's going to tell you to get MCE instead of XP Pro

If you're not already consuming mass quantities there, be sure to read up at silentpcreview.

Good luck with your project!


bibere usque ad hilaritatem
Re: Hey HTPC Folks need your help!
ShaunB #145463 08/15/06 11:03 PM
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I have the Auzentech card in my HTPC and it kicks ass. It will definately beat your onboard soundcard when it comes to gaming-no other card on the market takes 3d audio and converts it to DTS-not even the most expensive soundblaster.

There is no such thing as future proofing your PC. If you are spending more than you want to, you can save money on the processor and video card-then next year you can upgrade and probably end up spending less money total. Just do a little research on the components and see what their price has done over time.

I don't see a power supply. Get a beefy, yet quiet one and a good case. Save money on your processor/video card for this if you don't have the budget. Like I said those two components are notorious for dropping in price quickly. 600 watt quiet power supplies tend to keep their value. Kinda like Speakers vs AV Receivers-the receivers lose their value quickly.

Re: Hey HTPC Folks need your help!
tomtuttle #145464 08/16/06 12:37 AM
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I thought FTA(Free to air) HDTV died out 5 weeks ago and you need to suscribe to get any service. I might be wrong but for FTA Satellite the "free" networks locked themselves down due to too many illegal decrypting ROM102 cards on the HDTV receivers. Any HDTV signal now needs a subscription.

Re: Hey HTPC Folks need your help!
tomtuttle #145465 08/16/06 03:11 AM
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ShaunB Offline OP
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Tom,

Thanks for the response.

I learned that I may have been a little over anxious about building a ton of storage into a case. I have since thought about donating one of the HDD's to the computer I am on now. You mentioned external storage..... I know that something like this might be an option 3.5" External Storage.
Quote:

Are you getting OTA HDTV now? I'd work through this in stages and make sure that is a realistic expectation before devoting resources to it. I'm about as far as you from the transmitters, but I'd need a huge directional antenna on a huge mast with a rotator to get usable OTA HDTV. Very different topography, I'm sure.



I have Comcast, well now it's Time Warner cable. We receive our HDTV feed through a DVR. Luckily we won't have a problem getting OTA at home. Here's a link to our local OTA HDTV thread on AVS Forum. There are people farther, north and west, away from us that aren't having any problems. I'm in North Texas so the only hills we have here are occupied by ants. Haha. Our local towers are at the highest point within 60-70 miles. Some of the folks on the thread, my distance, report using attic mounted antenna's with no problem and no reported gains with mast mounts. On another note, all 5 of the channels I would want to capture are in one direction from 167 to 169 degrees. Antenna Web has 27 stations listed between those degrees of orientation, and lists many of those as code yellow, the smaller antenna. Fingers crossed!

I'll second the comments on PCAlchemy and Newegg. Fast shipping, good prices and feedback when needed.

I really like the SilverStone LC16 , LC17 and the LC20. I also find myself drawn to the Zalman HD160

Thanks again Tom,

Shaun


Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot.
Re: Hey HTPC Folks need your help!
Saturn #145466 08/16/06 03:32 AM
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ShaunB Offline OP
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Quote:

I thought FTA(Free to air) HDTV died out 5 weeks ago and you need to suscribe to get any service. I might be wrong but for FTA Satellite the "free" networks locked themselves down due to too many illegal decrypting ROM102 cards on the HDTV receivers. Any HDTV signal now needs a subscription.



Saturn,
Again, thanks for the reply.

Here in the States they aren't going to get rid of the FTA or OTA TV programming. If anything Digital TV, including HDTV, will expand. All TV networks/stations are going to be required by the government to air programming in the Digital format by 2009? It was supposed to happen this year, but they caved. Some with older sets would need to have a set top box to view programming.

I know that some are able to capture/record HDTV programming through their set top boxes, but usually not premium programming like HBO and Showtime.

I read that the hopes of Windows VISTA supporting Cablecard enthusiast build's have been dashed.

Shaun


Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot.
Re: Hey HTPC Folks need your help!
ShaunB #145467 08/16/06 03:43 AM
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Damn that CRTC Regulation Board in Canada. We are so late in some technologies because of them.

Re: Hey HTPC Folks need your help!
DrunkenWolf #145468 08/16/06 03:50 AM
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ShaunB Offline OP
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DrunkenWolf,

Thanks for all the advice. It is appreciated

Quote:

I have the Auzentech card in my HTPC and it kicks ass. It will definately beat your onboard soundcard when it comes to gaming-no other card on the market takes 3d audio and converts it to DTS-not even the most expensive soundblaster.




I've heard both ways on this. Supposedly the onboard sound is great, but I would prefer to go with a card. The Mobo is finally shipping after being backordered for 2 weeks, so we'll see. I agree with you on card vs. onboard sound. I would rather have a well received and great performing sound card that AV folks like rather than PC speaker fans.

Quote:

There is no such thing as future proofing your PC. If you are spending more than you want to, you can save money on the processor and video card-then next year you can upgrade and probably end up spending less money total. Just do a little research on the components and see what their price has done over time.




Luckily everything has been in the wheel house as far as pricing goes. The Sapphire video card I chose is a bit of future proofing. It's one of about 6 HDCP compliant cards with HDMI out. The processor was purchased before they realized what the demand would be, so I got the Pre-Frenzy pricing.

Quote:

I don't see a power supply. Get a beefy, yet quiet one and a good case. Save money on your processor/video card for this if you don't have the budget. Like I said those two components are notorious for dropping in price quickly. 600 watt quiet power supplies tend to keep their value. Kinda like Speakers vs AV Receivers-the receivers lose their value quickly.




I've read and heard that the Power supply is one of the things to go whole hog on, you get what you pay for.


Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot.
Re: Hey HTPC Folks need your help!
ShaunB #145469 08/16/06 05:21 AM
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Whoa! Those are some sexy PC cases.

You're a lucky bugger regarding the OTA HD. Good for you.

I'd still be tempted to build a network server to house the RAID array, and just have a small, quiet drive for the OS on the local machine. I am a total Linux idiot, and I recently successfully got a similar device up and running for next to no money using Clark Connect Linux. It not only stores media, but also does backups and makes julienne fries. It just looks like the S: drive to my other machines.

But I'm probably over thinking this.

I dig that Seasonic power supply I got. Quiet as a mouse.

Please keep us updated on your exciting project!


bibere usque ad hilaritatem
Re: Hey HTPC Folks need your help!
ShaunB #145470 08/16/06 05:23 AM
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Ahh, I didn't think about HDMI. I use VGA for my TV-I bet HDMI would be sharper. Something to think about for the future . Yay expansion slots!

The other thing about onboard sound is that people tend to claim that the onboard sound drivers are slower. I'm not sure how much truth there is to that, but if the onboard sound is anything like onboard video I'd believe it. You'll be happy with the Auzentech-I discovered it a few months ago when I discovered how well my media center displayed on my TV. I had to integrate it with my receiver and wanted to play games with 5.1. I almost bought the 190 dollar soundblaster and I would have been dissapointed. I found the Auzentech through HT forums and I'm glad I did. It does have its quirks-it doesn't keep the DTS signal alive so you'll miss the first half second of audio-but once an app starts using the soundcard this isn't a problem. You'll probably only notice when you boot windows and miss the first part of the start up sound.

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