Htpc

[unclejam]

well yeah my 1800 dollar POS is on itsw last leg

so i started building a htpc



fatality sli board and dual core proccesor(intel) 120

powersuply was 55 and the case was a freebie

but i need a video card(the cheaper the better and remember im not a gamer i just got the board and the processor @ one hell of a price)

HD is wanted and even better if it can display blue ray with out swaeting

thanks

[FL Knifemaker]

How about an air hose to blow the half inch of dust out of it first??

[i_got_a_mohawk]

For Blu Ray it is a CPU intensive thing. What processor do you have?

I think that most graphics cards which have a DVI output can run HDMI (just use an HDMI to DVI convertor).

[unclejam]

Originally Posted by FL Knifemaker

How about an air hose to blow the half inch of dust out of it first??

well im gonna get this case when i get some more scratch

[unclejam]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

For Blu Ray it is a CPU intensive thing. What processor do you have?

I think that most graphics cards which have a DVI output can run HDMI (just use an HDMI to DVI convertor).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115032

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Should probably be fine. Now you just have the joys of buying a Blu Ray drive which are 4-5 times the cost of a DVD-RW drive!

Also, what PSU do you have? It looks like an Akasa but im not sure. Just always make sure never to skimp on the PSU, it is the most important part of a PC IMO. ( I skimped in the past and paid the price for it when it died, taking 2x 512Mb of ram, a harddrive and my graphics card along with it!).

[unclejam]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

Should probably be fine. Now you just have the joys of buying a Blu Ray drive which are 4-5 times the cost of a DVD-RW drive!

Also, what PSU do you have? It looks like an Akasa but im not sure. Just always make sure never to skimp on the PSU, it is the most important part of a PC IMO. ( I skimped in the past and paid the price for it when it died, taking 2x 512Mb of ram, a harddrive and my graphics card along with it!).

a 550 watt Codegen server power supply

[gold_member_321]

Can I have an altoid?

[fdeck]

unclejam, have you ever been to the First Saturday sale? Is it still going on?

[Chunk-O-Funk]

What will you be hooking this up to?
(TV/monitor, sound system)

I have seen some HDCP cards with a HDMI as low as $70.00 at newegg. If you can spend $110.00 to $125.00 you would probably get much better performance with a GeForce 8600 or ATI 2600 series.


If you don't need burning capabilities you can get a blu-ray drive for about $150.00.

I was thinking about getting a blu-ray drive for my PC and hook it up to my TV, but one problem I ran into was the audio. Apparently, the best connection for the audio is SPDIF. For standard DVD's you can stream PCM and get up to 7.1 audio, but with Blu-Ray it's LPCM and you can only get 2 channel audio due to the higher bandwidth. From what I know there is no HDMI audio solution right now. The best a PC, HDMI output can do is pass the SPDIF audio. However, I think the newer Itel G35 chipset motherboards do or will have multi-channel LPCM audio.

Not sure if you had plans on hooking it up to your receiver, but it's something to consider. If your receiver is capable it could always matrix the 2.0 into 5.1, but that was the deal breaker for me. A matrix 5.1/7.1 isn't the same, not to mention Blu-Ray is capable of loss-less audio which is probably a long, long way off for a HTPC.

[unclejam]

Originally Posted by Chunk-O-Funk

What will you be hooking this up to?
(TV/monitor, sound system)
HDTV(32") and a 5.1 Surround sound system

I have seen some HDCP cards with a HDMI as low as $70.00 at newegg. If you can spend $110.00 to $125.00 you would probably get much better performance with a GeForce 8600 or ATI 2600 series.


If you don't need burning capabilities you can get a blu-ray drive for about $150.00.

I was thinking about getting a blu-ray drive for my PC and hook it up to my TV, but one problem I ran into was the audio. Apparently, the best connection for the audio is SPDIF. For standard DVD's you can stream PCM and get up to 7.1 audio, but with Blu-Ray it's LPCM and you can only get 2 channel audio due to the higher bandwidth. From what I know there is no HDMI audio solution right now. The best a PC, HDMI output can do is pass the SPDIF audio. However, I think the newer Itel G35 chipset motherboards do or will have multi-channel LPCM audio.

Not sure if you had plans on hooking it up to your receiver, but it's something to consider. If your receiver is capable it could always matrix the 2.0 into 5.1, but that was the deal breaker for me. A matrix 5.1/7.1 isn't the same, not to mention Blu-Ray is capable of loss-less audio which is probably a long, long way off for a HTPC.

ok cool and see red for in quote response

[Stu L.]

Originally Posted by fdeck

unclejam, have you ever been to the First Saturday sale? Is it still going on?

Do you mean in Canton? It's still running strong, AFAIK. I go for the food

[unclejam]

yeah just a fyi i wont be on talk bass as much till i find a Xp disk

[unclejam]

well the computer is up and running and right now im just polishing it up(software, codecs)

[BartmanPDX]

Cool!

I put together an HTPC several years ago for my "Man Cave" (theater/music room).

I didn't end up using it all that much. I was kinda disappointed that most games/applications didn't like the native resolution (1280 x 720) of my projector, though I am able to surf the web, etc. on a 92" widescreen, which is pretty cool. I was able to get the video card to output the widescreen resolution, but many programs didn't like that one bit.

I ended up getting an Xbox 360 and a Wii for gaming.

Some day I'll probably revisit the whole thing, but it's not high on my list of things to do.

Keep us posted!

[unclejam]

Originally Posted by BartmanPDX

Cool!

I put together an HTPC several years ago for my "Man Cave" (theater/music room).

I didn't end up using it all that much. I was kinda disappointed that most games/applications didn't like the native resolution (1280 x 720) of my projector, though I am able to surf the web, etc. on a 92" widescreen, which is pretty cool. I was able to get the video card to output the widescreen resolution, but many programs didn't like that one bit.

I ended up getting an Xbox 360 and a Wii for gaming.

Some day I'll probably revisit the whole thing, but it's not high on my list of things to do.

Keep us posted!

What was/is your setup?
sounds to me like your video card is on the wimpy side

[fdeck]

Originally Posted by Stu L.

Do you mean in Canton? It's still running strong, AFAIK. I go for the food

When I lived in Fort Worth (a decade ago), there was a giant outdoor sale that happened on the first Saturday of every month. It covered about three city blocks of parking lots, smack dab in downtown Dallas.

It was a geek's paradise. People sold used computer junk, some electronics, some ham radio stuff, and also lots of new computer parts. There was a guy who did testing and repairs on the spot, for a price. Another guy had no booth space, but wore a huge stovepipe hat with his price list attached to his hat, and sold memory SIMM's out of a shoulder bag.

I got a lot of good stuff, and a lot of junk, at the First Saturday sale.

[Stu L.]

I do know about that now that you bring it up. I had a few friends that went all the time. I just forgot about it. I may have to make a trip if it's still on. Of course I have to learn more about computers first...

[unclejam]

Lil screen shot Action

[Vorago]

Let's just say its in harmony with the rest of your infamous room.