Aopen XC Cube AV challenge - combo audio/video? (1 Viewer)

A

Anonymous

Guest
Hi gang!

One challenge I'm having is with an Aopen cube box (like Shuttle). It has an AGP slot and an open PCI slot.

Ideally I'd like to upgrade the video from onboard to something stronger. Plus I'd like to have TV-Out capabilities as well.

I'd also like to have surround sound output (5.1/7.1 capabilities). The box has only a left and right channel audio outpput (and I'm assuming there's no way to split 2 channels to add a center & rear speaker capability, right?). So an audio card seems like a necessity.

So right there is two cards. The box already has a TV tuner card in the PCI slot.

I'm willing to get whatever card combo is needed to optimize a great video output, surround sound and top notch video capture w/ hardware decoding.

How can I solve my single AGP/PCI slot problem with the cards available?

Thanks for ANY ideas!
 

SePPiE

Portal Pro
December 6, 2004
66
0
The Netherlands
Ever thought about an ATI All In Wonder?? then you have tuner and AGP graphics (ati radeon 9800) and tv-out in one... then you can use the second slot for a sound card..
 

maxtrash

Portal Pro
November 27, 2004
91
0
Tilburg, Netherlands
ati wonder is not yet fully supported and has no hardware encoding capabilities.

So depending on the tv tuner card (probably not hardware encoding mpeg2) I'd get a Hauppauge WINTV-PVRUSB2 and any soundcard + graphicscard (make sure that one is directx 9 compatible)

edit: the other way around seems better: USB soundcard and just getting the Hauppauge 150MCE PCI card (or 500MCE if you want dual tuners!). That one is 70 euro cheaper here in the netherlands. And difference between a pci-soundcard and usb-soundcard seems far less.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Wow!

Thanks for the tip on the USB sound card. Didn't know they were out there!

That solves a big problem. I'm thinking of the Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX USB - should do me fine!

Any suggestions on a good video card compatible with Win MCE & Media Portal w/ a good TV out function?

Not a big gamer so that's not a big priority but you never know what the future might bring.

Thanks again!
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Got the GeForce XFX FX5200 graph card and it does the job very nicly indeed.. picture is clear and sharp and it has all the connections you would need. I got my htpc connected to a 68cm lcd TV via DVI connection and the image is amazing. I do not use it for games but it shold be more than OK for the occosional bashing.

One very nice thing about this one and this mainly why I got it: no FAN... no noise!!! I think the Cube Box you got is quiet noisy (read some reviews sometime ago) so you should get a fanless Graph card.

For the sound, I would check what you have on board already, it may be enough for what you need. I have integrated sound on my motherboard and it really is super. Soundstorm. Excellent sound!!

Hope this helps
 

glen_avery

New Member
February 8, 2005
1
0
Actually the XC Cube has 5.1 sound. For digital output there is a SPIDF output on the front and a coaxial output on the back, for 3.5 inch the line and mike in jacks double as surround out and center/sub woofer out.

So all you need is a AGP card which has a s-video out contact.

Cheers
Glen
 

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