Best video connetion/sound card? (1 Viewer)

[VidarParry]

Hi all,
Still battling with the design for my HTPC, but nearly ready to commit!

Love MediaPortal - especially the networking approach!

Only concern I have now is that my TV only has Component, DVI, VGA and s-Video for video input, and I'm at a loss as to which is best. My AV Receiver only takes component video, so I'm hoping that my HTPC will send the video direct to the TV monitor, with the audio via optical to the AV Receiver.

So my questions are:
a) Is this configuration workable, eg with no lip synch problems?
b) Which is the best video connection - Component, DVI, VGA or s-Video?
c) A strong influence on b) - what video card would be best?

Proposed configuration:
Intel S775 Core 2 Duo E6320 1.86GHz CPU
Intel S775 DG965WHMKR Core 2 Duo VIIV Motherboard
DDR2 1GB 667MHz RAM
80GB Seagate 7200rpm 8M Serial ATA HDD (for OS - XP Pro SP2)
320GB HDD IDE for data
HaupPage dual TV tuner 500
Silverstone LC17-S Home Theatre Case Silver (No PS)
Thermaltake XP550 NP 430 Watt ATX Power Supply OEM
Microsoft Wired Desktop 500 Keyboard and Mouse
Pioneer DVR-212D 18xDVD DL Burner SATA Black
Integrated Gigabit Network Connection

Cheers
...Steve

 

[trevor]

Steve,

a - Yes
b - DVI is considered superior though you may find VGA comperable results.
c - I use a ASUS EN7600GT, this mainly chosen as it has an HDMI port, not that I use the audio part of that. Try an chose a silent card if possible, those GPU fans seem to cause a fair bit of noise, I have to run mind at 20% power to kep things quite.

I have been looking recently at the new ASUS silent cards using the Nivida 8500/8600 chipsets which have more support for hardware decoding of HD content when used with the PureVideo codecs.

Nice set of hardware so far by the way.

Trevor

 

[VidarParry]

Thanks Trevor. I'll certainly check out the silent cards - I know my current 'normal PC' card makes a fair amount of noise, so that's a good point.

I'm pleased that using DVI direct to the TV will also work without lipsync problems - that certainly widens my choice of card.

Cheers
...Steve