Card for DVB-S2 MPEG4 HDTV??? (1 Viewer)

[lout]

Hi plz recomend me some pci card what work with MP and have new dvb-s2 thnx

 

[dman_lfc]

Here are two...

PCI: TechnoTrend-budget S2-3200
USB: TechnoTrend-connect S2-3600

Note: H.264 streams are not handled by DVR-MS so to record / timeshift you'll have to wait for the next release after 0.2.0.
For 1080i ensure you have a 3.0GHz P4 or equivalent, 256MB Graphics card (Nvidia 6 or 7 series recommended) & 512MB memory otherwise you'll get audio synch issues.

I currently recommend the CoreAVC & CoreAAC decoders until a directshow h/w accelerated codec comes out to leverage the Nvidia chipset offload capabilities.

DMAN

 

[MJGraf]

Hi there,

I'm just planning to buy some new parts for my htpc to make it future-ready, i.e. ready for DVB-S2 and H.264.

ATM I have an Athlon XP 1800+ with a NVidia 6200 AGP. This should not be sufficient therefore I suppose...

I'm planning to buy a Pentium D 805 (2x 2,6GHz - easily overclockable to 3.2 GHz and with some more cooling even to 4,1 GHz - see www.tomshardware.de - unfortunately german...) and a GForce 6600 PCI-E.
NVidia says you need a 7600GT to get all out of PureVideo regarding HD decoding.

Would this configuration be ready for future HD videos / tv?
Is it worth to spend that much more money for a passively cooled 7600GT instead of a 6600?

Thanks,

/Michael

 

[ziphnor]

If you are going to buy intel for a HTPC, go Core Duo, the Intel CPUs use lots of power and heat up excessively making them unfit for HTPC duty.

The Core Duo is very fast and generate very little heat, but the mobos are hard to come by and are expensive. Furthermore the heatsink mounting system is not standarized. Furthermore it doesnt support 64-bit instructions, a limitation which is hard to gauge the importance off currently.

Personally im waiting for the AMD 35W A64 X2 3800 on the AM2 socket, which seems born for HTPC service with such a low TDP.
Im currently running an A64 Venice 3000+ E6, which i have undervolted to 1.1V at full speed. My 3000+ handles 1280x720p HD MPEG-4 files without any issue, using my Ati X550(i didnt play them in MP though). I guess HD deinterlacing adds extra work.

I would go for a 7600GT, but just buy one with a stock cooler, and install a silent or passive heatsink yourself(the Zalman VF900 comes to mind, im sure its fan will run at such a low speed that it will be inaudible), otherwise there are some fanless heatsinks out there for the 7x00 series.

Note however, that the nvidia 6150 onboard GPU lists the feature of HD deinterlacing so maybe its better to start with an onboard GPU(cheap) and see what happens.