the biggest problem in Australia is getting a program that can do HD TV. Mediaportal wont do 9 or 10 HD properly and most others wont either. So your stuck with the Fusion or DNTV Live software which doesnt have a front end.
Newbie Needs Assitance Building A HTPC For Australian Use! (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Maz78
- Start date
Australia
I disagree - using the Zulu HD DxVA Decoder in MediaPortal works fine for me on all the HD channels.....anything said:
The nVIDIA Video Decoder is not too good on some HD material, though - so I think the issue with HD is more to do with the particular video decoder than it is to do with MediaPortal itself.
- Thread starter
- #14
Cool. Thanks for the info. Now... FINALLY. My last question is:
I've also found one of the MSI boards:
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=702
This one has 7.1 audio, all the video connectors by the look of it, and 3 PCI slots in a Micro ATX board. I'm guessing if I wanted to have the "Spatial De-Interlacing" function, I would just install an addition 6600 series video card, and stand alone Sound card for that to handle the sound processing correct?
In the meantime, I'm guessing this mb, with a decent tuner card and CPU would be more than sufficient for watching / recording TV? My onyl concern still is on the 1080i HD side, and as long as I have the 6600 card, I should be fine correct? BTW: What would be the minimum spec AMD CPU you would want for this setup?
I've also found one of the MSI boards:
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=702
This one has 7.1 audio, all the video connectors by the look of it, and 3 PCI slots in a Micro ATX board. I'm guessing if I wanted to have the "Spatial De-Interlacing" function, I would just install an addition 6600 series video card, and stand alone Sound card for that to handle the sound processing correct?
In the meantime, I'm guessing this mb, with a decent tuner card and CPU would be more than sufficient for watching / recording TV? My onyl concern still is on the 1080i HD side, and as long as I have the 6600 card, I should be fine correct? BTW: What would be the minimum spec AMD CPU you would want for this setup?
To give you some idea, I have an AMD Athlon XP 2400+ with an ATI 9550, and using the Zulu HDTV DxVA video decoder with 1080i (channel 9 HDTV), the CPU% is around 60%.Maz78 said:
Using the nVIDIA on SD, the CPU% is around 15%.
So, I would suggest that anything equivalent to, or better than what I have, would be fine....
Funny, I always thought that was what made the Tardis bigger on the inside than the outside...
Here is the Albatron board I mentioned earlier:http://www.gamedude.com.au/prod_show.php?art_no=mbALkm51pv.
Don't worry too much about the 6600 at this stage, as long as the board you get has the 6150 built in or the ATi x200 then try it out. If you aren't happy then upgrade to the 6600.
- Thread starter
- #19
Marcusb said:
Cool, thanks for the link and the info people! I think I might just try the MSI board I posted earlier.
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=702
Pity there aren't really any full sized ATX boards with all 6150 and all audio options onboard (Not that I've found). Can anyone confirm? I'm only asking as I'll probably go with a Silverstone LC-10 full size case.
Thanks again!
I'm a p4 with a LC10M, and have the project mostly completed.
I can also confirm no problems with ANY hd channels locally. The EPG took a while to get right but is now working 98% right (minor issue, probably something I did).
One thing I would highly recommend is an aftermarket CPU cooler like the Zlaman, the LC10 is a quiet enough case but the cpu fans from intel suck for noise output.
The other thing is, as the Hauppage tuners are fully supported stick to those. I tried others, didn't really have any specific problems it just seems to work that much better with MP and these cards. Just fitted it last night and it went in and is now working like a dream. Though i'm mostly talking about analog capure of foxtel here. I use a compro for the HD capture, slow to change channels but not unbearable.
I use a projector for the display so I don't have to worry about output beyond the normal VGA DB15 connector.
I have an older Intel motherboard as well that has everything I need onboard, there must be someone who has most things onboard in the AMD line. Looked at ASUS ?
something like the
http://au.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=766&l1=3&l2=15&l3=210 Though still not full ATX.
One last tip, spend time tweaking XP before you fire up the MP setup, that extra prep time getting windows out of it's own way really pays off in the long run, faster boot times and no cpu time wasted on services designed for corporate PC use.
I can also confirm no problems with ANY hd channels locally. The EPG took a while to get right but is now working 98% right (minor issue, probably something I did).
One thing I would highly recommend is an aftermarket CPU cooler like the Zlaman, the LC10 is a quiet enough case but the cpu fans from intel suck for noise output.
The other thing is, as the Hauppage tuners are fully supported stick to those. I tried others, didn't really have any specific problems it just seems to work that much better with MP and these cards. Just fitted it last night and it went in and is now working like a dream. Though i'm mostly talking about analog capure of foxtel here. I use a compro for the HD capture, slow to change channels but not unbearable.
I use a projector for the display so I don't have to worry about output beyond the normal VGA DB15 connector.
I have an older Intel motherboard as well that has everything I need onboard, there must be someone who has most things onboard in the AMD line. Looked at ASUS ?
something like the
http://au.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=766&l1=3&l2=15&l3=210 Though still not full ATX.
One last tip, spend time tweaking XP before you fire up the MP setup, that extra prep time getting windows out of it's own way really pays off in the long run, faster boot times and no cpu time wasted on services designed for corporate PC use.