Thinking Of Converting My PC into a Home theater like setup and Have a few Questions

[G-Man]

Alright.
i am seriously thinking of turning this pc into a home theater setup and i have a few questions.
1. what is a good, fairly cheap htpc case? i like the looks of the tt cases but some are fairly expensive and i am not sure.
2. which tv card has the best tv quality and can record a diff channel while watchin tv(dual tuners?) and is fairly cheap.
3. my sound is stuffing up with my onboard so what is a good sound card that is cheap and has decent quality for movies and games?
4. i need silent coolers, which is the quietist graphics card cooler? and i need a new cpu cooler that is no bigger than the stock cooler as there is a massive capacitor right next to it, which is also quiet?
5. if i got a remote with the tv card or something would it be able to power the whole pc including power up/down? if not can i get one that can

as you can probably figure out i do not have too much money to spend so good price/performance things would be good.

All help appreciated, Thanks in advance
G-Man

for a sound card you can get what I use the chanitec 7.1 its like 25-30$ and I think it sounds great.

Or if you want to go for top end, grab a X-Fi platnum for like 100$ and you will have alot more to work with too due the I/O panel on it

BTW the 30$ chanitec comes with native digial out.

As for the rest, its somthing I have never tried before so I really dont know.

I have satlite TV so I guess I would not use a TV tuner card but just some sort of video in like AVIVO wich is on my 7800GTX it can record and have the signal split so that it goes to the TV also, then have the computer wired into the sterio so that the sound goes to it to play my movies and mp3s.

It may take some tweaking, but I think how I would do it is totaly diffrent than how you would.

If the case is a problem just keep it in the case its in ^^ maybe camaflauge it or put it behind the TV and just have the remote sensor upfront.

[G-Man]

thanks man, the chanitek soundcard sounds good - i do not need high end its just my onboard is stuffed. the reason i wanted a new case is because this one sounds like a jet taking off, must be at least 200db lol

EDIT: I live in australia and i cant seem to be able to locate one. thanks for the suggestion but i need one that i can get a hold of here in australia. maybe someone knows where to get one?

EDIT EDIT:maybe i might get one of these 'HDA DIGITAL X-MYSTIQUE GOLD 7.1 "24 BIT / 96KHZ"' what do you guru's think of this card? is it any good? its a bit more expensive than i was planning to spend but what can you do

[G-Man]

Bump

[G-Man]

:bump:

[G-Man]

:bump:

[G-Man]

bah come on people help me!
I feel like a loner

[ROBSCIX]

I would say get the
'HDA DIGITAL X-MYSTIQUE GOLD 7.1 "24 BIT / 96KHZ it has EVERYTHING you could want for a MEDIA PC soundcard.
I run dual tuners and can watch or record two channels at once but I use two differnt cards. I think there are a couple of tuner cards out there with dual tuner picture in picture capability..Are you planning on just connecting this PC to your home stereo/surround set?

[G-Man]

thanks,
for the moment ill have it in the same place as my current computer but i plan on buying a new rig in the not too distant future so maybe then ill have it on my home stereo/tv etc

[pvbj]

I am building an HTPC and bought a LG dvd burner, GSA H10L, and it works ok for burning data loading programs, it tested ok on the Nero test, but when I put a dvd movie in the Nero Show Time program opens but the movie never plays.

It runs extreamly slow and the program must be closed by Ending Task.
I have IDE's set to DMA. I have checked in the BIOS, HDD and DVD are set to primary and secondary master as the mobo hase IDE 1&2.

I performed a CLDMA test and e-mailed the results to 'powerdvd@gocyberlink.com'

I can start over from scratch and format the hard drive (I guess) but I hate to have to set up the resolution to match my TV and load everything again.

Any Ideas would be much appreciated.

[ROBSCIX]

DO you have any other DVD software to test with? the Driver disk for the burner should have a demo verion of a DVD player...it is possible it's just a setting thing or a software glitch so It would be wise to try another PLayer and see ho that one works out...Also check and see if there is any new chipset drivers for your mobo. Was the software installed before the burner? and was the burner installed after the software?

[ViPER_DMRT]

Originally Posted by pvbj

I am building an HTPC and bought a LG dvd burner, GSA H10L, and it works ok for burning data loading programs, it tested ok on the Nero test, but when I put a dvd movie in the Nero Show Time program opens but the movie never plays.

I whould suggest to download VLC. It's a very small, no hassle, opensource mediaplayer. If you can Choose open dir/point to the DVD folder.
Or drag any .vob file (Even as an Iso image) into the player.

Yes i'm well aware it's looks like Ships, but if it works then Nero (or at least your version) should be shot.
Consider adding or if so, removing the Nero 'Video Plugins' consider, upgrading to the latest version or even better.. go try Nvidia's PureVideo codecs
for playing all of your DVD/HD stuff.

The trial version can be found Here
Good luck.

[ROBSCIX]

Also if you can find it there is ACE MEGA CODEC'S...that pack contains everything you could want for video. I am with him I htink it's the player your trying to use. Use something else...BTW VLC= Video Lan Client, great little app for video and TV

[pvbj]

You guys are kinda smoking me here.
Im learning as i go on some of this stuff.

Ive tried removing and reloading applicable software.
I sort of know what a codec is whats the best way to change them?
I am currenly running the version of Power DVD and Nero that came with the LG DVD Drive.

The Pure Video demo program sounds like what I auta have being an HTPC and all.
Do I just install it and it will replace the old stuff.
I am on win 2k at the moment looks like Pure video is setup for XP MCE.

My next purchase will be MCE and a tunner card but it would be cool if I could get it going in the mean time as my better half considers the hole project a waist of time and money.

Thanks

[ROBSCIX]

Can you give us a list of what you have now..software and hardware wise that would go with a HTPC for instance
DVD Burner
Power DVD
X-Plosion soundcard
etc..then we can give you a idea of what to do to get it running quickly..
does your video card have TV out?

[pvbj]

My video card has DVI out to HDMI in using the monster DVI to HDMI cable.
The x-plosion 7.1 sound card is conected using the optical out.
LG dvd burner, GSA H10L.
I had the demo of Nero7 and removed it. It had the same simptoms.

I replaced a DVD burner with the same symptoms as the new LG, that I thought might be from the wrong region code not that i know much about that.

I strugled with Powerstrip to get timmings and resolution right until I downloaded the latest Nvidia forceWare and it did it no sweat; so games look pretty cool and everything fits the 52" screen well.

I am reading a little about codecs: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/276423/EN-US/
and reinstalling and such, maybe I have some conflictions going on.
Do you think I should reinstall codecs per the above article?
If so which ones Purevideo, ffdshow.......

HDTV 720p is the resolution so anything I do needs to be with that in mind.
I will eventialy be going with TheaterTek and an HDTV tunner card of some sort and upscale/condition dvd video as much as possible.

Thanks for you patients

[ROBSCIX]

do you have videos to try and play? ypu should be able to download demo version of WinDVD ,powerDVD...etc..thei will get your DVD up and running...it should..let me know if I am missing something..

[pvbj]

Yes, I put a DVD movie in the drive the Nero Show Time program opens like it's trying to play but never does. I assume the CPU is working pretty hard because the temperature on the front digital dispay goes up from the low 90's to like 110 deg C. I close the Show Time program and the proram is not responding window displayes and choose end task or whatever, throughout this entire process it's running extreamly slow.

I may just whipe everything out and start over from the beginng with the new DVD drive, format C, reload Win 2k..............

But first I think i will remove all codecs and reload.
Does that sound like a plan?

[Bigbird999]

Gman
You have a very high powered rig for an HTPC. If I were you I would head over to the forums at snapstream.com http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/ and see what you need The folks there are very helpful.

BB

[pvbj]

Thanks Bigbird999,
I'll check out the Snapstream forum.

Alot of the HTPC are built from spare parts and are required to perform basic video and tivo duties.

I wanted to see games like Doom3 and Quake 4 on the big screen with all or most of the features cranked up, I am not a big gamer, my kids get a kick out of it and i just enjoy the cool graphics.
From what I understand creating a poormans highend video processor requires alittle more horse power. The GeForce 6800 XT with Purevideo, is a pretty good graphics card for the bucks and does both games and video well.

When I am ready for the HDTV tuner card there will be a bunch more questions.

[dcx_badass]

I have a nice TV card, if you can find one mine is OEM, its got 6 Tuners
2* Analogue Terrestrial
2* Digital Terrestrial
2* Digital Satelite
It's a good tuner but it came with my PC so dunno if you can buy it.

[pvbj]

Stupid question;
Do you just put the cable in of from the antenna to the tuner card and the programming shows through the output of the video card?

VGA,DVI, or S video.

[pvbj]

I think I found the problem with the DVD.
I have no codecs in my "media control devices" and Add/Remove hardware desnt seem to put them back.

Not sure whats going on.