A couple questions...

S

SerialThriller

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 15, 2004
Messages
359
1. Why do people insist on buying shitty video cards for an HTPC set up? Wouldn't a good video card be the main thing they would need?

2. Why do ppl purchase cheap motherboards for HTPC systems? Is it ok to?

3. Kinda dumb question, but what does an HTPC actually do? Does it only store downloaded or recorded media and play DVDs? Or does it do something like improve picture quality ot somethnig else?
 
SerialThriller said:
1. Why do people insist on buying shitty video cards for an HTPC set up? Wouldn't a good video card be the main thing they would need?
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There are many plausible alternatives- the two main ones being budget (most would rather spend $$ on HDD space) or that they won't be playing games on it, and if they are, their TV isn't capable of much over 800x600 anyway. A video card for a true "HTPC" (defined by me as one for media viewing, listening and PVRing (not gaming)) needs only to have a very good quality TV out. Good quality TV outs can be found on Radeon 7000's.
SerialThriller said:
2. Why do ppl purchase cheap motherboards for HTPC systems? Is it ok to?
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Because these are usually secondary boxen for most enthusiests, the "bling" motherboard is in whats called a "rig". The HTPC is not usually overclocked, and is picked on features for said environment, such as size (most good HTPC cases that fit in stereo racks are mATX), audio connections, fanlessness, etc. Price is considered as well given that the main mobo bucks in the average enthusiest's house will goto their "rig". Its certainly "OK to" as long as it work :D

SerialThriller said:
3. Kinda dumb question, but what does an HTPC actually do? Does it only store downloaded or recorded media and play DVDs? Or does it do something like improve picture quality ot somethnig else?
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A HTPC can do many things. Mine will record shows from cable, play them back, generally act like a TIVO, play DVD's (note that there is software that will upsample DVD's and improve their image quality- very worthwhile if you hvae a nice TV), playback of media content throughout the network, including mp3's, videos, pictures, etc, mine has a weather module, so I can check the weather... my friend's has doom3 setup to run on his 53" HDTV....

I perform ALL operations with my HTPC using the remote control- no keyboard or mouse. It is also girlfriend-proof in most cases ;)

Cliff notes of this post= it can do anything you want it to do. -> on my todo list is integrating x10 stuff.... (home automation)
 
1) what he said. It depends on your implementation. I do not play games on my HTPC. Occasionally I fire up MAME, but not too much. I have a projector so I don't even need svideo out.

2) I went for stability over bling. It is a 24/7 box. I only shut it down for maintenance. I wanted something small with integrated components and a stable chipset.

3) I use mine to view live TV, record TV, play mp3's, watch "archived" movies, watch downloaded multimedia content, play DVD's, and occasionally sirf the web and fire up an old school game. Those two are rare, as I don't like using the keyboard/mouse on my couch. I use a remote to perform all the other operations. An HTPC is capable of image processing as well. You can dramatically improve picture quality on any form of video playback. Out of the box, the HTPC plays back at 480p (progessive scan) quality.
 
haha, good luck wiith the home automation, i wouldn't know how to begin to set that up. I guess i got the wrong impression, for some reason i thought that HTPCs were able to better the picture, but tks for clearing things up. If it is just used for playing back one spend most money on a decent vid card, sound card (unless the yare using their Tv's sound), and massive HDD space, no?
 
SerialThriller said:
haha, good luck wiith the home automation, i wouldn't know how to begin to set that up. I guess i got the wrong impression, for some reason i thought that HTPCs were able to better the picture, but tks for clearing things up. If it is just used for playing back one spend most money on a decent vid card, sound card (unless the yare using their Tv's sound), and massive HDD space, no?
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The video card only makes a difference in your frame rate on 3d stuff. For example, the Radeon 7000 through x800XT line use the same exact tv out hardware in addition to having the same RAMDAC (thingy that converts the card's output to VGA). Thus, any radeon will yeild excellent TV out functionality.

I like to use nF2 based boards with Soundstorm so I can have dolby digital encoding going on.

Check out Meedio.com - they have a great front end software, and just came out with a home automation package to integrate with x10 devices.

ID- I got ffdshow running DVD's @ 1080i on a friend's hdtv over the weekend.... very bling. <-- note for serial: this greatly improves the picture
 
Check under the guide for building an HTPC, most of them answer all of your questions.
 
Look me up over at AVSFORUM, I go by Dallas_Jose there just click my sig to see what my HTPC does.

Seriously most HTPC people only use pvr or dvd for their computer and thats ok. I think HTPC means all the components not just a box that has been modded or stripped with a pvr card added.
I think it starts from the screen down, what good is it to have a nice htpc and just use it for analog and dvd? Imagine people honestly use their old 25" analog tv's and expect good image quality, go figure. I do it all from HDTV, websurfing, gaming, recording, dvd enhancing, whatever if it can be displayed on a 1280x720p display I'll try it.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=435231
 
IDversusEGO said:
1) what he said. It depends on your implementation. I do not play games on my HTPC. Occasionally I fire up MAME, but not too much. I have a projector so I don't even need svideo out.

2) I went for stability over bling. It is a 24/7 box. I only shut it down for maintenance. I wanted something small with integrated components and a stable chipset.

3) I use mine to view live TV, record TV, play mp3's, watch "archived" movies, watch downloaded multimedia content, play DVD's, and occasionally sirf the web and fire up an old school game. Those two are rare, as I don't like using the keyboard/mouse on my couch. I use a remote to perform all the other operations. An HTPC is capable of image processing as well. You can dramatically improve picture quality on any form of video playback. Out of the box, the HTPC plays back at 480p (progessive scan) quality.
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how does using the tv to view tv benefit you? no cable box? or...something else?
 
SerialThriller said:
how does using the tv to view tv benefit you? no cable box? or...something else?
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these people are using their HTPC to "clone" a TiVO and other "cable-like boxes" that record shows on tv digitally allowing you to watch them later. So you are still watching your tv on YOUR tv instead of a 17" monitor. they can also store their DVDs onto the harddrives so they don't need to use the disc anymore. and you store mp3s on it and use it to listen to music as well. basically its going to be a very integrated home theatre system built only to how you want it built.
 
i apologize. that post needed to be edited. I meant to say why would a person use a comp to watch tv thru? I mean i get the PVR but do ppl who use their comp for this not use a cable box and instead the cable line goes right into the comp? And lastly a repost of my earlier question, what processor speed are usual in a HTPC?
 
youd still need a cable box if the area you live in requires one...and that would plug into the computer....but people use their computers to record tv onto their computer rather than using at tivo....you could get away with as little as a 1.0ghz all the way up to a amd64 or HT p4 really just depends on your budget and what all you want it to do
 
I have a projector, so I have no built in tuner. By using my htpc, I was able to combine several functions in one box instead of 3. Before the HTPC, I had a DVD player, cable box and Tivo. now I have all of those combined and have added some fuetures as well. Plus I only have to run one signale cable to my ceiling.

A good HTPC can improve image quality for ANY video format using apps like FFDshow. A well equiped, well configured HTPC kicks the crap out of a progressive scan DVD player. My comment was that you can get same quality with no tweaks and not too great hardware. It all depends on your goals.
 
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