Planning a HTPC setup

[grunnsat]

This posting is in English, but if you want to react in German PLEASE DO! Writing in English is a bit easier for me .

 

I'm planning to build a HTPC for DVB-C reception that can be used as a Personal Video Recorder. This means it should be able to record a different channel than the one I'm watching at that moment. Hence I wil need two tuner cards.

 

I also want to use the HTPC for transcoding video files from one format to another. Since this is a very computing intensive job, it has a great influence on for instance the type of cpu.

 

This is what I have come up with so far:

1. Tuners.
   FloppyDTV DVB-C tuners, reasons:
   • Can be used in PCI and PCI-E slots. No electric connections to the PCI slots, just plastic for the physical support.
     
   • CI slot for the CAM integrated on the tuner card. Any other tuner card needs an extra PCI slot or a 3.5" module for the CAM.
     
   • Both tuner cards can be connected to each other internally, with coax (antenna signal) and firewire (output signal).
     

[*]Motherboard.

Abit IP35 Pro XE, reasons:

• Two internal firewire connectors. I can use one for the tuners, and the other for a firewire connector on the front of the case.
  
• Two e-Sata connectors on the ATX backpanel.
  
• Solid state capacitors, no leaking electrolytic capacitors.
  
• This is an improved version of the IP 35 Pro, which had very good reviews.
  

[*]Processor.

Intel Quad Core Penryn class like Q9550., reasons:

• Quad Core, so I can use one core for viewing and the three others cores for other purposes like transcoding.
  
• Penryn class for the SSE4 instruction set, which speeds up video decoding and encoding.
  

[*]Operating System.

Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit (not that I like Windows Vista), reasons:

• Good 64bit support that will allow me to use 8GB of memory and as well as other 64bit related improvements of the CPU.
  
• I can use Remote Terminal from a laptop to the HTPC for working in the background (transcoding etc.).
  

[*]Hard Drives.

Two Seagate enterprise class 500GB Sata drives in Raid 1 (I just HATE losing my system disk). I already have a Netgear ReadyNas NV+ external raid array that can be extended to 3TB capacity.

[*]Graphics card.

Sapphire ATI HD3870 Ultimate, reasons:

• No fan, no noise.
  
• ATI has a better support for HDTV than Nvidia.
  
• ATI has real HDMI audio, with support for the best quality sound. Nvidia does not have similar functionality.
  
• ATI cards can be used with transcoding. Several Codecs have support for ATI hardware. Again not possible with Nvidia.
  

[*]DVB software.

DVBViewer Pro, reasons:

• Seems to have the most functionality.
  
• Can be used with DVB-C HDTV, Mediacenter does not (officially?) support DVB-C with or without HDTV.
  
• I hope I can use DVBViewer for simultaneous viewing of one channel over one tuner, and recording another channel over the other tuner. Can somebody please tell me if this is possible?
  

[*]Case.

Not easy to find a good one, but Thermaltake Mozart looks allright. The 'classic' Silverstone LC cases don't look very refined, their newer cases look much better but are only suited for micro-ATX boards.

[*]CAMs.

Alphacrypt Classic, the only one I can use in the Netherlands. I will use them in combination with SmartWI, so I will need only one subscription card for both tuners.

 

I will appreciate any comment in German or English.

[Krollinger]

Processor.

Penryn class for the SSE4 instruction set, which speeds up video decoding and encoding.

I thought, the application must support the SSE-instructions that the apps can use that?! Support the DVBV these instructions?

 

DVB software.

DVBViewer Pro, reasons:

I hope I can use DVBViewer for simultaneous viewing of one channel over one tuner, and recording another channel over the other tuner. Can somebody please tell me if this is possible?

Yes, its possible! DVBViewer is multituner capable.

 

Case.

Not easy to find a good one, but Thermaltake Mozart looks allright. The 'classic' Silverstone LC cases don't look very refined, their newer cases look much better but are only suited for micro-ATX boards.

I wanted to buy me the Thermaltake DH101 Media Edition with display but i bought the Silverstone GD01 black. Both are for ATX-Boards.

 

Sorry for my bad english^^

 

Greets! Krolli

[grunnsat]

I thought, the application must support the SSE-instructions that the apps can use that?! Support the DVBV these instructions?

 

Well, not the application itself but the codec. For instance the latest DivX codec has support for the SSE4 instructions.

 

Yes, its possible! DVBViewer is multituner capable.

 

That is good to know, thanks. Someone pointed me to MediaPortal as a good alternative for DVBViewer, so I will check that out too. It is also capable of using two tuners.

 

I wanted to buy me the Thermaltake DH101 Media Edition with display but i bought the Silverstone GD01 black. Both are for ATX-Boards.

 

I had a look at the GD01 as well, but to me it looks a bit akward with that strange curved front. However the advantage is that all connectors are out of sight (and dust). Did you get the MX version with the LCD display?

 

Sorry for my bad english^^

 

It isn't bad at all

[Krollinger]

Did you get the MX version with the LCD display?

 

No, I dont get the MX version. I've seen the display at the Cebit and you cant read the informations from the distance and its very small. so, the display is useless.

 

Greets! Krolli