HTPC Query

[RCuber]

Time for me to build a new rig for my dad. Main use a Entertainment center.

Here is what I am thinking. I will be moving one of my 120 GB HDD and a nVidia 7300GT card to this machine.

Processor: Intel E4400
Motherboard: XFX 650i ultra -- looks like its a ATX mobo . But I want a micro-ATX mobo.. so please suggest.
RAM: I will go for just 1GB DDR2 this time .. I will upgrade later
Cabinet: I am looking at these two options iBall Baby and
Antec Minuet 300 but I dont know if antec is available in india

Now comes the main part.... TFT Monitor ... Pls suggest me a 19" monitor .. Viewsonic or samsung or dell ? I myself have read bad reviews about viewsonic I think its VG1930WM .. but please correct me if I am wrong..

Next is tv tuner card.. I want the best tuner in the range of Rs. 3000, It should have a MCE compatable remote and IR blaster
I am interested in PCTV Tuner Kit for Windows Vista


I want to cramp in these within 30K

 

[gulgulumaal]

I've seen a nice small cabinet from zebronics. Forgot the name, but it's there on their site. In the iBall cabinet, due to the orientation of the DVD drive, u cant keep the cabinet horizontally. Since u r building an HTPC I think u'll want to keep it horizontal.

 

[RCuber]

^^ Thats ok with me, keeping the cabinet vertical is not a problem for me .

 

[vivekbabbudelhi]

Let me comment what I think ….

1. E4400 + 7300gt can never do a 1080p it can just manage SD content .Minimum for protected HD content is E6700 + 8800 series. So perhaps better save now with X2 4000+ & 690G for SD content can upgrade later .690g mobos have component , composite , s-video all what u need ..
2. Cabinet : antec are insanely expensive. Better get zebronic dhoom ,las vegas or any other from slim series.
3. Windows mce 2005, vista mce SUCKS .i repeat sucks too bad. MCE compatibility tuner is a crazy thing according to me.

Win XP with leadtek winfast tv 2000 xp global (I have it) 10bit ADC , with remote control supporting PC power on –off & remote controller works with cyberlink power dvd 7 .it is much much better than MCE 2005 or say vista mce …

4. Samsung monitors have best RTA in tn panels.

 

[Ponmayilal]

^Why do you say Vista MCE sucks. Just curious since I am toying with the idea of upgrading MCE2005 to Vista home premium. Thanks.

 

[sagar_coolx]

oye vivekbabu...i dont agree with u about only thee 8800 supporting hd 1080p...sound insane....i mean u need 20k+ grafix card just for videos!!!!...what will the hd dvd/bluray players use then?such high end cards? then they ought to be better consoles than xbox 360

 

[The_Devil_Himself]

instead of putting in an 7300gt buy a separated 8400gs for it.It will take care of all your multimedia needs.

 

[RCuber]

Let me comment what I think ….

1. E4400 + 7300gt can never do a 1080p it can just manage SD content .Minimum for protected HD content is E6700 + 8800 series. So perhaps better save now with X2 4000+ & 690G for SD content can upgrade later .690g mobos have component , composite , s-video all what u need ..
2. Cabinet : antec are insanely expensive. Better get zebronic dhoom ,las vegas or any other from slim series.
3. Windows mce 2005, vista mce SUCKS .i repeat sucks too bad. MCE compatibility tuner is a crazy thing according to me.

Win XP with leadtek winfast tv 2000 xp global (I have it) 10bit ADC , with remote control supporting PC power on –off & remote controller works with cyberlink power dvd 7 .it is much much better than MCE 2005 or say vista mce …

4. Samsung monitors have best RTA in tn panels.

Thanks for the input vivek.

First off. my dad will only be watching DVD and may be I will be watching 720p videos max. so I dont think I need 6700 and 8800 .. I believe you ment 8000 series insted of 8800 ..

2. yea I guessed antec will be expensive. I am still impressed with iBall Baby over dhoom. Here are the photos

iBall Baby
*iball.co.in/admin/images/main_img_113.jpg

Zebronics Dhoom
*www.zebronics.net/images/dhoom.jpg

3. I will keep your option of leadtek , but what did you find so disapointing with Vista MCE?

4. Yea monitor. thats the main part .. pls suggest a model which has inbuilt speakers from samsung.. ( this is just a option )

I still have some more days to finalize the rig, I will keep posted

 

[Ethan_Hunt]

^Not sure if the 'protected' was referred to HDCP compliation in your post but I myself have played a demo clip of True(or so it was mentioned)HD video on my 7900GT without any hicups.It's the same 1080p Blu-Ray test clip which came with the CHIP DVD.The video was quite mind boggling but nothing like bringing my system or my card to it's knees.

 

[RCuber]

^^ My current card 7300GT does support HDCP, but my current processor/ram is a bottle neck for playing Hi-Def videos and I get heavy framing.

 

[vivekbabbudelhi]

Now why XP MCE 2005 & VISTA MCE SUCKS…
1.First still some of compatible tuners have hardware mpeg 2 encoders in them. Do we need to pay extra premium for hardware mpeg 2 encoder in C2D & X2 world?

2.Pvr software that comes with TV tuner (like compro dtv or winfast pvr) is highly customizable according to WHAT U HAVE & WHAT U NEED. Take e.g.: suppose u have an old machine with pvr software u can select overlay rendering & thus save considerable cpu cycles & have low PF usage. If u have latest pc then u can use VMR9 rendering & get best possible picture (vmr9 is heavy on resources).

3.Many pvr softwars have customizable preview video size starting from 160x120 to 768x576 resolution. This feature has great benefit in multitasking .if u are running heavy on resources just lower video resolution!!So u have full control over ur resources.

4.Now suppose u have a big monitor like a 22” panel. Now on a 22” monitor u can very easily fill ur spreadsheet on half monitor & watch ur favorite TV channel on other half in 320x240 resolution!!!It’s a great e.g. of multitasking without being heavy on resources.

5.With pvr software u have a lot of video & audio codec’s to choose from to capture (record) video starting from mpeg1, mpeg2 upto 10,000 kbps, xvid mpeg4 with mp3 audio,helix YUV upto 768x576 with mp3 audio,divx then in audio u have AC3 ,DTS ,MP3 , PCM and many more given by k-lite media codec pack..u can use them all with winfast pvr!!!

In contrary to it mce 2005’s or vista’s media centre is damn heavy on resources & wont allow u anything which I mentioned above. Take a simple thinking here when we install windows vista ,vista installs default video drivers for nvidia geforce cards, hd audio and all but then why do we install nvidia forceware released drivers ???Simply because nvidia forceware release drivers are accurate to nvidia hardware!! How can Microsoft have better driver for hardware which it even doesn’t manufacture...Same is the case with mce’s media centre. Hope I made it clear..

 

[..:: Free Radical ::..]

Any suggestions on horizontal cabinets.
Silverstones are too darn expensive. Any el cheapo from Zebronics/iBall/local?

 

[RCuber]

Here is the estimate from Computer Warehouse.

CPU: C2D E6500 2.33/1333/4MB : 7100 /-
Mobo: Intel DG 33 FBC : 5400/-

Memory: 1 GB DDR2 667 Tran - 1350/-
SATA Cable : 40 /-
iBall Baby Cabinet: 1900/-
Samsung 920BW: 10450/-
Logitech KB : 425 /-
Logitech Mouse: 390 /-
DVD RW Liteon 20x: 1320 /-

Speaker SBS 245: 470 /-
--------------------
Total 28320 /-
+4% tax: 1133
--------------------
GT: 29453 /-

I forgot to mention TV tuner card to that guy so that not in the list, need to add it.

Next he sugested me a AMD rig with X2 5600+ @ 6800/- and a Asus Mobo numbered M2VBM HDMI @ 4700/-

I was interested in that HDMI model and that guy showed mobo. It has a addon card which has the HDMI output, a video out and other stuff. I was a bit disappointed that the card will take the 16x Pci-e slot so I cannot add a new GFX card. Asus website is down so I couldnot verify the features.

What do you guys tell? is this a fair deal?

 

[vivekbabbudelhi]

Hmm. ..Here is what I suggest for an entertainment pc
Amd rig:
CPU: x2 4000+ @ 2800/-
Memory: 1 GB DDR2 667 kingston @ 1400/-
Mobo: AMD 690G: gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H (best u can get in amd 690g, AMD validated solution)
*www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=2579&ProductName=GA-MA69GM-S2H

now why I suggest x2 4000+ with 690G :
HD content would available in good doses only after about 2 yrs here in India, so spending on 6000+ and 8800GTS now don’t seem to be a pretty solution now better just make a sd capable htpc now.
One year back we had igp geforce 6150 , this year we have geforce 7050 perhaps next year we may have geforce 8050 and 2 yrs from now we may have geforce 9050 or 9150 fully capable of doing 1080p in IGP @rs 4000/-!!!!!……so better save now with x2 4000+ and 690G .mobos just have 3 yrs warranty , after 3yrs if mobo goes kaput it is neither replaced nor repaired it becomes bull s**t. i think I have said enough..

Samsung 920BW: 10450/- CAUTION:I think this model has been phased out globally.

*www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/detail.do?group=computersperipherals&type=monitors&subtype=lcd&model_cd=LS19HAWKBJ/XAA
if u have doubts for this monitor better look for dell. Actually these days like viewsonic, Samsung is too using cheap tn films from Chinese companies to reduce monitor costs whereas dell is still using better tn films in their panels so dell price is higher than market competitors. Quality is assured in dell monitor & extra money spent is well deserved.

Invest in a DVI-D HDCP enabled monitor because any good monitor is gonna last u atleast 5 yrs..
Dell: DellTM SE 198WFP 19-inch Widescreen Flat Panel

*www1.ap.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/se198wfp?c=in&cs=inbsd1&l=en&s=bsd

 

[RCuber]

I do agree with you vivek. But dont you think I should go for atleast 4800+ as there will be a bit of encoding/ripping involved.

Motherboard you suggested has good reviews

I checked dell website for the monitor you suggested, it will cost me 15K I was expecting it to be below 13K for a 19" monitor.
*img128.imageshack.us/img128/8015/dellnj3.jpg

 

[vivekbabbudelhi]

OMG why the hell are they charging " CD/CVD/Excise Duty " these days.
i bought dell 22" e228wfp only in july this year for rs 19000/- inc TAX & DELIVERY.DELL GAVE ME TAX OFF FOR SHIPMENT IN DELHI .may be u should talk to call centre.

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=63826

 

[RCuber]

^^ Will do that