DIY Dual HD Tuner MCE
I’m trying to put together a system for my friend. It’s a lot harder than I remember it!Almost easier to go out and buy a HP z560 though they’re pricey at $1700.
So, anyone have thoughts on the following config:
Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC ATX 430W Power Supply 115/230 V - $39.99
ASUS M2N4-SLI Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - $88.99
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+(65W) Windsor 2.0GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - $109
AVERMEDIA AVERTVHD MCE A180 DIGITAL TV TUNER - $81.13 x 2 - Recommended by a lead PM on the Media Center TV team
GIGABYTE GV-NX76G256D-RH GeForce 7600GS 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Silent Pipe Lead Free Video Card - $102.99 - No fan
The TV he is looking at, VIZIO VX37L HDTV - 37″ LCD HDTV -
The antenna, The Winegard PR-4400 4-Bay
Added:
MASSCOOL Stars-700 Silver thermal grease - $1.99
Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W Power Supply 115/230 V TUV, UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC - $69.99
GIGABYTE GA-M55SLI-S4 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - $79.99
I’d get the HVR-1600 tuner card(s). In addition to the OTA tuner it’s got a _hardware_ NTSC tuner for cable / VHF antenna. Thus, you get 4 tuners even if you only use 2. CC has a deal right now:
http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=168467&WT.mc_n=388565&WT.mc_t=U&cm_ven=AFFILIATE%20MARKETING&cm_cat=PERFORMICS&cm_pla=DATAFEED-%3EPRODUCTS&cm_ite=1%20PRODUCT&cm_keycode=388565
The Avermedia supports QAM which would be good in the future. Maybe one of each is the way to go.
I think I’ll need to find a video card that has HDMI and can do HDCP. Any cheap recommendations?
I was a big AMD fan (because of their nice performance/price and the good Nvidia chipsets that were available for them). I built a new Vista MCE box recently with a Core 2 (because Fry’s didn’t have a decent cheap AMD mobo available, and I needed to build the machine that weekend - the previous one died on me unexpectedly).
So anyhow, I was surprised by the Core2 (I took the cheapest 6300): it operated with the fan OFF during the entire Vista install and remained at 25 degrees C! I haven’t seen a “fanless” CPU since the early Pentium days! (it needs a fan of course, but it doesn’t get activated often). The mobo I took was a Gigabyte http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128012
I had 0 problems with this setup (2 GB of RAM), and I get a 4.2 Vista perf index… I wasn’t going for a very performant machine, but this packs a good punch, and is relatively quiet. Had no trouble with drivers, everything worked pretty much out of the box. I’m using the simple Hauppauge tuners, so can’t say anything about HD tuners.
Other things (related to post above):
- I also took a Gigabyte Nvidia 7600GS, but it’s awfully noisy (like an airplane! no kidding). I don’t mind because my machine is not in the living room (it’s away in the basement). When I replaced the gfx card (to see if the rest was noisy), I could confirm that the noise was coming exclusively from the gfx card, nothing else was noisy in my setup.
- I took some cheap “value” RAM from a manufacturer I forgot the name (it’s not Corsair or anything known like that). I still get a 4.2 Vista perf index (the 4.2 coming from the RAM, everything else is 4.4 or 4.6)
- I was amazed by the audio drivers in Vista, they take advantage of the digital audio on that motherboard beautifully (no extra drivers installed). I have Dolby and DTS working perfectly.
Matt,
Looks like most of the key components are ones I would choose. I did notice that the mobo you selected does not iclude HD Audio support (I think Vista has some new settigs that are only supported on these types of audio chipsets). Also, I did want to let you know that newegg has a deal on the Western Digital 500GB SATA drive for $129.99 after $10 rebate (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136073). Personally, I would wait on the HDCP video card. I think nVidia is going to release some new low-end 8000 series cards soon that are DX10 and hopefully will include some type of HDCP port.
Matt,
I would highly recommend considering buying a HDHomeRun (http://www.silicondust.com/wiki/products/hdhomerun) instead of an integrated ATSC card. I am using the Beta driver with Vista Home Premium and its support of unencrypted Digital Cable QAM blows away the ATSC DVICO HD card I had been using. Until this device came out, the only way to watch QAM was outside of MCE, but they have created a virtual ATSC driver that makes Vista MCE think it can get all the unencrypted digital cable HD channels (including Discovery Theater HD and TNT HD) over the air from a card in the computer. At $169 (http://www.pcalchemy.com/product_info.php/pName/silicondust-hdhomerun-networked-digital-hdtv-tuner/cName/hdtv-tuner-cards) it is not cheap but for that your get an ethernet networked device with dual OTA/QAM tuners that can be accessed by multiple computers in the house. I learned about this device on http://www.TheGreenButton.com where there is a very active thread.
I can’t say enough good things about the HDHomeRun. I wasted a ton of time trying to get the Dvico card to work reliably in MCE (XP and Vista). The HDHomeRun just works, has dual tuners, and QAM works inside of Media Center - I was finally able to ditch my antenna. SiliconDust have been actively updating their drivers for the past month or two (maybe longer but that’s how long I’ve owned the device). It’s great to see a hardware company updating drivers every week and providing good support in their forums.
P.S. If you are hooking up to a receiver with S/PDIF, I’ve had good luck with an open box CMedia card and the open source Vista drivers: http://cmediadrivers.googlepages.com/
QAM support??? I don’t believe WMC supports QAM…
If you want HDCP support right now, I’d pickup the Leadtek 7900GS - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814122010
It’s more than the 7600GS that you’ve picked out (but not that much more than a HDCP enabled 7600), but it’s quiet and it has the memory bandwidth and hp for next gen HD content like H.264.
I’d look at the NForce5 based boards; most have HD audio and the ethernet implementation is much better. Depending on your perspective the only potential downside is only one PATA channel is provided (but there’s plenty of SATA). Some of the 590 based boards have Dolby Digital Live and DTS Live capabilities too (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128011).
Andy, I don’t have a HomeRun but I believe it lets WMC support QAM by ‘tricking’ it into thinking it is using ATSC.
My question was in r.e. to “The Avermedia supports QAM which would be good in the future. Maybe one of each is the way to go.”
I wasn’t aware of the HomeRun before, I’m definitely going to have to check that out.
Matt,
Just noticed this new video card from Gigabyte that includes HDMI with HDCP for ~$50 more than the one you have selected, plus the card uses faster memory. No reviews yet, but Gigabyte makes some nice video cards.
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814125058
Matt,
For the cpu, I would consider the 3600, it runs at 1.9GHz on each core and it is on the 65nm process. Better yet, the price for it continues to fall, today newegg has it for $69, can’t beat that for dual-core.
Chip
Guys, Have 2 seperate HD tuners in my machine and am running a Ge Force 7100GS! What do you think would be causing my picture to skip and freeze in live TV mode?
oH yeh, does anyone know of a dual hdtv tuner in 1 card that really works?
Updated: Here It Is: My Thoughts on Vista Media Center…
Over the past week I have got a great amount of feedback (more feedback) from my question about switch…
Nice post - I’m new to this, but have spent a couple of weeks researching, selecting and refining my spec - and the core is very similar to your own. Somewhat reassuringly I should add.
Since I’m builing my own PC - the only bit I don’t have figured is how does the media remote work ? Which part oof the box receives and processes the signals from the remote ? Do I add something special ? Does the PVR card do it ? Is it on the motherboard ?
Any help would be greatly appreaciated.
Thanks,
JJ
I like the machine configuration.
For an antenna, suggest you consider the Lacrosse which has a very wide polar plot, IF desired. Look at antennaweb.org for station locations at installation site.
http://www.terrestrial-digital.com/pdfs/lacrosseGainCurves.pdf
http://antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx
I live in Bellevue, WA and in order to get stations in Seattle, Tacoma(PBS), Bremerton (Ch 13), and on Tiger Mountain a wide angle antenna will get more stations for me. Of course, the Winegard should get all the important stations, depending on location.
JanJ
You might want to look at pcalchemy.com for the Avermedia A180. They have both a retail and OEM box priced at $79 and $69 respectively.
JanJ
Short Bits: Pika, Podcasts, CableCARD, Components Database, More…
Eric Anderson has a v2 Extender (Pika) prototype that supports native DivX decode. Good thing that know…
Short Bits: Pika, Podcasts, CableCARD, Components Database, More…
Eric
Anderson has a v2 Extender (Pika) prototype that supports native DivX
decode. Good thing……
You could just look over at http://TVease.net
They are selling media centers that display HDMI at 1080P and they start at 1099 dollars. Cant beat that. Dual core 3 GHZ intel processors on a gig of ram.
Matt,
Does Microsoft realize I am willing to pay $300-400 to buy Vista premium and a PC CableCard, but I’m not willing to buy a special MCE-PC just to use a CableCard? Not only that, I would be upgrading/replacing a linux box running MythTv.
I do not see how CableLabs, whose board, members, and and interests are the cable companies, can legally get away with a direction that clearly favors buying their DVR service over using a PC with a CableCard.
Microsoft should be leading in a fairer use policy for CableCards, and sales of Vista w/MC will benefit.
My only other avenue is going through the congressional path.
-bs
Anothr feed track -Matt Goyer’s Media Center Blog…
One new subscriber from Anothr Alerts…
Hello all
i was looking for this TV MEDIA CENTER for long time
and NOW finaly we got it
the Company ii-view from China produce the new and Incroyable TV MEDIA CENTER in 32, 42, 47 inch
all new specifications included, like HD DVD, bluray, Wifi, Bluetooth and more…..
please check
http://www.ii-view.com
and enjoy !!!!
unsecured personal loans for people with bad credit…
In recent times many financial Institutions providing loans like Student loan refinancing, Student loan consolidation, International student loans. Student loan refinancing, it is the main goal of refinancing is usually to reduce your monthly student l…
Best diet pills…
going to read more…
homebased business idea…
Journal News- News Under Construction AIA New York Chapter Calendar Projects- Projects Under Construction Academia- Academia Under Construction People- People Under Construction Backgrounds- Backgrounds Computation The Analytical Engine From â œcompu…
Western Digital 500GB SATA drive for $55.00: http://www.digitalfuntown.com/showchannel.php?page=22&title=Short%20Shorts&swf=shorts