[mythtv-users] HDTV MythTV parts list

PAUL WILLIAMSON pwilliamson at mandtbank.com
Fri Sep 16 20:50:21 UTC 2005


>>> "Brian McEntire" <brian.mcentire at gmail.com> 09/16/05 4:18 PM >>>
> Okay - I started this thread, hope it's okay if I chime back in :)
> 
> I was just about to order the parts, but I came across a couple of 
> stumbling blocks:
> 
> I'm generally seeing recommendations for the FX5200 Nvidia cards 
> for their onboard MPEG2 decoding ... makes them a good candidate 
> for HDTV out, and that's what I'm building this for. NOW, the hard 
> part... should I get an AGP 4x/8x version or a regular PCI version? 
> I can't seem to find a PCI Express version. If I got with AGP, it
> limit's my motherboard options to older chipsets, like the Intel 
> 865PE. If I went with a PCI card, I could get the Intel 925XP 
> or another newer chipset. So, the question is... what's more 
> important -- the AGP bus bandwitdth or the possibility for a newer 
> chipset to take better advantage of a 3.4 GHz CPU?

You seem to be restricting yourself to Intel mobos.  If you look at the

last few posts about HD, it seems like raw cpu processing is a 
higher priority than the video card.  You might want to consider 
AMD as well.

Anyway, you could always get the PCI-Express version of another, 
more capable card.  The 6800 comes in pci express...and 
here's one that I'm probably going to buy for my gaming machine...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127179

Granted, it's got a fan on it, but I don't care about that when 
I'm playing bf2.  Once the bf2 novelty wears off, I may get 
some sort of silent kit for it and put it in a yet-to-be built 
HDTV machine.

This one might be an option if you want to go straight out of 
the gate with no fan...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125185

Then again, in one picture it shows a fan rather than heat pipes.
Ugh - call to Newegg to be sure.

> The other question is, what's a good audio card with SPDIF 
> optical out? I'd prefer one that sounds good and is well supported 
> to one that may be great but not widely used. Right now I'm 
> looking at the:
> *AOpen Cobra AW870LP 8 (7.1) Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI
> 
> *If a Soundblaster Audigy is a better choice, can someone help me 
> with which model? There seem to be hundreds of them (okay, slight 
> over statement :)

Yeah, there are a lot of them.  That Aopen one is good enough.

I have the Audigy2 ZS SB0350:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102178

and will be setting up a new slave be/fe this weekend.  I'll be 
using the spdif output, and it works fine in a frontend 
machine.

Paul



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