[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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