I want to build my first HTPC using Sage and some spare parts

[Barryrod]

Heres the deal...

I just recently became interested in building an HTPC to screw with. I have the intention of putting it in full service once it is fully upgraded. I have had Directv Tivo for about 2 years or so and love it, but I keep my options open and am planning to be moving in the near future so may switch to cable.

Anyway...I have pretty extensive experience building and repairing PCs learned through trial and error, and want to do the same with HTPC. I have a Sony Vaio PCV-RS220 Tower I can use. I know I said I have experience so Why a Sony??? The wife was tired of the playing around with (screwing up) the main PC so we got the Sony. I have since retired it and can use it now. It is a 2.53gz P4 with onboard lan and audio with 3 pci slots (no AGP). I have an ATI Radeon 9250 128meg PCI card I will use as well when I upgrade my primary PC's video card. Also I plan this to be a Sage machine so the Vid card is OK for now.

I will need to purchase componants, but want to get ones that will be usable when I upgrade. I know I want to get 2-512meg sticks of PC3200 (should be backward compatable and work with the Sony and the Sony is max 1gig), and get a 300gig or so drive (ATA as the Sony does not have SATA). Both of those choices will work for future.

My question is....How well will this work?? Keep in mind this will not be a primary video machine (for now). It is more for fun and learning. I just want to make sure it is realistic. Also what is a good capture card and why??? I will use one card for now as that will leave me only 1 pci slot and I want to get a good OTA HD reciever card to play with too.


I want to be able to have a great machine when I replace the Case, M/B, processor, and video card. I will probably turn the Sony into a media server then.


Any help and information will be greatly appreciated.

[Humanzee]

No PCIe or AGP for graphics is going to be your limiting factor for this machine. Especially if you want to ever consider viewing HDTV off of it. The good news is that it machine should be good as server. Recording programs doesn't take much juice as many tv cards have a hardware chip that does the encoding for you. The computer just has to write the file to disk.

Years ago I ran sage for a while on a 900mghz machine that had a hardware encoder and decoder, it used practically no cpu time at all. The problem was that the decoder chip would only play back certain file formats, no dvd's etc. So a good graphics card is essential to play back all your video formats smoothly. But that only needs to be in the machine that is hooked to the TV. They don't have to be the same PC, thats where SageTV Client comes in.

So for the server you'll want a big hard drive and good encoder cards. If you want a good stand alone TV encoder card the Hauppauge PVR-250 is a hardware encoder card that comes with a remote control. If you are building a server, then the remote wouldn't make a difference to you because you would want one that you can use on the client PC. The PVR-150 is also a hardware encoder card but im not sure all versions come with a remote control as it was designed with windows media center in mind. So was the PVR-500, though the nice thing about this card is that it has two tuners built into one card. It allows you to record two shows at once, or record one and watch another.

I have a DVICO FUSION 5 HDTV encoder which plugs into USB. It has worked pretty well for me but our local reception is an issue for me over the air. I'll be moving in a month where our cable provider provides HDTV on open QAM. It will be the basic local stations in HD, not the cable HD channels but it should be better than Antenna. The nice thing about the Fusion 5 is that it can get HDTV over the air with an antenna, or HDTV via QAM over cable, or analog NTSC basic cable over cable. So I can set it up however I want. Unfortunately, I can't do digital and analog at the same time with it, I have to choose one or the other. Oh well.

The bottom line is that your hardware should be a good base for a Sage Box as long as you only plan to watch standard definition material off of it. When you are ready for HDTV, I'd make it your server and build a client machine that can take at least an nvidia 7600 series PCIe graphics card. That should set you up good for a high resolution HDTV display. Choosing one of those that would be good for a media center pc is a whole other discussion.

Have fun.

[teknubic]

Originally Posted by Barryrod

I have pretty extensive experience building and repairing PCs learned through trial and error, and want to do the same with HTPC.

My dear, sweet child.

You have no idea.


Welcome

[Barryrod]

I am going to use this machine to get my feet wet. I will probably go with the PVR-250 for now and later the 500 for the server. I can put the 2 cards in for 3 tuners right?

When I decide to upgrade it will be a big one. Case, M/B, Processor, and Video Card...Hopefully all top of the line. Should have a lot of $equity in the current house when we move (where we are moving is a lot less expensive).

For the M/B and Processor...What is considered better for an HTPC, Intel or AMD? I have all intel systems now but have had AMDs in the past (even had a Cyrix machine )

Also...what OS is the most popular (stable) for Sage. I know it can be run on 98SE, ME, and XP but what is favored. I think I have unused copies of all. I don't really know much linux, but this may be the time to learn. I have only used it while upgrading and repairing my Tivos.


Good god I am all giddy. Something new to play with in the near future...Ha Ha Ha

teknubic...Thanks for the Welcome. I think I am really going to like it here

[Humanzee]

Originally Posted by Barryrod

I am going to use this machine to get my feet wet. I will probably go with the PVR-250 for now and later the 500 for the server. I can put the 2 cards in for 3 tuners right?

Right, though I'd check the pricing of the 250 compaired to the 150. The 150 is actually the newer card, hard to say which is better, If you get the 150 and want the remote control with it, make sure you don't get the MCE version.

Originally Posted by Barryrod

For the M/B and Processor...What is considered better for an HTPC, Intel or AMD? I have all intel systems now but have had AMDs in the past (even had a Cyrix machine )

I don't know that there is a clear favorite. Both amd and intel come up with the same answers to math problems. I am running AMD, but am looking closely at the new core duo stuff from intel. Just sweet, look it up.

Originally Posted by Barryrod

Also...what OS is the most popular (stable) for Sage. I know it can be run on 98SE, ME, and XP but what is favored. I think I have unused copies of all. I don't really know much linux, but this may be the time to learn. I have only used it while upgrading and repairing my Tivos.

I'm running XP Pro SP2, I rebooted yesteday for the first time in probably 3 weeks. I had to because I went and tweeked something I shouldn't have. Oh, and as far as setup, format your storage drive with NTFS 64k clusters and make sure your os is on a different disk. (personal preference) I run Diskkeeper to defrag daily. Other software that is a must in my book is Showanalyzer and Dirmon2. Best 10 bucks I ever spent. look it up.

I also keep a backup of my sage install directory should I break something while tweaking the system. That way I dont loose all my favorites etc. Namely its important to backup the wiz.bin and wiz.bak files. Im sure you'll read all about it. Speaking of, there is a lot of info already in the forums, search and read, read and search, they go way deep.