HD Dilemma

[deliverer]

I've been wanting to make the jump for a while now, but was hoping to use the supposed new HD media extender. I don't want to wait any longer. I have a couple of questions to move forward.

1) Is HD Homerun the best for OTA HD reception or should I just purchase a supported HD card like the Avermedia? I have a cable service, but only extended basic with no cable box. Nor do I pay for any HD service with the provider. Is it possible I can get HD/SD channels from this service if I did purchase HD Homerun? Maybe it's better to purchase a HD Homerun if it can do both the OTA and cable service?

2) What are suggested client configurations to support HD? I probably need to purchase a new mobo/cpu and video card? The video card in my current media machine is a FX5500

3) My current server is a AMD 64 3700+ with 1 gig of Ram. Will this support the captured HD stream ok? Maybe this can be converted to be the client as well? See #4

4) Currently I have a server, client and MVP. I installed this way because there was some issues in the past with the client and the server being on the same box. Is this still the case or is it possible for me to remove the server and have it become both the server/client?

5) It looks like newegg has a pretty good core 2 barebones system with a integrated Intel GMA 3100. Would the video from this device work? Would it utilize the purevideo decoders?

Any help is appreciated.

Regards,

Deliverer

[fyodor]

1) Is HD Homerun the best for OTA HD reception or should I just purchase a supported HD card like the Avermedia? I have a cable service, but only extended basic with no cable box. Nor do I pay for any HD service with the provider. Is it possible I can get HD/SD channels from this service if I did purchase HD Homerun? Maybe it's better to purchase a HD Homerun if it can do both the OTA and cable service?

I can't speak to the Avermedia, but my Hdhomerun gets better OTA reception than my Dvico Fusion. It's very possible you get QAM channels broadcast even if you don't have HD service. One easy way to check is to just plug the cable into a TV with an HD tuner and do a channel scan.

The support folk for the HDhomerun are also really helpful and responsive. I'm a bit of a booster for the HDhomerun. My experiences with it and Silicon dust have been drastically different than for every other product in this space.



5) It looks like newegg has a pretty good core 2 barebones system with a integrated Intel GMA 3100. Would the video from this device work? Would it utilize the purevideo decoders?

The GMA 3100 has very good driver support, which is crucial. Anecdotally it sounds like people have had good results. FWIW, I'd strongly recommend waiting a month for the extender, since the date looks reasonably concrete at this point. Computer playback of HD content has a very high crapshoot element. I've never been able to get it to work reliably and smoothly in Sagetv.

Deliverer[/QUOTE]

[sandor]

Originally Posted by deliverer

I've been wanting to make the jump for a while now, but was hoping to use the supposed new HD media extender. I don't want to wait any longer. I have a couple of questions to move forward.

1) Is HD Homerun the best for OTA HD reception or should I just purchase a supported HD card like the Avermedia? I have a cable service, but only extended basic with no cable box. Nor do I pay for any HD service with the provider. Is it possible I can get HD/SD channels from this service if I did purchase HD Homerun? Maybe it's better to purchase a HD Homerun if it can do both the OTA and cable service?

I use both a HDHR and an Avermedia A180 (actually 2 A180's). i notice no difference btwn the tuners - i just wanted more than 2 HD tuners and was out of PCI slots.

2) What are suggested client configurations to support HD? I probably need to purchase a new mobo/cpu and video card? The video card in my current media machine is a FX5500

any modern mobo and cpu should be fine, spend money on a really good video card.

3) My current server is a AMD 64 3700+ with 1 gig of Ram. Will this support the captured HD stream ok? Maybe this can be converted to be the client as well? See #4

capturing HD is all about disk speed (and space) there is very little processing power involved in the capture - that is all for the decoding/displaying. i would have at least one hard drive for each tuner - i think OTA HD goes about 6 GB/hour. That processor should be fine for a client, just get a good video card.

4) Currently I have a server, client and MVP. I installed this way because there was some issues in the past with the client and the server being on the same box. Is this still the case or is it possible for me to remove the server and have it become both the server/client?

i currently run my server to power my main tv - all storage is on a NasLite NAS box via gigabit enet. works splendidly.

5) It looks like newegg has a pretty good core 2 barebones system with a integrated Intel GMA 3100. Would the video from this device work? Would it utilize the purevideo decoders?

i got a mobo with integrated nvidia 6150 graphics, it was okay, but i couldnt live with it (overlay was fine, couldn't perform w/o stuttering with VMR9

Any help is appreciated.

Regards,

Deliverer

good luck and have fun! with HD you can never have too much video processing power and never have too much disk space! i've been using Sage for over 2 years now with OTA HD, and have had a really good time with it. i've finally gotten a reason to use that old antenna on top of my house.

[deliverer]

Would this system work? It's pretty cheap at Dell.

Base
Inspiron Desktop 530s Slim Tower: Intel Pentium dual-core processor E2140 (1MB L2,1.60GHz,800 FSB)

Video
128MB NVIDIA 8300 GS

Memory
1 GB DDR2 NON-ECC SDRAM 667MHz (2 DIMMs)

[EdwardATeller]

It will probably play and record decent HD video. If you want super-smooth playback with little menu delay, then you will want to add a good video card.

[ybrew]

Personally at this point, I too would wait. Rent an HD DVR from your cable company for a month or so.

I was in this dilemma in early august, and I bit the bullet and built a monster box. Super fast, great HD playback, etc, but I honestly overdid it and spent a lot more money than was necessary.

[wrems]

FWIW, if you're hell-bent on building Tiger Direct just sent out some pretty good looking deals...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/email/wem...CODE=WEM1484TT

Also, check out http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=710828 tons of advice and information.

HTH

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by deliverer

Would this system work? It's pretty cheap at Dell.

Base
Inspiron Desktop 530s Slim Tower: Intel Pentium dual-core processor E2140 (1MB L2,1.60GHz,800 FSB)

Video
128MB NVIDIA 8300 GS

Memory
1 GB DDR2 NON-ECC SDRAM 667MHz (2 DIMMs)

If you want to buy a system to use as a client, I would buy a refurb dell optiplex ultra small form factor 745 from dell outlet. There, you can find a very small system with a 6300 or 6400 CPU, 1 or 2 GB of ram, SATA HD, GbE, and DVD/RW drive generally for around $400 if you are patient. They look new when you get them, are fast and quiet, and all come with the G965 graphics chip which can handle HD very well.

I think this is much better than your proposed config as a client.

Thanks,
Mike