System Requirements

[EdwardATeller]

I have a Celeron 2.4 GHz with 1 GB of RAM. My video card is a 64 MB ATI Radeon 9200 based card, but I've lost the exact details of what it is. These specs are below the official requirements to view HDTV on the SageTV website.

I am thinking about getting SageTV with the Hauppauge HVR-1600. Do you think my system will be able to handle it? For $80, I can upgrade the CPU to a 3.0 GHz Prescott-core Pentium 4, but I'd prefer to know ahead of time if this will likely be needed.

BTW, right now I am a Snapstream user, with two BTV installations. Their lack of support for clear QAM tuning with a PCI board is what has me over here. For less that the cost of the HDHomeRun, I can get the entire SageTV bundle.

[gplasky]

You're video card won't cut it. Your processor MAY be OK IF you get a pretty decent video card like nVidia 8600-8800GT or ATI X1300-1900 or HD2400-2900. ANy of those cards should be able to off load some of the processing for displaying HD video. If you plan on getting an MVP at some point you're going to need a better processor to transcode the video to your MVP.

Gerry

[EdwardATeller]

Originally Posted by gplasky

You're video card won't cut it. Your processor MAY be OK IF you get a pretty decent video card like nVidia 8600-8800GT or ATI X1300-1900 or HD2400-2900. Any of those cards should be able to off load some of the processing for displaying HD video. If you plan on getting an MVP at some point you're going to need a better processor to transcode the video to your MVP.

Gerry

Thanks for the video card recommendations. I can buy the HVR-1600 board at Circuit City and use the SageTV demo to try things out. CC also carries the VisionTek Radeon X1550 256MB AGP video card, so I can pick one of them up if needed.

[Wakecrash]

If you need a new CPU you might want to check out this article: http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/09/...ium_dual_core/
I bought that cpu with one of the gigabyte motherboards they recomend, OC to 3Ghz is mild for that processor. I just use stock cooling.
MB GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L P35+ICH9 - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$99.99)
CPU INTEL|PDC E2160 1.8G 775 1M R - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$84.99)

[EdwardATeller]

I tried the HVR-1600 with a VisionTek HD2400 Pro video card in my Celeron 2.4 Ghz rig. Worked, but not great. Having a Socket 478 mobo (Asus P4R800-VM), I could swap the Celeron for a 3.0 Ghz P4 with a Prescott core. That would probably help a lot, plus maybe a better video card.

I could buy an open box computer from Circuit City, drop in the HVR-1600 and see if it works. Open box computers can be returned for no restocking fee, so there is no $ risk. Total cost is higher, but I get another computer vs. generating a stack of spare parts.

BTW, thanks for the great article on overclocking.