PVR build for SDTV

[Caspertg333]

First I must apologize, I know these questions have been asked a bunch, but I am about to take a dive into the world of HTPC and I want to make sure my money is well spent. I have done countless hours of research and I have come up with the box I want to build but I have a few more questions.

So far, this is what I have decided upon for my build. I own a lot of the componants already.

Mobo - Abit NF7-S (already own it)
Proc - AMD 3000+ 400mhz FSB (already own it)
Video - Saphire 9800 pro 128mb (already own)
Ram - 512mb HyperX pc3000 (already own)
Case - Silverstone SST-LC01
Tuner - PVR-350
HDD - Seagate 160gb 7200rpm SATA
PSU - Zalman noise-free 400W
Optical- NEC 8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive

Software
Sage TV
Theatretek

Other components:
Sony KV 27FS12 27" Flat screen TV
Onkyo TX-SR600 6.1 AV reciever
JVC -XV-N50 DVD player (Will be replaced by above system)
Motorola set-top digital cable reciever

First of all, I know the quality won't be completly as good, but from personal opinions out there, will it be good enough? I mean are we talking about a barely noticable dip in PQ? Or something worse?

I have been told that with SDTV it would be best to connect to the TV through the 350's s-vid out, and for DVDs to use ATIs dongle to component.

Would FFDshow help the PQ out at all for the PVR functions? I am not to concerned with DVD right now as I can use my STB untill I get the PVR perfected.

Any other suggestions or comments on my set up?

[DFranch]

I am not to concerned with DVD right now as I can use my STB untill I get the PVR perfected.

This is what I am doing. I still use my stand alone DVD player. I already had it, and it just works. I have SDTV as well, and I don't think you will really get better image quality through sage. Also, since I am using a Radeon 9200 connected with s-video, I cannot connect using the component input on my TV, which will be lower quality than my DVD player.

When I finally invest in HDTV, and upgrade the video card in my HTPC so I can use component input, or my DVD player breaks, I will look into using Sage to play DVD's through my HTPC and tweaking the picture using ffdshow and such. For now it just is not that important a feature for me.

[kny3twalker]

I think your setup is fine but the only thing to worry about is the pvr 350
I know I told you this over at the HTPC forum
but I think you should be ok with the pvr 350 since you are using a nforce2 motherboard

but i would like to see some input from pvr 350 users
it might take to monday or so cause this is the weekend
but this loks like a nice put together system

maybe a moderator can give some advice about the pvr 350 as well

and have patience
it will pay off

[kny3twalker]

bump