TR Forums

Hi,

Ive a question about HTPC's. I would like to build one in a time. But it needs to do a lot, without any messing around with cables, settings or whatever.

It needs the possibility of HDTV connection
It needs to be able to receive digital and analoge TV signals. Also FM/AM
When I put a CD/DVD in a drive it needs to play it, just like real CD/DVD-players.
It also have to have good sound quality

HDTV wont be that hard since just a low-end new generation GPU will be able to do HDTV (or where the older GPU's like the nVidia 6x00 and Ati Xxx0 series able top do that too?).

To receive analoge TV signals and FM/AM isnt hard too. But I would like to have a receiver that can receive digital, analoge and FM/AM so I dont need 2 PCI-cards for it.

I dont want the mess when I put a CD/DVD in it I need to click with a mouse that it needs to play it. Or the stupidness with first opening the player or something. I would like to have a case with integrated VFD, and I know they are there. But I dont know what they can do... I just want to have a HTPC with Windows XP (MCE probably too?) and the necessary players and drivers. No need for games, Word, overclocking or something like that. So that also means no mouse and keyboard or monitor installed! (ok, the HDTV panel ofcourse). I just want to be able to control the whole thing with a remote control (Ill buy an all in one remote control because of the receivers what also have remote control options).

And ofcourse, after having built up a nice HTPC with a nice screen, I want to have 'the ultimate' experiences. So maybe a X-Fi Xtreme Music will do the job as sound card. But then I need also some speakers. Im not an audiophile, but I would like to have the feeling of 'being in the movie'. I heard good things about the Logitech Z-5500/Creative Gigaworks S750 vs. the 1000Euro JVC/Sony speakers. We have the 2.1 version of the Z-5500, and Im seriously amazed what that thing can do! You can here it trough all the walls. And its nice looking too. But the best cinema speakers are the 'self made' ones, with self chosen front-,center and rear speakers. So any thoughts? No bad news about 'not being able to have a HTPC without the needs of having mouse and keyboard?

Thx in advance!

AFAIK even the AIWs don't have AM reception capability. I think it may be an interference issue?

HDTV reception is also an interesting complexity. Here in Canada you have to distinguish between free over-the-air HDTV vs. HDTV signals from a provider (e.g. Rogers). For those the tuners can be different and there's currently no one-size-fit-all solution. In Europe I saw that it will be all DVB so may be it's easier.

Output in HDTV resolutions though, as you have put it, have been no trouble since the last gen GPUs.

MCE will give you the possibility of a nice remote-driven interface, otherwise you have to pick other HTPC software and they are supposed to be good too. You need bigger buttons and text to be able to be driven by a remote.

Flying Fox wrote:

AFAIK even the AIWs don't have AM reception capability. I think it may be an interference issue?

HDTV reception is also an interesting complexity. Here in Canada you have to distinguish between free over-the-air HDTV vs. HDTV signals from a provider (e.g. Rogers). For those the tuners can be different and there's currently no one-size-fit-all solution. In Europe I saw that it will be all DVB so may be it's easier.

Output in HDTV resolutions though, as you have put it, have been no trouble since the last gen GPUs.

MCE will give you the possibility of a nice remote-driven interface, otherwise you have to pick other HTPC software and they are supposed to be good too. You need bigger buttons and text to be able to be driven by a remote.

Thx for response. I heard also about that DVB (it would be DVB-T if Im right ).

Every tuner here has AM so I thought it was standard. But I wouldnt care if it was not integrated since I barely listen to the radio, and if I do, its FM.

Nice to know HDTV wont be that hard, maybe my old X800XT PE could do it, but thats making too much heat I think (its official a X800Pro, but its modded to X800XT PE with Vmods and all the stuff, not really something for HTPC what needs to be silent and reliable). So maybe a 6600GT, or even a 6200 or so would do the job for me.

What do you btw mean with bigger buttons and text?

And could you please confirm if I do need mouse and keyboard or can do without it once its running?