Ideas for output to TV from HTPC

vibe666

i'm building a budget HTPC (HT = Home Theatre for those not in the know) and I'm stuck for outputting the signal to my TV.

the problem is, I'm trying to spend as little as possible to get the job done.

at the momment, my best bet is looking to be a cheapish graphics card with video out on it, but I'm sure I've seen a USB A/V breakout box of some kind but I can't find one anywhere on the net now.

anyone have any ideas on a low budget solution?

thanks in advance.

KdjaCL

Aldi tv card has output on 40 quid still a few in the shops.
An ATI all in wonder on ebay could get a 8500 for next to nothing.
But your best bet is an Nvidia Ati are terrible for tv out with a non deadly tv.


kdjac

vibe666

cool, might have a look see tomorrow maybe.

any other ideas?

stevenmu

I'll add another vote for an nVidia card. You should be able to pick up a 5 series, like an fx5200, somewhere dirt cheap. It'll be fine for multi-media but not great for games. You could probably also pick up a 3 or 4 series 2nd hand here on boards for next to nothing. My old Geforce 3 ti200 had great tv-out, much better than an ATI 9800pro I tried and sent back because the tv-out was so crappy.

beaker

I'm using a GeForce ti4200 for TV out and a Hauppauge PVR 150 for recording TV. Going well.

Does your TV have an s-video input socket? If not, be aware of the potentiel black and white issue (I got it sorted in the end).

Delighted with the HTPC in general. Using GB-PVR. If you're on a budget, you can't beat free!

Mixie

If you're going with MythTV for software (linux) or GBPVR, both are capable of pushing the OSD down the TV tuner card's output (e.g. Hauppage pvr-350). If you're going to use beyondTV/etc (all others as far as I know - please correct me if not) you need a seperate TV out as they wont push their display down the TV out on the tuner card. The seperate output is kinda nice anyway, purely because it removes the 'lag' associated with encoding the OSD as mpeg2 for pushing down the TV tuner's output.

Check out http://www.byopvr.com and their forums anyway, plenty of information and advice to be found.

Stoner

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Stoner

for the record a friend of mine has a FX5200 for sale, Halflife 2 came out and so did his card, if you want i'll send his e mail to you

MorningStar

Sorry to be off topic as such but what's the point of HTPC? Would it just not be really fidgety and arkward? No offense meant by the by

jozi

beaker wrote:

I'm using a GeForce ti4200 for TV out and a Hauppauge PVR 150 for recording TV. Going well.

Does your TV have an s-video input socket? If not, be aware of the potentiel black and white issue (I got it sorted in the end).

Delighted with the HTPC in general. Using GB-PVR. If you're on a budget, you can't beat free!

I'm using a s-video to composite (like a coaxial or anologue hifi cable) connector to scart and it works a treat.

vibe666

Stoner wrote:

for the record a friend of mine has a FX5200 for sale, Halflife 2 came out and so did his card, if you want i'll send his e mail to you

might be interested in that FX5200 Stoner, just to get around my problem easily. how much would he be wanting for it?

MorningStar wrote:

Sorry to be off topic as such but what's the point of HTPC? Would it just not be really fidgety and arkward? No offense meant by the by

well why not MorningStar? why do anything at all that's not 100% easy? fr one because i can. for 2 it keeps me busy and for 3 it helps me learn new skills and for 4 because it's very useful at the end of it.

think sky+ on steroids, with all the info yuo could possibly want at your fingertips.

download something off the net ant watch it on your TV without ever having to worry about burning it to DVD. listen to your MP3's on your home stereo or 5.1 surround system.

lots of possibilities.

MorningStar

vibe666 wrote:

well why not MorningStar? why do anything at all that's not 100% easy? fr one because i can. for 2 it keeps me busy and for 3 it helps me learn new skills and for 4 because it's very useful at the end of it.

think sky+ on steroids, with all the info yuo could possibly want at your fingertips.

lots of possibilities.

WHat ever floats your boat for achievement ! What is the amazing functionality above sky+? What are the amzing possibilities? I looked at this stuff briefly and it didn't appear to me that there was any point other than desire to do it.
I am not completely oblivious to the advantages but with the cost of consumer item is so cheap you must be able to get about the same. I am getting this as it seems like an easy option for what I want.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0001YXWIC//ref=pm_dp_ln_e_1/002-2818151-9666469?v=glance&s=electronics&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Generally I would think the sound quality from a relatively cheap consumer item will be better than a cheap HTPC I can see it being fine for a bedroom though. I am willing to be enlightened if I missing something.

stevenmu

The main benefits of a HTPC over custom consumer items are versatility and upgradeability. A HTPC can act as a DVD-Player,DVD-Burner, music player (cds and mp3s), harddisk pvr, internet device(web, email, music/video downloads), games console, and probably lots of other things I can't think of right now. Buying purpose designed consumer items to cover all these features would probably be at least as expensive, probably more so to equal the quality of a PC in many of these areas.

A PC is also easily upgradeable to new standards, when HD-DVDs and BluRay discs come out, simple upgrades will let HTPCs read them instead of replacing a whole unit, the same goes for HDTV, DVD-Audio, whatever audio and video codecs come out, more sound channels (7.1 is common for sound cards now already), more hard disk space etc etc.

Stoner

Vibe I've sent you a PM with the guys e mail addy on it, I'll e mail him and tell him to ecpect a mail from you. You can got straight to the horse's mouth

MorningStar

stevenmu wrote:

The main benefits of a HTPC over custom consumer items are versatility and upgradeability.

Ok I get that and I understand some people like to get the latest digital item. I use a PC cd burner rather than a consumer one as it gives better functionality. At the same time it is a boffin thing. Can you get these things to play SACD?
I'll probably do it with my old current PC when I go to replace it.

vibe666

my own personal reasons for taking this route are 1. my vcr died. 2. i saw some bits on the cheap that would allow me to do it without spending too much money. 3. building pc's is a hobby of mine. 4. because it's a challenge to do something other than the norm with a pc. 5. because i'm a geek and that's what we do.

why build a kit car when you can buy a commercial product ready built?

because you get to choose exactly what you want, and if something goes wrong it's a lot easier for you to fix it.

Endurance Man

I also just set up a HTPC with a small form factor pc my dad brought home. I used the following product just because it was so simple. U dont have to go out and buy a hole new graphics crard, u can plug this into the onboard graphics.

http://www.trust.com/products/product.aspx?artnr=14135

Another bonus is that it connects to your tv's scart connectors, big bonus cause those are at the back of the tv, whereas s-video is usually in the front. There is no software, or any hassles, just plug it in and get decent quality pic. U can also adjust the position of the picture straight from the little box

monomaniac

KdjaC wrote:

But your best bet is an Nvidia Ati are terrible for tv out with a non deadly tv.

Wow - is this true? I've always used ATI cards and TV output would be very important to me. PC is primarily used as a HTPC - to watch DVDs and xvid/divx avis etc
And I've a duff TV - bog standard 21". It's always seemed perfect to me in 800x600 but I'd be interested in hearing more about the advantages the Nvidia cards have over ATI in this area.
I'm currently using a 9700Pro but if the TV output is much better on a Nvidia I'd be tempted to upgrade.

RicardoSmith

I don't see the point of buying a DVD player or writer or PVR when every month or so its made out of date by next new thing. Then you have the cost of those subscription services. They are very expensive. Finally lots of disks have problems on DVD players but work fine on a PC. So I'm going the PC route myself.

KdjaCL

monomaniac wrote:

Wow - is this true? I've always used ATI cards and TV output would be very important to me. PC is primarily used as a HTPC - to watch DVDs and xvid/divx avis etc
And I've a duff TV - bog standard 21". It's always seemed perfect to me in 800x600 but I'd be interested in hearing more about the advantages the Nvidia cards have over ATI in this area.
I'm currently using a 9700Pro but if the TV output is much better on a Nvidia I'd be tempted to upgrade.

If the ATI card doesnt detect your tv , your in for a bad time. The better the tv the better it will be.

HTPC pros and cons well really there are no cons.

9800Xt with tv out
Aldi tv card Sky goes into it.
32" WS tv.
10m Svideo cable hidden underfloor with sound out from build in Mobo soundcard.
2.1 speakers (kids wrecked my amp and 5.1 speakers)


Perfect, stereo, dvd player, and Sky+ without subbie.


kdjac

statto

Endurance Man wrote:

I also just set up a HTPC with a small form factor pc my dad brought home. I used the following product just because it was so simple. U dont have to go out and buy a hole new graphics crard, u can plug this into the onboard graphics.

http://www.trust.com/products/product.aspx?artnr=14135

Another bonus is that it connects to your tv's scart connectors, big bonus cause those are at the back of the tv, whereas s-video is usually in the front. There is no software, or any hassles, just plug it in and get decent quality pic. U can also adjust the position of the picture straight from the little box

Hi Endurance Man - where did you get that gadget

wavin

statto wrote:

Hi Endurance Man - where did you get that gadget

http://www.trust.com/products/storefinder/online/sitefinder.aspx?artnr=14135&cid=104

or ebay

monomaniac

Wow - looks like a great kit- and a RRP of €50!!I paid €35 for a 20m jack cable a few years back.


Wonder what the quality is like. If anyone finds an online store selling these please share!! Cheers.

BigEejit

wavin wrote:

http://www.trust.com/products/storefinder/online/sitefinder.aspx?artnr=14135&cid=104

or ebay

nice looking little jobbie ... I have MCE 2005 and having some problems with TV output from my 9700pro ... I am using DVB-T though, it comes in widescreen mostly and when I change my TV out to funny resolutions (896*504 or 1024*567) for my widescreen tv it sometimes falls over when changing channels and I have to restart MCE ...

The hardest part in making a HTPC is making the fúcker quiet

Velcrow

Here is my budget HTPC setup, my goal was low noise, low heat, mpeg 4 TV recording and playing DVDs with 6.1 audio output.

Its very stable and the picture quality is flawless, especially on the Satellite in via Svideo ( but as always shi* in shi* out, so if you have poor reception dont expect the picture to improve )


AMD Barton 2500
MSI KV400 ( socket A ) ( 6.1 audio, network, vga onboard )
ATI All in Wonder 9000 PRO - great card imho ( replaced fan with heatsink )
Silverstone HTPC case SST-LC03 - 130 yoyos ( I splurged )
Zalman Flower CPU Heatsink
Fortron/Source PSU - Low noise, adjustable fan

Connections In:
TV channels via RF cable
FTA Satellite in via Svideo,

Connection Out:
Svideo Cable ( computer res at 800 x 600 )
Audio Minijack to Phono on Amp

Software:
Win 2000 sp4
ATI MMC 9.0.3
ATI driver 4.10

RicardoSmith

ATI All in Wonder 9000 PRO

Do you use this with NTL? Any problem getting all the channels? Can you record from the radio aswell?

Jammer

Guess i took the lazy route : http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/product.php?productid=17753

Put 2 x 200GB's, 3.2GHZ P4, GB RAM and a DVDRW into it.

The sound from it is going into the Digital Aux on my 5.1, and the video output is going to my 32" LCD via VGA cable. Its connected to the wireless network in the house, pulling videos and music from the computers around the house. It was an impulse buy really, but looks cool all the same.

Didnt bother with a tv card, as im getting in sky+ this week.

Kdjac wrote:

erfect, stereo, dvd player, and Sky+ without subbie.

Doesnt cost any extra (Well, the box itself is €80), if your subscribed to two main chanels..ie Sports & Movies

Velcrow

RicardoSmith wrote:

ATI All in Wonder 9000 PRO
Do you use this with NTL? Any problem getting all the channels? Can you record from the radio aswell?

Have used it with NTL, No Problem with channels

....radio??? It does not have a radio tuner but if NTL broadcasts radio I suppose you could pick that up too