Jumping in head first

[okbrown]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post, so please try to be patient with me.  I am trying to get the parts together for a HTPC that will be used primarily as a media center with some light gaming.  I understand that I've gone a bit overboard with the HDD's and RAM, but I want to future proof. I have been searching for tips and ideas for about a month now and think I am ready to begin.

I have yet to make a decision on a case, so all suggestions are welcomed.  I am thinking about one of the larger cases since I’ll have the room.  I’m trying to think of what else to add….  I have a 56" Samsung DLP 720p, Yamaha RX-V2600 receiver, and Axiom 5.1 speaker system.  I am currently with Comcast/Time Warner, but will most likely be switching to Verizon Fios.  If I have overlooked anything critical please ask or tell me. 

Here is a list of the parts I have / on order and those I am considering. 

CURRENTLY OWN:

CPU:  Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Computer Brain (on order)

Motherboard:  ASUS P5W DH Deluxe Newegg (on order)

DDR2:  Corsair XMS2 2GB (2X1GB) DDR2 800 (PC6400) Newegg

HDD:  5- Seagate 7200.10  SATA  320GB 7200RPM 3GB/S 16MB buffer Newegg
I got a little carried away thinking that I could fit all 5 drives in a HTPC case.....  Realistic?  I would like to "RAID 5" four of these drives for security of my Music, DVD collection and TV Capture.  Comments?

Sound Card:  AuzenTech HAD Xplosion 7.1 DTS/Dolby Digital ZipZoomFly

Video Capture Cards:  NVIDIA® DualTV MCE for analog PVR duty NVIDIA Store

Vbox Cat’s Eye DTA-150 for OTA HDTV includes firefly remote and BTV4 PcAlchemy

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon X1600 PRO HDMI PCI Express 256MB DDR3 PcAlchemy
                       
Considering:

Vvox Cat’s Eye 164e Dual Tuner for HDTV, Vbox, hard to pass up on a dual HDTV tuner option that fills an otherwise empty PCIe X1 slot, 2 on the Asus Mobo. 

I had to inquire about this one Yosi Brosh at Vbox told me to ask PC Alchemy for a release date for the Cat's Eye DTA-164e, Greg from PC Alchemy said  " The DTA-164e should be available late September.  The price will be around $179.  From our testing of the sample we were provided the card works great for HDTV but we would not recommend using it for analog because it requires a software MPEG encoder to do analog."

For a DVD burner I see that Ben Q seems to be a popular choice. 
Any power supply suggestions?
Zalman for cooler / heatsink?
I am thinking Channel Master for the OTA HDTV antenna, with an attic placement.  I am 34 miles from door to tower and  Antenna Web has my local stations coded yellow.  Our ABC in Dallas is VHF and the rest are UHF.

Thank you for your time, because of the novelette this has turned into, and in advance for your responses.

Shaun

[SpHeRe31459]

Looks pretty good, about the HDTV tuner, I would recommend you wait for the e164. The NVIDIA DualTV is known to cause stuttering issues with PCI HDTV tuners as they both ride the PCI bus and want priority. The e164 is PCI Express and so has no such issues, plus it is dual tuner

[okbrown]

Sphere,
Thank you for the response.  I'm thinking I should have titled this thread "Jumped in head first....oops! Who emptied the pool?" Rookies huh? 

I have already purchased the Nvidia DualTV and the Cat's Eye DTA-150, so lets hope I'm not plauged by the stuttering issues.  I will definitely be going for the 164e in September.  There are some listed on E***y Cat's Eye 164e, but who knows since they aren't commercially available anywhere else.

Does anyone have an opinion on the RAID 5 idea?  My naievete' led me to think I could fit all of the HDD's into a HTPC case without a heat/space problem.  I am thinking of sticking one HDD in our other computer and just using the other four for the HTPC.  Here we go, remember there are no stupid questions, just stupid people......could be me they were talking about.  I have seen some other options, Addonics, but I don't know if it's even possible.  It says that it requires a RAID card, but would my mobo's E-SATA port handle something like that? 

Now I run into the issue of not being able to choose a case.  I have a preference for a full size style case.  There is no requirement for a LCD screen or even a VFD, just capable of being filled with future possibilities. I do like the look of the following cases... Ahanix MCE701 ,  SilverStone LC17,  Silverstone LC20 and the Zalman HD160. 

Please chime in with your thoughts!

I Thank you for your patience,

Shaun

[Craig]

If that Yamaha reciever has an S/PDIF I'd not purchase a sound card and use an optical or Coax from the mobo to the reciever. I'm a little confused on why you would want to backup your dvd collection onto a hard drive. Seems like a little bit of reverse engineering. I would think It would be a better option to backup music and other stuff on
DVD's, but judging by the hardware in your list your not affraid to spend a little money on this system.  But if you don't like the DVD method then Raid 5 with be the best option for you. It will give you a  total of 960gb  using four 320gb drives. Even with that much space though, unless your compressing video quite a bit it's not really gonna go far. You can find HTPC cases that will hold all five drives. And I would recommend a smaller drive for your operating system if you go the Raid 5 route. You can also backup your oper. sys to the array. Your mobo's raid controller will work fine for you. There are other Raid controllers that will allow you hot swapping and hot sparing with auto rebuild, but a good card for that is over $400. I Doubt the Asus onboard Raid does these things. Not really necessary for you though. I have the LC17 case and I think it's great. Holds 6 HDD's too. One thing, If in a raid setup the HDD's are gonna be working more simultaneously so heat will build up more. I just can't say how much. But The LC17 has optional HDD fans it it becomes a problem. As for a power supply. I'd go for a minimum 450 watts, but try to stay at 450. No need to go much higher. Here's a link to a listing of PSU manufactures and how they stand in quality.
http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=131195

Craig

Edit: I would also make sure it has dual 12v rails.

[okbrown]

If that Yamaha reciever has an S/PDIF I'd not purchase a sound card and use an optical or Coax from the mobo to the reciever.

With all of the advice I've received, there's close to a 50/50 split on this.  I'm confused! 

I'm a little confused on why you would want to backup your dvd collection onto a hard drive. Seems like a little bit of reverse engineering. I would think It would be a better option to backup music and other stuff on
DVD's, but judging by the hardware in your list your not affraid to spend a little money on this system. 

You're right about the DVD's.  Maybe I should go with just listing all of the DVD's I have on BTV, if it has that feature.  I guess I am going all out on this build.

But if you don't like the DVD method then Raid 5 with be the best option for you. It will give you a  total of 960gb  using four 320gb drives. Even with that much space though, unless your compressing video quite a bit it's not really gonna go far. You can find HTPC cases that will hold all five drives. And I would recommend a smaller drive for your operating system if you go the Raid 5 route. You can also backup your oper. sys to the array. Your mobo's raid controller will work fine for you. There are other Raid controllers that will allow you hot swapping and hot sparing with auto rebuild, but a good card for that is over $400. I Doubt the Asus onboard Raid does these things. Not really necessary for you though.

Advice taken here.

I have the LC17 case and I think it's great. Holds 6 HDD's too. One thing, If in a raid setup the HDD's are gonna be working more simultaneously so heat will build up more. I just can't say how much. But The LC17 has optional HDD fans it it becomes a problem. As for a power supply. I'd go for a minimum 450 watts, but try to stay at 450. No need to go much higher. Here's a link to a listing of PSU manufactures and how they stand in quality.
http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=131195

I really like the LC17, LC20 and Zalman HD160 for possible case choices.  I have this on order Vbox Cat's Eye DTA-150 with Firefly remote and BeyondTV 4.  Will I need to get usb-uirt  with the blasters for controlling a cable box?

Thanks again craigap,

Shaun

[Craig]

Your stereo will do all the stuff a sound card would do as far as getting Dolby/DTS/THX......ect. Your audio driver for your mobo will send the digital singal to the stereo and the stereo will put the sound out to your speakers. If you use a  sound card and then pipe that to your stereo then to your speakers then it just doesn't make any sense. If you pushed the sound directly from the sound card to speakers then its ok. But since you have $1400 yamaha reciever then, again, a sound card is pointless. (unless your doing audio editing then I think it might have a purpose)

If your using a cable box you'll need an IR blaster. I use the USB UIRT and its a good product. I you decide to go with a hauppage PVR 500 You can get a remote and IR blaster with it.

If you're in the need of more HDD space than you can fit into a Case you could consider external USB HDD's. No raid though.

Craig

[okbrown]

Craigap,

Thanks for bearing with me here!

Your stereo will do all the stuff a sound card would do as far as getting Dolby/DTS/THX......ect. Your audio driver for your mobo will send the digital singal to the stereo and the stereo will put the sound out to your speakers. If you use a  sound card and then pipe that to your stereo then to your speakers then it just doesn't make any sense. If you pushed the sound directly from the sound card to speakers then its ok. But since you have $1400 yamaha reciever then, again, a sound card is pointless. (unless your doing audio editing then I think it might have a purpose)

So we are talking about redundancy here.  Got it.  What do you mean by audio editing?

your using a cable box you'll need an IR blaster. I use the USB UIRT and its a good product. I you decide to go with a hauppage PVR 500 You can get a remote and IR blaster with it.

This is what you mean, right?  PCAlchemy USB-UIRT  What is and will I need the 56KHz IR Sensor that they say isn't included?

If you're in the need of more HDD space than you can fit into a Case you could consider external USB HDD's. No raid though.

I know that I can get external USB storage for around $30.  What would your suggestion be knowing that I have 5-320GB SATA drives and I want to use a larger case?  I've got them and have to do something with them.

If anyone has any advice, please comment.

Thanks again,
Shaun

[Craig]

A lot of sound cards have software bundled that people use for recording audio from instruments and stuff and they can edit and add stuff. You can buy other software that does these things but you need the right connections from sound cards to hook up the instruments.

I wouldn't call it redundancy, I'd call it pointless.


Thats the USB UIRT I'm reffering to. I can't say for certain if you would nee the other transmitter or not. I would will most certainty, No, you won't need it. I think it has a particular purpose. You could try to see what that extra transmitter is for.

Since you already have the hdd's go for the raid 5 setup. Seeing as that's what you wanted.

[aint skierd]

The audio is a matter of preference, so it matters what works for you. From that perspective, I have to disagree with Craigap.
Your choice of sound card is optimum in my humble opinion. I think that music in a 5.1 format fills a room so much better than stereo.
Most people keep their music on a computer in MP3 form.
here's something to bear in mind.

Computer audio encoding comes in two flavors:
Software encoding- accomplished by your systems CPU
Dolby Digital Live/DTS hardware encoding - accomplished onboard the soundcard or MB without involving the CPU in the process.

Software encoding will render the sound format as it exists, As an example… DVD=5.1  MP3=2.0. Your receiver that has the Dolby Digital logo on it is the same, it’s DD, meaning it’s capable of decoding a Dolby Digital signal. not DDL, that remasters the audio stream into 5.1.
So, software, or your DD receiver, can’t deliver 5.1 from am MP3 file because the 6 channel information isn’t there. Software encoding will deliver 5.1 surround from a DVD because it was mastered in 5.1, and all six channels are already there for DD to decode.
The onboard Realtek, or whatever can do that fine. You will get great sound from the on board audio when you play a DVD, but only 2 channels for the lowly MP3.

Dolby Digital Live is a licensed technology, and there are only a few manufacturers who have stepped up to the plate.

DDL hardware encoding effectively masters any sound produced by your computer into 5.1 surround, And does it without requiring the CPU to preform it, with it's own onboard dedicated chip.

Listen to a glorious movie soundtrack in 5.1, and the listen to a favorite MP3, and tell me your satisfied.
Let’s take for example an artists release that was mastered in 5.1 like Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits. Copy that to your library and you’ve got an MP3,… 2.0,

IMHO, DDL is the only choice for a home theater/ entertainment environment where MP3 files figure prominently

Hope that helps, and don't worry about being confused. You have entered a world where specific detail is described by acronym... it's natural to be confused.

Looks like you are putting together a premium system there, have fun doing it, and don't be discouraged by the minor issues that manifest. That's natural too!

[Craig]

I may have skirted the issue a bit. A sound card with technology like Dolby digital live is worth it if you're the audiophile type who likes everything to sound like 5.1. However, I have to say that the reciever you own has Dolby Pro Logic IIx which  does the same thing. In fact it will convert not only 2.0, but 5.1 as well to 6.1 and even 7.1. Pro logic II converts as well and Pro Logic will convert it to 4 channel. (I could be wrong, but I don't think so.)

Craig

Edit: By the way I decided to read up on that reciever you got. I'm interested to hear what you think of the Upscaling Video processing it does. I'm a little skeptical that you can take a standard definition recorded Tv show and upscale it to look much better. Let us know what results you get.

[okbrown]

Dolby Digital live is definitely the way to go for audiophile gamers and MP3 listeners. You may or may not be satisfied listening to music or game sound in just "regular" surround sound. ( "regular" meaning not 5.1 just multi-dimenstional 2-channel).

craigap and aint skeird,

With all of the conflicting responses I think you can understand why a "noobie" would get confused.  If the audio is just going to pass-through and let my receiver can handle/ process the information, then I don't need the sound card.  My receiver can handle a ton of sound fields.  Here are some links to my receiver's specifics:Yamaha RX-V2600 (Yamaha website) Here is a good review Audioholics RX-V2600 Review.  I am planning to try out the MOBO sound first, then try the card.  If the card doesn't add anything to the sound field, then to auction it goes. 

On a lighter and less contentious note, the Cat's Eye DTA-150 card and the Sapphire X1600 HDMI video card came today.  The Mobo will be here on the 21st and the Conroe E6700 ships on Friday.  I should have a decision on a case this weekend.

Craigap I just noticed your reply while proofing this reply. 

Yes, I did use the upscaling feature on the Yamaha but to me there was minimal improvement in SD programming at best.  Sidenote....At first everything was great with HDMI.  I used DVI->HDMI and Toslink out of the set-top box to the Yami and HDMI out to the DLP.  The HDMI cable worked great until Comcast, and all the other cable companies, rolled us.  I had it all together for about 2 weeks until Comcast institued something with the HDCP on their set-top boxes that threw me a HDMI error.  Comcast continually denied changing their set-top box programming that saw the receiver as a  disallowed "repeater".  Since I've gone component, No problems.  I will say the HDTV in 5.1 is amazing. 

So, short story long, don't expect much from the "scaling".  It was so nice to use HDMI if just to limit all of the extra cabling.

Shaun

[Craig]

Do you only get the error when trying to view HD material off the Box, or all the time.  That Reciever isn't HDCP compliant?

[okbrown]

Do you only get the error when trying to view HD material off the Box, or all the time.  That Reciever isn't HDCP compliant?

Here's a link  Audioholics.  It happened to all programming, not just HD and seems to be an issue with the set-top boxes not the receiver.  Basically I would just get the dreaded blue screen with an error message.  The V2600 isn't the only receiver with this problem, it seems cable boxes won't allow a "HDMI Repeater".

Every now and then I like to pop in on the Yamaha RX-V1600 & V2600 thread over on the AVS forum to see if anything new is happening.  It appears that some have had luck with cable company software upgrades for their cable boxes.  I haven't tried to hook mine back up in months.  I was sort of waiting to see what happens when I go to hook up my HTPC.