hungmeister Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Has anyone integrated a Media Center PC (Microsoft XP Media Center Edition) into a home theatre environment? Can you share your experience? Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meuge Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 You do not need XP Media Center Edition to make a good HTPC, although some of the features may help. I would say any Win2k or XP machine will do, as long as it's equipped with a good VIVO system (such as the ATI All-In-Wonder or any video card + TV Card) as well as a good sound card with a digital output. The software that comes with most TV Cards and ATI's AllInWonder cards is by far sufficient to run an HTPC, and they often come with remote control as well. I integrated a regular PC into my parent's home theater and it works great as a DVR, as well as for music storage (ripped all of their CDs to lossless WAV so they don't have to pop them in and out all the time). For your reference, the PC is an AMD Athlon 1.4GHz, with 512MB RAM, an 120GB hard drive, a Radeon 7500 All In Wonder and an SB Audigy2 Platinum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuNat Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 right now im looking to build a 5.1 HT system around my HTPC. the best way to do so would be a good sound card with digital output. be carefull as for the best sound quality, you need to bypass the windows K-mixer which is a wonderfull microsoft invention which resamples all audio to 48khz before output. in most cases that would be OK, except for the fact that the software resampler sucks big time, and it compromises your sound quality output. only way to bypass this is with either kernal-streaming, ASIO output or one of the few cards that bypasses k-mixer automatically (RME cards). as for video output, you have many choices. ATI actually makes a componant-video device for its video cards. its not the most flexable peice of equipment ever made, but it works and its cheap. otherwise you can use s-video out on most any modern card, which is what i do, and the picture quality is staggering. the best place to learn about HTPCs is avsforum.com or htpcnews.com. if you have any specific questions feel free to ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juba310 Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Nat- Could you give me more information on the K-mixer? I listen to music off of my PC sometimes via Optical out on my Hercules soundcard. From what I gathered in your post, this gets downmixed to 48khz? Is that true or am I misunderstanding something? How would I go about bypassing it if I need to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 If you use Windows with a card that cannot support either WDM (kernel streaming audio) or ASIO drivers, you're stuck streaming through the k-mixer. All audio that passes through the k-mixer, regardless of original samplerate, ends up as 16 bit 48 khz. It so happens that using a Soundblaster product does the same thing, with the same poor-quality results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
om13934 Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Depending on your HT display too, you may want to splurge on a more expensive video card. If you have a good projector or tv with dvi in, many of the cards have dvi out now, and picture quality is astounding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuNat Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 yes, your hercules card is upsampling from 44.1khz 16 bit to 48khz 16 bit... the software resampler in windows muddies the sound and kills your high-frequencies.. you can try foobar2000 and its built-in kernel streaming, but it may or may not work with your card. other than that, your pretty much out of options. if you want true hi-fi audio out of your card, your best bet is to find one with ASIO compliance and a digital output(coax or optical) you can then output pure unadulterated digital sound to your reciever/prepro and let it do the D/A conversions. in order to use ASIO you have to use playback software that will operate in ASIO mode.. there is an ASIO plugin for winamp. it depends on your software. now if you wanted to go way high-end the RME digiPAD and some other models all bypass kmixer natively through the drivers.. hell the RME cards are so damn good alot of people use them for a pre-amp in stereo applications. i wouldnt worry too much about your video card. most semi-recent cards will be just fine for connection to any type of display out there. currently the best image quality belongs to ATI, but its by a hair. personally i think ATIs drivers suck. i use a geforce 4 thats like 3 years old for its s-video output, and it rocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thors1982 Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 What is the advantage to a all in wonder Video card compared to a normal like a 9800 AIW compared to 9800 Pro or XP, besides the remote?????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuNat Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 the all in wonder cards have a TV tuner.... too bad the quality kinda sucks, your better off with a 3rd party tuner if your gonna go that route. hauppauge currently makes the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hungmeister Posted July 1, 2004 Author Share Posted July 1, 2004 http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=29-120-103&depa=0 This is a very cheap ($20 or so) 7.1 sound card with optical out (SPDIF). Anyone have any thoughts on it? I'm thinking of building the HTPC with a sleek aluminum case so it will mix with the decor of the rest of my system as well as fit in the A/V rack. I'm also getting a projector and new screen for the home theatre project. The projector has component input only. Anyone know the difference between component and the DVI input? There is an alternate model projector that has the DVI input, however the LUMENS on it is rated lower than the component out only projector (both from BENQ). I'll list out the parts of my HTPC that I am building once I spec it. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juba310 Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 Thanks for the info and help Nat and Griff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuNat Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 that sound card has a good chip and the sound quality is supposedly great, but it STILL goes through the windows kmixer.. you can mod it so it will work with ASIO and kernel streaming but i dont know much about that. just a suggestion on cases: www.silverstonetek.com, i have the LC-01 in all silver for my HTPC and its beautifull. i even added an LCD screen to one of the 5.25" drive bays and it looks like a stereo componant. componant vs. DVI... with dvi, the signal stays as a digital signal all the way into the projector, where componant is an analog signal. DVI is the superior transport in every way, but the difference is very slim between the two, and only at high rez would you start to see the difference. if you need any more help, feel free to ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meuge Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 M-Audio Revolution has full ASIO support and outputs digital in 16/44100. I am currently using its digital out and it's very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 As far as low-budget cards with full ASIO support (other than SB, which we've already discussed), here's the short list of manufacturers: M-Audio Terratec Echo RME (their Hammerfall cards are excellent!) Much the same as with your audio equipment, you're going to get exactly what you pay for in a card. If you spend $20, expect your sound quality to match your investment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuNat Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 meuge, im pretty sure the revo does NOT meet ASIO standards in hardware and therefore does not support bit-perfect 44.1khz/16bit output. the only way to be absolutely sure is to play back a DTS encoded CD or wav file... if you get sound out of your reciever, then your golden. if not, you havent fully bypassed the windows kmixer. just because it outputs 44.1khz, doesnt mean the computer isnt resampling internally before output. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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