Hi.
I'm planning to set up a HTPC to watch and record live TV. Later on I'll put in a Blu-ray drive but for now I'll just stick with an old DVD drive. I want to try to spend as little as possible on this but not lose any functionality. I've got two possible builds planned and need advice on which one to go with.

Build 1
Pentium 4 3.06GHz
1GB DDR400
MSI PM8M2-V
Radeon X1650Pro
PRICE = Free

OR

Build 2
Athlon II 240 2.8GHz
2GB DDR2
Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H
PRICE = $253

I'll use a generic case and power supply until I can get the money to upgrade. I'll use my current hard drive for this build since I'm replacing it with a 750GB WD Black. I've already got the parts for the first build from my old rig. This is what I'd prefer to do (because of the price), but I don't know if it'll be able to handle HDTV or 1080p H264 content. I'm quite happy to shell out for the second build if the first one won't be able to do it. I have XP 32bit and Vista 64bit, which would be a better option for the OS on either build?

I also need a HDTV tuner. I'll be getting one with twin tuners because I want to record and watch TV at the same time. I've got three different choices here:
;http://www.avermedia.com/avertv/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?Id=470"" rel="nofollow">AVerTV Twinstar PCI-E for $97
;http://www.comprousa.com/en/product/t750f/t750f.html"" rel="nofollow">Compro Videomate T750F for $140
;http://www.comprousa.com/en/product/e700f/e700f.html"" rel="nofollow">Compro Videomate E700 for $140

If I go with the first build the only one I can use is the T750F, since the other two are PCI-E. What's the bundled software like for these tuners? I'm more inclined to go for one of the Compro tuners since it's a brand I know, but if the AVerMedia tuner is better value I'll take that one. The minimum specs for dual-tuner operation seem pretty steep for the Twinstar tuner, apparently I need at least a Q6600 to record two HD streams. Compared to the Compro specs it seems a bit over the top, would there be any truth to this?

On a side note, will it be possible for me, in the second build, to use the 785G chipset for some hardware decoding for the HDTV signal? I know how to do it for a Blu-ray movie, but can it do the TV signal?

Thanks in advance for the help everyone.

Go for the $250 build option.
Why?

HDMI.
Probably considerably better audio
non-obsolete upgradeable technology.
less power consumption.

Not only that, I've found that older tech will choke when running tv tuner software.

I had a P4 2.8Ghz HT with 2GB DDR on an old intel mobo, it lagged changing channels in Winfast PVR2.

I'd go with the newer build for longevity and performance.

HDMI would be a real bonus in this build. The TV I'll be using it on only has VGA and HDMI for connecting to a PC. I don't want to get an overpriced AGP card to gain HDMI either. Having the audio and video over the one cable in the AMD build is nice too.

I think the lower power consumption will be quite important too, it'll be on for something like 15 hours a day (always at least one person watching TV), so it'll start to add up a lot.

Old tech such as a Pentium 4M 1.6GHz? I tried to run a tuner on it with an SD channel, was halfway between a slideshow and a very jerky picture. This build's gotta perform smoothly at all times, so lag of any sort is bad. New AMD build is the go then.

Pro tip - Get a TV tuner that's supported by Linux. Though I still think W7/Vista Media Center is the easiest PVR in the world to use, I started having issues with it... I tried MythTV out. It's fluffing ace - well the backend is, the front end I'm not such a fan of... since the backend really only stores and manages anything it doesn't need much grunt, so you can use your game box for all the decoding and the like. No need to buy mid range gear for your TV box.

This is a big 'you might want to later...' though. Just saying, get a TV tuner that works well in Linux. This is why I'm not going to reccomend you the DTV2000DS. I haven't looked at any other dual tuner cards though.

The P4 should be able to do SDTV, on PVR2. My Athlon-XP 2400+ (2.3GHz) did SDTV great, HDTV less so. But these chips are from the day of a legitimate 'AMD vs Intel' - when AMD's were genuinely better at some tasks then others, I do not know if decoding MPEG2 is one of these.

get the AMD. very fast platform, kicks the crap out of even current intel gear within the budget.

If you have what you have now, just see how it goes. If it's somewhat deficient upgrade later.

On that note, whats the tv tuner card for if you are going to use a tv which will have a built in tuner?

I was seriously contemplating going with Linux from the word go, but it seems a little bit too tricky/complicated to get it set up right. I went to linuxtv.org and could only see a couple of dual-tuner cards that were supported. I'm not very proficient at dealing with Linux packages and whatever else is needed, so I decided to just stick to Windows.

Anyway, if Windows Media Centre starts to piss me off, I'll just go with a reformat and hope for the best.

Interesting you should mention the Athlon XP 2400+, because I happen to have one of them spare and I've just remembered my bro used to use it for watching SD channels. Any idea how it would fare with a dual-tuner card though? I think it might be beyond the capabilities of the CPU.

@Deathy
Yeap, it's decided. Now I just gotta convince dad that we should ditch the generic suppy that I'll be using before it explodes. It really got flogged while we were still using it. Should I stick with the DDR2 Mobo/RAM combo I mentioned above, or should I get DDR3? I know it's not much of a performance boost in this case, but the DDR3 combo isn't much more expensive (~$15).

@sd4f
The TV only has an analog tuner built-in. I'm getting the tuner because I want digital signal, and I want to be able to record to a hard drive as well.

im about to drop linux, it just doesn't play nice with my network and i really cant be fluffed if linux cant even share a fluffing folder in a few clicks. fluff............. im in rage, MEGA RAGE MODE!

otherwise linux has been great.

Hey Nuss... keep us posted as too what you buy and how it fairs and gives us/me some feedback + pics... am interested in a similar build over the nxt few months...

Pics might be a bit ugly with the generic beige case
But yeah, no worries mate. I'll be going overseas just after Christmas though, so most likely I'll only be able to put it together and set it up ready for when I come back mid-January.

Bah.... generic case or not... its all about the GUTS!

Huge bump.

Would like to know if you've build the HTPC by now Nussinator, and which tv tuner you used? Any problems/recommendations?

I'm currently looking at building my own HTPC around the same spec as your second build, and those three tv tuners are the exact ones I've been looking at Cant make a decision between the 3.

Sorry I didn't keep the thread updated, but dad's had a bit of a change of heart with this. He says that he still wants to try it out but hasn't given me enough budget for the whole build. I gotta somehow figure out how to get the whole lot under $250 :/

I might see what I can do about getting one of the tuners alone and chucking it in my current PC, it's going out of commission for a month or so and depending on whether dad agrees with it I should be able to try it out for you.

EDIT: Nah he didn't bite

Ah, well bad luck :S Perhaps try the first build + tv tuner + RAM/CPU upgrade?

Anyone else got any comments regarding the tv tuners? I'm leaning towards the Avertv Twinstar.

EDIT: Or try the second build with second hand parts off OCAU.

$90 Tv tuner (Using the cheapest one, Avertv Twinstar, coincidentally the one I'm looking at )
$70 Mobo
$50 CPU
$40 RAM

= $250 and add in extra for postage! Hope that helps :cool: