Media PC ?

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01-07-2008, 01:05 PM

#41

levnubhin

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Well my tv has a DVI input, so it looks like I should go with a pc. What video card do you guys recommend with DVI output?
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01-07-2008, 01:19 PM

#42

levnubhin

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Hows this?- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130197

or- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102080
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01-07-2008, 01:31 PM

#43

kyle242gt

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We've been watching the bulk of our TV from a PC for ... six years or so, I guess.

Athlon 1600, 512Ram, lots of hard drives, older ATI card with composite (single RCA) video out. Sound is onboard, 1/8" stereo output. It gets gussied up by the surround sound receiver, which does a reasonable job believe it or not.

The upside to using a PC: you have a computer when you need it. So if you're watching a movie and your wife says, "where do we know that guy from?" you can hop online and check.

You can also check email and forums while she's going to the bathroom. Again.

01-07-2008, 02:19 PM

#44

bripab007

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Quote:

Originally Posted by m2cupcar

And the xbox has a drive size limit anyway- right? or is there away around that?

You can replace the hdd in the Xbox. I think it doesn't have 48-bit LBA, so you'd be stuck with 128GB partitions, I believe, but there isn't really a drive size limit. But again, I think you're barking up the wrong tree if you're trying to upgrade the stock drive. I replaced mine with an 80GB simply because I had it laying around, and the stock drive was beginning to get loud and clackety.

Quote:

The big diff IMO between the Xbox and the htpc is the video quality of the dvds. My xbox's component out can't match what I see from the dvi on my htpc. It me also be the decoders, but there are some movies where darker detail is just lost on the xbox and there's no way to tweak that (or easy way to tweak it).

And you're using XBMC? The quality of the dvd player in XBMC is great, and upconverting to 720P and post-processing through XBMC over component on my 42" 1080P screen looks better than the upconverting to 720P that my 360 does with the HD-DVD drive over HDMI. It also looks better than my friend's upconverting DVD player over component (can't remember brand).

01-07-2008, 02:21 PM

#45

bripab007

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Quote:

Originally Posted by levnubhin

Hows this?- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130197

or- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102080

Well, it depends on whether your PC has an AGP or PCI-express graphics card slot on the motherboard...

01-07-2008, 02:30 PM

#46

levnubhin

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian

Well, it depends on whether your PC has an AGP or PCI-express graphics card slot on the motherboard...

How can tell?
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01-07-2008, 02:40 PM

#47

Loki047

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Its an older computer? AGP

01-07-2008, 03:00 PM

#48

bripab007

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Or go into the BIOS, look at the peripheral settings section and see if it says things about AGP or PCI Express.

01-07-2008, 03:00 PM

#49

levnubhin

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About 4 years old.
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01-07-2008, 06:09 PM

#50

levnubhin

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Can someone tell me what slot this is.

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01-07-2008, 06:21 PM

#51

karter74

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Its a PCI slot, a slot not used for any type of graphics card (unless you like really old shitty ones)

01-07-2008, 06:31 PM

#52

Loki047

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PCI, and its an older standard.

Firrst off try running it the way it is. Upgrade it later if need be.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814103167

01-07-2008, 07:07 PM

#53

levnubhin

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Well i wanted to hook it up to my tv thru the DVI input.
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01-07-2008, 07:12 PM

#54

levnubhin

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Loki- I was lookin thru all the PCI cards and I noticed that most of them have a 3 part connection. Whats the difference?
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01-07-2008, 08:35 PM

#55

levnubhin

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I need another 512mb DDR ram 184 pin. Is there anything else to match when buying one?
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01-07-2008, 09:48 PM

#56

bripab007

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Quote:

Originally Posted by levnubhin

Loki- I was lookin thru all the PCI cards and I noticed that most of them have a 3 part connection. Whats the difference?

What PCI cards are you looking at? Are you talking about the riser connection/expansion slots on the motherboard? I honestly wouldn't bother trying to upgrade that computer; it's just too darn old, unfortunately :(

Ya know, if you need a new computer (which it appears you do

), and you also want a media center, something that might be up your alley is a Mac...their Front Row software is quite nice. Heck, for that matter, you could load Ubuntu Linux on it, then run the Linux build of XBMC on it.

But, man, $60 (okay, plus a few more bucks for a memory card and game with which to do the softmod hack) for a used Xbox plus another $200 for a NAS and external hdd. sure is the easy solution :-)

01-07-2008, 10:08 PM

#57

Loki047

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Quote:

Originally Posted by levnubhin

Loki- I was lookin thru all the PCI cards and I noticed that most of them have a 3 part connection. Whats the difference?

That card i thinked was DVI, so that covers that. How much ram do you have and what kind? If you dont know crucial has a little app that will tell you.

01-07-2008, 10:13 PM

#58

levnubhin

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I have 512 MB DDR SDRAM (184 pin I believe)
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01-07-2008, 10:20 PM

#59

levnubhin

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I also have an HP here with 3800+ AMD Athlon 64 Processor 1.0GB memory, 250GB hard drive and it has XP Media center in it. How ever the only out put it has id VGA. Should i use this one or stick with the emachines unit.
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