Does My System Have Horsepower for HD?

[ldj325]

Hi,

My first post here. I am trying to decide if my system has enough horsepower to properly run a--1st Preference: SiliconDust HDHomeRun or 2nd choice: Hauppage 2250. My application is fairly simple. I want to watch TV from OTA antenna, preferably in HD, while, sometimes utilizing PIP and other times recording a 2nd program while I watch live. I’d also like to use the TIVOish functions to skip commercials, scheduling, etc, nothing too complicated. I live in central LA, so I shouldn’t be too far from station transmitters--maybe 20-30 miles or less.

If I can’t do HD, then I’d live with SD as long as I can watch one program and record another with some of the PVR functions.

Will I need a splitter, and if so can someone advise which one. Also any antenna recommendations would be welcome.

I would prefer to run GB-PVR as the software, but I’ve read that some registry editing may be necessary (but I’m unclear if this is still necessary with the new beta software). I probably have enough knowledge about computers to really screw myself up, especially if I have to edit the XP registry. But I can follow clear, simple instructions and have a more knowledgeable friend to help me if I really get in trouble. The registry editing seems like the biggest downside to the HDHomeRun from what I’ve seen. Either way I just want to watch and record some OTA TV and don’t want to spend months troubleshooting and trying to get my system to work with whatever route I go.

If my system doesn’t have the juice to support the above functions, any advice as to a simple tuner/software to get that would work with my current system would be appreciated.

Is there anything else I should know about that I haven't covered?

Thanks for your help.

Laurence

My system:
Athlon64 3800 Dual Core 2.0GHz 939 socket, L2 cache-512Kb x 2

RAM: PC3200 DDR400 1Gb total (I’d consider adding another 1 GB if it would significantly help. Otherwise 1GB works for all my current needs.)

MOBO: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium with heatpipe (running only 1 video card)

Video: ATI Radeon X700 PCI-e 256 MG DDR3 (If absolutely necessary to get HD, I would consider adding a 2nd video card, since my MOBO is an SLI type which can support a 2nd card. Can someone advise if this is necessary?)

Monitor: Gateway FPD2185W that says it is HD capable, 720p or 1070i max.

Hard Drives: Multiple (caddy system) Seagate and Western Digital 7200 SATAs

Power Supply: Enermax Liberty 500W

LAN: 2--10/100 cards

Router: Wireless/Hard wired—Linksys WRT 54G IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.3u,
IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11b
Ports Internet: One 10/100 RJ-45 Port
LAN: Four 10/100 RJ-45 Switched Ports

I have read that the wireless connection can be problematic so I am prepared to hard wire if necessary.

Available slots: PCI-e 16x, PCI-e multi 4/8/16, PCI-e 1X, 2-PCI standard

OS: Windows XP Pro SP2 (I can put SP3 on as well)

[pBS]

sure, you should be able to do atsc HD on that system, do you know what width the memory bus of the video card is? 256bit rocks and 64 bit is a bit sluggish but should still be able to do it..just noticed you have ddr3 so it should be plenty fast enough memory..
get catalyst 8.11 drivers and it should work without tweaking..you should get hardware decode assist for low cpu usage..[get ffdshow beta6 for a nice free decoder]
use either ffdshow or ati decoder that comes with video drivers, downloads separately tho..
[Avivo decoders]

one note tho, atsc is only mpeg2, which that card should handle fine, but h.264 [bluray,downloads] would require a different card as that doesn't have the hardware decode, tho it may do fine with software decode if your processor can keep up..[get ffdshow beta6 for a nice free decoder]

the edits for hdhomerun are fairly easy, but have to be precise...the 2250 should setup like any other card...both have their ups n downs, but for the most part perform rather well..
hdhr has excellent tuners inside, the 2250 has 2 hardware sd encoders as well..

i use a coathanger antenna and it works great, better than a channel master on my roof..
[modeled after the db2, but other designs are available online] i found some for 33$ for a real one and they work great..
basically any good UHF antenna is what you want...the bigger the better..
for a splitter, get only enough outlets you are going to use, empty ones drain signal..
i believe either choice would need a 1-to-2 outlet at the card/unit input,...
[i could be wrong about that tho..]

the system will start to get taxed when you record 2 while watching another, but it should handle even that fine...the rest of the stuff is all built in...once you've got the capture card setup and channels scanned, you good to go and shouldn't need any tweaking..
[but you will tho..hehe.. more like 'customizing' things to your liking]
once it's all working, you'll want skins and plugins and other stuff, but for tv it's mostly all built in..

[ldj325]

pBS,

Thanks for the reply. I'll check out the software you recommend. Do you have any specific brands/model numbers for the antenna you recommended?

I went ahead and ordered the HDHR. I've been checking out upgrading my current system. Unfortunately, being an older 939 socket, the CPU upgrades are too costly. I'll probably add another 1GB of RAM as that's affordable.

I can get another Radeon X700 video card for a reasonable price, so I could go to the dual video card SLI configuration. But I don't know if the software like GB-PVR could take advantage of the 2nd card for increased HD performance.

Does anyone know if the 2nd video card would help HD playback/editing or not?

[pBS]

hmm, pretty sure that wouldn't help video as it doesn't do hardware accell so only render speed would be helped, if at all...plus not sure that card supports dual mode anyways..
games would like SLI tho...it definitely shouldn't *hurt* video performance..

a good HD3xxx would do great, but now they're harder to come by [tho still very available]
the 4xxx's i'm still not sure about..last time i tried it didn't fare as well as lesser cards..
the card you have should be fine for everything but bluerays so i'd check it out before buying anything new...[my lowly x1550 works fine, and yours has better mem speed bigtime]
more mem won't get you much with gbpvr, games would like it tho..

the Antennas Direct DB2 is a decent knockoff of the original db2, and here for only 33$:
http://www.directron.com/db2.html a db4 is like 2 of these and only needed for long distances.. small,sturdy and good overall reception..
i built mine just like it from coat hangers for pennies..
[but i keep it indoors, need a real one for outdoors]
lots of plans for making one on web...