New user needing suggestions

[McHero]

Hello All

I'm new to this forum as well as the wonderful world of HTPC!

First I would like to thank the author of gbpvr, excellent program! Looking forward to using it!

I tried to list all my hardware below in my signature, hope I did not leave anything out.

Going thru a divorce so the funds are not what they used to! I have custody of my two boy's 11 and 15 years and after mom cleaned me out of most of my electronics I decided the boys & I needed to "upgrade" the entertainment center.

Purchased the TV thru overstock.com and was 100% satisfied with the purchase! Nice TV. I had a couple movies on my server that I wanted to watch on the TV so I would copy the movies to my laptop & connect to the Sony via external VGA connector. Was quite impressed with the results so I thought I would make use of a spare Dell that I had stashed in the basement.

Loaded XP Professional on Dell & connected to the Sony via external VGA as well as the internal sound card. Purchased Microsoft wireless keyboard & mouse and was ready to go! Again, funds are tight so I decided to try gbpvr.

Nice program but I have a few issues. Also thought I would ask for some suggestions as well.

Purchased a Memorex dual layer DVD player/burner & loaded the Nero6 Memorex suite. Figured the Nero6 has a decoder that I would need to play DVD movies.

Playing Polar Express thru MS Media Player all looks good but the CPU runs between 80 and 90 percent. When I moved over to gbpvr the video was choppy still at about 80 to 90 percent so I started sniffing thru this support forum & found the DirecX 9.0c and the quartz.dll issue. I replaced quartz.dll and rebooted but still getting chop playing Polar Express thru gbpvr.

Any suggestions on where I should go from here? I was thinking about installing a video card BUT I don't have an AGP slot on the MoBo, just PCI slots. Also, should I think about installing a sound card as well?

I have read on the AVS forum that some people where able to record HD video via the firewire port on the rear of the Comcast box, I have a firewire card in the PC but it looks like LOTS of work getting a successful recording.

Not sure if I should invest in a TV tuner card or not. For now I'd just like to use the PC to watch some movies I have & play around with DVD ripping & recording.

Thanks

[sub]

Playing Polar Express thru MS Media Player all looks good but the CPU runs between 80 and 90 percent. When I moved over to gbpvr the video was choppy still at about 80 to 90 percent so I started sniffing thru this support forum & found the DirecX 9.0c and the quartz.dll issue. I replaced quartz.dll and rebooted but still getting chop playing Polar Express thru gbpvr.

Two things - (1) you need to replace quartz.dll when you're rebooted in safe mode, otherwise windows will put the original back, and (2) try using Overlay instead of VMR, since this is will be what WMP is using.

[McHero]

Should I consider a PCI Video card with HDTV output? I see a number of models on Newegg.com

Thanks

[sub]

I dont know.