Home theater processor ? Much needed help.

[ches111]

Another option would be to also use a DVI switch...

 

[kinky777]

DAMMIT man back to the drawing board. I am not sure if the Asus A8N sli premium MOBO will do the crossfire thing. I was banking on the ATI stuff as being SLI so Now I have to go with the Nvidia setup..... Do you know if I can use a A/V card in the Master PCIe slot ran as primary for movies, ect and have a 512 GPU in the secondary PCIe slot for games that will run Games I play from the GPU to the A/V card to the TV?

 

[michaelahess]

My HTPC is in a silverstone lc16 in black to match my stereo gear

6 320 gig WD sata's

athlon 64 3700 (wouldn't have hurt to go x2 but I didn't have the budget)

2 gig (2x1gig corsair value 3200)

Lite-on DL burner

ati x800pro oc's to PE (component video out until I get a real tv then hdmi)

logitech mx5000 bluetooth keyboard and mouse

silverstone sst-st60f power supply (this thing rocks)

And you don't need pro unless you login to a domain, I wish people would stop saying that, get mce, it's pro without the domain logon feature (if you do it right during install it will even do that.)

The coolest thing is the imon that comes with the case, the remote has a nice pressure pad for mouse movement and keyboard control, you can control ANYTHING on the pc with it.

I have a standalone dvr for my cable, once cable card capable dvr tuners come out I'll switch.

I do everything from encoding my wifes anime so she can watch on the bedroom tv, to playing all the latest games, with out any problems! Be nice to have the x2 for encoding while gaming though.....

Edit: forgot the mb, it's an asus a8ne deluxe, everything but firewire, I use my primary computer for video stuff though.

 

[dvdpiddy]

kinky you know you cant run crossfire on an sli mobo and the x1900 can be cross fired on a crossfire mobo

 

[kinky777]

The switch is starting to sound good.........lol and for Linux If I have this much trouble learning this It would be a nightmare trying to learn a new OS.......lol

 

[kinky777]

See I was curious about the WMCE But I keep hearing go Pro.....Both sides seem great. Seems to me I will be going Nvidia now.......

 

[pengwin]

i dont care for media center..woo photoalbum..woo watch movies...woo

who gives...exactly Pro is better

 

[michaelahess]

But it's nice to have the features if you may want them, I don't use them, my wife loves them.

Edit: Hell, I have mce, imon media center, ati's media center, and logitechs media center, they all do something better than the others. I tend to lean on imon's the most though.

 

[mpjesse]

Er... ATI makes an 1900XT All in Wonder w/ tuner built in.

 

[michaelahess]

With analog tv disapearing, I avoid tv tuners, I just output my dvr to the video inputs to record shows via svideo, I run straight to the tv also for higher quality with the component video. Just can't change channels on the pc, but the imon remote and my dvr remote handle everything. Need to get that new logi remote....

 

[mpjesse]

this discussion could get just as heated as any INTEL vs AMD or NVIDIA vs ATI.... discussion

You must be blind. lol. What kind of source are you using to get your 1080i signal? When I first got my hdtv, i switched back between 720p and 1080i... 1080i looks a hellva lot better. Then again my screen is on 46 inches. I guess the difference wouldn't be as decernable with a 118 inch screen. Dunno.

Also... I think using a digital connection like hdmi and DVI might make that interlacing less noticable. I can see a pretty good difference between component out and DVI out. (for the record, I can't see any interlacing in 1080i from the naked eye...) but that's just me.

-mpjesse

 

[ches111]

I am using HDMI out from a Dish Network 942. I also output HDMI from my upconverting DVD player @ 720P.

It is very possile that our set looks better at 1080I given that it may have a "native resolution" of 1080I. The native res of my projector is 720P.

Also @ 118" of screen you really do see everything....

 

[ches111]

I agree with MPJesse if you want the best of both worlds go with the ATI 1900XL All-In-Wonder....

I really think you only need a single card.... You will be able to accomplish everything you need with one very good card. The ATI and a Switch should give ya everything ya need.

 

[kinky777]

k well thanks for all the help You guys been a BIG help.

 

[mpjesse]

I thought about using a projector for a home theater... but the major problem I have is other light sources. In order to take advantage of projectors, the room has to have almost no other light source or it looks like crap.

Unfortunately I can't create a room in my house w/ low lighting.

So, a traditional tube projection TV is what I had to get.

 

[ches111]

Jesse.

With the Stuart Firehawk screen al whole lot of that light control has been fixed. It is a great screen for some ambient lighting and when the lights are out it is just awesome.

I am shooting on a DIY screen right now since nearly all my viewing is at night.

 

[nilness]

Just to clarify, All-in-Wonder boards cannot be used in a Crossfire configuration. See here. This was news in December when it was only the X1800 but I would guess it applies to the X1900 as well.

 

[kinky777]

Bump