HTPC build.

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Puddle Jumper

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I have been thinking about building a htpc for recording tv in HD. Here is the parts I am looking at so far. I may also add a blu ray drive in the future.

Newegg.com - Foxconn A74MX-K AM2+/AM2 AMD 740G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

Newegg.com - Logitech Cordless Desktop EX100 Black 102 Normal Keys USB RF Wireless Standard Keyboard - Keyboards

Newegg.com - OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

Newegg.com - AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

I already have

Case
psu
hard drive
optical drives
HD 2600xt 512mb

The main problem I have ran into is what tv tuner or capture card to get. I don't want to record in anything less than 720p and 1080i or 1080p would be preferable.. The directv Hd receiver I will most likely be getting has hdmi, component, composite and s video output's. Can anyone suggest a tv tuner card that would let me record with good quality using one of those inputs?
 
Yeah but like me he want's an HD input from his cable box. As far as I know there is no cards that will decode HD threw a composite or HDMI input, (S-Video will not do HD)I think there's a huge fight going on over copy protection. Every "HD" card you see advertised uses the coaxil input. If I am wrong please show me I want one.
 
The board is a bit low end...youlll want a 780G or higher board.

And you can go with a lower clocked dually to make up for the price difference.
 
Yeah but like me he want's an HD input from his cable box. As far as I know there is no cards that will decode HD threw a composite or HDMI input, (S-Video will not do HD)I think there's a huge fight going on over copy protection. Every "HD" card you see advertised uses the coaxil input. If I am wrong please show me I want one.

That's exactly what I meant. A copy protection issue would help to explain why I haven't been able to find a single card with component or hdmi inputs.

check this out

Newegg.com - Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1800 MCE Kit 1128 PCI-Express x1 Interface - TV Tuners & Video Devices

my dad has it and it works wonders. over the air reception is really good.

That card isn't exactly what I wanted but I may end up with it or something similar anyways since it seems like no one makes cards with HD imputs other than coaxil.

The board is a bit low end...youlll want a 780G or higher board.

And you can go with a lower clocked dually to make up for the price difference.

I'm not planning on using the motherboards integrated graphics since I have a spare HD 2600xt 512mb just sitting here. Would the 740g board be ok if I don't plan on using the igp overclocking?
 
If you are planning on using coaxial most set top boxes do not output HD threw the coaxial TV out that is at best digital and probably analog. I still have 2 Haupauge PVR-150's and digital TV from a set top box threw S video is really good on an SD TV. As an example this is the crap we have to sort threw to know if the cards will do what we want it just isn't black & White. The website the greenbutton for media center freeks has lots of discussions on this kind of stuff.

Can I receive high definition digital TV with the WinTV-HVR-1800 through Cable or Satellite?

The answer is 'maybe' for digital cable TV but currently 'no' for satellite TV.
If you are using digital cable TV which broadcast "clear QAM", or if your local cable operator re-broadcasts the local ATSC channels, you can receive these digital TV channels with the new WinTV v6 application.
Note: currently Windows Media Center cannot be used to watch clear QAM digital TV channels.
Note: not all cable TV networks send clear QAM channels
 
I'm not planning on using the motherboards integrated graphics since I have a spare HD 2600xt 512mb just sitting here. Would the 740g board be ok if I don't plan on using the igp overclocking?

Ah nm, the HD2600XT would be better.

You can still use a cheaper dual core to save on some cash or grab the 5000+.
 
^^ The 5000+ is such a good price it's hard to justify getting a significantly slower processor just to save a few bucks.

If you are planning on using coaxial most set top boxes do not output HD threw the coaxial TV out that is at best digital and probably analog. I still have 2 Haupauge PVR-150's and digital TV from a set top box threw S video is really good on an SD TV. As an example this is the crap we have to sort threw to know if the cards will do what we want it just isn't black & White. The website the greenbutton for media center freeks has lots of discussions on this kind of stuff.

It seems like using coaxial or s video are really my only options. If I could get dvd picture quality or at least close to it over one of those two connections I would probably settle for it. I had actually found one card with component inputs on newegg a week ago but the item was deactivated before i had a chance to order it.
 
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