Newbie advice building a High-End Sage System

[dwycoff]

Guys - After a lot of consideration I am biting the bullet and building a dedicated machine and selected Sage for my DVR. The Hauppauge encoder seems to be the most capable but their website is not real helpful. My setup is DirectTV with a Samsung HD receiver which has OTA. I am basically looking for the best and most capable solution. Here is what I am building:
Intel Dual Core Pentium D 915
Motherboard ASUS P5LD2 LGA 775 Intel 945P ATX Intel Motherboard
Memory 2GB DDR2-800 RAM
Hard Drive 500GB Caviar SATA HD
Optical Drive 2x18x Dual Layer DVD-RW
Video nVidia 7600gt 256MB PCI-E Video Card
Case Thermaltake Tenor Black
TV Tuner **** THIS IS THE QUESTION ******

The Tuners I am considering are the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500MCE or the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600.

None of the above has been locked in stone and if their is a better way I would really like to hear it!

Appreciate the help!
Doug

[zoso]

You should really consider going with a low end Core 2 Duo, especially if you ever plan to use the system for transcoding Hi Def. The low end Core 2 Duos are the best bang for the buck CPUs right now.

[kwallin]

I would consider a 8600GT card instead of a 7600GT, check this review for a comparison of the video processing -> http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2970&p=3

Best Regards, Kenneth

[dwycoff]

The 8600 looks like the way to go - I will update my shopping list. Not sure of the first comment since I am getting a duo core Intel CPU. No comments on the encoders?
Doug

[kwallin]

I have both analog (PVR500) and digital (Nova TD DVB-T, FireDTV-C DVB-C) tuners and the pq of the digital ones are that good that the analog one is more or less unused nowadays. Go digital!

/Kenneth

[dwycoff]

Both of those cards support HD - what am I missing? The dual tuner in WinTV-PVR-500MC seems the way to go unless I am missing something.

[kwallin]

Originally Posted by dwycoff

Both of those cards support HD - what am I missing? The dual tuner in WinTV-PVR-500MC seems the way to go unless I am missing something.

The PVR-500MCE has two analog tuners, the HVR-1600 has one analog (NTSC) and one digital (ATSC). Sometimes I have good pq over the analog tuners but nothing compared to digital if you have a TV over 42" (50" Plasma). If you have a CRT the difference could be minimal depending on the broadcast quality.

/Kenneth

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by zoso

You should really consider going with a low end Core 2 Duo, especially if you ever plan to use the system for transcoding Hi Def. The low end Core 2 Duos are the best bang for the buck CPUs right now.

I agree with this. Core 2 Duos use less power (will cost you less over time) and are faster than the Pentium 4's and soon (April 22 if I am not mistaken) we will see a price drop. Wait a week and go Core 2 Duo not Dual Pentium.

[dwycoff]

Understood - The 1600 and core 2 Duo will be on my list. What is the consensus of Vista versus XP Home?

[jlmdxtv]

I'd keep my OS on a separate drive away from the videos.

My OS drive is a 100GB or so, and the shows are on a much larger drive that gets the real workout. Plus, this videos drive uses 64K block sizes, is optimized monthly, and has never had stuttering issues, even with HD recordings.

If/when that drive blows, I just replace that drive.

john

[sainswor99]

Originally Posted by dwycoff

Understood - The 1600 and core 2 Duo will be on my list. What is the consensus of Vista versus XP Home?

XP Home is a better-tested platform; although Sage is officially supported on Vista, there seem to be a number of issues that interfere with Sage (and other applications). A year from now, my vote would probably change.

Stu

[Jesse]

Hi,

I prefer the ATI Theater 650 pro tuners over the pvr500mce. When I switched I saw a big improvement in pq. YMMV.

Jesse

[camus]

I second the seperate HD for the OS recommendation.

If you are just planning on video palyback you might be able to go with a 8500 GT, passively cooled. Or even a 8400.

[dwycoff]

So here are my thoughts on what to order - What do you think?

120 Gig Main Disk
500 Gig Video Disk
Vista OS - I have XP Pro if I have issues
Core 2 Duo 6300 CPU
8600 GTS Video
1600 hauppauge Encoder
Wireless Keyboard/Mouse

[COLO_PVR_GUY]

dwycoff,

I'm a relative newbie, but it seems you have left out a remote control solution. A wireless keyboard and mouse can certainly do everything a remote can, but because you will get addicted to Sage (trust me, like everyone else on this board, you will) and use it for watching live TV, not just recording, you will eventually want a remote. Since I simply use the Hauppauge (which I really like) that came with my PVR150, I'm not much help here, just raising the issue for you to start thinking about.

[dwycoff]

The 1600 comes with a remote control - Am I missing something I need?
http://www.hauppauge.com/Pages/produ...a_hvr1600.html

Doug