Before weekend I have bought tv tuner and gfx card with tv out connector, get my new small form factor low profile case PC with Windows XP, and initially assembled my HTPC. I called it v0.5 because of unsolved hardware and software problems.
I have low profile PC case, and low profile cards - unfortunately with long brackets only. I have asked local retailer about short brackets, but without luck. To check if everything is working I plugged cards without brackets. (Don't do try it at home - I had damaged two cards in that way in past). I will try to get short ones, or just cut the long I have and remake it into low profile standard.
I planned to connect tv-out to crt tv via scart connector using RGB signal. Unfortunately it seems that Radeon supports only YUV standard on tv-out. YUV to RGB converter is an option, but its extra cost and resulting picture quality may be degraded (it depends on converter). There is also more exotic option for some cards like Radeon 2400, to make simple VGA-SCART connector for RGB and sync signals, and force graphics card to work with TV frequencies. I have decided to use more popular S-Video connection- it should give almost as good quality as RGB. In near future I plan to upgrade my tv to some kind of HDTV LCD/Plasma set - most of current connection problems will be irrelevant.
I have tried to set display native tv resolution mode. I have now PAL 768x576 60hz resolution but it seems like it's interlaced. I have "100hz" TV set with internal picture scan, but it probably works only for standard 50hz PAL signal. I have tweaked TV driver with Powerstrip but still no luck.
TV tuner is Leadtek Winfast 2000 XP Expert - cheap and simple analog tuner cart without hardware encoding with remote control. Many reviews recommended that model. There is a lot of newer hardware, but it's hard to get reliable review for it. I'm still have most of programs in SDTV standard so it's sufficient for my needs. That plus separate tv and radio antenna input gives good integration with lasting analog sources. Picture quality is good enough- the same signal connected directly to tv gives noticeably sharper picture and more crispy details. It may be caused by tv tuner or graphics card tv-out mode.
Leadtek adds to tuner its software Leadtek Winfast PVR2. It has basic (and my priority) PVR functionalities like recording, time shifting and scheduled recording. It has it's own design - not so simple and aesthetic like Windows Media Center, but quite good and usable. Most used functions like channel switching, viewing and recording, can be operated from Leadtek remote. One sad thing I realized that separate application Winfast radio wont work with remote (maybe it's something with configuration). I hope I will also find way to use remote for other applications. I'm going to buy small wireless keyboard also, to get comfortable control over HTPC.
I'm planning to fix hardware problems and add more software features in future. Stay tuned.
I have low profile PC case, and low profile cards - unfortunately with long brackets only. I have asked local retailer about short brackets, but without luck. To check if everything is working I plugged cards without brackets. (Don't do try it at home - I had damaged two cards in that way in past). I will try to get short ones, or just cut the long I have and remake it into low profile standard.
I planned to connect tv-out to crt tv via scart connector using RGB signal. Unfortunately it seems that Radeon supports only YUV standard on tv-out. YUV to RGB converter is an option, but its extra cost and resulting picture quality may be degraded (it depends on converter). There is also more exotic option for some cards like Radeon 2400, to make simple VGA-SCART connector for RGB and sync signals, and force graphics card to work with TV frequencies. I have decided to use more popular S-Video connection- it should give almost as good quality as RGB. In near future I plan to upgrade my tv to some kind of HDTV LCD/Plasma set - most of current connection problems will be irrelevant.
I have tried to set display native tv resolution mode. I have now PAL 768x576 60hz resolution but it seems like it's interlaced. I have "100hz" TV set with internal picture scan, but it probably works only for standard 50hz PAL signal. I have tweaked TV driver with Powerstrip but still no luck.
TV tuner is Leadtek Winfast 2000 XP Expert - cheap and simple analog tuner cart without hardware encoding with remote control. Many reviews recommended that model. There is a lot of newer hardware, but it's hard to get reliable review for it. I'm still have most of programs in SDTV standard so it's sufficient for my needs. That plus separate tv and radio antenna input gives good integration with lasting analog sources. Picture quality is good enough- the same signal connected directly to tv gives noticeably sharper picture and more crispy details. It may be caused by tv tuner or graphics card tv-out mode.
Leadtek adds to tuner its software Leadtek Winfast PVR2. It has basic (and my priority) PVR functionalities like recording, time shifting and scheduled recording. It has it's own design - not so simple and aesthetic like Windows Media Center, but quite good and usable. Most used functions like channel switching, viewing and recording, can be operated from Leadtek remote. One sad thing I realized that separate application Winfast radio wont work with remote (maybe it's something with configuration). I hope I will also find way to use remote for other applications. I'm going to buy small wireless keyboard also, to get comfortable control over HTPC.
I'm planning to fix hardware problems and add more software features in future. Stay tuned.
IT Pro Life
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