Thinking of making an htpc. question about tv connection

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antemon

antemon

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So I'm thinking of making an pseudo HTPC/media server/computer with all my videos and just want to watch it in a bigger screen.... I won't be playing any blu ray discs, heck I don't even know if I'll be playing any DVDs but will be installing a drive anyways just to be safe. Pretty much just downloaded videos.

Will be reusing some old parts here and there and just have a few questions.

an old socket 478 Celeron D 2.26 GHz. Will this be good enough? It should meet XBMC for Linux minimum requirements ( http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=XBMC_for_Linux_specific_FAQ#XBMC_for_Linux_minimum_requirements )


more importantly, I'm concerned about the graphics card and the output. I may buy a used nvidia 8xxx or 9xxx card for better linux driver support, but one that doesn't need a 6-pin power connection. I'm not going to play crysis on this thing or anything, so something that will just work 'ok' is what I'll need

tv I'll be using though will only have RCA and coax connection.
would something like this be all that I need? ( http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l640/juanclickmanila/pc_cables_and_adaptor/juanclick_0954.jpg )
or would I need something fancier like this one? ( http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/2485/2009919112326799jpg.jpg )

since this will be just a little project that I'm thinking of, please don't say appletv or some ready built htpc and berate me about not getting one for the ease of use. seriously, I've been to a couple of forums and they can't get it into their thick heads that I ain't really interested in buying all these brand spanking new stuff and just want to reuse old computer parts that I have lying around with minimal purchases...
Although I must say, I saw some chinese made media players the size of WD mybooks selling for like 50USD. my main concern about those is that will it be able to play fan-subbed anime...
 
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Chainzsaw

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Hello,

Ok so heres the deal. Your CPU is quite weak, however it does meet the minnimum requirements. Since you will be getting a low end video card - even a low end should be able to decode video for so your CPU is barely used.

What kind of case do you have? A slim one, or a regular tower?

What is your power supply?

The first pic is of a RCA / SVIDEO to VGA connector. But no coax.

You would need something like this:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815276002 <-- you need a free PCI slot for this.

Also this video card should be able to decode video for you decently:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161337 <--- AGP version, apparently consumes less than 75W.

Edit: Early morning, didn't read your post properly.

Edit2:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200576CVF <--- RCA to VGA Does that look like it would fit for you?

What are you complete system specs anyways?

For a coax to your computer connection - you will definitely need something like I reccomended above (the one where you need a free PCI slot).
 
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antemon

antemon

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no case or power supply yet. will probably get a slim one with it's own PSU. It'll be a crap PSU but I'm not too worried about it except for the part where I want the system to have lowest power consumption possible so that I won't need to buy a PSU.


hopefully, RCA connection would be good enough.



I thought the point of getting a tv tuner is to get video signal into the computer and not out of the computer to a TV? If this is what I'll need to get a better picture quality then I'll get one too


initially what I wanted too, but it appears that the price for that, even a pre-owned one, is too much that I'd want to spend in this project. plus nvidia linux drivers are still better than ATI linux drivers



if this is all I would really need, then great! I am wondering about the resolution and more importantly the aspect ratio of it all though... ratio's going to be more important really, I don't want it to be like squished up or have parts unviewable


478 Celeron D 2.26
an old MSI mobo that has PCI-E 16x, DDR2 ram and intel 945 video card
an old IDE drive
will buy a stick of ram, the case with the PSU on it, and the video card



hopefully I won't need a tv tuner. like i said, i want to spend as little as possible for this project. but if that's what I need to make it happen, then I'll get it.
 
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Chainzsaw

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Ahh another question - do you use PAL or NTSC, SECAM?

I'm unsure of how the quality will be - most likely not that great, as analogue format TV looks not very good on a computer screen.

I still think you will need a TV tuner though - to accept the input from the COAX - to ouput via the VGA -> RCA adapter -> TV.


Ok after a long search - ignore that reccomendation for that cable I listed, here is something that more fits your needs:

http://www.svideo.com/vga2video2.html <--- take a look at that, does that one look like it would work better? You would need a composite video output cable though.
 
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antemon

antemon

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NTSC

looks like I'll need the second one I linked
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/2485/2009919112326799jpg.jpg

right?

I was kinda more inclined to something internal if I'll be spending that much, but I guess that will work.
 
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Chainzsaw

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Hmm, you probably can get an internal version. However that might limit your future use of it vs you being able to place this device anywhere you want. That's a decent item.

I did some more looking for you, do you have a free PCI slot?


This is the JATON VIDEO-118PCI-64DDR-TV GeForce2 MX400 64MB 64-bit DDR PCI Low Profile Ready Video Card $38.99 <---slightly more expensive than your item you are looking at though

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814139151

It has :1 x D-SUBTV-OutS-Video / Composite Out

It doesn't have coax in or out - however I think you just needed composite out?
 
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Chainzsaw

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Ahh no problem. Yeah apparently works great with linux, being an nvidia card and all :)
 
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Chainzsaw

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Ahhh that sucks.

It just looks like RCA is going out the window which might explain why it's hard to find any internal device cheap enough in your situation.
 
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