DLP TV's & Home Theater PC's

Do you use a HTPC with your DLP set, if not are you considering using one?


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Razor

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I have been experimenting with connecting my pc upto my Optoma RD65 and the results are so good that I want to build a dedicated machine for my lounge.

The graphics card I have been using is a X800XT PE, my question is if I built a dedicated HTPC and used a mid range graphics card (geforce 6600gt) as apposed to a top end graphics would I notice any difference in play back quality.
Both the ATI and Geforce have their own version of HD replay harware, which one is better? Or are they much of a muchness?

Idealy I would like a AV stlye pc case with space for 2 drives. I have been reading a few reviews of these cases and alot of them are prone to over heating, has anyone got any suggestions or brands to stay clear of?

Has anyone bought a HTPC specifically for their DLP set?

Thanks for your time :smashin:
 
im using a 6600 gt and the high def stuff is amazing i would recomend this over a 6800 as it is actualy faster due to its instruction set being tweaked for hdtv their are a few threads on this. As for the case i still cant find one i like my main concern is noise even though im using a special psu and software its still to loud for the lounge oh well keep playing and spending i suppose
 
I have a friend which bought th 6800gt and isn't too happy that its baby brother the 6600gt is better at HD material (Strange move by Nvidia). I was looking at using a fanless geforce 6600gt for the same noise concern you mention (link below). Is your model fanless?

http://www.giga-byte.com/VGA/Products/Products_GV-NX66T128VP.htm#

What dlp set have you got slidebed?
 
Hi

i have the Gigabyte 6600GT with HDTV Component Output Box, too.
be careful there are 2 Gigabyte 6600GT versions....

What I do not have is the Optoma RD50, but I want to buy one.

I live in Germany and I only few R2 Discs so judder on R1 disc would not be a problem for me.

But does anyone know if I would be possible to use the DVI connected to the Gigabyte at 60Hz for Pc games etc. with the RD50?

or maybe the Component Output or VGA.....?

some time ago people said ATI Tv-out is better than GeForce TV-Output Qual.

But as for me the new 6600GT gives me a perfect s-Video Output Quality .....
Sorry my Pana CRT does only have s-Video, RGB Scart,....
I played HDTV movies on my new Pc A64 3500+, Gigabyte 6600GT, 1GB RAM, and as I can say it is very smooth...........

and Razor as for movie picture quality you dont need a high end graphic card, its only better for playing 3d games.
And if u are using DVI out ATI and Nvidia will be nearly equal. Most differences should be the analog outputs.

But if you trying to build up a HDTV PC: the nvidia 6 generation have some nice features called pure video: look here for info http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo.html

At the end the Gigabyte card also has Component Output(only few cards supply the adaptor) and in the graphics Setup menu you can choose nearly all HDTV Resolutions.

1920x1xxx @ 60Hz interlanced
1920x..... @ 60Hz progressive
1280x720 @ 60Hz i
1280x720 @ 60Hz p
................
also there are 50Hz settings for the resolutions. (at least with a special driver)
I dont know if this works at 50Hz, but I actually get it to 50Hz, hopefully it is.

So it should work with Optoma TV too?

My next problem is i never saw the RD50 live, only Sagem Axium. I like the Sagem picture and people and Sagem homepage say that it only has the HD2 chip.

Can someone who seen both plz tell me if the Optoma RD50 with HD2+ Chip has at least the same or better PQ ?

-----------------> Very important for me !!! :lease:

I also tested Sagem with normal Pal cable tuner TV and from my point of view it was quite good. Of course its not HDTV.

Does the Optoma offer the same Tuner Picture Quality as the Sagem.

I would thank anyone for help.......and hopefully I can help too (i am new to this forum)

cheers :smashin:
 
Hifi boom

Thanks for the detailed post.

My experiances with my Optoma RD65 are as follows. If it is then think very hard.

If 60hz veiwing/region 1 material is not a concern then consider the RD65/RD50.

I have seen the rd50 and the sagem at the hifi show this year and both pictures were very impressive. I could not do a direct comparson as they were 30 foot apart and the sagem was showing Hi-def material only.

I instantly fell in love with the RD65 and compared this model to all the others on show. I prefered the RD65's picture to that of the Toshiba, sim2, sagem.

The picture from the RD65 is gob smacking, there is no visable grid structure, bluring, piuxelisation. Its just huge. Everyone who has seen this set can not believe how sharp, clean and detailed the picture is. The blacks are blacker than black, which I have never seen on a display. I think this is where the RD50 might beat the sagem set. Also the sagem has no HDCP input, which rules out alot of hd material.

One thing I will warn you about is the customer service of Optoma. It may be totally different in Germany, but over here they can be hard work.

I currently have my pc connected by the DVI cable (ATI X800XT PE) its great for games, surfing the web etc. In fact I'm now typing this message on it. :)

If you say that there would be neglible difference bewteen cards and there are geforce drivers can support 50hz then it looks like Im getting a 6600gt. Saves a fair bit of cash and its silent too.
 
Hi loud music,
Have Optoma RD50 athlon3.5GHz 64 NvidiaNforce 3 motherboard a Radeon X800Pro
the graphics card can have a big diference in picture quality at least between diferent generations my set up seems to have the best performance solving the R1 judder
I have also tried my sons 3.2 GHz Athlon barton, Radeon 9800pro R1 playback as smooth as my set up but the picture quality was not as good very easy to see the diference using winDVD cpu was running at 2% 18%
Playback of R1 on razors Pc R1 nearly cured the judder the diference between our PCs
Razor has a faster graphics card but the motherboard uses the Via chipset i don't know about picture quality on Razors but i would expect it to be as good as mine
I would expect the Nvidia card to be just as good as the X800 picture quality wise maybe better but untill somebody has seen both & reports we don't know .
to play games all u need is 1280 * 720 at 60hrz refresh rate if u have the latest drivers it will be an option.Connect via DVI for best quality switch on your PC ( go into menu settings Data & select PC for RD50 other set might use diferent names)
& u are away there is a small overscan but nothing to write home about
see www.anandtech.com for more info on overscan. Half Life 2 is amazing if you've
got a good monitor that's what u can expect at 50" the graphic cards i used seemed to make more of a diference on movie playback than games.
anyone reading this with a Radeon card should check out
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2305 its an article o Nvidia
graphics cards, NVIDIA Enables PureVideo on GeForce 6 GPUs it also gives information on how to turn on hardware aceleration of hi def material on the Radeon cards
The RD50 suffers from judder on R1 playback thats the only fault i've noticed apart from playing back 1:85 aspect movies the quality is nowhere near as good as 2:35
movies i've only a few of these & i've had no feedback on how they play on other sets.
The Sagem Axium 50" has no HDCP on the DVI input when they start broadcasting HiDef material or when u connect your new Bluray HidefDVDplayer it won't work.
unless they fix it & thats doubtfull.Another problem is the DVI input is PC only
if you have a DVD player with a DVI or HDMI out put it will not work on the Sagem 50"
it's possible they could fix this? The Sagem also has the HD2 chip which has a lower contrast ratio than the RD50 & suffers more from burnt out whites a white shirt in bright sunlight might not have any detail.From reports the Sagem does have many fans who love it & we've all seen the demo's of hidef material on this set but there's the rub they might not be able to watch it when its available.Sagem 50" owners will
still be able to download the divx hi def films which might be some consolation.
The Optoma RD50 does have the HD2+ chip & is capable of outstanding results but football from sky can be pretty poor but i think thats true of most makes of large screens
 
Thx for fast and complete response!!!!!! :clap:

I am not the only one, who is very often awake at night

I would expect the Nvidia card to be just as good as the X800 picture quality wise maybe better but untill somebody has seen both & reports we don't know .

I have one System with ATI 9600PRo and TV-Out Quality was quite bad-> analog
the ne 6600GT is very fine analog signal quality......

the graphics card can have a big diference in picture quality at least between different generations. my set up seems to have the best performance solving the R1 judder

Yes of course thats right, i wanted to say that quality will not get better if you take the Geforce 6 Ultra for 500€-600€ or the Geforce 6600GT for 155€. Both have the new Hardware Excelleration Features for movies.

On actual system with new cards its about ~ 50% System utilization (for HD movies)
So if you take the Ultra maybe you get 40% CPU utilisation (for HD movies), with acceleration.
So you dont get much bang for the buck.

You ll need the Ultra if you wanna play Doom 3 in Ultra high wih 1600x1200 hehehehe: (ok i got and SLI Board in my new System, so i am ready :thumbsup: heheh)
But you won`t see an huge increase in Output Quality .
That was what i meant to say. all important : TAKE A NEW GENERATION CARD....

next thing:
The movie hardware acceleration does not say anything about physical transfer quality, so if u`re using dvi, they are all the same, because of the digitlal transfer mode.

Last thing:
Of course new generation cards improve the Movie Quality in huge terms
At least 60Hz -> 50Hz conversation is asynchronious, and maybe that is why fast system with new generation cards could be a little better.
..................................

to play games all u need is 1280 * 720 at 60hrz refresh rate if u have the latest drivers it will be an option.Connect via DVI for best quality switch on your PC ( go into menu settings Data & select PC for RD50 other set might use diferent names)

Does that mean, Optoma RD50 has no Problem with 60Hz when using DVI?

If no can it display 75Hz without problem?

That would be great news..................for me

maybe i should not care about the **** and buy the new Sagem HD-D45 for 2699€ (very nice price i`m getting)

And what do you think of that beast? (it is not available at europe at the moment, but looks nice......
http://www.dlptvreview.com/dlptvreviews/panasonic-pt50dl54.html

sorry for
not speaking the best english :clown:

:smashin: :smashin: :smashin: but i love it 2 talk 2 two real RD 50 owners :smashin: :smashin: :smashin:
 
Razor - check out http://www.htpcnews.com for lots of good info. I'll stay out of the video card discussion as that seems in hand ;-) but as for cases, you may want to look at the SilverStone cases - great htpc stuff http://www.silverstonetek.com/product-case.htm

you will probably want to get a higher-profile case, because you would probably want to keep the fan-noise down. That means 120 mm fans - as bigger fans can turn at slower speeds, reducing the noise - as well as a very large cooling block for good heat dissapation. I use an aluminium heatsink for my main processor I am really happy with - the Thermalright XP120 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Thermalright_120.html - this thing is *huge* (the top bit on the photo is 120mm) but runs really silent. And with a jazzed-up video card comes jazzed up heat generation. So you would need to look at a solution for that as well. Check out these for example - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/copy_of_Zalman.html - look for the Zalman ZM-80D-HP + fan attachement if it fits, and all the arctic cooling stuff is really good http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Arctic_Cooling.html

Then, you may want to get a Zalman ZM-2HC2 (see link above) to cool your harddisk, replace your Northbridge cooler with a passive one, and then you can do away with case fans alltogether. The biggest culprits for noise generation are northbridge fans (small, turn fast, loud noise) and case fans (cheap-o noisy buggers).

To top off your case, I would go with either an Antec Phantom Power supply, (super silent) or the Antec Neopower. The Phantom is fanless, so again will run very silent, but it is rated at 350W, so you need to check that it will work with the video card of your choice (your video card will almost certainly require seperate power input). However, the Antec's are well known to deliver a stable, solid dependable powersource, and unlike the cheap stuff, like Jeantech or something, 350W really is 350 watt. Alternatively, the NeoPower from Antec has variable fanspeed - i.e. it is linked to your mobo and will speed up and slow down fanspeed according to temperature requirements, further managing noiselevels. It also has detachable leads so you only run the leads you need to your motherboard, removing all the unrequired cable clutter - this frees up airflow.

Cooling and noise are the two most critical aspects of system building. Don't go for the cheap stuff, or you will live in deafening noise!

have fun!
 
Hifiboom I don't have a problem at 60hrz & a PC fed RD50 with R1 material the picture is excellent there remains a problem with 1:85 aspect movies where the picture fills the screen with R1 & R2 the picture is average playback is smooth.I do not know if this is a problem with my set or all RD50's or all DLP's ?
The RD50 has a small overscan on DVI read the article on Anandtech, i believe you will get this on all makes of DLP's & indeed most tv sets.PowerStip might cure this ?
or maybe the next round of drivers, being able to output 1280 by 720 on Nvidia & Radeon cards is quite new & i suspect a lot of attention is going to be focused on
HTPC's /Media Centre PC's
Your nvidia 6600GT will work fine at 1280 by 720 at 60hrtz through DVI on most makes of DLP sets but the Optama RD50 at 60hrtz ? we still do not know for sure untill somebody actually tries it with a nvidia card ? do P4 intel motherboards work with it ?
I think they'll be fine but don't know for sure.
You will only be able to display at 60 hrtz. Trying to display at 75hrtz could wreck the PC using a lower refresh rate should be allright. In display properties on your Pc you should tick the hide modes this monitor cannot display trying to display at too high a frequency can ruin most monitors.
Doubt if u'll be able to run doom 3 at 1600 by 1200 the tv would only display at 1280 by 720 anyway.
 
HiFiboom
Just tried me mates computer on the RD50 a pentium 3 850MHz Celeron with 256 mb ram & a Nvidia TNT2 32mb graphics card with Windows ME
I downloaded the latest drivers for ME & put them on his computer tried to select1280 by 720 it was'nt an option as the monitor did'nt support it so selected 800 by 600 at 60hrtz.we then connected to the RD50 through the VGA turned on & was most surprised when we saw the desktop with just a small overscan.The RD50 & i suspect the sagem 45 is a plug & play monitor.I could now change resolution to 1280 by 720.
I loaded on the PowerDVD6 demo& tried a movie The leaugue of extraordinary gentlemen a region 2 dvd & to everybodys surprise it worked i could'nt change chapters or use next so all we could watch was the trailers & the picture quality was similar to a radeon 9800pro but not quite as smooth.
We then put on the last of the Mohicans a region one DVD & it played fine i could change chapters i had to increase the brightness a lot but there was no judder picture ran smoothly with a few jerky bits that i probably saw because i was looking out for it.I would rate the picture quality as being better than my old limit through the scart.
I did'nt try out sound at all.
Now i wonder if that old 486 & riva 128 PC would work ! ?
It looks like almost anything is going to be powerfull enough for movie playback in a HTPC (Optoma RD50 owners can now relax about the R1 judder & a HTPC seems like everything works :clap: :hiya: :) )
 
Hi all, thanks for the replies.

Mdekkers, thanks for info.

Noise is my main concern for the lounge as well as the looks of the machine. The last thing I would want is a neon flashing tower in the corner.
I have seen silverstone case and have read mixed reviews and comments. I have heard of over heating problems and difficult installations. I would really love to purchase an all in one unit such as the elenox but with a different graphics card. I have contacted them about an upgraded card but they were unsure if wouldnt overheat untill they can properly test it.

Does anyone know of a HTPC maker that doesnt charge £2000 for a £800 pc? I only really want to spend around £1,000.00 ish.

Steve

Try as I might I still cant get the region 1 judder to totally disapear. I can reduce it but not eliminate it.
I have tried power strip at 50hz and 48hz and I have tried windvd6 with true pal on/off and trimension on/off.
 
St_ve said:
Hi loud music,
Have Optoma RD50 athlon3.5GHz 64 NvidiaNforce 3 motherboard a Radeon X800Pro
the graphics card can have a big diference in picture quality at least between diferent generations my set up seems to have the best performance solving the R1 judder
I have also tried my sons 3.2 GHz Athlon barton, Radeon 9800pro R1 playback as smooth as my set up but the picture quality was not as good very easy to see the diference using winDVD cpu was running at 2% 18%
Playback of R1 on razors Pc R1 nearly cured the judder the diference between our PCs
Razor has a faster graphics card but the motherboard uses the Via chipset i don't know about picture quality on Razors but i would expect it to be as good as mine
I would expect the Nvidia card to be just as good as the X800 picture quality wise maybe better but untill somebody has seen both & reports we don't know .
to play games all u need is 1280 * 720 at 60hrz refresh rate if u have the latest drivers it will be an option.Connect via DVI for best quality switch on your PC ( go into menu settings Data & select PC for RD50 other set might use diferent names)
& u are away there is a small overscan but nothing to write home about
see www.anandtech.com for more info on overscan. Half Life 2 is amazing if you've
got a good monitor that's what u can expect at 50" the graphic cards i used seemed to make more of a diference on movie playback than games.
anyone reading this with a Radeon card should check out
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2305 its an article o Nvidia
graphics cards, NVIDIA Enables PureVideo on GeForce 6 GPUs it also gives information on how to turn on hardware aceleration of hi def material on the Radeon cards
The RD50 suffers from judder on R1 playback thats the only fault i've noticed apart from playing back 1:85 aspect movies the quality is nowhere near as good as 2:35
movies i've only a few of these & i've had no feedback on how they play on other sets.
The Sagem Axium 50" has no HDCP on the DVI input when they start broadcasting HiDef material or when u connect your new Bluray HidefDVDplayer it won't work.
unless they fix it & thats doubtfull.Another problem is the DVI input is PC only
if you have a DVD player with a DVI or HDMI out put it will not work on the Sagem 50"
it's possible they could fix this? The Sagem also has the HD2 chip which has a lower contrast ratio than the RD50 & suffers more from burnt out whites a white shirt in bright sunlight might not have any detail.From reports the Sagem does have many fans who love it & we've all seen the demo's of hidef material on this set but there's the rub they might not be able to watch it when its available.Sagem 50" owners will
still be able to download the divx hi def films which might be some consolation.
The Optoma RD50 does have the HD2+ chip & is capable of outstanding results but football from sky can be pretty poor but i think thats true of most makes of large screens

First the Sagems DVI is not PC only u can connect a DVD with DVI to the TV as long as its not HDCP enabled.
Second about the HD2 vs HD2+ issues I hear different from different sources, I have a friend that got it confirmed from the factory that it is in fact a HD2+ chip in the 50" model but I dont know for sure.
 
wmadoss said:
First the Sagems DVI is not PC only u can connect a DVD with DVI to the TV as long as its not HDCP enabled.
Second about the HD2 vs HD2+ issues I hear different from different sources, I have a friend that got it confirmed from the factory that it is in fact a HD2+ chip in the 50" model but I dont know for sure.


Sagem is a HD2 not a plus.
 
Razor said:
Sagem is a HD2 not a plus.

As I said I hear different things from different sources, on various sites that are selling it it says HD2+ on other sites it says HD2, on Sagems site it says nothing. And as I said have a friend that got it confirmed from the factory but they could ofcourse be wrong or lying.

So until I see it on print for myself from a sagem technician it can be either HD2 or HD2+.

Some guy said here that the contrast value on Sagems site was only 2000 and therefore it was a HD2 but Optomas RD50 has also 2000 contrast and a HD2+ so...
 
Hi Razor,
If a P3 850 Celeron with a TNT2 32mb card can come whithin a cat's whisker of doing it yours should really fly.
Have you the latest 5.1 drivers for your graphics card.
Have u updated the bios for your motherboard ( if not dig out your manual make sure u choose the right motherboard and grab the latest update)You could try removing any programs u don't use or want .Have a clearout of all your junk.You can easily get conflicts with one program interfering with another & slowingeverything down.
Try disconnecting your internet & turn of your firewall , turn of your anti virus program
Turn on taskmanager & select performance
Now start Windvd6 & play a movie try R2 & see how your cpu handles it
do the same for R1 wasnt any diff on my boys.
If i could'nt fix it any other way i'd do a fresh install of windows & then load in windvd6 or PowerDVD6 & with the latest drivers installed for your graphics card & updated motherboard try again.
If its hardware related i'd suspect motherboard so get it updated.
If you go into Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager are there any yellow flags indicating problems.
 
Some really interesting stuff in the March issue of PC Pro magazine
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/68227/aopen-xc-cube-ey855.html
The pentium M 1.6GHz sounds like an ideal choice for a HTPC
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/68233/aopen-i855-gmemlfs.html
We tested the XC Cube with the same components we used for the AOpen i855GMEm-LFS (see p68): a 1.6GHz Pentium M 725 with 512MB of PC3200 RAM split between the two RAM sockets. And the results were impressive. With an overall application benchmark score of 1.71, it's actually faster than the 3.4GHz Pentium 4 550 XC Cube AV with 2GB of RAM (see p54). And the AOpen UX855GME motherboard is significantly faster than its mini-ITX cousin, the i855GMEm-LFS, which scored 1.59.

For anybody concerned about noise it seem's ideal seem's like you can have your cake & eat it.
So for Motherboard & Processor go with article above
After seeing how the humble nvidia TNT2 performed how about a Nvidia 6600GT
for the graphics card.
512MB ram should be ample.
Probably be able to get away with the onboard sound (AC97 audio)
Anybody got any ideas wireless keyboards mouse remote control operating system???
 
@Steve:

problem with 1:85 aspect movies where the picture fills the screen with R1 & R2 the picture is average playback is smooth.

I don`t understand .... how can pic quality change with aspect ratio?
you have problems with wide screen (16:9) or ultra wide?

If u are using a dvi connection all should be the same.......


I don't have a problem at 60hrz & a PC fed RD50
?
Your nvidia 6600GT will work fine at 1280 by 720 at 60hrtz through DVI on most makes of DLP sets but the Optama RD50 at 60hrtz ?
?
So what do you say now?

DO YOU USE a PC graphics card ín your setup with 1280x720 @ 60Hz or are u using a card with you`re setup 1280x720 @ 50Hz?

You know you can force the card to a special frame rate.....?


thx hifiboom
 
Does anyone have a TV Card?
I was wondering what the picture quality was like through a HTPC using a TV Card and how Sky looks when viewed through the card.
 
Razor said:
Noise is my main concern for the lounge as well as the looks of the machine. The last thing I would want is a neon flashing tower in the corner.
I have seen silverstone case and have read mixed reviews and comments. I have heard of over heating problems and difficult installations.
Cheers, razor. Re. installations - they are never easy. take at least a day to do it well. The only install I did that was easy was recently, and the case was a coolermaster CMStacker - which is *huge*.... Another option you have is liquid cooling. keeps everything well chilled, and is totally noiseless, especially if you move the chiller elsewhere, or get a huge heatsink, like this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/copy_of_copy_of_Others.html -- personally, I would go with the Reserator, and the VGA block for same. Combine with the hdd heatpipe, and you are all set for a supersilent machine.

BTW - what software are you looking at - XP Media Center?

Have fun
 
Hifiboom
Just checked out the link to the Panasonic DLP in the States looks good spec
i don't like the speakers on the side.I'd prefer a DLP set without any speakers at all if possible.
If the Panosonic was over here & i was buying a set it would be on my shortlist
Optoma RD50 if used with a HTPC
Sagem Axium HD-D45
The Panosonic 50" i would want to see this if it was on sale in Europe
All the sets have a HD2+ chip & should give similar results one might be better than
another ? all i can say for sure is i have connected 3 PCs to the RD50 & everyone has worked & given a very good picture on movie playback the P3 800MHz celeron probably would have had perfectly smooth playback with a Geoforce 2.
With the X800pro the picture was the best i've ever seen.
By the way anyone with a DLP who want's to impress the girlfriend/Wife or Mother
don't put on your best looking film & turn the volume up.
Show them some family photo's just make sure any of the more artistic pictures u have are safely tucked away in a folder out of the way. :devil:
 
HiFiboom

"I don`t understand .... how can pic quality change with aspect ratio?
you have problems with wide screen (16:9) or ultra wide?

If u are using a dvi connection all should be the same......."

I know it should be just as good just isn't.
the only resolution i'm using is 1280 by 720 at 60hrz refresh rate i did'nt try the Nvidia TNT2 PC with a 1:85 movie i supose it might be a problem with the radeon drivers that affects the RD50 or all DLP sets with Radeon drivers or it could be just my set that's affected
Perhaps the Nvidia cards don't show this problem.I've posted about the problem in a couple of threads but have had no feedback yet.
I get perfectly smooth playback R1 & R2 all the films have been watchable but are obviously inferior to the 2:35 aspect movies .Luckily over 97% of the DVDs we own are in the 2:35 aspect ratio.
I have watched the Fockers trailer a hiDef divx 16:9 that fills the screen & is amazing quality. :confused:
 
heh, well all warmed up to the subject now - I feel trouble with the wife brewing as new stuff is going to appear in the living room ;-) Razor, this is what I would go for to get an (almost) sub £1k HTPC system, as well as a divorce...

Case Silverstone LC10M £ 191.00
PSU Antec Phantom £ 121.00
mobo Abit IC7-G SKT478 Canterwood 800/533/400 FSB £ 92.00
CPU Intel P4 3.2 Ghz Prescott £143.00
RAM 1 GB RAM (single stick) PC3200 400Mhz £103.00
HDD Maxtor Diamonmax 169GB SATA 7200 RPM £66.00
DVD NEC Dual Layer DVD-RW (will write 8gb dvd's) £42.00
VGA Leadtek 6600 TD HDTV card £104.00
Watercooler Zalman Reserator £158.00
VGA Watercooler Zalman ZM GWB £21.00

Comes to about $1k, plus a day's work getting all together.
 
Mdekkers
PSU seems expensive more than th motherboard?
VGA Leadtek 6600 TD HDTV card £104.00 /seems a good price has it got a DVI out?
do you know where there's a review on this card
I don't think you need 1 GB ram unless this is to be your main PC & you are into
Photoshop/home video.
I'd like to see a 300GB hardrive in mine maybe a pair of them. They'll soon fill up with
hidef divx movies. :)
 
Wow what a good response this thread has got, thank you.

Steve I promise I will try and dig out a 1:85 dvd and give it a try. All my drivers and mobo is up to date I have the final version installed. Pc is quite clean had a fresh install about 3 months ago. I will try the disabling of anti virus etc and mess about etc. as explained.

Mdekkers, thanks for your a spec, would you be offended if I swapped the pentium for an AMD64...lol and a Nforce mobo. Is the GA Leadtek 6600 TD HDTV card £104.00 better than the 6600 by gigabyte. The price difference is nearly £50.

http://www.giga-byte.com/VGA/Products/Products_GV-NX66T128VP.htm#

Again thanks for all the help. Im learning more and more by the day.

Oh and yes I was thinking of using media centre or something similar. Any suggestions. A few people have said xlobby is a good free interface.
 
@Steve okay,
if using 60hz with DVI is working fine, what the heck is the Optoma 60hz problem?

Am I right, that this NTSC/ 60hz problem only occures if you play a NTSC movie over Composite or Scart using a DVD-Player with R1? (jitter)

When using DVI, the Optoma has no NTSC/60Hz problem?

That would be great news for me.


For your 2:35 / 1:85 cinescope/widescreen problem: can u tell me what exactly is bad with the picture in 1:85 mode?
-streched picture ?
-bad resolution ?
-jitter?
-unsharp?

and please tell me your complete PC Config (CPU ,Operating System)and DVD Playing software ( WinDVD 5 or 6?, PowerDVD, XP Media Player 9/10, VLC-Player )

I am very well in PC knowledge and even work for a big computer producer.

Maybe u only have a software problem or as u are saying , driver problem.

I can`t believe that the Optoma RD50 recognizes if its 1:85 or 2:35 because on DVI for the RD50 its only putting one pixel to one on the screen. Its not important if the black bars are a little bit wider. (i hope u understand what i mean)
 

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