Maximo
03-30-2006, 11:32 AM
Hi all, I am an avid AV nut who has recently been bitten by the HTPC bug. I post a lot over at www.soundandvisonmag.com/idealbb (http://www.soundandvisonmag.com/idealbb) but it is mainly an Audio Video Forum. Anyway to save you the boring details here is what I posted over there and I need some help with.
"Ok, my HT is done. That means I can move on to the HTPC. Here is the history of my machine
Built by me in 2004, spec(off of the top of my head):
Soyo Dragon 2 motherboard
Intel P4 2.4 ghz processor with 800 mhz FSB (Mobo upgradable to 3.4 ghz)
1 - IDE 120 gb hard drive (this has all of my pictures, music, software and operating system on it.
1 - Sata 200 gb hard drive (this is almost full of cartoon ripped from my now gone Dish DVR)
2 - sticks of 256mb of PC3200 (400mhz) DDR ram (upgradable to 2-4 gigs in four slots)
EVGA Nvidia FX5200 256mb agp video card (soon to be swapped out for an EVGA Nvidia 6200 256mb agp video card with Nividia Purevideo
Creative labs audigy 2 sound card
I am using a 2.1 computer speaker setup with a 4:3 17 lcd screen at my main desk in the kitchen.
I am running a DVI-to RGB cable along with analog audio to the tv (Sony LCD . Digital audio to the receiver with a 6.1 setup. TV is viewable from my computer desk.
I am using beyond tv 4.1 with an Avermedia MCE-180 (?) HD tuner card.
I have gotten the burned cartoones (standard def) to play fine on the tv. Live HD TV was ok, but record tv was not really working. Lately my internet connection has been acting up. And also I am having issues with watching apple trailers online (X3 for example).
I am leaning toward just buying another hard drive, putting all of my pictures and music over there for safe keeping and then reinstalling the OS and starting from scratch. If I do this I will probably make a small partition on the 120gb HD for the OS and other programs and using the rest of the partition for my music and pictures. People on the Beyond TV forum say that, in order to get the best performance out of you HD DVR, that reformatting your Hard drives that will be used for big files only (HD and SD video content) to 64 kb sectors.
Does anyone have any issues with this?
Edit: Ok, no more kidding around. I just bought another 250 gb sata hard drive. I plan on installing this drive long enough to transfer anything that I want to save from my OS Hard drive. I will need some help partitioning my Hard drive though. I need to know how big I should make the main partition for the OS and other programs. I am considering doing a custom Windows install to minimize the amount of BS programs that get put on my computer. I am assuming that I can just unplug my two Satas to protect them from the reinstall. After the reinstall, I will put all of my stuff back on the main hard drive and while playing a game of musical hard drives, I should be able to reformat both DVR Sata drives to 64 kb segments, for better Beyond TV performance."
Any think I'm nuts? Any advise? Changes in my tact?
Here is a link to the whole thread for those who care.
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/idealbb/view.asp?mode=viewtopic&topicID=46527&num=20&pageNo=1
"Ok, my HT is done. That means I can move on to the HTPC. Here is the history of my machine
Built by me in 2004, spec(off of the top of my head):
Soyo Dragon 2 motherboard
Intel P4 2.4 ghz processor with 800 mhz FSB (Mobo upgradable to 3.4 ghz)
1 - IDE 120 gb hard drive (this has all of my pictures, music, software and operating system on it.
1 - Sata 200 gb hard drive (this is almost full of cartoon ripped from my now gone Dish DVR)
2 - sticks of 256mb of PC3200 (400mhz) DDR ram (upgradable to 2-4 gigs in four slots)
EVGA Nvidia FX5200 256mb agp video card (soon to be swapped out for an EVGA Nvidia 6200 256mb agp video card with Nividia Purevideo
Creative labs audigy 2 sound card
I am using a 2.1 computer speaker setup with a 4:3 17 lcd screen at my main desk in the kitchen.
I am running a DVI-to RGB cable along with analog audio to the tv (Sony LCD . Digital audio to the receiver with a 6.1 setup. TV is viewable from my computer desk.
I am using beyond tv 4.1 with an Avermedia MCE-180 (?) HD tuner card.
I have gotten the burned cartoones (standard def) to play fine on the tv. Live HD TV was ok, but record tv was not really working. Lately my internet connection has been acting up. And also I am having issues with watching apple trailers online (X3 for example).
I am leaning toward just buying another hard drive, putting all of my pictures and music over there for safe keeping and then reinstalling the OS and starting from scratch. If I do this I will probably make a small partition on the 120gb HD for the OS and other programs and using the rest of the partition for my music and pictures. People on the Beyond TV forum say that, in order to get the best performance out of you HD DVR, that reformatting your Hard drives that will be used for big files only (HD and SD video content) to 64 kb sectors.
Does anyone have any issues with this?
Edit: Ok, no more kidding around. I just bought another 250 gb sata hard drive. I plan on installing this drive long enough to transfer anything that I want to save from my OS Hard drive. I will need some help partitioning my Hard drive though. I need to know how big I should make the main partition for the OS and other programs. I am considering doing a custom Windows install to minimize the amount of BS programs that get put on my computer. I am assuming that I can just unplug my two Satas to protect them from the reinstall. After the reinstall, I will put all of my stuff back on the main hard drive and while playing a game of musical hard drives, I should be able to reformat both DVR Sata drives to 64 kb segments, for better Beyond TV performance."
Any think I'm nuts? Any advise? Changes in my tact?
Here is a link to the whole thread for those who care.
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/idealbb/view.asp?mode=viewtopic&topicID=46527&num=20&pageNo=1