Building a BTV server for living room..

[Mobious]

Hey guys,

I just recently got into BTV and PVR ingeneral.. After reading some posts and looking at yalls system specs, I began to plan moving BTV and my Haup 150 off of my gaming machine and using some parts I have around here to build a BTV server to be used in my living room..

I have a few questions for ya...

Firstly.. Here is what I am going to have to work with, to start..

AMD XP 2600
512 DDR 2700
GF 5500 (MSI FX5500-TD256 MS-8911-470) Suppose to have HD support
Sound Blaster Audiogy XGamer
Windows 2000 Pro or Adv server
60gig Maxtor HD

The first thing I want to upgrade is the sound card.. My gaming machine has a digital (laser) output onboard.. But my server machine does not.. Are there any sound cards that have this or something of similar quality? If worst come to worst.. I can just use the SB Audiogy and run 5 RCAs to my reciever.. The reason for this is I want to replace my current DVD player and still get Dolby Digital sound..

Next question.. Currently there is not a network drop near my entertainment center.. I thought about going wireless. I currently have an 11b router. Could I get away with b when the router is less than 10 feet away? or should I upgrade the router to G or find a way to drop a network line?

I am also planning on buying a larger HD for the system.. Staples has 120gig Maxtors on sale for $55..


Ohh yeah.. once I can use XP 64 on my gaming machine I will swap out Win 2k with my copy of Xp Home..

thanks!

[nanook105]

I've seen posts stating that the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 works for spdif connecting to your receiver. If you have a choice, I would always go with the physical cable drop. Just too many variables with wireless.

[mpowerz3]

As for your audio card, I'm not sure about the Xgamer line (I have an Audigy2 ZS) but you can get an adapter cable from Creative that turns your digital out to a female digital coaxial which you can then send to your decoder for Dolby 5.1. Unfortunately you won't be able to record audio in 5.1.

As for your wireless, 802.11b is fine as long as all that it's doing is updating guide data. If you expect to use BTV Link with it, you can forget about it -- I don't think it even qualifies as as slideshow. For me, 802.11g works fine for 1 or 2 BTV clients. Oh and if you can run wire to your setup....why wouldn't you?

And your HD? Almost any drive will do. None of my disks have failed yet but I don't expect them to last given the constant writes they endure. Just make sure to backup your system periodically.

[Mobious]

Thanks!..

I will look into the Audigy2 ZS.. A network drop really isnt possible.. Apartment.. I dont know who designed the layout for all the plugs and phone ect for this complex but they need to be shot.. Several times..

Yeah I am planning on using Link with this.. So.. I guess I will have to switch to G.. I tried link on my Neice's computer.. She is on wireless to my router.. It was a slide show.. but I figured it was because she always gets a poor signal..

I am not worried about my HD failing.. Just the capacity of it.. Just for giggles I set up a weeks worth of recordings on my current machine with 2 120gig Raid 0 (240gig) Stuff I dont normally watch.. lol I still have over 50 hours left and it set at the best quality..

[archie]

don't sweat the switch to G. compusa has had this month G routers for about $15 and cards for about the same. definitely worth that kind of change to improve your network that much. too bad you can't drop the line, but G should do.

[Mobious]

Yeah I know..
When I buy a house next year I will lay cable through out the house.. and maybe set up some home automation.. (c:

[freak7782]

I use 802.11b for Link just find. Every once in a will it'll hang for a second. I just jump back 7 seconds and it plays fine again. This is like once in a 2+ hour block that it'll do that.
But, you cannot stream mpeg over it. I just wait till it's been showsqueezed to wmv and watch my shows then. Fast forward is a little slow(but it was with a wired connection too).

For reference, WinXP reports my connection as "very good".