HTPC Video Lag - spec advice please

[jimbarino]

Hi Everybody, really need some help.

I'm not new to building PC's but am to HTPC's, i'm trying to get my own build perfected before I start helping out friends, clients etc.

I currently have the following spec:

Gigabyte 8I865GME-775-RH Motherboard
Intel Celeron D336 2.8ghz CPU
1gb Corsair DDR400 RAM
nVidia GeForce 6600 128mb AGP Graphics Card
Compro VideoMate T750F Dual PCI DVB-T / Analog TV Card
a 40gb IDE HDD for the OS
a 200gb IDE HDD for recorded TV
Vista Home Premium 32bit

I want to use Media Center in Vista. I recently bought a new HP laptop with TV Tuner etc and it works brilliantly so I now want to create a proper version that I can sit under the TV downstairs.

Ok, everything is rock solid until it gets to viewing/recording live TV

The TV card tuned in just fine and I can see the channels in the list, however, when I select live TV, the system seems to grind to a halt.

Basically, I get frame lag and the CPU maxes out to 100% permanently until I press STOP to end live TV.

If I exit media center and run the Compro DTV-4 bundled software to view TV, CPU stays at around 20%, no frame lag etc etc.

I've searched the net like crazy but there's nothing conclusive so was wondering if anyone had some hints as to where i'm going wrong.

I've tried some stuff off the shiny things forum and disabled indexing on the drives, turned off the aero interface, set the power options to high performance and this moved me from 1.0 to 3.7 on the vista experience index.

I'm wondering if the CPU in general is just not up to the job with MCE in Vista? I've considered upgrading to an Intel Dual-Core E2180 2.0ghz (quickcode 29175) - will this help, also putting in an extra 1gb of memory.

Is my graphics card causing me trouble? What about the GeForce 7600 (quickcode 28435)?

I can't seem to figure out what the bottleneck is.

If I switch MCE to my Sky Box and hit TV guide on the Sky remote, there's about a 3 second lag between me pressing the button and the change of the screen. If I do this in the Compro DTV-4 Application, there is no noticeable delay.

Please can anyone give me some advice?

[PeterStoba]

It probably is your system holding it back as it is quite old now

[coiler]

Intel Celeron D336 2.8ghz CPU = not the best!
1gb Corsair DDR400 RAM = not the best!
nVidia GeForce 6600 128mb AGP Graphics Card = not the best!



Go for a core 2 duo CPU, such as the E2160/e2180/e4500

2gb DDR2 memory

ATI 2400 pro HDMI gfx

[tystar]

see my sig for a basic media centre build. cost me less than £150 and works a treat.

edit.... except v+ box and sammy plasma (fao Aaron)

[Aaron]

you got a 42" Samsung TV for less than £150?! :O :lol:

[tystar]

lol.... you know i didnt mean that part. :lol:

i'd have bought more than one at that price imagine dual screen hd gaming with that :lol:

[coiler]

[quote=tystar;41734]lol.... you know i dint mean that part.:mad:/quote]


http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/images/smilies/chairfall.gif



http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/images/smilies/popcorn.gif

[Aaron]

I played HL2 on my 37" TV.. That was good enough! But yeah, Dual 42's would be tasty.. :)

A guy on another forum I am a mod on has made his own video projector, by taking the LCD panel from an old 15" tft, and mounting it on an old OHP - its very cool!

[tystar]

seen that done a few times. did contemplate doing once but couldnt be fussed ripping a tft apart and finding i messed up somewhere.

[Aaron]

Yeah.. Thought it was a good use for anyone that had an old tft laying around that may be dead...!

[tystar]

if you dont know what were on about peeps see this vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWlsPfPZTdc&feature=related

[jimbarino]

Intel Celeron D336 2.8ghz CPU = not the best!
1gb Corsair DDR400 RAM = not the best!
nVidia GeForce 6600 128mb AGP Graphics Card = not the best!



Go for a core 2 duo CPU, such as the E2160/e2180/e4500

2gb DDR2 memory

ATI 2400 pro HDMI gfx

Right then, so, what we're saying here is that my motherboard is probably ok no problems.

So, i'm thinking of getting the top level of whatever I can then; the max that board looks like it'll take is an Core2 E4500 CPU

I'll upgrade the RAM no problems there with another 1gb DDR400 (PC3200) stick.

It's the graphics card bit that i'm a bit confused about what to get.

Aria have the 2400 listed as a Saphire Radeon 2400PRO 256mb (#29509) but they also have a Saphire Radeon 2600PRO 512mb (#29510).

What difference would I be getting between the two cards in respect of what I want to do.

Is this all really the bottleneck?

My understanding was that the TV card decodes the antenna signal into MPEG-2 stream which the CPU then has to work with or am I misunderstandiwng it.

Getting TV working has always been a bit of a grey area for me so i'm really greatful for any advice or pointers in the right direction.