PVR Project - *Loads of pics*

[TheBuZZard]

I decided to make a PVR machine for myself. Ive ordered the folling parts -

Leadtek Winfast PVR 2000 - Hardware MPEG II DVD Encoder
Western Digital WD2000BB 200GB UIDE 100 7200rpm - Mucho storage!
512MB DDR PC2100 RAM - No need for fast flashy RAM here.
Asus P4VP-MX - MATX to fit in the diddy case.
Intel Celeron D 315 2.26GHz - cheap and small fan to fit in case.
Antec Aria Micro ATX Desktop Case - smallish and nice looking

Added to that gonna stick in a GF4MX (for TV Out), DVD/CDRW and Wireless LAN card Ive got lying about.
The Aria case instead of shuttle gives much more choice of motherboard and extras. and because its MATX I can upgrade at minimal cost. It is slightly larger though but space isnt too much of an issue.

Boxes!


Sexy Case


Naked Sexy Case ops:


CPU and RAM installed!


HD and CD installed....


Boots 1st time


Always a great feeling when you press that power switch and it actually boots straight off

[TheBuZZard]

The PVR card and bits...


PC with WLAN card installed.


Getting there...


Yeh!








All went pretty smoothly and the PVR software that came with the card seems to do a good job.

Despite the case being larger than a shuttle getting all the components is still a VERY tight fit and I wont be wanting to take stuff in/out very often. Makes me glad I dont have a SFF PC for my main PC.

For this reason alone I wouldnt reccomend this sort of thing to somebody on their first build if you dotn know what your doing you could easily break something trying to squeaze it all in.

[Allen]

Looks good! What's the output onto a large TV like with that setup?

Am gonna do the same soon for my front room. Will use either a Shuttle SN45G or an Antec Overture depending on which I like best, and am thinking of using a Hauppage WinTV Nova PCI so we can watch Freeview on it!

[Craig]

I have a few little questions, as i am about to order a similar setup (not for same use tho)

1) Is the Aria silent? (Or near silent) with the intel HSF installed?
2) Is the HSF supplied with the 2.26Ghz the same as the one with the 2.4Ghz

Cheers,

Craig

[undergroove]

Although I can't speak for TheBuZZard, I've just built a machine using the same case and I wouldn't say it's quiet to be honest.

Got a Sempron 2200 and an Akasa 827 cooler, and it's quiet that way, but the PSU fan is owt but quiet. Given that my main machine's cooled with a Reserator 1 though, it's possibly a slightly unfair comparison, but the Aria case is definitely noisier than I thought it would be. Wanted it for a "download while I sleep box", but it's too loud for that (IMHO). Damn good case otherwise though and I'd highly recommend it!

[Hobart Paving]

What formats do the videos get recorded in? And what's the maximum resolution you can choose?

[TheBuZZard]

Wow front page news

Yeh the Aria isnt very quiet despute the "Quiet PC" logos on the box. Doesnt bother me much when Im watching a film or something though.
Ive no idea if the fans are the same on the 2.26 and 2.4 since this is the first Intel CPU Ive built a PC with since I had P3-500! The heat sink and fan is HUGE though and only JUST fit under the odd shaped Aria PSU. I thought I was going to have to take a trip out and buy a different one until I realised one of the corners wasnt quite clipped in right, but it still only fit with a hairs width to spare.

As you can sort of see from the photos the output is pretty clear using S-Video connections, Thats running at 800x600. Only really small text is impossible to read.

The default resolution for recording is 753x563 in MPEG2 (done by the PVR cards hardware), I think, Im at work right now so Ill check when I get home. As Im working this weekend Ive havent had too much chance yet to play with all the different recording settings but its also can do MPEG1 in hardware and a few others. The picture quality in MPEG2 looks just as good as the original to my eyes and overall Im very happy with how its all worked.

[The Internal]

It's a pretty quiet case with the big old 120 MM fan in the PSU. We've been evaluating it for possible use in our next SFF systems at work. There are some concerns about possible airflow problems. Other than that, it seemed pretty nice... Wish the PSU was a little bigger though...

[SansSouci]

1) Is the Aria silent? (Or near silent) with the intel HSF installed?

I doubt it's much louder than a Sky+ box.

Am I doing something wrong? When I connect my SN41G2 to my TV the text is almost illegible. I put it down to the composite connection but now I'm wondering. In the bios the output si NTSC but my TV is capable to receiving that format.

[marekb]

I have a question about sound quality in PVR-2000 card. I ask because I found much opinions that another Leadtek cards (WinFast TV 2000) has too much bass. I afraid about PVR-2000 sound quality. Could You answer ?