DemonDave

iTrader: (13)

Need some help\advice in picking an AV Receiver to go with the media PC

post if you are willing to help and I will explain more

kwaky

Argh.... go on then

Let me guess.... you've built a PVR (Personal Video Recorder) and you want a 5.1 setup coming out of the PC??

www.avforums.com seems to have some good banter.

Depending on budgets the following brands are worth looking at:
Yamaha
Denon

What's the plan/budget?

DemonDave

iTrader: (13)

- spot on - full blown htpc with all the bells and whistles

what to drop out using spdif to an av and ordinary speaker to the tv

dvi to hd component to both the av and the tv

looking at the yamaha av package 75 and 109 or the Jamo avr 693 and add a speaker package.

my questions are should I use the av all the time to redirect to the tv - but does that mean I need to have the av on all the time even if I am not using the amplifier part of it - ie just sound and vision out of the tv

make sense ??

the tv has hdmi input so I could go dvi - hdmi and miss out the av for video, and then I just need to fathom the audio for two paths ???

kwaky

Well.... just for the PC, you're kinda limited to DVI converted to HDMI, then the sound from the SPDIF to the amp. This will work pretty well.

For normal TV, how are you watching? Sky/Cable/Set Top Box? standard TV is a real pain for getting good connections. You're best bet is probably some form of Scart into the TV and the either 2 phonos or coax/optical (available from Sky) to the Amp.

DVD (if this is not coming from the PC) should ideally be HDMI to the amp, then HDMI from the Amp to the TV (but this costs £££££££). Best bet is Scart RGB (if there is no HDMI) to the TV and coax (preferably) or optical to the amp.

Personally I'd have everything soundwise go through the amp.

There are only a few amps that can switch HDMI and they cost loads of £s.

Hope this helps. If you can give me a run down of what kit (don't need brands/models) and what connectivity they have, that may also help.

Cheers

rik1471

What TV is it connecting to? And what's your budget for the AV amp?

DemonDave

iTrader: (13)

hmmm - seems to all make sense

pc is this motherboard
http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_cont...d=pm915&page=1
but with an x300 pciexpress video card
http://www.club-3d.com/productshow_v...=&filter=&l=en
to support - Integrated 165 MHz TMDS transmitter (DVI 1.0 / HDMI compliant and HDCP ready)

tv has these connections

http://www.home-entertainment.toshib...pg?openelement

so I was thinking dvi to hdmi but I have heard of issues.

ati do a 'dongle' which converts dvi to proper component so I could go dvi-dongle-comp to either tv or av

for sound I can use the spdif direct to av or speaker to tv left and right

I was thinking either the yamaha av package 57
http://www.hiwayhifi.com/site/produc...275&ref=kelkoo
or 109
http://www.hiwayhifi.com/site/produc...140&prod=25836
or the jamo 693 and some other speaker package
http://www.hifibitz.co.uk/product.asp?id=3774

by the time I have everthing working the pc/av and tv will be the only items under the tv until sky goes hd.

Thanks for the help so far

DemonDave

iTrader: (13)

toshiba 32wlt58

not too much for the av amp - the £200 - £300 yamaha packages look good the jamo one would push me to £500

I am not a sound expert and will not notice the benefit in an expensive unit - I like the look of the jamo coz it matches the htpc case

rik1471

Why don't you use the VGA from PC to TV if there's issues with HDMI, that's how I'm running mine and the output's amazing. I find running the component convertor just isn't as sharp - I have an x700 which is similar to your card. The PC allows everything to be upscaled to HD resolution with everything sharpened up using FFDSHOW filters it looks as good as my friend's £900 upscaling DVD player.

I've just sold my pioneer DVD player that's only 2 months old, just need a decent HTPC case now, where did you get yours from?

DemonDave

iTrader: (13)

No vga on the card only dvi, it is only a half height card - I put the x300 in to improve performance over the motherboard graphics

I have pm'd you a ebay link to were I got mine from - dealt with him direct because I got most of my kit from him, excellenet service

Dave.

kwaky

Unfortunately I have no experience in any of the DVI/HDMI convertors you're talking about. Might be worth doing a bit of research into any known issues.

For sound, to start with you could just use the speaker out to the TV, then go for the A/V amp using SPDIF (which will be far superior.)

Rik - www.scan.co.uk do some interesting cases (from silvertech) including a £500 case with an LCD on the front

For the complete all round A/V experience you should also get (funds permitting) a Logitech remote (Harmony I think). Its got this crazy colour lcd screen with amazing macro functions for turning everything on:
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/pr...mony_chart_885

rik1471

thanks for the links