# Advice on new HTPC for CRT projector



## Stigmata (Jul 2, 2010)

Hi all, I have just bought a CRT projector for my HT room; it's a Marquee 8000 and it has only one RGBHV input. Now I'm planning to build an HTPC and I need an advice about this, because I'm not expert. Please consider that the CRT accepts 1080i at max.

I was thinking about this configuration:

- Intel E6500 CPU
- ASUS P5KPL-AM SE motherboard
- RADEON HD 4650 Ultimate Edition (passive cooling) GPU
- 2x 1GB DDR2-1066 HyperX RAM

I already have a case (Antec Veris Fusion) and a soundcard (Onkyo Se-150 pci). An 80GB sata hdd will be fine, I have a couple of them somewhere.
I will watch DVDs at their standard resolution, BR, BR 1:1 rips in .ts format and some mkv.

I need VGA out since I'll use a VGA -> RGBHV cable to feed the CRT. I'll use a secondary display, in clone mode, for installing the system, updating drivers etc etc (I don't want to fire up the CRT for those things).
Audio will be spdif to my decoder, I don't want to go into high def audio yet... maybe some day. Maybe I can use the Onkyo 7.1 analog out but I'm not sure I can decode DD/DTS. 

Do you think that my configuration will be fine? I still have to think about OS and software, do you have any suggestion? I think that Meedios and Splash are worth a try but apart from this I don't have a real idea to start from.

Thank you all!
Bye

Francesco


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

I'd say that CPU is overkill as my E3300 hasn't even broken a sweat w/ similar media. I'm assuming you're streaming your blurry rips as 80gb will barely hold 2 discs. I'd go with a 5000 Series card for lossless audio via HDMI down the road (unless the onkyo takes care of that). For a frontend, I've tried Win Media Center, XBMC, Boxee, and just ended up going with a plain windows desktop and mouse. It just wasn't worth the configuration headache to get BR and DVD rips, netflix, hulu, rev3, MKV, Pandora, mp3 and wmv lossless, and e drugging else I use up and running.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Stigmata (Jul 2, 2010)

Thank you for your reply.
My media is stored on 2,5" usb disks, I connect one of them depending on what I want to see. I cannot use HDMI because my decoder (a very cheap one, a Mocha JY-M2) only accepts coax/toslink inputs.
There is an alternative: decoding audio via software to use the 7.1 analog outs of the soundcard. This can be very tricky, since the next step would be having room equalization via software.
There is a thread, you can find it here, which covers exactly this issue... it seems to be very challenging.

I've chosen a 4xxx video card because I've read that the 5xxx series has some little problems in VGA mode, something about max frequency rate with 16:9 resolutions... is it true? 

Bye 
Francesco


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

I know ATI released updated catalyst drivers which was supposed to fix some resolution and refresh issues, but I've never personally had issues running VGA or HDMI, though I don't push refresh rates beyond 60hz (no point without the content to support it). What refresh rate are you looking to achieve?

As for HDMI, I was just thinking that down the road, you might upgrade to a pre/pro or AVR that supports Lossless audio via HDMI, and has Room Correction to boot.

For now, if you're not gaming or using any other CPU intensive processes, I'd scale back on the CPU and vid card to save a little money and still get good performance.


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## Stigmata (Jul 2, 2010)

The idea, if the projector supports it, is to feed it with [email protected],928hz (23,976hz x 3) and [email protected] or 100hz for HD and SD content respectively. It can't accept 23,976hz because it's too low (consider that the machine is about 15 years old!) so I need to double or triple the value. 1080i @ 47,952 would be good, but 71,928 would be even better.

Maybe in the future I'll upgrade to a pre/pro with HD audio (I'm in love with Emotiva UMC-1) but I think that with an HTPC one can be much more flexible and future-proof in the audio realm with analog outs and the correct software: at the moment one can listen to HD audio without using a pre/pro... it's just a matter of time, sweat and having the right software and audio card (which is about 100usd) with analog outs.

Plus, I think that one can do almost every correction that is needed, and still have room for more in the future, with top-level quality that would cost much much more with commercial devices. I may be wrong, of course, but this is my opinion after quite a bit of reading.

It will be tricky, I know, but it's surely challenging!


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