I'm also curious about the best way to connect the video card to the TV. I made sure to buy my TV with a VGA port and I've been looking into a combination HTPC and gaming rig. ("Battlefield 2142" on a 47" TV with 5.1 surround? Rowrrrr!!!) But is there likely to be an HDCP problem because of connecting via VGA instead of HDMI?
As for corporate-built vs. DIY, I'm strictly a DIY person for one main reason -- warranty, especially with hard drives. Yes, I'm sure that the boys like Dell and HP are oh-so-very-happy to sell you a multi-hundred-dollar, extended warranty on top of their standard 1 year warranty; but if I buy drives from NewEgg, especially Seagate, I get a 5 year warranty. Additionally, many video cards now have a lifetime warranty, but not if you buy an OEM PC.
Plus, my experience with OEMs is that they actually expect to send the whole unit back for "problem determination" even if you know that the optical drive died unless you pay a lot more for on-site service. (This is a long story in itself, but swore me away from HP PCs.) At least with DIY you can upgrade and do whatever you want without regard to keeping track of an OEM computer's original configuration if you need warranty work.
Yeah, DIY can cost more in the here-and-now, but I think the long-term benefits to it outweigh an OEM PC.
I wrote this some time ago, should help you get things connected. But when it was written there were no HDMI enabled video cards, so not sure what to tell you there.
I checked on NewEgg and some of the "basic" video cards with HDMI start at around $99. Being a gamer I'd need something a bit beefier. They were around $149 for something close to what I'd use.
I'm not too worried about HDMI/HDCP to the receiver because the connection from the TV to the receiver is optical and the TV behaves as an audio switch, which is REALLY nice. No HDCP issues from my HD DVD player, and hopefully none whenever I get my PS3. Any issues from a PC can be ... er ... rectified.
Actually, that's another issue. If the HDMI port is on the video card, how are audio signals sent?
“While it's not exactly punching it out with the heavyweights in multi-room audio, the Mint Studio does certainly hold its own with many similarly-priced iPod docks out there.”
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I'm also curious about the best way to connect the video card to the TV. I made sure to buy my TV with a VGA port and I've been looking into a combination HTPC and gaming rig. ("Battlefield 2142" on a 47" TV with 5.1 surround? Rowrrrr!!!) But is there likely to be an HDCP problem because of connecting via VGA instead of HDMI?
As for corporate-built vs. DIY, I'm strictly a DIY person for one main reason -- warranty, especially with hard drives. Yes, I'm sure that the boys like Dell and HP are oh-so-very-happy to sell you a multi-hundred-dollar, extended warranty on top of their standard 1 year warranty; but if I buy drives from NewEgg, especially Seagate, I get a 5 year warranty. Additionally, many video cards now have a lifetime warranty, but not if you buy an OEM PC.
Plus, my experience with OEMs is that they actually expect to send the whole unit back for "problem determination" even if you know that the optical drive died unless you pay a lot more for on-site service. (This is a long story in itself, but swore me away from HP PCs.) At least with DIY you can upgrade and do whatever you want without regard to keeping track of an OEM computer's original configuration if you need warranty work.
Yeah, DIY can cost more in the here-and-now, but I think the long-term benefits to it outweigh an OEM PC.
I wrote this some time ago, should help you get things connected. But when it was written there were no HDMI enabled video cards, so not sure what to tell you there.
I checked on NewEgg and some of the "basic" video cards with HDMI start at around $99. Being a gamer I'd need something a bit beefier. They were around $149 for something close to what I'd use.
I'm not too worried about HDMI/HDCP to the receiver because the connection from the TV to the receiver is optical and the TV behaves as an audio switch, which is REALLY nice. No HDCP issues from my HD DVD player, and hopefully none whenever I get my PS3. Any issues from a PC can be ... er ... rectified.
Actually, that's another issue. If the HDMI port is on the video card, how are audio signals sent?