New System feedback

[sbain]

I have been having a discussion in a previous thread, but, as I have abanodoned the idea of RAID for my system, I wanted to start a new thread for some overall proposed system feedback from all you pros out there. So here is my proposed ultimate TIVO/DVD Burning monster:

PSU: CoolMAX 470W ATX w/ 3 Fans inc. LED Fan

CASE: Thermaltake Xaser II A6000 Plus (Aluminum)

PROCESSOR: Pentium 4 2.66B GHz

MOBO: ASUS P4PE Intel 845PE w/ IEEE, Serial ATA, RAID, Gigabit LAN

RAM: 2 X KingMax 512MB PC-2700 DDR333 SDRAM

OPTICAL DRIVES:
Pioneer DVD 16X Slot Load
Pioneer A05 DVD-RW

OS: Windows XP Home

HD SETUP:
1 X Western Digital 80GB w/8MB cache
2 X Western Digital 160GB w/8MB cache
1 X Serial ATA > IDE Convertor (required to get each INDEPENDENT HD on its own channel as master)
2 X Ultimate Hard Drive Coolers (I assume my system drive doesn't need cooling while the drives I'll use for capping/multiplexing/archival/playback might)

VIDEO CARD/CAPTURE EQUIPMENT:
ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB
Canopus ADVC-100

Any thoughts? Too much? I don't want to throw away money but I do want a system that's stable and future proof keeping in mind I really want to be able to:

1. Tivo/DVD Burning ability off Digital TV
2. Converting some of my old VHS stuff to DVD
3. Some gaming
4. General stuff (surfing/email etc...)

[philly33flyers]

Nothing is ever future proof. Especially when it comes to computers, just keep that in mind.

[sbain]

Perhaps I should have used the word "relatively."

[rayban]

Any reason why you have 2 cards that do analog capture? Your AIW will do the analog capture using MPEG2 in real time from analog sources like vhs, 8mm, etc. Are you getting the ATI for gaming? Just curious.
:P

[sbain]

That's a valid point. I guess the main reason I was thinking of the ADVC is the no-brainer, hardware codecs-based, audio-video sync at all times solution. I suppose I just haven't gotten the warm fuzzies off these forums on the AIW as an effective and reliable capture device... Maybe with my config that shouldn't be an issue. However, this still doesn't change the fact that ATI has embedded Macrovision into their hardware so I can't convert my old VHS tapes.

I do, however, love the fact it can do up to HDTV out (I have a 53' Sony RPTV) as well as being a great gaming card.

Given all that, I just didn't know what else to do but get both. I guess that is alot of dough to spend isn't it?

[rayban]

I too don't have the warm fuzzies on the ATI AIW capture cards. I use the ATI AIW 128 Pro 32mb right now on my current system. I am building a new system (see specs below) and was wondering if I should just use that card or get a better capture card. Would this card be enough to capture old vhs and 8mm tapes to DVD with my new system setup (cpu and hard drive combo) or what would be a good combo capture/video card for doing digital video editing?

I have to figure this out soon. Thanks for any replies.

[sbain]

As I am asking in the other thread (sorry to start two but they are slightly different subjects)... any experience with the AIW 9700 in a similar configuration.