What hardware do you recommend?

[wlepse]

Sorry for my complete lack of knowledge on the subject but I would appreciate any help you can give. I want to build a relatively inexpensive computer which I will operate through the tv. I would like to be able to burn VCD's or DiVX CD from DVD's, TV, VHS and possible satellite. Can you recommend what speed/type of proccessor, RAM, CD burner, capture card, video card, sound card, HD etc.; I should be looking at. I am not looking for professional quality would rather pay a little more upfront if it opens up more possibilities. TIA

[Doctor Feelgood]

I would recommend the following for decent performance and value...

Processor: AMD T-bird system at 1 Ghz plus.
Memory: 256 Mb is a good number for performance and value.
Hard Drive: 30 Gb is a good size and prices go way up from there.
Video Card: GEForce 64Mb with TV out.
Video Capture: Phoebe TV Master (includes tv tuner).
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster Live series.
CD Burner: Lite-On has some good values at 16x10x40

Just a base line, from my experience/opinions.

[mikewg]

I hear lots of problems with the SB Live audio card. I got a SB Audigy MP3 card and couldn't be happier. And it was only $100.

[Doctor Feelgood]

The Audigy's are nice, but still rather 'new' and much pricier than the live series. I'm not aware of any significant problems with the SB Lives, except for issues with specific mobo's that can be resolved with patches/updates.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Doctor Feelgood on 2001-10-10 16:39:50 ]</font>

[thxkid]

I have a 1.2 Athlon, been using sound blaster live for 2 years, no probs, its been the easiest card to put drivers on on my systems.
Also would recomend the HP9150 series burner, they are $99 at walmart and one of the very very few that will overburn without a hitch. I burn 99min. CD-R's all the time at 8x without a prob.
Also a Hauppauge WINGO TV PCU card with tuner, $49. you can capture with divx avi with this card also.

[PCGuy760]

I just got a SB Live! and I have no problems whatsoever with it. The previous owner also did not have ANY problems. I think the SB Series is the best for Audio Capture cos of the low THD (Harmonic Distortion), so u dont end up getting a whole lotta hissss in your movies, when u turn the volume up.

O yeah, just for the record, I paid $10 for a SB Live Value used, is that cheap or what guys??!

[d4n13l]

Dont get a cheapo burner - Make sure that you get a decent one that is supported by Clone CD that can do true 1:1 copies. Otherwise you will encounter problems with copy protected CDs. Something like the Plextor PX-W2410A or Yamaha CRW2200E. They may cost a bit more, but it is worth paying a little extra.

[DiViNeLeFT]

http://www.vcdhelp.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=60562&forum=2

that is a thread from not to long ago that will explain why i hate creative... but other than that the other specs look great... i do agree that a plextor burner would be a better choice.

[Sefy]

DiViNeLeFT, I can understand why you hate Creative, god knows since they joined with Microsoft back in the days of AWE64, they became more and more crap (just like Microsoft) and then they stopped supporting OS/2, I didn't buy any card since my AWE32, untill someone made a driver for the Live! series for OS/2, only then I upgraded, to me it doesn't give trouble, but you must also think of your mainboard, i've seen plenty of AMD and Intel boards which had some sort of problem with the Live, and i've seen others which had no problems, so compatibility can do alot with your board, not just with the card.

[DiViNeLeFT]

well, i have the kt7a-raid... check out this article... VIA did a great job prooving that it is creatives fualt...

http://www.viahardware.com/686b_1.shtm

and i uprgraded to a santa cruz... problems solved.

[nightwing7]

For video card i would use, Geforce 3 or ATI.

ATI has bad drivers but is great for DVD related stuff

[Sefy]

DiViNeLeFT, I know for a long time Creative has bad drivers, but unfortunatly they still have among the best features in a cheap package, and do consider not everyone can buy alternatives if the local shops don't bring them over, it's even sometimes more expensive to import a cheap card then buy localy.

nightwing7, I don't know why you say ATI is great for DVD related stuff, I recently have found that their RAGE PRO and RAGE XL cards are absolutly misreable, when using either PowerDVD or WinDVD and trying to access anything other then VideoCD, the whole computer frooze up for no reason, no matter which drivers i've tryed and all fixes were installed, and still a no go, I rather advice people to buy a cheap TNT2 then an ATI card.

[Doctor Feelgood]

To contradict my previous message, I now see that Audigy's have come way down in price (but the Live series has come down even further). If you're looking for a good site to pick-up alot of this stuff, I highly recommend Ability Wholesale: http://www.abilitywholesale.com/ They've got some sweet deals, and the few orders I have placed have all been shipped quickly and inexpensively!!

[FilComArt]

Now I'm using ATI Radeon 64 VIVO OEM (166/333)(new drivers detect this card as 7200 DDR).
I have a good DVD picture on my TV.
I can use video IN.

MadOnion 3DMark2001 show 3032 under WinXP.

I can't tell anything about GeForce.

[FilComArt]

My suggestion:
Athlon XP 1500+
Chaintech 7KJD (AMD 760 based mainboard or KT266A based, but I prefer AMD760)
256 Mb DDR
HDD IBM 60GXP(7200) or WDCxxxAB (5400 now I'm using two this drives and under NTFS they are very good)
Video:
a)Radeon 64VIVO or Matrox 450eTV if you will use TVin and TVout functions
b)Nvidia's card for playing (from brand for better 2D quality)