Another (Possibly Stupid) Question....but what about decoding for surround sound? Would the audio on the motherboard be able to do that? Or will I need to add another higher quality sound card that can take care of that?

this area is grey to me as well.
my snap stream has an option for 5.1 but I really think you only record in stereo.

did the motherboard you bought come with 5.1 or digital out?

:edit:
looks like it does.
you have SPDIF out so if your reciever supports that, that would be the way to go. then do the pc audio test speaker to speaker to make sure thats working properly.

does 5 channel audio come over cable without a digital box in between?

Can't find a whole lot of specs on the Audio for the mother board, 8 channels says to me that it will support 7.1 surround......hopefully.

what I'll probably do is use the on board and if it isn't sufficient I'll get another card.

I have FiOS so it will be intersting trying to hoo that up.

i can't believe you can get fios and we can't. KILLS ME
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yea the onboard will be just fine. its just a matter of what it gets recorded at.I read somewhere that its only stereo. but the 8 channel will be good for dvd movies and such.

at least you're not in Boston so you have a shot...it's apparently too expensive to rewire all the copper in Boston w/ fiber according to a friend at Verizon.
A quick dig on Google found this:
http://text.broadbandreports.com/for...HTPC-with-FiOS

Sounds like a royal PITA and you probably would have been better off buying a tivoHD...
As for audio surround sound, most microatx motherboards including the one we have supports it....

What if I'm not recording HD.....Don't have the TV for it yet and that is still a year or 2 out.

Looks like most of the issues they are having is with the HDTV recording.

the main issue is that the FIOS data output is encrypted. Not sure if their set top box has s-video out, but if it does, you might be able to record off that if your tuner card has an input for it...

then you would need an IR blaster for the settop box

I thought the IR Blaster was for the Remote control....so you can control your converter box with the PC remote

it does that too. the ir blaster changes the channels of your fios cable box, from your pc.

this is needed to record channels from your cable box or to just change channels for viewing.

if you have a scheduled recording and the source is your cable box the ir blaster will change the channel to get the recording. In this scenario you would have an s-video out from your cable box to the computer.

Ahh, I see said the Blind Man. Was checking out some of my audio components last night and it looks like I may have to update my Tuner/Pre-Amp to take advantage of Surround Sound.....but thats for a later discussion with the mrs......after we have the HDTV discussion. :hee:

See what happens when I make crazy easy statements :hihi:

FYI, here's a list of unencrypted cable channels the hdhomerun can tune to:
http://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun...Postcode=02116
I just use it for over the air...

Anybody do over the air hd-dt?
02048

This is becoming a bigger %$%$%$%$ing pain in the ass then its worth...:wall:

I got $500 in cash, good old american currency....but thats not good nowadays, So i send the wife to the bank to put it in the account so I can transfer it to Paypal so i can order the stuff. Bank says it sent the money to Paypal on Friday....nothing yesterday, nothing today so I call them up.

They say I have to be patient...i say Bull%$%$%$%$. Youy got the money friday where is it. They say there's nothing They can do for me...i say Bull%$%$%$%$...where's my money....Miraculously the money pops into my account while I'm talking to them on the phone....Right There was nothing they can do for me :rolleyes:

so now I go to place the order on newegg for the parts. it won't go through via Paypal.... They tell me to pay for it with another method. i say the money is in paypal...they say There's nothing they can do. So now I have to transfer the money back to my Checking account 3-5 day delay....then transfer it to my Credit Card account.....another 3-5 day delay so i can order the stuff.

At this rate i should just wait til Holo-deck technology gets here and set that up :wall:

sorry but I needed to vent.

Unbelieveable....but success....after my 3rd call to paypal it turns out the order won't go through because i don't have a credit card on file...even though I am paying with a balance they would only accept it with a verified addy that they get from the credit card. :wall:

Serenity Now

Avoid p*sspal as much as possible :-P

You should have just ordered from newegg w/ a credit card...I do it all the time...

I try and avoid using a CC whenever possible...usually don't have a problem with PayPal....just today....very frustrating

Wow, got that stuff fast from Newegg.....ordered it tuesday and everything but the case arrived yesterday. 1 Day turnaround....not to shabby.

My son is mega-excited because I told him he could build it and I would just be there for tech support.....he was like a kid at xmas yesterday.....as well as me :hee:

seeing those boxes from newegg come in NEVER gets old :)

A little update...been messing with this for a couple of weeks now. Went with Media Portal for the S/W on it...very slick and very free (one of my favorite words). I've loaded up all my cd's into digital format on it and now have a completely databased digital music library. :kewl:

Took some time to get the FiOS part working, unfortunately I had to keep the set Top Box for it hooked up and am using the S-Video out to tie in the TV, is working as a Tivo-like system now for that.

I am currently in the process of cataloging my DVD collection on to the HDD so I can have that as accessible as my music. Its pretty slick how it goes out to the internet and grabs all the info about the movies and adds it to the database so when I browse the titles I get descriptions as well as cast and other info. They even have a plug in that allows me to manage my netflix account from the within the app....again very cool

Last hurdle will be convincing the wife we need a 50" flat panel to hook it up to :hee:

Thanx for all the help/suggestions.

good work! just started playing around with media portal (motivated by your post) played with it a long time ago. much improvement.!

I agree the IMDB search is awsome.

also whats a great feature is that you can install "front ends" on all your other pc's so you can watch tv on them. beyond tv charges 50 bucks a license for that feature.

So does that mean you get shortwave on your rabbit ears now?

GEEK :rotflmao:

Black Friday

Nope. She's works that day. And I just be a new tow vehicle, maybe.......

I'll tell ya...I've been looking and you can find some good prices at Amazon.....go hek them out at a circuit ity or best by and then get it from amazon.

seriously, a couple I looked at i found on Amazon $3-400 cheaper and w/ free shipping