All-in-Wonder Radeons vs. THEATER chips

[SUOrangeman]

Just recording my pre-6AM musings...

An itchy trigger finger is urging to build a small form-factor PVR/HTPC. According to AVSForum-HTPC, I need to look no further than ATi, as nVidia (and others) just haven't come close ... yet. That is, if I don't go straight to HDTV and I get by with any onboard video.

Since my intentions are to fulfill the SSF PVR/HTPC desire, I may not need the absolute lastest hardware and I'll need to take things like potential fan noise into consideration.

THEATER chip heirarchy : THEATER 310 (Q3 2003 release) > THEATER 200 > THEATER

Known cards
-----------------
ATi All In Wonder 9800 PRO - THEATER 200 (assumed)
ATi All In Wonder 9700 PRO - THEATER 200 (per chart)
ATi All In Wonder 9000 PRO - THEATER 200 (note listed on chart, info is per review)
ATi All In Wonder RADEON 8500 (listed as legacy) - THEATER (chart)
ATi All In Wonder RADEON 8500DV - THEATER (chart)
ATi All In Wonder RADEON 7500 - THEATER (chart)
ATi All In Wonder VE (RADEON 7500 PCI) - THEATER 200 (chart)
ATi All In Wonder RADEON - THEATER (chart)
Sapphire The Beast All In Wonder 9700 Pro - THEATER 200 (assumed)
Sapphire The Beast All In Wonder 9000 Pro - THEATER 200
Sapphire The Beast All In Wonder 7500 - THEATER 200
Sapphire The Beast All In Wonder 7500VE (PCI) - THEATER 200

-SUO

 

[JJSuperman]

I might be kinda wasted, but...

huh?

 

[Boogak]

What kind of display are you planning on hooking up your HTPC to? If you don't plan on gaming on the HTPC, I recommend that MyHD HDTV tuner. I have one now (albeit the older MDP-100 version) and it works great w/ PVR, it integrates really tightly with TitanTV.com to schedule your recordings. This is w/ nForce1 integrated video and a Audio Authority VGA to Component transcoder and a 43" Toshiba HDTV.

 

[SUOrangeman]

Yeah, it was just kinda early, JJSuperman.

I don't know how serious I am right now about this project. My main machine is about to be upgraded from a lone Athlon MP 1600+ to a dual XP 2400+ (modded). My second 1600 CPU died a few months ago and I just missed the creamy smoothness of SMP. Coupled with my dual-DVI GF4 Ti4600 and two Dell 1800FPs, I should be set gaming-wise. (Hehe, I'm just getting to Part II of Max Payne, after all this time. I'm obviously a hardcore gamer.)

My wife has a K7S5A-based MP 1.2GHz system that stutters liek crazy when playing MP3s (about 7000 or so files on hand). Even with the Santa Cruz in that system, I get seriously agitated when she plays music just because of the stutter.

So, I figure that I would one day move all of the MP3s to an audio server that I can connect to the speakers in the home office, as well as stream audio to my office at work. I had done this about a year ago with a P166 (using both Linux and WinXP). Now that SFF has really caught on, I have the urge to build a media box for the MP3s that could also be used as a PVR. For now, the display would the the third Dell 1800FP (via DVI), even though it's now connected to my wife's PC (via analog). We can control media play via the network, eliminating her MP3 stutter. Since HDTV is still in a pricy rollout infancy, I'm thinking that I could prove the concept of a home-built PVR now with SDTV and hopefully upgrade down the line (including a nice widescreen).

So, the "cheap" route right now would be an SFF with an All-in-Wonder, hence my research this morning. I couldn't sleep for some reason, so I figured that I would check out my options. What I think I noticed is that all 8500 and above cards have fans on the GPU (potential no-no for a quiet PC) and that Sapphire's 7500 card use the newer THEATER chip. Could be a winner.

Forgot to mention...

A recent preview of the MSI MEGA PC got me thinking about this project again. I wonder if they'll ever make an nForce2 400 Ultra-based model (with no IGP). FM Radio/MP3/PVR SSF all manipulated via the network.

-SUO

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Dude, that's just what I Intend to put together for myself (later in the future...) I'll be using an Intel Shuttle, and I need to figure out what to get. I really want to know more about the Rage chips' MPEG-2 encoding quality...