Anyone with Home Theater PC setup?

[rezadue]

I was just wondering if there is anyone on this board with home theater PC setup experience. I am setting one up and have run into a bit of a problem:

I am new to HTPCs, but not new to PC. Recently I began to put together a simple HTPC setup and have run into some issues which I need a bit of help with. Here is a little background on what I have:

PC : Shuttle X mini PC SB61G2 (http://global.shuttle.com/Product/Ba...ew.asp?B_id=18
)
Processor: Intel P4-3.0GHz (Northwood)
DVD: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4040B - A301 - DVD Burner/CDRW
RAM: 1 GB of RAM (2 x 512 MB)
Hard Drives: 100 GB & 160 GB (Both Western Digital)
Audio: Realtek AC97 onboard with 5.1 and SPDIF IN and OUT
Video Card: MSI GeForce 4 Ti-4200 64 Meg
Capture Card: Pinnacle PCI Pro
OS: Windows XP-MCE
TV: 42" 16:9 Sony LCD rear projection HDTV
Satellite Box: Viewsat 2000 Platinum

I currently am getting video and audio on the PC and hearing and seeing everything on the TV, but am having some issues with the sound which I am sure is due to my not hooking up the sound properly.

Video is setup with S-Video cable connecting my satellite box to the capture card. In addition, there is a DVI cable connection my video card to my TV.

Audio is currently (and probably incorrectly) setup with a fibre cable connecting the SPDIF out of my satellite box to the SPDIF in of my onbard sound card (I have also tried connecting a composite to mini RCA cable from the satellite box to the LINE IN of the sound card with the same results). There is also a mini RCA to composite connecting my HEADPHONE out of the sound card to the TV.

Problems are:
1) Regardless of whether the Pinnacle software is running to watch video; or not, there is sound related to the TV channel the satellite box is on; is being broadcast through the TV.
2) Video sound coming from my TV is slightly noisy.

I suspect the problem is that the sound coming into the PC should be coming through the capture card and not the sound card, but the capture card does not have audio in unless I have to connect a coax for the sound(?)

I am also thinking that the Sound out is noisy because it is coming through the HEADPHONE OUT instead of a proper out.

What can I do?

[jvincent]

Yep, I've had an HTPC for almost 4 years now.

Onboard sound, especially the AC97 based stuff, has always been problematic. Works well for some people, not at all for others. Problems vary between MB vendors, S/W releases, etc.

From your description I think you are connected properly.

As to why you are always hearing satellite sound it's probably a function of the mixer control for the soundcard. It's probably setup to pass all sound to the output. I'm assuming that there is a monitor mixer control panel available.

After futzing around with the onboard audio for my HTPC I ended up buying a dedicated sound card and have never had a problem since. I picked up an M-audio, which is probably more $$ than I needed, but there are lots of people who swear by the Chaintech-710 if I remember the model number correctly.

[hoolio]

Seeing as how he is using a shuttle, he's likely out of available PCI slots (they generally only come with 2).

You could always look into a USB based device to control your sound.

This is probably a stupid question, but I'm assuming you've gone to your audio properties and turned the volume down on the SPDIF line in? If its too high, it could be causing a little static. That also might be the only way to turn off the sound while you are not using your Pinnacle software, since you are not routing the sound through the Card itself.

[rezadue]

Indeed, the shuttle only has one PCI slot and one AGP slot, both of which are occupied. I really think that sound in should be going through the capture card so it is not always "ON'. I think I am going to try my theory and see if connecting the COAX will help pass the sound though properly.

I have played with SPDIF in, but even at its max, the volume coming through my TV is not nearly as loud as if I was not using the HTPC.

There is a defualt mixer control for sound which Windows XP has. Are you referring to that or something else altogether?

Thanks for the input guys.

[hoolio]

I was really just referring to the default XP sound manager.

If you connect it using the Coax, I can't see how you will have a problem with it being always on. The only other thing I could suggest is that if you have an amp, just run the audio into the amp instead, and when you want to watch through the Capture card, just go to that audio device on the amp.

[jvincent]

Forgot about the single PCI slot on the Shuttle.

The mixer I am thinking about is different from the default Windows one. The M-audio comes with a "fancy" mixer panel that has many more features. I don't know if there is a Realtek equivalent.

Using the coax input with video/sound modulated should work but you'll be limited to analog (mono ?) sound which may not sound any better.

[rezadue]

Damned. Mono will just not work. What sort of setting does your audio card have that allow you to regulate TV sound through your PC?

I would go the amp route, but the chairman of the board does not like the "loudness" of my home theater

[jvincent]

The M-audio mixer / driver controls which applications have access to the output so if an application is shutdown it doesn't get out.

I think that because in your scenario since the audio is a raw input not necessarily associated with the Pinnacle video application it's going to always be on. If you had a capture card that included audio inputs that might work the way you want it.

Other than that the best option is what Hoolio suggested, i.e. run everything through the receiver.

[rezadue]

I have been looking at buying an MCE compatible Hauppauge TV tuner card, but not even those have a dedicated sound input. Are there such things as MCE compliant capture cards with sound input?

[jvincent]

I originally had an ATI AIW9700 in my HTPC until Rogers released their HD-PVR which I now use. That card provided an audio out which had to be fed into the line in of my sound card.

I haven't kept up on the capture card front so I'm not sure if any of them actually take audio in. AVS forums would be the place to check.

[hoolio]

Hey rez, check out the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 150 Seems to have composite video and audio-in lines.

I know the nVidia DualTV MCE tuner has audio in aswell, but don't know where to find it. It's dual tuner card, so unless you want a PVR function, which might be tough unless you have two Viewsat receivers, then I'd go for something less pricey.