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My media center 2005 XP PC works perfectly except that it wont display HD channels. Well it does but they are extremely jerky, stutters, sound stops and starts, etc ... unwatchable..
I have a DVICO HD digital card, one of the earlier ones that came out. HD works perfectly in the dvico application. Its Media Center that struggles.
I am running a Penitum 4, 2.66 Ghz with 764mb of RAM, with a Nvidia video card.
Now i am noticing the CPU spikes at 100% when i switch to HD channels. So i was wondering whats the minimum CPU needed to run HD in media center?? I am hoping i can just upgrade the current cpu chip as its a bare bone system where the motherboard cannot be replaced.
Personally i thought this would be plenty to run HD but for media center I guess not.
This is your issue, I run the PentiumD 2.66MHz CPU in two systems, had run older cards and CPU is strained as it takes over video processing instead of the GPU taking the full load.....upgrade the Video Card would IMHO be a better choice that upgrading the CPU....BTW...these CPU's overclock really well as they are a down clocked 3.4 or 3.2 CPU with less L2 Cache....search on Tom's hardware on assistance for overclocking if you want to go down that road.
I replaced a 7300GS TC card with an ATI 3470 with good results on HD, no longer does the picture jerk around or just stop. Vlad reports his old 9600 ati card is ok with HD as well, so depending on your preferences and availability there are a few choices, personally I won't get another nVidia for the HTPC for a while as the current crop stink at it.
It's a bit of a case of whatever does work when you find it, then don't mess with it until you break it again. And personally a $100 card versus a $300 one is no contest lately if they both do the same job.
I would get rid of the Dvico tuner card. I had Dual Digital one of these (a pci) and had exactly the same issues. Media Centre was not an option. Ever since getting Digital Now Dual Hybrid PCI-Express S2 I've been able to access Media Centre no problems and all HD channels fine.
Just my 2 cents.
I would get rid of the Dvico tuner card. I had Dual Digital one of these (a pci) and had exactly the same issues. Media Centre was not an option. Ever since getting Digital Now Dual Hybrid PCI-Express S2 I've been able to access Media Centre no problems and all HD channels fine.
Just my 2 cents.
And I've been using the DNTV Quatrro S, it wouldn't work smoothly with HD until I got the Graphics card with some decent onboard MPEG acceleration.
If you want to know if the CPU is being used hit ctrl-alt-del and look at the task manager reports on CPU usage. I don't think mine goes over 10% now for viewing and recording simultaneously.
If you want to know if the CPU is being used hit ctrl-alt-del and look at the task manager reports on CPU usage. I don't think mine goes over 10% now for viewing and recording simultaneously.
I agree with Redwight. I missed the '100% cpu usage' info in Ignition's original post due to my blinding dislike of Dvico. The problem probably is the video card, but I would still recommend getting rid of the Dvico if you want to save yourself a truckload of heartache.
I agree with Redwight. I missed the '100% cpu usage' info in Ignition's original post due to my blinding dislike of Dvico. The problem probably is the video card, but I would still recommend getting rid of the Dvico if you want to save yourself a truckload of heartache.
Cheers
Third that...fork out for a new Tuner as well as DVico=bad, Hauppage=good, if you got a spare PCIx1 slot Hauppage 2200=VERY Good!
Re: Minimum CPU spec for HD tv in Media Center
The problem probably is the video card, but I would still recommend getting rid of the Dvico if you want to save yourself a truckload of heartache.