Which hardware would be the best to build a Home Theatre PC?

This is a new area for me, so my apologies because of the following questions ..

I have a satellite dish (DVB-S & -S2 (HD)) & "normal" - TV (DVB-T).
I would like to look & record shows or movies ("normal" and in HD resolution) on HDD and burn to DVD or Blu-ray ..

The screen have a VGA & DVI port.

1st, is this to now possible?

I would like to record HDTV to HDD, burn to Blu-ray, and look on my screen via DVI port ..
And look DVB-S2 and record DVB-T, or record DVB-S2 and look DVB-T - simultaneously ..
- possible?

How I could test to see if the DVI connection (screen) support High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP)?

Which CPU & GPU would be the best, AMD or Intel or NVidia?
Or maybe APUs (CPU with iGPU)?

2- or 4- core/thread CPU?
How much compute units &/or shaders in the GPU?

Thanks.

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I starting doing this in about 2000 after the All-In-Wonder Radeon came out. It took a few more years for an HD version to come out, but I was only using a 3GHz Pentium 4 at that time. So a large amount of processing resources are not needed to accomplish the task.

Your monitor will not require HDCP unless you plan to connect your satellite directly to it. Normally you would connect satellite > recording card & then video card > monitor.

HTPC to playback or watch input of your satellite doesn't need to be very high end. A bit more is needed when handling recording, but not much. Do you plan to transcode your videos or just burn recorded video files to disc? Many DVD/Blu-ray players can play several video file formats so you may not need to transcode video to DVD/Blu-ray format.
Transcoding is the most processor intensive task. You just need faster hardware if you want it to take less time, or if transcoding and watching video at the same time.. My old Pentium 4 would take several hours, sometimes overnight, to transcode recorded video for disc. I imagine modern hardware could do DVD/Blu-ray transcoding in real time or faster.

Have you started looking at "TV tuner cards" yet? I was a fan of the ATI ones, but they are no longer made. There are a number of add-in cards and USB based tuners for recording now. One of the other brands I had considered in the past was hauppauge.

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You can get a dual DVB-S2/DVB-T card which should work for your setup. I prefer to skip the USB type because I notice more lags than PCIE cards. If watching movies/show is the only thing you do on it then you probably don't even need a GPU. The built in GPU in a processor can handle that easy.

I read in the web a lot in the meantime - I don't know if it's true ..

It looks like, if you want to look HDTV on a PC screen you need a HDMI port or a DVI port which support HDCP.
HDMI have HDCP, but not all DVI ports.
If you look HDTV, HDCP "protect" the signal before "steal" & recording, between source (GPU card) and receiver (screen).

I have a LG E2240T screen which have a D-SUB and a DVI-D port.
In the manual I can't read if the DVI port support/can handle HDCP.
Here (pcwelt.de, point "Ausstattung") I can read that the DVI port support HDCP. So it "could" work - if this statement is true.

It looks like I need a dual or two TV-cards for to look and record simultaneously.
I looked at Hauppauge and found two cards:
WinTV-NOVA-HD-S2 PCI (S2: H.264, S: MPEG-2)

WinTV-HVR-1100 PCI (MPEG-2) (but currently no 64bit OS support)

So I would need to go with the WinTV-HVR-3300 PCIe (MPEG-2) (just for the DVB-T receiver)
With this card I can receive UKW/FM radio station? The card above can do this ..

The HTPC will be connected via DSL router with a Smart-TV.
In the Smart-TV manual I can read, I select a folder on the HTPC HDD and the Smart-TV can show then the recorded shows/movies.
The Smart-TV support H.264 and MPEG-2, so there I don't need to change the storage format.

Like I wrote above, I'm new in this area.
I guess there are storage formats which need less MB than the original storage formats H.264 and MPEG-2, or?
The Smart-TV support:
For "normal": Motion JPEG, Microsoft MPEG-4 v1/v2/v3, H.263 Sorrenson, Window Media Video v7 (WMV1)/v8 (WMV2), VP6
HDTV: HEVC (H.265), H.264 BP/MP/HP, DivX 3.11/4.x/5/6, MPEG4 SP/ASP, Windows Media Video v9 (VC1), MVC, MPEG2, MPEG1, VP8
I have no idea how much MBs they need less than the original formats .. - maybe 50% less or more?
So then I guess I would need to let transcode it to save storage room on the HDD. Also - if I want to burn a DVD or Blu-ray, the storage format need to transcode, right?
.. but the GPU in the HTPC should support also this storage format.

AFAIK, in past the AMD CPUs transcode faster than Intel CPUs.
But now, I don't know which tools are available, maybe they use today also the GPU for this work?
Which CPU/GPU I should use?
Maybe the AMD A10 7850K 4x3.7GHz or the Intel Core i5 4670K 4x3.4GHz (both with iGPU).
Or better if CPU and GPU separately?

OTOH ..
Today it's OK to play games on PC?
For a lot years I played on my AMD Athlon 600 with Win98SE.
After a few installed games I needed to format the HDD and install the OS again new, because with all the games on the PC he was not longer useful for web surfing or office work. He was "damaged".
With the HTPC, I will use Win8.1 64bit.
Today it's better and after installation of a few games I can still use the PC like before?
If, then I guess I need to go with CPU and GPU separately ..

Although I'm not a gamer, just for the chance to make it or prepare it for the future ..

Thanks.

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I have a LG E2240T screen which have a D-SUB and a DVI-D port.
In the manual I can't read if the DVI port support/can handle HDCP.

It's not about the port, it's about the devices connected at two ends which communicate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-bandwidth_Digital_Content_Protection#Versions_Highlights

Your LG E2240T Monitor seem to not have HDCP (is not HDCP-compliant)
http://www.lg.com/za/monitors/lg-E2240T-led-lcd
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=341635

Something to read:
http://www.hdfury.com/hdmihdcp/
http://www.ebay.com/gds/How-To-Get-1080p-Blu-Ray-Over-Analog-/10000000051356965/g.html

Something to read carefully:
http://mercianmedia.wordpress.com/2013/08/13/how-to-send-hdcp-encrypted-signals-to-non-hdcp-devices/

And you may need something similar (in addition to the above):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DVI-Male-to-HDMI-Female-M-F-Adapter-Gold-Plated-Converter-For-HDTV-/160842546200?pt=US_Video_Cables_Adapters&hash=item2572f67c18


(all the above is from reading on the Internet, no personal experience - I don't have such system)

Today it's OK to play games on PC?

??? :D
Why not?
It was always OK (1979 (8-bit) ... 1982 (16-bit) ... present)

For a lot years I played on my AMD Athlon 600 with Win98SE.
After a few installed games I needed to format the HDD and install the OS again new, because with all the games on the PC he was not longer useful for web surfing or office work. He was "damaged".

?? Nothing familiar to me
Win98SE is maybe 10 years from install and never re-installed, maybe >50 games.
And the same (many games) for XP - I don't re-install OS, on the contrary - I clone the full disk when migrating to new HDD to preserve everything.

Yes, some games have bugs which may cause problems but only AFTER you play them
E.g. AFTER I play Carmageddon on Win98SE/GeForce 256 (last time was 1-2 years ago) and exit game I need to immediately restart Windows else system hangs if I start any program.
(but this is rare example)

Can you say which games caused this "not longer useful"?
Game just stay on HDD and not in memory so can't make PC "not longer useful for web surfing or office work"
You may at that time used/installed some 'Free Game Offers' ;) which MAY install things like toolbars/adware which stay in memory and slow down the computer.


To check for this (if some program installs auto-starting objects which remain in memory)
and to enable/disable them get Autoruns
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

Before any program install start Autoruns and Save the list (Ctrl+S)
After the program install start Autoruns again and do Compare (Alt+F C)

The new/changed lines will be marked in green (and you can uncheck to disable if needed)
Save again the list to new name.

(only auto-starting objects are listed by Autoruns, everything else is not important. Installed program/game is just data - it sits on disk and do not do anything until you start it manually)

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- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)