HTPC show and tell

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170 posts

Master Geek

#113052 25-Feb-2008 20:50

Yep I was a bit cheeky with my prices there, but that's what I paid in A$ then I got GST refunded at the airport, so it was literally dollar for dollar really.
A few weeks wit & I'm pretty sure they will be that price here too. He did have the 9600GT in stock when most had never heard of them for $225 when I was there.
I just got one of these also tonight http://www.ifocus.co.nz/Keyboard+%25252F+Mice+%25252F+Input/Mice/Logitech/Logitech+MX+Air+Rechargeable+Cordless+Air+Mouse.html
The kids think it's the coolest thing they have ever seen & that makes me look like a star dad!!!

Nety

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#113098 26-Feb-2008 07:33

OK well I am about to setup a media centre. Some components I already have and some I have to get so here is the list.

Components I already have.

Gigabyte P4P800 Intel motherboard
P4 2.8 HT CPU
Nvidia GF 6800GT vidio card
2 X 512 Ram
120 Gig SATA HDD
Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS (not sure I will use this as driver support is not good)
Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit
Liteon DVD burner

What I will buy
Zalman 460W ZM460B-APS Noiseless ATX power supply
Silverstone SST-LC16M ATX Home Theatre Case
AcoustiFan DustPROOF AFDP-8025B, Case Fan, 80mm X 2
Western Digital Caviar WD5000KS, 500GB, SATA-2 Hard Disk Drive
PC3200 512MB CL3, 1x512MB, DDR, DIMM, DDR400 X 2
Hauppauge WinTV HVR3000 TV Tuner X 2

At this stage it is semi proof of concept. If it gets wife approval and family approval then I will replace the motherboard, CPU and video card to allow us to watch HD-T.

Edit in Bold

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

guttedgeek

19 posts

Geek

#113099 26-Feb-2008 07:47

Nety: OK well I am about to setup a media centre. Some components I already have and some I have to get so here is the list.

Components I already have.

Gigabyte P4P800 Intel motherboard
P4 2.8 HT CPU
Nvidia GF 6800GT vidio card
2 X 512 Ram
120 Gig SATA HDD

My system is almost identically spec'd and I must say I'm very happy with it considering what it cost me. We can record 2 programmes off DVB-S and watch a DVD or .TS sitting on our file server at the other end of the house (via 802.11g). Its all sitting in a very ugly beige mini tower so my next steps are to get hold of a HTPC case (hens teeth in black it seems) and a quieter power supply. It has gone beyond PoC to being the only way we watch TV/DVDs/Videos now. Every now and then MP will make a bad recording but regardless my wife loves it as much as I so now shes driving what we buy and when in respect to its incremental upgrades.

Regs

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Snowflake

#115169 7-Mar-2008 12:05

below is my kit

HTPC
1X Zalman HD160
1X Zalman ZM460-APS 460W
1X Zalman CNPS9500 LED
1X ASUS A8N-VM CSM Socket 939 NVIDIA 6150, PCI Express x16, SATA II, 1394, Gigabit Lan
1X AMD Athlon64 3200+ (2.0Ghz) Socket939 CPU Boxed. Venice core 90nm.
2X TwinMOS 1GB DDR-400 Dual-Channel Kit 2x512M
1X LG DVD Writer (GSA-4167BBK), 16x DVD+/-R, 4x Dual Layer, 5X DVD-RAM
1X Samsung Single 7200 200gb SP2004C SATA 133 int 8MB
2X Seagate 300GB HDDs
2x Hauppauge Nova-S-Plus DVB-S Tuners

SCREEN
Samsung PS42S4S 848x480 panel (res is really too low for using desktop)

AUDIO
Onkyo SR701 Amp
KEF KHT2005 Speakers - 5 x "eggs" for center/left/right/s.left/s.right and subwoofer

HTPC connected to Plasma via DVI running at 848x480 PC Resolution
HTPC connected to Amp is via optical toslink cable

SKY: none. ditched sky as i felt i wasnt getting value for money (bought season ticket at eden park and fatso subscription with the money saved from cancelling sky)

TV: currently using the DVBS Freeview but intend to switch to DVBT when available

using the Onkyo remote control to control everything (zalman has built in IR receiver which works with MCE remote, and programmed onkyo remote with mce commands)

NOTE: the Zalman HD160 was the only case I could have chosen at the time. All the silverstone cases were too deep to fit in the cabinet, as were all the other options in the same height as the Onkyo amp. I didnt want a smaller/shorter case as I wanted the Onkyo and HTPC to match for height/width for visual reasons....

After the house is reqired the speakers will be wall mounted. The screen will always sit on the cabinet as it is the perfect height when viewed from our couches. Too many wall-mount installations leave you with a sore neck from always having to look up!

HTPC Main Shot

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Snowflake
www.snowflake.com

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eXDee

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#115268 7-Mar-2008 17:44

Regs, do you find that onkyo gets hot? Ours looks almost the same (no hdmi) and it needs a 12cm case fan blowing on it to keep it cool. The last receiver we had overheated and committed suicide, but i suppose it doesnt have as much ventillation as yours

Very nice case, too bad its $500 =/

euanandrews

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#115291 7-Mar-2008 19:32

Nice looking system Regs...tidy, uncluttered, looking like a true consumer product, component like.

Looking just how a HTPC should.

Regs

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Snowflake

#115293 7-Mar-2008 19:40

eXDee: Regs, do you find that onkyo gets hot? Ours looks almost the same (no hdmi) and it needs a 12cm case fan blowing on it to keep it cool. The last receiver we had overheated and committed suicide, but i suppose it doesnt have as much ventillation as yours

Very nice case, too bad its $500 =/

yeah the onkyo gets quite hot, but I dont keep anything on the shelf above it so its not really a problem.

for a system that sits in your face in the lounge this is about as good as it gets I reckon. The ideal system would have an a/v amp and server hidden somewhere and just a small control box instead... during the rewiring I considered that but decided that I had spent enough already!

Sales Engineer
Snowflake
www.snowflake.com

about.me/nzregs
Twitter: @nzregs

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ajst2duk

170 posts

Master Geek

#115452 8-Mar-2008 19:57

Regs, that is a very cool looking system. I like it a lot.

lchiu7

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#115473 8-Mar-2008 21:28

ajst2duk:
lchiu7: All very cool stuff. Out of interest how many of you have to deal with the WAF? Putting aside the cost and time I am having problems trying to get agreement to mount some small rear speakers in my family room to go with my PS3 and HD-DVD setup and 56" TV :-(

You have a 56" TV?? That's a strong start. I'd get my jewels nailed to the doorpost if I tried that stunt!

I just take the stealth approach, yeah like "hey honey, we don't have sky, so I'm going to put together something that will get us freeview, and replace all those components that take up space????" - it's like "yeah -right - whatever" - I take that as a green light.

The TV was her idea so I was safe

Situation is as follows

1. JVC 56" DILA TV
2. PS3 - connected to file server over 802.11g and using Tversity DLNA server
3. Toshiba HD-DVD
4. PVR based on Silverstone SG01 Evolution case AMD Celeron 64 3000 running XP and GBPVR - connected to file server over 802.11a
(all three video devices connected to TV via HDMI with a HDMI remote controlled switch)
5. TCL cable
6. Kenwood 5.1 amp with PS3 and HD-DVD connected over Toslink,
7. 3 speakers connected at the moment (want the two rear)
8. All controlled via Harmony 880

Purchased but yet to install
Hauppauge HVR-3000 for DVB-T broadcasts
Sapphire HT 2600Pro AGP video card hoping that it will do the hardware acceleration so for DVB-T broadcasts so I won't need a new CPU

En route
Popcorn Hour. Not sure what to do with that yet. Possibly have it playback DVB-T broadcasts so no need to update the PVR - just add the DVB-T card. But current reports suggest that the PCH produces no sound with the latest HE AAC audio DVB-T broadcasts.

Larry

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

rhysb

435 posts

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#117130 17-Mar-2008 13:20

Here's my humble rig...

Case - Zalman HD160 case modded with 2x 80mm Nexus Real Silent Fans at the back and a 80mm Papst beneath the HDD. I've also fully lined with acoustic material to dampen any stray noise/vibration.

Power supply - Corsair HX620 Modular oriented to suck air in externally rather than warm air from the case. Modular cabling makes cable management so much easier

CPU - Intel Core2Duo E6850 running at stock speeds.

Heatsink - Scythe Mini-Ninja with a 120mm Nexus Real Silent Fan, angled slightly to fit and provide airflow over the voltage regulators.

HDD - Western Digital 1TB GreenPower a very quiet drive. You can never have too much storage.

DVD - Lite-On DVD Writer. Will be replacing with a BD-Rom eventually.

Bluray - Lite-On BD-ROM Drive.

Graphics - Sapphire?HD3850 Ultimate, an awesome card with passive cooling. Fits in?nicely and remains very cool.

Motherboard - Intel DP35DP Media Board. A nice stable board with good specs.

Memory - 2x 2GB DDR2-800

Tuners - 2x Hauppauge HVR-4000 used as DVBS tuners for Freeview. I'll have to wait for DVBT until there is a decent solutution for VMC. Early on I suffered from the occasional hang when starting the tuners for the first time but they've been rock solid since Hauppauge released new drivers just before christmas.

OS - Vista Ultimate SP1 32bit It's been super reliable for me

UPS - APC SmartUPS 620VA powering the Media PC and a Belkin PureAV 8-Way protecting the rest of the gear.

AMP - NAD T763 Receiver provides a real 100W per channel. It's connected to the Media PC via optical spdif.

Speakers - 4x Wharfedale 8.4's for the front and rears and a matching Wharfedale 8 Centre.

Sub - PSB SubSonic 9 has dual 10" drivers powered by a 400W Class H amp, a very nice sub.

Screen - Grundig 29" CRT yeah I now it's letting the side down. A 50" Plasma will hopefully be my next purchase (Wife willing)

Screen - Philips 52PFL7432 52" Full-HD LCD Panel. Finally got a decent screen. Connected to the HTPC via HDMI. The picture is amazing at 1920x1080.

Cabinet - Was fortunate to find a cabinet that fit my components perfectly at Big Save Furniture. I also needed something to keep my son's little fingers from temptation.

Extender - Xbox 360 works really well for providing TV in the family room.

Remote - Microsoft Remote & ~~MCE Keyboard~~. I got the IR receiver in the case going, but i found it did some odd things so reverted back to the standard MS receiver. Picked up a Logitech Dinovo Mini to replace the MS IR Keyboard, a great little bluetooth remote.

EPG - I'm using the epg.pvr.geek.nz EPG with bladerunner which is setup on a seperate Win2003 server. It's basically been set-and-forget. It also makes re-setup of my VMC a breeze as all I have to do is point the registry setting to my server and that's it.

Let me know if you have any comments/questions

davidcole

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#117139 17-Mar-2008 14:14

No pictures from me, since the case isn't pretty just a simple black mid tower.

Motherboard: ASUS M2V - 4 x PCI and Digital Coax out for sound
Power Supply AcBel 550W - only interested in the lifetime warranty.

Sound through the digital coax to a yamaha receiver and stereo to the 29" Samsung CRT tv.

Running GBPVR with 1 MVP in the bedroom connected to a Samsung 26" LCD.

Tuners,
Hauppauge PVR500 Dual Analogue
Hauppauge HVR3000 for Satelite, and to play with DVB-T

Previously known as psycik

Home Assistant: Gigabyte AMD A8 Brix, Home Assistant with Aeotech ZWave Controller, Raspberry PI, Wemos D1 Mini, Zwave, Shelly Humidity and Temperature sensors
Media:Chromecast v2, ATV4 4k, ATV4, HDHomeRun Dual
Server Host Plex Server 3x3TB, 4x4TB using MergerFS, Samsung 850 evo 512 GB SSD, Proxmox Server with 1xW10, 2xUbuntu 22.04 LTS, Backblaze Backups, usenetprime.com fastmail.com Sharesies Trakt.TV Sharesight

lchiu7

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#117367 18-Mar-2008 19:24

All cool systems to be sure and some of the cases look very nice. But unless I have missed something the displays seem to be quite modest compared to the hardware. IMHO I would think for a HTPC (and hopefully it's HD compatible) you would want something at least 42" 720p capable and probably 50" 720p. But even with the current prices falling for flat panel displays the cost of the display could be at least double the cost of the actual hardware!

Expensive hobby this is ...

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

rhysb

435 posts

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#117409 18-Mar-2008 21:36

Cheaper than other hobbies such as this http://drag.race-cars.com/ for instance.

peteinakl

22 posts

Geek

#117457 19-Mar-2008 08:27

lchiu7: All cool systems to be sure and some of the cases look very nice. But unless I have missed something the displays seem to be quite modest compared to the hardware. IMHO I would think for a HTPC (and hopefully it's HD compatible) you would want something at least 42" 720p capable and probably 50" 720p. But even with the current prices falling for flat panel displays the cost of the display could be at least double the cost of the actual hardware!

Expensive hobby this is ...

@lchiu7 full 1080p is only 1920×1080. A 24" Dell LCD (which runs 1920×1200) is going to have no trouble with 1080p, has a faster response time than any Bravia etc and is more flexible. My HTPC gives me analogue, DVB-S, and DVB-T as well as some other MySky-like features - all this for a hell of a lot less than the cost of a Bravia + MySky.

lchiu7

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#117490 19-Mar-2008 11:21

While a 24" Dell running at 1920x1080 does full 1080p IMHO it's hardly a good HDTV device. I would much prefer a 1366x768 device that does say 1080i or 720p at 42-50" than a 24" LCD that does 1080p

My views anyway

Larry

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

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