Suggestions wanted for HTPC build...

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Suggestions wanted for HTPC build...

tonyhughes

Hawkes Bay
8476 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#87030 18-Jul-2011 12:40

Hi team,

I have decided to build a new HTPC, seeing as components are cheap these days, and the front end software has matured quite a bit.

Existing items:

Sony HDMI 5.1 Reciever (and speakers)
Panasonic HDMI 720p TV
Logitech Harmony remote
DVD Writer
Ahanix D4 HTPC Case

I want this to be a budget to middle build, and it will be doing no gaming or other tasks, just an HTPC. Price is the key here.

I plan on running Mediaportal.

My needs include:

Freeview HD (DVB-T) x 2 tuners (was thinking 1, or 2 HVR2200's ?)
2TB storage (Plenty of cheap 2TB SATA drives around now)
2GB Memory (is 2GB of cheap@ss memory enough? I feel like I dont need 4GB)
A Mobo & CPU & cooler combo that will run as cool as possible, and happily cope with recording 2 or 4 HD channels (Core i3 / i5 ?) Need room for 2 x HVR2200 or similar cards as well as a GFX card (unless mobo has onboard GFX with HDMI).

Any advice? I have been looking around but am not much of a hardware geek when it comes to CPUs and mobos lately (need to re-educate myself).

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79263 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#494660 18-Jul-2011 13:02

Why not a Dell Zino HD and a HDHomerun on your LAN?

Mattv

242 posts

Master Geek

#495065 18-Jul-2011 23:31

If you are going to use Mediaportal, you may be able to get away with one HVR2200 (or 2210) as my understanding is that they can record all channels from one mux, so for example you could record 1,2,3 and 4 all at once. Could be wrong as I don't use it myself but worth a look.

With the extra savings there I would look at getting at least one more HDD. Personally I would like a minimum of 3 drives, 2 smaller ones (eg 320 or 500GB WD blue or black ) and 1 large one (2TB Green). Use one of the small ones with a small partition for OS, the rest for music, pictures. The second small one for recording live TV. The big one for storing saved TV, ripped movies etc. The reason being the biggest overhead when recording TV is the actual writing of the data stream to the HDD. A big green drive might not last that long with that sort of use. For the same reason I would prefer to have the OS on a separate drive as well. Possibly a bit of overkill but that's my 2c's worth.

2GB of memory will be fine.

I really like the Intel Media series motherboards with the intergrated processors to do the graphics. I'm using the older Clarkdale series but the newer Sandybridge ones are out now. I assume they will work properly under Mediaportal. This is a good article for a bit of a review if you're interested. It should give you an idea anyway. Personally I would go with the i3 processor rather than the i5 for your requirements - possibly saving on cost, power and heat. As mentioned there isn't really that much CPU use recording TV. The one downside I am aware of is with some 1080p, bluray type rips, there can be some "judder" due to 24p processing. Only noticeable on panning/flying type scenes and only if you are being picky. It may have been fixed now - not sure, and I don't think it will be a problem for TV.

davidcole

6034 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#495086 19-Jul-2011 07:11

Mattv. Have you tried those motherboards with out freeview hd?

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

Mattv

242 posts

Master Geek

#495088 19-Jul-2011 07:23

davidcole: Mattv. Have you tried those motherboards with out freeview hd?

I've tried the setup in my signature with FreeviewHD recordings made back in NZ. I works perfectly. Also works very nicely with much higher bitrate 1080p H.264/DTS .mkv's. Only drawback is the slight judder with some content as mentioned but it has not been enough for me to feel the need to add a separate video card.

I've no doubt the newer technology can only be better.

geekiegeek

2513 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#495102 19-Jul-2011 08:02

Sandybridge also has the judder - intel graphics cant do 23.976Hhz which is the cause of the problem. Personally I wouldnt go near it for an HTPC. You can get a Nividia GT220 for under $100 which will play everything perfectly.

I would also agree with the idea of having multiple drives. Also stay clear of green power for anything but storage. you want fast drives for timeshift and recording and prefably have these two functions on seperate drives.

My setup, 64GB SSD for OS and timeshift, 650GB Back edition for recording and 2TB for downloaded\ripped content.

I'm running an HVR2200 for freeview along with a Nova-s for SBS off DVB-S which has some good content if you have that option.

The latest build of MediaPortal, 1.2.0 beta is super stable and has an updated video engine. With Windows 7 you can play most codecs out of the box although I have coreavc for downloaded x.264 (nicer colour then MS codec and can play some older files that dont support DXVA as it uses CUDA), I also use ac3filter for spdif output and have FFDSHOW video codec installed for the odd strange file that wont play otherwise.

tonyhughes

Hawkes Bay
8476 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#497375 24-Jul-2011 17:35

Ended up with a recycled Pentium D 2.8GHz, an Nvidia 210 silent card, and an HVR2210.

Using hardware decoding, TV3 uses about 20% CPU power.

Very happy with the result, just a few minor issues to sort.

davidcole

6034 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#497382 24-Jul-2011 18:00

Using media portal not any NZ hone grown software? Shame on you :p

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

tonyhughes

Hawkes Bay
8476 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#497387 24-Jul-2011 18:46

What homegrown software is out there competing with MP?

davidcole

6034 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#497403 24-Jul-2011 19:57

tonyhughes: What homegrown software is out there competing with MP?

GBPVR - now called nextpvr. Written in Wellington. Does the multi recording thing that MP does, possibly doesn't look as pretty (but I don't have any issues with it's look).

mcraenz

1140 posts

Uber Geek

#497432 24-Jul-2011 20:52

davidcole: Using media portal not any NZ hone grown software? Shame on you :p

There are a number of New Zealanders contributing to the wonderful COMMUNITY project that MediaPortal is. Open Source is best! :)

Help me build a better way of doing politics in Aotearoa New Zealand

political.nz

tonyhughes

Hawkes Bay
8476 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#497667 25-Jul-2011 15:52

NextPVR is mentioned on the GB-PVR site, but it all seems a bit graveyard-ish.

I went to the GB-PVR site before Mediaportal, and the screenshots looked the same as 3 or 4 years ago when I last looked, and the reference to NextPVR was vague and made it sound like it was coming, maybe.

Would now be very hard to tear me away from Mediaportal - it's great!

Deev8

481 posts

Ultimate Geek

#498155 26-Jul-2011 18:17

tonyhughes: NextPVR is mentioned on the GB-PVR site, but it all seems a bit graveyard-ish.

Unfortunately it's that gbpvr.com page that is out of date. Version 2.1.5 of NextPVR was released on 12th July, so there is a very up-to-date version available.

If anyone wants to discover more about it the best places to look are the NextPVR Documentation Wiki or the Support Forum