Hey Guys;

Question about

Add tags:

KAsante July 17, 2010

Hey Guys;

Been wondering why I can't find any really good online resources on HTPCs for the living room. I know that right now most pre-built HTPCs are pretty expensive but building one yourself i pretty darn cheap.
I took a stab at building one, here are my specs:

Processor: N330 Dual Core Atom 1.6Ghz (w/HT)
Motherboard: Zotac IONITX-g-e (w/ ION GPU)
Ram: Corsair 3Gbs DDR2 PC3200
Optical: Liteon Bluray
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit
MISC: ATI TV wonder Capture Card
MISC #2: IR Blaster (configured to work with Logitech Harmony Remote)
Output: Sony Bravia 52" HDTV (Current Resolution: 1080p

It's great because now I can watch TV through Widows media Center and use it as a DVR.

Being that this is the site for Technophiles I have to ask if anyone else has a similar setup.
Also; I'm trying to strip Windows down as much as possible so this becomes a device rather than a PC. Has anyone made any headway in that department? Please don't tell me I'm the only one on this site that has something like this; I'd be really sad. I'm trying to get some pointers. :)

answer this question

5 answers

stalky14 2010-08-03 17:57:44

Internal:
Asus P5495G barebones "bookshelf" PC.
2.5GHz Core2Duo.
2GB DDR2 RAM.
320GB SATA hard drive.
On-board Intel GMA950 graphics. (Yup)
no-name IDE DVD-ROM drive.
Hauppauge PVR-150 PCI NTSC -> MPEG2 capture card.

External:
Hauppage HVR-950Q USB2.0 ATSC/QAM HD capture.
USB-UIRT IR blaster/receiver.
Generic USB Bluetooth dongle.
Apple BLuetooth Keyboard.
Logitech Cordless Trackman Wheel.
Logitech Harmony 880 Remote Control

Software:
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium.
PVR: Snapstream BeyondTV 4.9
IR input management: EventGhost
Video Podcast/IPTV aggregation: Juice
h.264 codec: CoreAVC.
Other Input: AirMouse Pro.
Other: Firefox, Boxee, VLC, Quicktime.

Sources:
Internet: Revision3 and manual downloads
Networks: HD networks via clear QAM.
Cable Channels: NTSC via S-Video from Dish Network receiver.

Notes: Disabled Aero. Running in Win2000 lookalike mode. Only A/V related stuff is installed on this machine. No games or other crap. No antivirus. Fixed 3GB swap file on data partition so the head doesn't need to seek the entire disk to go from video to a VM-swap. "Last Channel" key on remote is mapped to "Alt-Tab" function to swap apps from BTV to Firefox or Boxee for Netflix playback. All auto-run software updaters are disabled in registry. All recorded or downloaded video aggregates into shared directories for access by other computers in house, which can also deposit files downloaded manually. Using BeyondTV instead of WMC for configurability reasons -- less pretty, but WAY more flexible. Running fixed 720P output.

Plusses: Rock-stable. Small. Quiet. Very customizable. Multiple program sources can be dumped into a single, seamless bucket, including channel listings. Been using this setup in slight variations since 2007. Worked great with Hauppauge HD-PVR when I had it on there.

Minuses: Can't upgrade graphics (no AGP or PCI-X on this MB). BTV is an end-of-life product and will likely never get an upgrade to support plugins, a better UI, or MKV files. Gotta flip to another program to do Netflix or MKV playback.

mark as good answer

1 person likes this answer

| add reply

frankspin 2010-07-20 09:55:08

core2duo 3Ghz
4GB Ram
ATI HD4350 PCIx HDMI out
1TB Drive

I'm running XBMC with Evenghost so I can use my Harmony remote with it.

mark as good answer

0 people like this answer

| 4 replies

KAsante 2010-07-20 10:02:25

That's a pretty solid looking system; I've never heard of Evenghost. I'll do some research. How's the heating of it? I ended up going with an Atom because my AMD X2 was causing some extreme heat. My CPU fan started to sound light a plane taking off and this thing should be silent in the living room. Big case, small case?

frankspin 2010-07-20 10:06:39

It's actually a dell optiplex 760 so it's a smaller form factor case and the heat is pretty good. I went with a WD Caviar Green because I was trying to keep noise & heat low. The green's have slower speeds of 5400 but can burst up to 7200 which is sometimes noticeable but not enough to make want to upgrade to caviar black. Honestly, this rig really is not that insane. Head over to AVS and see what some of those guys are running it's insane. One guy had dual i7 with 16GB of ram.

Eventghost is only needed if you're looking to use a WMC remote with XBMC/Boxee. If you want to use a harmony with WMC, just learn the codes into your harmony and you will be fine.

KAsante 2010-07-20 10:31:11

I remember Dell Optiplex system. Use to use them as workstations at a company I worked for. I suppose boxee/xbmc has such a small footprint that you don't really need a beast to run them. Another reason why I decided on the less powerful system. I'll check out the site. Thanks for the recommendation.

Right now I'm using an IR blaster and my logitech harmony one remote (the one logitech made that could also control the xbox360) with the included software i was able to configure it to work with my media center pretty well. It controls boxee, xbmc and even hulu desktop. There are some small hangups I have with it so I will check out EvenGhost. Might solve it for me. Thanks again.

stalky14 2010-08-03 17:02:05

EventGhost + USB-UIRT+ Harmony is the ultimate in remote control customizability. WMC doesn't recognize the UIRT as a blaster though.

Irv 2010-07-18 15:24:24

get one of these gdgt.com/asrock/ion/330ht/ and stick XBMC on it, this Dutch guy creates linux LIVE CD's that are easy to install www.xbmcfreak.nl/en/

XBMC now has headend capability and works a treat with this TeVii S660 DVB-S2 USB www.tevii.com/Products_S660_1.asp

mark as good answer

0 people like this answer

| 1 reply

brett 2010-07-17 18:56:17

That sounds like a great setup. Which case did you use? I'm assuming it ended up being cheaper than buying a pre-built one?

I actually had a desktop that I used almost exclusively as a HTPC but it was just too huge so I am selling it. I really want to buy or build a new (much smaller) one because Windows Media Center has the best tv guide/DVR software out of anything that I have used.

mark as good answer

0 people like this answer

| 1 reply

thecrazing 2010-07-17 14:53:31

I'm thinking about doing something similar myself. You wouldn't also happen to have an Xbox, would you?

mark as good answer

0 people like this answer

| 5 replies

KAsante 2010-07-17 15:11:57

Hey; Actually I do. I've got the original xbox (which i use to hack and put xbmc on) and the xbox 360. I opted for this solution because then you never have to worry about codecs and which format can play. This thing plays it all

thecrazing 2010-07-18 05:08:28

From what I recall looking into it, with your Win OS, you should be able to use the 360 as a Version 2 Media Center Extender, which means it will still handle codecs like divx. Maybe that will give you the deviceyness you're looking for?

KAsante 2010-07-18 14:31:24

You'd think so right? Since you can use the media center extender on the 360 it should just work. BUT Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, decided to strip away full support from the extenders so now when you extend it looks like the original media center from the Pc but it only supports certain formats okay'd by MS. Go figure...

thecrazing 2010-07-20 12:13:40

So pretty much once they've sold enough copies of their OS, they take away the selling points? Ugh.

KAsante 2010-07-20 12:23:58

Well actually I think that they aren't really malicious, they're just idiots. If you look at how MS does things; they're always first to the party and most of the time their offerings are the best; but consumers never get to know that because if MS is not busy shooting themselves in the foot by taking features away, they just don't mention the functionality in the first place. Think about it. They're in a huge war with Sony over living room supremacy. With the 360 and a windows 7/ Vista machine, you have a great tv guide, a dvr and a whole lot more , all for free. Do you think MS does anything to advertise that? No, cause they're idiots.

follow this question

Tips for giving the best answers

Sometimes it's just little details that separates a great and not so great answer! Here are a few simple tips to keep in mind:

1: Be complete and thorough. Don't skimp on the details!
2: Try not to answer with a question. Because that's not really an answer, right?
3: A little research goes a long way. Back up your claims and assumptions!
4: Try to be patient, tech questions can be complicated.
5: You are awesome for both reading this and answering questions.

gdgt

Hey Guys;

Related questions

7 users following this question:

Tips for giving the best answers