Ghetto HTPC setup

[CRXican]

For the life of me I haven't been able to master the art of HTPC. I'm always missing some part or something. Got bored tonight and now I'm sitting here with an old Shuttle SN45G AMD Athlon rig hooked to my badass 42" Plasma by the ghetto AGP port with sound hooked up analog style with 3.5 audio jack to the good old red and whites on the back of my Vizio soundbar.

I've finally got the correct resolution and am about to watch my first 720p youtube video. So half ass but it's actually working.

I'm really gonna have to get me some WDTV live or something. Fuuuuuu.

 

[CRXican]

ok, cancel that, 720p fail

sideshow LOL

 

[Leros]

Try playing a 720p wmv or mkv file. Flash is a huge resource hog. My HTPC can't play a flash youtube of any resolution at 1080p, but it has no problem playing 1080p content.

 

[CRXican]

I already broke it all down. I still don't see the necessity, I was just messing around.

 

[her209]

Sounds like my setup. VGA for video and a banana to RCA connection to my Westinghouse 42".

 

[Raduque]

I use HDMI from a radeon HD2X00Pro for video and an RCA digital for audio.

flash video for HD is fail.

 

[Leros]

Yeah. I can only get Hulu to play smoothly on my HTPC if I reduce the resolution down to 720p. At 1080p I get about a frame every 3 seconds.

 

[quakefiend420]

wanna see ghetto HTPC?

 

[zanejohnson]

i run a Pentium M 1.7/2GB/5700GO for an HTPC, component (R,G,B) to my 37" 720p monitor, digital coaxial to pioneer elite receiver, acoustic research 5.1 channel setup


and yeah, flash is useless for HD content... i use VLC media player for pretty much everything... it gets the job done...

i find myself watching more intenet streaming TV than live cableTV nowdays..

 

[quakefiend420]

oh, and popcorn hour ftw

so much more awesome than a htpc if you're only using it for media and not web browsing and what not

 

[HannibalX]

wanna see ghetto HTPC?

Damn, I had a bunch of those fuckers back in the day. P166s and later, PII 450s! Lookout!

 

[zanejohnson]

oh, and popcorn hour ftw

so much more awesome than a htpc if you're only using it for media and not wen browsing and what not

it looks like it's basically a pre-built HTPC.. what makes that better than an HTPC?


honestly an HTPC is the best way to go for media anything for your home theater.. it can do everything products like popcorn hour/apple TV can do and more...

 

[bearxor]

Damn, I have to show you all what a Ghetto HTPC really is.

It ran like that with a Hauppage PVR-500 (dual SD cable) for two years before I upgraded to HD. Athlon XP-m 2600+ with 768MB of RAM and Radeon 9500 Pro.

 

[zanejohnson]

man i freakin love having an HTPC... i never had one until about 4-5 months ago, it's cool because i setup my "my documents" folder on my main workstation, and on my HTPC to reside on my fileserver, so anytime i download anything on the HTPC, or on the workstation its automatically available anywhere in the house that can access the fileserver...

i need to get unlazy and set my HTPC to work as a DVR too... i have everything i need, just need to set it up..

 

[vshah]

I already broke it all down. I still don't see the necessity, I was just messing around.

you don't see the necessity because it wasn't working properly! that's a socket 462 right? k7 athlon! never going to be able to play hd anything with that

build a new system for under $300 bucks and it could do fine

 

[Red Squirrel]

I just had an awesome idea. Overclock that puppy, and use it's heat to make popcorn. Energy recycling FTW.

 

[Leros]

you don't see the necessity because it wasn't working properly! that's a socket 462 right? k7 athlon! never going to be able to play hd anything with that

build a new system for under $300 bucks and it could do fine

If you get the right chipset, you can get 1080p playback for under $200. I did a $200* setup 1.5 years ago which can play back 1080p content.

*price of bluray drive not included

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Mine's made out of legos...

 

[Ladies Man]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-235-_-Product

I plan to get that as my new HTPC

 

[quakefiend420]

Damn, I had a bunch of those fuckers back in the day. P166s and later, PII 450s! Lookout!

I took a dremel to the case and shoehorned an xp2500 and 2gb with a gf6200 with a component output dongle in there sideways lol

It worked for a couple years, then the mobo died and I grabbed the popcorn hour.

 

[quakefiend420]

it looks like it's basically a pre-built HTPC.. what makes that better than an HTPC?


honestly an HTPC is the best way to go for media anything for your home theater.. it can do everything products like popcorn hour/apple TV can do and more...

Super small form factor, never any lag even on high bitrate 1080p content, almost no power consumption, and totally silent for 250 bucks. Like I said, if you're just streaming media it's the perfect solution. If you want a full fledged PC, then build that. You're not taking into account the cost of a case that doesn't look like ass, a remote control, and a wireless KB and mouse either. Show me a setup like that you can build for $250 and I may replace the popcorn hour, cause that sounds pretty sweet!

 

[quakefiend420]

Damn, I have to show you all what a Ghetto HTPC really is.

http://www.bearxor.com/ruth/rsz_htpc2.jpg[/img
[img]http://www.bearxor.com/ruth/rsz_htpc3.jpg[/img

It ran like that with a Hauppage PVR-500 (dual SD cable) for two years before I upgraded to HD. Athlon XP-m 2600+ with 768MB of RAM and Radeon 9500 Pro.[/QUOTE]

My ghetto-fabulous case and sideways mobo with cables running out of slot covers automatically give me the win lol

 

[marvdmartian]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-235-_-Product

I plan to get that as my new HTPC

Detonator dynomite fizzled and died in that link, for me. :\

Here's a direct link. :awe:

 

[lokiju]

Whats the point anymore of making a HTPC? A xbox360 can be had for $150 or less and can easily be hooked up to your TV to stream movies you store elsewhere.