*HTPC*

[CoyKili]

Hi,
Please give me your advice to design my new HTPC. I plan to give this to myself for Christmas.
I want it to look slick, be very quite, record TV shows, encode (to DVD and MPEG4), burn dvds, and interface to at least a 5.1 stereo.

Case: Need advice.
Mobo&Proc: Some SFF mobo with Pentium M chip
Vid Card: ATI AIW 1800XL
Sound Card: SoundBlaster something?
Interface: Wireless Keyboard with little thumb joystick.
DVD Drives: Black dual layer dvd burner
HD: one 200+ gig SATA
Mem Card reader to load shows/movies for PSP
Wireless G network (onboard or off)

Can anyone recommend a good case? I only want to mount 1 HD and 1 DVD burner, and I'd want at least 2 front or side USB ports. I heard the ATI AIW cards are really long. I'd rather it were not incredibly tall, since I have to carry this thing in my carry-on luggage.

Mobo & Processor: I was thinking of a 1.7ghz ish Pentium M and 1gig of ram, anyone have any ideas for low heat, low sound?

Vid Card: ATI AIW 1800XL this sounded pretty sweet in the anandtech review but I'm open to any ideas. Does anyone know if this will have trouble displaying on a Russian TV (SECAM)? Anyone know if this card can handle the difference between PAL, NTSC, and SECAM? 37" LCD TV- is DVI the prefered way to connect?

Keyboard: What would you guys use? It seems as though a wireless keyboard with a thumbstick is best, but I'd love to here your ideas. Is the remote on the ATI AIW's pretty good, can it act as a mouse?

Which HD's are quite with low heat? Would 1 big SATA be best or should I think about 2 Laptop HD's?

SoundCard: What's the prefered way to connect an HTPC to an amplifier? Do most people use Optical?

Any Suggestions for a DVD burner which can play all regions, Pal and NTSC without giving me any trouble?

Thanks in advance.

 

[bearxor]

I have some suggestions!

IIRC, video encoding is one of the PentiumM's weaknesses. I think in a case such as this, I would go with a Athlon64 or a Turion processor. It would also be cheaper, be just as fast and if you get a Turion, just as cool.

Why would you buy a 1800 for this? I run a Radeon 9600 Pro in my HTPC and it does the job beautifully. Snag an old 9800 Pro or something and you'll be extremely happy. The 1800 would be great if you were planning to play newer games on the TV though (as long as you have an HDTV), but you didn't mention that in your list.

Also, i'm not sure about the 1800 (haven't read too much on it yet) but previous ATi AIW cards have been incompatible with MCE. If that continues with the 1800, you're better off getting a cheaper video card and spening that money on one or two TV tuner cards that are MCE compatible.

I have an old Dell-branded Logitech keyboard and mouse (wireless) that I can use, but what I do is VNC into the machine when I want to do things. Makes it a lot easier, and I can do my work on it from anywhere.

I would recommend at least two hard drives. A OS drive + a media drve.

That's my .02 on the subject anyways...

 

[erwos]

Ideas:
1. If you really want an Intel chip, get a Celeron M. More or less the same performance, much cheaper. An A64 is probably the best value, though - they have passive heatpipe coolers for the 3200+, right?
2. I think the A8N-VM CSM is an excellent mobo for HTPCs. Great feature mix, accelerated on-board H.264 (theoretically), and a low price. Only problem is finding the video-out bracket, but you're using DVI anyways, right?
3. Way too much video card - as I mentioned in (2), on-board should be more than enough.
4. If you're using WinMCE, just grab a Media Center Keyboard from Logitech or a similar vendor.
5. If you're mounting media off a central store, you only need one HDD. If you're actually storing stuff on there, get two, and put them in RAID 1. You'll thank me for this when one of them fails.

-Erwos

 

[CoyKili]

I'll look into the Turion, thanks for the idea. I've always gone Intel because it used to have a lower temperature and my best friend designs for them so I have to buy Intel or he'll hassle me forever.

I was going with the 1800AIW for games, the better remote, and the GemStar guide. TV and TV recording to watch later are my main concern. But since I've never owned an AIW I don't know if the other cards have this easy program guide navigation, do the 9800 or x800 AIW's have program guide features, and enough power to feed a big screen? What are the big MMORPG's like on a home theater? Like WOW or FFXI, would a 9800 or x800 run those well enough?

 

[CoyKili]

I was going to use WIN xp, I have a spare copy as one of my other computers is dying, and I figured it was easier to use the computer for encoding and gaming etc if I was running XP.
Do you think WinMCE has any benefits over Winxp? I've never used WinMCE - been over seas all this time- Can you still run video games or other programs from WinMCE?

 

[Traire]

WinMCE is identical to XPpro in all regards, except the addition of built in support for Hardware based TV tuners (note, all in wonder cards are incompatible) and a fancy special media player for accessing TV and multimedia with a remote.

If you have XPpro already, you can get the exact same functionality of the MCE features with something like http://www.gbpvr.com although GBPVR wont work with your all in wonder cards either.

 

[kimagurealex]

bearxor: how do u do VNC? I keep hearing of this "software"? Thanks.

Alex

 

[Hacp]

Sorry but I have a question . Which is the most user friendly software to use for an HTPC? In terms of Parents who don't speak english very well .

 

[CoyKili]

If I went with WinMCE what Video/TV cards would be best? Which remote controls work with WinMCE? Since the AIW wouldn't be compatible.

Oh general question, if you wanted to display two channels at once, like split the TV: ESPN on the left and CNN on the right or something- do you need two TV tuner cards?

 

[Traire]

Originally posted by: CoyKili
If I went with WinMCE what Video/TV cards would be best? Which remote controls work with WinMCE? Since the AIW wouldn't be compatible.

WinMCE and GBPVR compatible cards would be cards like the Hauppauge PVR series (150/350/500) or any of the ATi Theater 550 based TV tuners, which are made by many different vendors like Saphire, Connect3D, MSI, etc, or any other TV tuner with a Hardware based encoder. I believe most of the remotes that come with the Theater 550 cards are MCE certified. Look on the MS website for a list of MCE compatible remotes.

Originally posted by: CoyKiliOh general question, if you wanted to display two channels at once, like split the TV: ESPN on the left and CNN on the right or something- do you need two TV tuner cards?

Yes, two tuners, or a dual tuner card, like the Hauppauge PVR-500. Another advantage of having two tuners is the ability to record from one channell while watching a different one.

 

[rise]

htpc cases can be tough. i had the silverstone lc-13 for a time but temps were difficult to control. AT recently did a review of 4 cases and favored the overturee II.

i like the theater 550 tuner over the hauppauge for pic quality.

 

[CoyKili]

The overture 2 sure looks a lot like a Dell workstation on its side doesn't it?

Maybe it's best to have WinXP + AIW card + a second tuner.
If I use WinMCE as I understand it, I'd need a 3d Vid card + 2 tuners and a separate remote.
?
Which SATA hard drives are quite? I'm worried that after I load this thing up it's going to sound like a leaf blower.

 

[greigmg]

For the pentium M desktop motherboards out there, the heatsink/fans that can fit on them are very specialized - without some heavy customization you can't put some gigantic heatsink on them to cool it passively.

On the same note, though, whatever case you decide on might not have room for a tall heatsink anyway. Just a though.

 

[imported_ST]

Case: Uneed X15e or Ahanix D5 (has built in IR Blaster). If you want to skimp a little bit, I'd recommend the Silverstone LC17...great case and has 2 rear 80mm fans / 2 92mm front fans for quiet cooling.

Mobo / CPU: I highly advise you to get a dual core (AMD X2 preferably). DVD playback with FFDShow will hog up a lot of the CPU, especialy with Lancoz4 setting, but you'll get tremendous results! See FFDShow Postprocessing for more info.

Vid Card: Given the state of its Avivo drivers, I would recommend you go with Nvidia instead. Purevideo is a much more mature, has more features, and also supports dual core processors for increased performance.

TV Tuner: ATI HDTV Wonder. If you plan to run MSMCE as I expect you will, the HDTV Wonder works great, although with hacked drivers.

DVD-DRives: I'd recommend a SATA DVD-Dual layer burner, which leaves the Plextor's for now.

HDD: Don't skimp on this! You can NEVER have too much storage. Speed is not as essential as capacity, because if you plan to DVR HDTV content or do DVD Archiving, it adds up fast!

The other suggestion I have for you, is to actually look at this backwards, meaning decide on which Monitor / TV you will be working with first. This will drive the hardware requirements. If your set is capable of say 1920x1080, it will require immense hardware requirements in CPU/GPU. If it is only say 1024x768, you can skimp out on the latest stuff without sacrifcing much quality.

 

[CoyKili]

I was thinking I should probably go with a case which can take a full size ATX power supply, because the SeaSonic gets such great ratings, and in my whole life I've killed 2 HD's, a bit of Ram, and at least 6 PSU's.

The Micro ATX board A8N-VM CSM seems great, is there any benefit between Micro ATX or full size ATX, other than expansion slots they seem identical.

I heard that if you go with a dual core processor the results will be better with WinXP pro, any opinions on OS?

Tell me what you guys think of this build.
199 CASE: Uneed X11
23 17-1 Card reader+usb in case PcAlchemy
69 VFD+IR with case
79 PSU: SeaSonic S12-430 ATX12V 430W Power Supply - Retail
116 OS: Windows MCE or Win XP or
free Microsoft Windows XP Professional or
150 Microsoft Win XP X64 Edition 1
MOBO:
109 ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
PROC:
322 AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor
Model ADA3800BVBOX - Retail (has great power per watt)
RAM:
240 CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)
VID CARD:
250 GeForce 6800XT PCI-Ex
350 GeForce 7800gt
TV TUNER (2 of these 3):
89 PowerColor T55E-P03 Theater 550 PRO PCI-Express x1 Interface Tuner Card
138 Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500 MCE White box PCI Interface Tuner Card - Retail
91 Hauppauge 1062 PCI Interface WinTV-PVR-150 MCE Kit Tuner Card - Retail
DVD Burner:
70 Lite-on *region free
HardDrives:
221 WD4000YR (400 gig each)
221 WD4000YR (pretty quite)
70 Sound Card
70 Keyboard,Mouse,Remote
Total about $2000..

 

[Traire]

Originally posted by: CoyKili
TV TUNER (2 of these 3):
89 PowerColor T55E-P03 Theater 550 PRO PCI-Express x1 Interface Tuner Card
138 Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500 MCE White box PCI Interface Tuner Card - Retail
91 Hauppauge 1062 PCI Interface WinTV-PVR-150 MCE Kit Tuner Card - Retail

If you want dual analog tuners, I would go with a pair of Theater 550's or the Hauppauge 500 MCE.

 

[crizzar]

the evga nvtv dual-tuner card is awesome and only takes up one slot