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I put together a shopping list for a HTPC today. My 7 year old PC finally kicked the bucket, so I wanted to build a HTPC on the cheap as a stopgap, then later this year build a new gaming rig and port this over to the TV. Anyways, here's the parts list. I wanted to keep the system under $400, and I think this build leaves me lots of room for flexibility - I can add an eSATA drive, more RAM, change the processor, and have some expansion slots for later add-in cards - and maybe add a Blu Ray reader if I feel the need for that. Case: $50: hec Black SECC 7K09 $120: GIGABYTE GA-E7AUM-DS2H $70: Intel Pentium E5200 $30: G.SKILL 2GB DDR2 800 (2 x 1GB) $75: Western D. 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s $35: Zalman CNPS7700-CU 120mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan Total: $380 (I have a DVD burner at home, so ignore the lack of that on this list) -Is $35 justifiable for an aftermarket cooler, or can the stock heatsink/fan do the job? I want it as silent as possible, and I hear that the power supply for this is noisy and breaks easily, so that makes me a bit warry. Is it still impossible to have a DIY solution that would enable me to record HDTV from a cable company? I.E., if I have Verizon HD, I can't record Discovery HD and others unless I have a CableCARD system from an OEM, or a TiVO HD. Is this still the case? VVVV Edit: Heatsink is 67mm high (2.64 in). Case internal height is 3.9". I think I should be good with 1.26 in clearance all around, but you never know. As long as the DVD doesn't stick out too far, I should be good to go. Praesil fucked around with this message at 23:21 on Mar 31, 2009 |
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Mar 31, 2009 19:36
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I basically bought the exact same setup as you minus the cooler (and I already have RAM and HDD). I'll let you know how loud the stock cooler/fan is once I get it hooked up. Keep in mind that this case is small and most coolers won't fit inside the case.
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Mar 31, 2009 20:50
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Why am I getting headaches with my new HDTV? I just got a Samsung 32" 720p LCD (LN32A450) and it's hooked up to my e8400/8800GT MediaPortal PC over VGA and coax digital audio. The picture is great and MediaPortal sees to work fine but when I watch a 720p file, I get what I think is called judder (or maybe dropped frames?) during fast scenes and it makes my eyes and brain hurt. I thought it was my CoreAVC CUDA acceleration loving up somehow, but now I've switched everything over to DXVA through the MPC-HC MPC decoder and I get the same feeling. I notice it in MPC-HC and in MediaPortal. The worst file is Quantum of Solace with the chase through the tunnels/roofs/rope-fight in the very beginning. It's hard to describe but it seems like little quick, half-second accelerations in the video that makes my face squinch up and I have an uncontrollable urge to rub my eyes for an hour. Whether I'm using CUDA or DXVA, both seem to be working fine in a technical sense. The resolution is 1360 x 768 at 60hz and the TV doesn't have any kind of 24p film mode that I'm aware of. el_caballo fucked around with this message at 22:49 on Mar 31, 2009 |
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Mar 31, 2009 21:57
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I need some suggestions on software for a HTPC. I have used XBMC for some time now on my xbox but alas it is starting to have some problems playing back some streamed xvid's etc. The system will be a Windows PC, modern enough to run HD stuff. All I want to be able to do is go to a menu that has dvd cover albums and maybe some info like XBMC does when you link it to imdb. I want the same basic idea. Drop a movie into a folder on a network computer-->scan folder from HTPC-->cover art detected by title through imdb and away we go. The only thing this will be used for is music and movie playback so recording is not a big deal. Any thoughts on something straight forward that is like xbmc but not xbmc?
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Apr 1, 2009 03:52
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strikrr posted:I need some suggestions on software for a HTPC. I have used XBMC for some time now on my xbox but alas it is starting to have some problems playing back some streamed xvid's etc. Just to be sure, you do know that XBMC is available on PCs, correct?
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Apr 1, 2009 06:44
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WTFBEES posted:Just to be sure, you do know that XBMC is available on PCs, correct? Yes...just been having trouble with it lately not streaming some Xvid's and having some problems with the IMDb scapper not working properly now. So I was looking for some alternatives.
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Apr 1, 2009 07:01
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strikrr posted:Yes...just been having trouble with it lately not streaming some Xvid's and having some problems with the IMDb scapper not working properly now. So I was looking for some alternatives. Media Portal does exactly what you want. The IMDB scraper works like you would expect.
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Apr 1, 2009 15:45
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OK I think I fixed my own problem. FYI if you're running SPDIF for audio and you've got a 24fps file with DTS encoded sound, some bug in DirectX leads to jerky video playback. I don't know if it matters whether the video is HD or not. The fix is to use AC3Filter and have it set to only decode DTS. In MediaPortal, you have to set AC3Filter as a post-processing plugin.
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Apr 1, 2009 18:20
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Jensen posted:Media Portal does exactly what you want. The IMDB scraper works like you would expect. Been looking at their site but not seeing how it handles .iso rips of a dvd.
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Apr 1, 2009 19:15
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Jensen posted:The E5200 works fine for 1080p in my HTPC. "Any old program"... well maybe not. It might hitch a tiny bit if using VLC to play a 1080p mkv for example. But VLC is extremely inefficient compared to other decoders. OK I took your advice and tried out "killa sampla" and I am getting dropped frames. How do I go about using CoreAVC with my player of choice? For arguments sake I am using MPC, but I cannot for the life of me (even after searching) how to make sure CoreAVC is being used. jenny jones fan fucked around with this message at 14:00 on Apr 2, 2009 |
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Apr 2, 2009 13:40
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Milky_Sauce posted:OK I took your advice and tried out "killa sampla" and I am getting dropped frames. How do I go about using CoreAVC with my player of choice? For arguments sake I am using MPC, but I cannot for the life of me (even after searching) how to make sure CoreAVC is being used. Not sure. Why use Core AVC when Media player classic will play killa sampla back fine with its internal decoder?
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Apr 3, 2009 01:30
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What's the cheapest way to build a HTPC that meets or exceeds the following specs:
I looked at the GA-E7AUM-DS2H but it doesn't seem to support TV-out. I think I have a PATA hard drive to use, and a PATA DVD burner (though both are pretty loud and I may pick up a new hard drive, at least.) I also have a copy of XP Pro not doing anything right now. Am I correct in assuming that XP media center edition isn't really worth it? Edit: Would this get the job done? I'm hoping that I can add in a PCI/VGA/PCI-E videocard to get TV-out and 64MB of VRAM, but is a PentiumM 1.8GHz as good as a Pentium 4 2.33GHz? Magicmat fucked around with this message at 08:39 on Apr 3, 2009 |
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Apr 3, 2009 08:12
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Jensen posted:Not sure. Why use Core AVC when Media player classic will play killa sampla back fine with its internal decoder? That's precisely the problem. Media Player Classic will not play killa sampla back fine for me. It's choppy as hell.
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Apr 3, 2009 09:09
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Milky_Sauce posted:That's precisely the problem. Media Player Classic will not play killa sampla back fine for me. It's choppy as hell. Something wrong then. I have that processor and not only can I play it back perfectly in Media player classic Home Cinema but I can also use the codec in media portal and play it back perfectly there as well. Totally stock speeds with 2 gigs of RAM using Vista Ultimate.
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Apr 3, 2009 11:21
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Magicmat posted:What's the cheapest way to build a HTPC that meets or exceeds the following specs: Just curious what you mean by TV out? It has both HDMI and DVI... what are you looking for? EDIT: Woops, reading comprehension. Nevermind. That processor is not fast enough to playback 1080p. Jensen fucked around with this message at 11:30 on Apr 3, 2009 |
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Apr 3, 2009 11:24
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Jensen posted:That processor is not fast enough to playback 1080p. And any suggestions on a system that does support all that?
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Apr 4, 2009 00:03
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I hate to make 2 posts in a row, but If I were building my own system, I was looking at the hec Black SECC 7K09 case. Around that price range, is there any other case that is smaller and/or quieter? Also, what's the quietest CPU heatsink/fan that will fit in that case and cool a E5200? The Scythe Mini or the Zalman CNPS7700-CU, maybe? I'm not adverse to buying a quieter fan for those that come with a loud fan, if such a thing will work.
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Apr 4, 2009 02:06
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Magicmat posted:I hate to make 2 posts in a row, but i was looking at a similar build above and was worried about this too One Newegg review seyz: IMPORTANT...Use right angle SATA connectors and right angle SATA power connectors. I went on the suggestion of someone else in the reviws and they said a Zalman CNPS 8700 cpu cooler fit fine. It does...if you use 90 degree power and sata connectors. I cannot stress this enough, since trying to fit everything in the case, you can possible crack off a SATA connector either on the motherboard of your hard drive. Also, use wire wrap to maximize airflow in the case. Power LED connector was not compatible with my motherboard. Lastly, remove the plastic cpu shroud which is attached to the inside of the removeable cover if you decide to go with the Zalmancooler. It hits the cooler when you reinstall the case. Temps: CPU 98 degrees F Mainboard 88 F Zalman 8700 cooler is 120 x 123 x 67mm, so stick to that and you should be golden. CNPS 7700 - 136 x 136 x 67mm, slightly bigger and might whack the SATA drive CNPS 7500 - 121 x 121 x 67mm, a few bux cheaper and the same size Scythe mini is 115mm high (4.5"); Case height is 3.9". You'd have to cut a hole to make that fit. tl;dr Any cooler that is approx. 67mm tall should fit. Be wary of the 120x120mm approximate width/length
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Apr 4, 2009 03:20
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OK, how does this sound? (Typed because I can't link to my drat Newegg wishlist, even after 'sharing' it.) e5200 - $70 Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H - $70 Scythe SCMNJ-1000 "Ninja Mini" - $30 Powercooler AX4350 256MD2-H Radeon HD 4350 - $36 - $15 MIR EDIMAX EW-7128G PCI Wireless Card - $20 hec SECC 7K09 MicroATX case - $45 Logitech EX 100 USB RF Wireless Keyboard and Mouse - $25 I have a CD-ROM drive, hard drive and RAM already. I was hoping for something smaller, less powerful and cheaper (like I said, the specs a few posts up are my minimum requirements) but it doesn't seem likely I can do that for less than I have here. Which sucks because I'm going to have to lug this thing between my bedroom and living room daily.
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Apr 4, 2009 06:53
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Magicmat posted:OK, how does this sound? (Typed because I can't link to my drat Newegg wishlist, even after 'sharing' it.) Why are you getting the board with the 7100 nvidia card on it when you're just getting a pcie card anyway? why not go with the GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L that is $52? Here is my possible build. I'm just using it for recording and playing back OTA recordings and possibly 720p video. code:Dobermaniac fucked around with this message at 17:44 on Apr 4, 2009 |
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Apr 4, 2009 14:31
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Magicmat posted:OK, how does this sound? (Typed because I can't link to my drat Newegg wishlist, even after 'sharing' it.) Since you are going for low price... why bother with the ninja mini? I just use the stock cooler in my HTPC and it is drat quiet and keeps everything plenty cool. edit: also I bought that same wireless keyboard/mouse and at first I was extremely disappointed with it. The usable range was like ~4ft. I got a new TV stand though and for some reason that made a huge boost to the range. Something about the material that the receiver sits on I guess. Jensen fucked around with this message at 16:59 on Apr 4, 2009 |
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Apr 4, 2009 16:55
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Dobermaniac posted:Why are you getting the board with the 7100 nvidia card on it when you're just getting a pcie card anyway? why not go with the GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L that is $52? Jensen posted:Since you are going for low price... why bother with the ninja mini? I just use the stock cooler in my HTPC and it is drat quiet and keeps everything plenty cool. For reference, my desktop has a Scythe Ninja + 120mm fan, a Zalman fanless video card heatsink, two Samsung hard drives chosen for their quietness, and 3 120 mm case fans, all Nocturne ultra-quiet (sub-20dB) fans (as is the one strapped to the ninja.) And even then I've investigated ways to get it quieter. So my tolerance for noise is pretty low, hence the ninja mini. I was also going to replace the ninja's fan, and the default case fan, with Pabst ultra-quiet 80mm fans that I have laying around. Magicmat fucked around with this message at 03:20 on Apr 5, 2009 |
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Apr 5, 2009 03:13
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Magicmat posted:Because I didn't see it. Thanks for the heads-up, that's exactly why I posted here. Ah well then I suggest you go with your ninjitsu fan then if your tolerances are that low. I sit maybe 10 ft away from my HTPC and without the power led would have a hard time telling it's even on.
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Apr 5, 2009 04:03
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Jensen posted:Ah well then I suggest you go with your ninjitsu fan then if your tolerances are that low. I sit maybe 10 ft away from my HTPC and without the power led would have a hard time telling it's even on.
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Apr 5, 2009 04:08
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OK, new house in the pipeline, needs a new all singing/dancing HTPC to keep me entertained  1) Is there a decent mid-to-high end graphic card out there with HDMI out? All the ones my quick search has pulled up are 'media' cards with less game-graphics capability. My current PC has an 8800GT in it and it's doing me fine, for a yardstick. 2) If not, will a DVI->HDMI connector work just as well? I ask as I'm trying not to trip over the HDCP hurdle, and I'm guessing video out through DVI and into HDMI won't be HDCP authenticated? 3) Related to the above, is there any audio encryption that piping sound to my AV amp via optical rather than HDMI will trip? 4) Any recommendations for a good Freesat-compatible TV-in card? While I don't watch a massive amount of TV, it'd be nice to have the option occasionally. A friend gave me the nod on this one, any good?
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Apr 6, 2009 10:15
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1. Yes. But your 8800 GT is just fine and you can just buy a DVI->HDMI connector, you'll lose audio over HDMI but who cares as you are using optical out. high mid-end Ati Cards support audio from the DVI port, and even come with an HDMI port. I bought the low-end HD4350 and it came with 2 DVI ports and a HDMI port. All three can actually drive a display simultaneously which I thought was cool. 2. Yes. If your card DVI port is HDCP compliant there should be no problem. 3. Unfortunately yes. Optical doesn't have enough bandwidth to support more then PCM 2.0 or DTS-Core//DD for 5.1 audio. Blu-rays with DTS-HD, DTS MA,DD+, or DDTrueHD will only play their core components. And if you try to send the decompressed PCM there isn't enough bandwith for more then 2 channels. Even if you were to use HDMI receiver, the douchebags at the blu-ray forum decided that unless your sound card has been blessed by a voodoo shaman, you can't bitstream the compressed audio and must receive the decompressed PCM audio down scaled to 48/16 or 48/24 or something stupid like that. Arcsoft's TMT 2 patch level 125 or older ignore this restriction, but are also known to be massively unstable. If you use the latest version of 2 it down scales to 48/24, and 3 down scales to 48/16. If you have purchased a card blessed by a shaman then you need to use the OEM version of Arcsoft [which I hear is crappy] or Arcsoft 3 which doesn't let you use its codecs in external apps. But if you're a normal human being without a crazy setup you probably couldn't notice the difference, except for the lights on your receiver. 4. No idea.
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Apr 6, 2009 19:05
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Will I notice a difference if I use VGA instead of HDMI on my win7mce computer? All it is going to do is record from a digital tuner?(It'll be plugged up to a samsung 42inch 1080p lcd tv) Do I need to move from a wolfdale 5200 to a 7400? Would it be worth it?
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Apr 6, 2009 22:23
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Dobermaniac posted:Will I notice a difference if I use VGA instead of HDMI on my win7mce computer? All it is going to do is record from a digital tuner?(It'll be plugged up to a samsung 42inch 1080p lcd tv) Probably not a huge difference, but going digital (DVI/HDMI) will likely work better. You might have overscan problems with VGA if I recall correctly. Since any modern video card is going to have DVI out, you might as well get a DVI to HDMI cable. Bonus points if you can run audio over HDMI as well. quote:Do I need to move from a wolfdale 5200 to a 7400? Would it be worth it? If you're only capturing US broadcast HD content from OTA or cable, it's going to be encoded as MPEG2, which is not terribly CPU intensive. You should be fine with a 5200. If you are planning on playing back other content (namely x264 encodes), you will probably want more horsepower.
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Apr 7, 2009 17:19
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NoneMoreNegative posted:OK, new house in the pipeline, needs a new all singing/dancing HTPC to keep me entertained Some of the newer nVidia video cards (8, 9, and GTX cards) support audio passthrough with their special DVI->HDMI adapter. It basically uses un-used DVI Dual link pins to cary the audio over. It does this using the sPDIF header that is found on many motherboards. I use it with my P5Q/GTX260 and it works well. You just have to select Digital Audio Output for your device. I don't know what types of audio it will passthrough though. I haven't tried anything 5.1 or better because I don't have a reciever just yet. E: and the new video cards will support DXVA so you could offload h264 to the GPU if your program you use for playback supports it
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Apr 7, 2009 18:28
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I've got an existing HTPC that has problems playing large (over 10G) 1080p avi/mkv files. Video playback will lag, skip, become distorted, etc. Smaller files play fine. I've used both vlc and smplayer. Smplayer has less problems then vlc, but it still can't play large 1080p files without issue. HTPC specs are: amd athlon 64 dual core 4200+ nvidia geforce 8500GT 512M ram, dvi output 4g ram asus motherboard, realtek HD audio, coax spdif output Should I be looking at alternate media players, different codecs, or hardware. The video card is something I randomly bought at Best Buy. My HTPC was supposed to come with an onboard ATI chip w/HDMI output. I was sent the wrong motherboard, so I bought a random video card rather then lose weeks in shipping & waiting for new parts. If the HTPC has any hardware weakpoint, it's going to be that video card.
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Apr 9, 2009 15:32
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inignot posted:I've got an existing HTPC that has problems playing large (over 10G) 1080p avi/mkv files. Video playback will lag, skip, become distorted, etc. Smaller files play fine. I've used both vlc and smplayer. Smplayer has less problems then vlc, but it still can't play large 1080p files without issue. Yes, the 8500GT is probably the weakest link. Bad performance in XP, and while its better in Vista it still struggles on 1080i material by either dropping frames or becoming a blocky mess. The only time the 8500GT is good in a HTPC is if you have a 8200/8300 and use it in SLI, then its close to a 8600GT in performance.
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Apr 9, 2009 17:26
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Okay, we just got our HTPC yesterday and have been trying to set it up all day today. We have installed all the drivers that came with and we've updated Vista to SP2, but we seem to have hit a wall: we've connected the HDMI cable between the HTPC and TV (Samsung LE32A656), and we get the video to display properly but there's no sound. What might be the problem here? If I've left out any important details, feel free to ask! None of us are exactly A/V wizzes.
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Apr 9, 2009 20:02
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WantlessPonder posted:Okay, we just got our HTPC yesterday and have been trying to set it up all day today. We have installed all the drivers that came with and we've updated Vista to SP2, but we seem to have hit a wall: we've connected the HDMI cable between the HTPC and TV (Samsung LE32A656), and we get the video to display properly but there's no sound. What might be the problem here? If I've left out any important details, feel free to ask! None of us are exactly A/V wizzes. What video card is the HDMI coming from?
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Apr 9, 2009 20:03
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The Human Cow posted:What video card is the HDMI coming from? It's a Radeon 3300. We just tried to play some sample music from the harddrive, with headphones connected to the HTPC - no sound. We didn't get anything when we tried a CD either.
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Apr 9, 2009 20:23
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WantlessPonder posted:It's a Radeon 3300. right click the speaker icon in the taskbar and go to play back devices. Make sure HDMI out is selected.
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Apr 9, 2009 22:31
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Jensen posted:right click the speaker icon in the taskbar and go to play back devices. Make sure HDMI out is selected. Okay, this is really weird. This worked. But it also works when you change back to "Speakers (VIA High Definition Audio)" - that is, I get sound out of the headphones. I still don't get any sound out of the TV speakers though.
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Apr 10, 2009 10:03
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WantlessPonder posted:Okay, this is really weird. This worked. But it also works when you change back to "Speakers (VIA High Definition Audio)" - that is, I get sound out of the headphones. I still don't get any sound out of the TV speakers though. You did run the digital audio cable from your sound card/motherboard to the video card, right?
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Apr 10, 2009 18:25
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TheScott2K posted:You did run the digital audio cable from your sound card/motherboard to the video card, right? I'm pretty sure a radeon 3300 is just the integrated graphics part of a AMD 790GX based motherboard so it definitely doesn't need this.
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Apr 10, 2009 19:09
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evilalien posted:I'm pretty sure a radeon 3300 is just the integrated graphics part of a AMD 790GX based motherboard so it definitely doesn't need this. Yeaup, stupid assumption on my part.
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Apr 10, 2009 19:41
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Does anyone use Laptops for HTPCs? I know some Laptops have HDMI out and should be powerful enough to do full HD decoding but I never hear of anyone really making use of them as an HTPC. I figure that for a couple hundred dollar premium I could have an HTPC that doubles as a portable computer -- am I right? If so does anyone have any recommendations?
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Apr 11, 2009 03:26
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