The HTPC Thread - Dont buy an HTPC - The Something Awful Forums

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blankooie: Jul 21, 2009

ASSTASTIC posted:

Can someone recommend me a sub 100$ wireless keyboard for my HTPC?

I sometimes pair up my apple wireless keyboard with my system when I need to type a bit. There is a nice software package available to remap some of the keys to your liking and such.

I usually stick with the remote that came with my tuner though

# ? Oct 27, 2009 14:16

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# ? Jun 12, 2024 06:09

bobzmuda: Jul 24, 2001

Blowupologist posted:

Any idea when this will be released?

No clue. I keep looking for updates but can't find anything. =\

# ? Oct 28, 2009 02:41

clockworx: Oct 15, 2005; The Internet Whore made me buy this account

ASSTASTIC posted:

Can someone recommend me a sub 100$ wireless keyboard for my HTPC?

I don't know if they'll do the amazon sale again, but I got this:

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-diNovo-Keyboard-for-Notebooks/dp/B001FB55GC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1256696085&sr=1-1

for $20 ($$50, and then a $30 rebate). I've been very happy with it so far, range is good and battery is still going on its initial charge after a few months.

# ? Oct 28, 2009 03:16

Jook: Jul 16, 2002

Since my computer is across the room from my TV I think I'm going to try to simply run everything from it via a LONG (30ft) HDMI cable.

My question is that I have an 8800gt video card and no optical out for sound. While I can get an adapter to go DVI->HDMI should I instead look to change out to something that can do both Video/Audio over 1 single HDMI cable?

# ? Oct 28, 2009 08:58

Kalrand: May 21, 2009

Blowupologist posted:

Any idea when this will be released?

I think it went up on new egg this morning:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883103234

# ? Oct 28, 2009 16:11

vanilla slimfast: Dec 6, 2006; If anyone needs me, I'll be in the Angry Dome

Jook posted:

Since my computer is across the room from my TV I think I'm going to try to simply run everything from it via a LONG (30ft) HDMI cable.

My question is that I have an 8800gt video card and no optical out for sound. While I can get an adapter to go DVI->HDMI should I instead look to change out to something that can do both Video/Audio over 1 single HDMI cable?

If you want to go that route, your best bet is to replace the video card with one that has an hdmi out that can also do spdif passthrough from your mobo (assuming your mobo has a spdif header on it)

Then you could just run a straight hdmi cable and carry audio and video

# ? Oct 28, 2009 18:39

ASSTASTIC: Apr 27, 2003; Hey Gusy!

clockworx posted:

I don't know if they'll do the amazon sale again, but I got this:

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-diNovo-Keyboard-for-Notebooks/dp/B001FB55GC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1256696085&sr=1-1

for $20 ($$50, and then a $30 rebate). I've been very happy with it so far, range is good and battery is still going on its initial charge after a few months.

Awesome. I got a tracker amazon. Hopefully the price will fall again

# ? Oct 28, 2009 18:51

Pinkied_Brain: Aug 4, 2004

Kalrand posted:

I think it went up on new egg this morning:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883103234

drat this is nice. It's the ASRock ION, but with wireless network, wireless keyboard and smaller. Would have saved a 100 bucks, not having to buy a USB wireless card and keyboard. <sigh>

# ? Oct 28, 2009 22:34

The_Franz: Aug 8, 2003

vanilla slimfast posted:

If you want to go that route, your best bet is to replace the video card with one that has an hdmi out that can also do spdif passthrough from your mobo (assuming your mobo has a spdif header on it)

Then you could just run a straight hdmi cable and carry audio and video

If you are upgrading specifically for HDMI audio you are better off getting a card that can do proper 8 channel LPCM over the HDMI connection. Any 4000 series (or newer) ATI card can accomplish this.

# ? Oct 28, 2009 23:10

TheScott2K: Oct 26, 2003; I'm just saying, there's a nonzero chance Trump has a really toad penis.

Jook posted:

Since my computer is across the room from my TV I think I'm going to try to simply run everything from it via a LONG (30ft) HDMI cable.

My question is that I have an 8800gt video card and no optical out for sound. While I can get an adapter to go DVI->HDMI should I instead look to change out to something that can do both Video/Audio over 1 single HDMI cable?

This can depend on your stereo receiver (if you're using one). Mine can put an analog stereo signal on top of HDMI video. As far as audio goes, if it's good enough for you it's good enough for you.

# ? Oct 29, 2009 01:17

bobzmuda: Jul 24, 2001

Pinkied_Brain posted:

drat this is nice. It's the ASRock ION, but with wireless network, wireless keyboard and smaller. Would have saved a 100 bucks, not having to buy a USB wireless card and keyboard. <sigh>

It's also got Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit thrown in for good measure.

ASSTASTIC posted:

Can someone recommend me a sub 100$ wireless keyboard for my HTPC?

I got this.

http://forums.techarena.in/portable-devices/1236546.htm

It's essentially a blackberry form factor (comes in black or white), but with a touchpad where the screen is. I didn't want a large keyboard since it's a bitch to store and I wouldn't be using the keyboard/mouse for much on the HTPC aside from navigating Boxee and the occasional web browsing. I think it's $45 shipped. It came highly recommended from some Engadget comments.

Haven't had a chance to hook it up yet as I was waiting for the Aspire Revo to be released first, but I had no problems ordering it.

bobzmuda fucked around with this message at 05:00 on Oct 29, 2009

# ? Oct 29, 2009 04:50

weaaddar: Jul 17, 2004; HAY GUYS WHAT IS TEH INTERWEBNET, AND ISN'T A0L the SECKZ!? :LOL: 1337
PS I'M A FUCKING LOSER

The revo is out, newegg has for 199 a model with xp and n230 and for 330 a model with the n330 and windows 7.

# ? Oct 29, 2009 16:15

Beer4TheBeerGod: Aug 23, 2004; Exciting Lemon

And my birthday is just a few weeks away!

# ? Oct 29, 2009 17:22

Kalrand: May 21, 2009

weaaddar posted:

The revo is out, newegg has for 199 a model with xp and n230 and for 330 a model with the n330 and windows 7.

getting the n230 model for a htpc would be pretty stupid.

# ? Oct 29, 2009 20:13

Kreeblah: May 17, 2004; INSERT QUACK TO CONTINUE; Taco Defender

Kalrand posted:

getting the n230 model for a htpc would be pretty stupid.

Eh, I got the single-core Zotac board and it's been working fine for me for a dedicated XBMC box. I don't use any particularly complex skins, though.

# ? Oct 29, 2009 23:24

blankooie: Jul 21, 2009

Has anyone heard about the ATI HD Theater 750 lately? Basically, this thing is a dream for Zotac boards because its in Mini-PCIe form factor (It replaces you're wifi, but you aren't streaming HD over wifi, are you?)

Any searches on this thing all relate to the press release from nearly 4 months ago. Nothing else since.

Click here for the full 800x600 image.

Yes, its that tiny and I want one.

# ? Oct 30, 2009 04:01

ACoolT5: Sep 23, 2003; All Hail Saban
Of the blood, and of the Tide

I just bought all of this from New Egg for around $450 and it kicks rear end.

code:

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400 F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail
Item #: N82E16820231122

ZOTAC GF9300-G-E LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9300 HDMI Mini ITX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813500035

Rosewill RC-CIX-01 BK Glossy Black Steel Cube Mini-ITX Computer Case with 150W Power Supply and 1x 80mm Fan 
Item #: N82E16811147133

Intel Core2 Duo E7500 Wolfdale 2.93GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80571E7500 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115056

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD753LJ 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822152100

The case is really great because I needed something that would fit a full sized TV-Tuner card (I'll need that once CableCard tuners come out later this year) and I wanted something that was nondescript.

Also, fullscreen Hulu works perfectly, as does XBMC with Aeon. It's not too bad at games either from my brief foray with the system yesterday. I only wish the wifi adapter for the motherboard was 802.11n. Other than that, it is beyond awesome.

# ? Oct 30, 2009 14:37

necrobobsledder: Mar 21, 2005; Lay down your soul to the gods rock 'n roll; Nap Ghost

Well I just got the ASRock 330 and the Aspire Revo isn't that big of a deal to me. The hard drive on the ASRock is twice as big, which does kinda help for longevity and it has a DVD drive for playing CDs and DVDs (possibly Blu-Ray later when slim drives are reasonably cheap!). I dunno, I think I'd rather have a slightly bigger, simpler box that has those rather than the wireless built-in with a possibly questionable wireless reception profile. The Windows 7 license is nice I suppose, but I don't really run Windows on anything.

BTW, the ASRock 330 has been pretty freakin' awesome so far. Loaded up XBMC Live, shoved the Aeon skin on there, and it's not noticeably slower than my box that runs on a E5200 with a GF9400. I feel kinda stupid I didn't buy one when they came out.

# ? Nov 1, 2009 04:52

PirateDentist: Mar 28, 2006; Sailing The Seven Seas Searching For Scurvy

I finally got my RF IR receiver from Hong Kong yesterday. (ASRock 330 w/ linux XBMC here) Got it working pretty easily. I still have a lot of tweaking to do to get all the buttons to do what I want on my Harmony, but all the navigation buttons work at least.

I also streamed some 1080p content over the network. I have a gigabit setup, and it didn't lose a single frame no matter how much I skipped around. Worked great.

Also updated to Ubuntu 9.10 without any issues if anyone was wondering about that.

PirateDentist fucked around with this message at 20:31 on Nov 2, 2009

# ? Nov 1, 2009 18:59

Dobermaniac: Jun 10, 2004

Are you using the SVN repositories? I just finished installing Karmic, mythtv, and xbmc9.11 from svn. Haven't seen any problems yet. I can tell you that vmware server shits a brick when installing. I have an xp vm to run playon to my 360 and old xbox, but i'll have to find another way to do it. Anybody have any ideas?

# ? Nov 1, 2009 19:11

Beer4TheBeerGod: Aug 23, 2004; Exciting Lemon

Turns out my Revo will be coming in tomorrow, so I'll set it up and let you guys know my impressions.

# ? Nov 1, 2009 20:43

Regnevelc: Jan 12, 2003; I'M A GROWN ASS MAN!

PirateDentist posted:

I finally got my RF receiver from Hong Kong yesterday. (ASRock 330 w/ linux XBMC here) Got it working pretty easily. I still have a lot of tweaking to do to get all the buttons to do what I want on my Harmony, but all the navigation buttons work at least.

I also streamed some 1080p content over the network. I have a gigabit setup, and it didn't lose a single frame no matter how much I skipped around. Worked great.

Also updated to Ubuntu 9.10 without any issues if anyone was wondering about that.

My RF Receiver has been sitting on my desk for a week. I guess it's about time to get that going.

Did you find a website that helped you with the commands?

# ? Nov 2, 2009 14:13

kri kri: Jul 18, 2007

Which RF receivers did you guys get?

# ? Nov 2, 2009 19:18

PirateDentist: Mar 28, 2006; Sailing The Seven Seas Searching For Scurvy

kri kri posted:

Which RF receivers did you guys get?

I just realized I've been typing RF instead of IR this whole time...

I got this one.

Search eBay for HP IR and you'll get a bunch of different ones. I don't need it but I picked up the remote and IR blaster for a whole $3 more over other options.

# ? Nov 2, 2009 20:30

Regnevelc: Jan 12, 2003; I'M A GROWN ASS MAN!

PirateDentist posted:

I just realized I've been typing RF instead of IR this whole time...

I got this one.

Search eBay for HP IR and you'll get a bunch of different ones. I don't need it but I picked up the remote and IR blaster for a whole $3 more over other options.

Whoops, me too.

That's what I got.

# ? Nov 2, 2009 21:10

Kreeblah: May 17, 2004; INSERT QUACK TO CONTINUE; Taco Defender

Regnevelc posted:

My RF Receiver has been sitting on my desk for a week. I guess it's about time to get that going.

Did you find a website that helped you with the commands?

What remote do you have? It's pretty easy to get them going once you figure out how LIRC and XBMC work, but part of it depends on whether there's already a LIRC config file for the remote you want to use. It's easy enough if there isn't, but it's an extra step.

# ? Nov 2, 2009 21:23

PirateDentist: Mar 28, 2006; Sailing The Seven Seas Searching For Scurvy

Kreeblah posted:

What remote do you have? It's pretty easy to get them going once you figure out how LIRC and XBMC work, but part of it depends on whether there's already a LIRC config file for the remote you want to use. It's easy enough if there isn't, but it's an extra step.

I have a Logitech Harmony 670.

# ? Nov 3, 2009 01:51

bam thwok: Sep 20, 2005; I sure hope I don't get banned

Hoping to get some input/feedback on a setup I intend to do in a couple of weeks.

I want a home theater system with XBMC at its core that:
1) Acts as HD DVR/live tv (able to watch 1 channel while recording another or record two at once while watching pre-recorded content)
2) Can run Hulu Desktop (for as long as it remains free)
3) Can play 1080p h.264 and Blu-ray discs without hiccup
4) Not-terribly-intense-but-not-lame gaming
5) Runs fairly noiselessly

The most workable solution I've got in mind is to run a not too powerful linux back-end with a Hauppauge 2250 dual hd tuner running myth tv, with 1-2 TB of storage. Front end will be an ASRock 330 running Win7 with XBMC, and use the Mythbox script for live-tv/dvr duties.

Ideally I'd like to eliminate the back-end, use the windows port of mythtv on the ASRock, and throw two usb tuners on it.

So I've got a couple of questions that you guys might be able to answer.

Is there a better setup that accomplishes all my goals, and is the condensed setup I've got in mind asking too much of one measly front end? Can anyone familiar with mythtv and XBMC tell me if it's possible to automate commercial removal, compression/transcoding, and transfer to XBMC's tv library during idle time? I remember reading that beyondtv metadata couldn't be read by XBMC, but haven't found much discussion of using mythtv with it.

# ? Nov 3, 2009 05:47

blankooie: Jul 21, 2009

USB Tuners aren't that great. Trust me, I've gone through plenty building my box.

there is a ion board now with a 16x PCI-E slot (drat me for buying early) that you could fit a decent tuner on.

Just a FYI for those who didn't know, you can use a pci-e 1x or 4x in a 16x slot.

# ? Nov 3, 2009 06:27

Beer4TheBeerGod: Aug 23, 2004; Exciting Lemon

First impression of the Revo has been pretty fair. It plays Hulu without a hiccup, even with all of the CRAP that Acer has decided to shove loving EVERYWHERE. What's the easiest way to do a clean install with Windows 7?

# ? Nov 3, 2009 13:37

Regnevelc: Jan 12, 2003; I'M A GROWN ASS MAN!

Kreeblah posted:

What remote do you have? It's pretty easy to get them going once you figure out how LIRC and XBMC work, but part of it depends on whether there's already a LIRC config file for the remote you want to use. It's easy enough if there isn't, but it's an extra step.

Harmony 880

I just need to take the time to google it. I am sure the commands are already out there for ubuntu.

# ? Nov 3, 2009 14:38

The Aphasian: Mar 8, 2007; Psychotropic Hops

Blowupologist posted:

First impression of the Revo has been pretty fair. It plays Hulu without a hiccup, even with all of the CRAP that Acer has decided to shove loving EVERYWHERE. What's the easiest way to do a clean install with Windows 7?

This is loving great news. I've been putting off buying a HTPC, not because of money, but because it seems like every week I come up with a new build ("But this one will let me play current games", "This one is an excellent price and will run video excellently, but no games", "This one is dirt cheap, but I don't know if it can run flash") etc. The price + OS + good stock model

What kind of video have you tried on it (720p, 1080p, BluRay???) and how easy was set up?

Not to say I'll buy it, I'll probably still drag my feet. I really want an HTPC with a BluRay drive that's rock solid, but if it can do it (as the Gizmodo preview said it could) I just might get it. The fool in me still wonders "What if I upgrade the processor just a little bit?"

# ? Nov 3, 2009 15:53

FCKGW: May 21, 2006

I'm wondering how it will compare with the $199 Revo they have out, with the single core Atom and ION LE chip. If Boxee can play fine with 720p content then I have myself a new HTPC box.

# ? Nov 3, 2009 17:19

Schmoli: Apr 22, 2002; Bunson is my hero.

BorderPatrol posted:

I'm wondering how it will compare with the $199 Revo they have out, with the single core Atom and ION LE chip. If Boxee can play fine with 720p content then I have myself a new HTPC box.

I've got the 199 Revo on its way to me now, should be here by Friday. The goal is to run XBMC live on it, but I'll definitely try out a few other things.

edit: I've got a handy collection of SD, 720p, and 1080p content to test with in containers from avi to mp4 to mkv to wmv...

Schmoli fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Nov 3, 2009

# ? Nov 3, 2009 17:39

FCKGW: May 21, 2006

Schmoli posted:

I've got the 199 Revo on its way to me now, should be here by Friday. The goal is to run XBMC live on it, but I'll definitely try out a few other things.

Please do. If I know XMBC can run 720p content fine then Boxee should be able to do it fine. There are a few guides around on how to install Ubuntu/XMBC on the higher end Revo and I'm wondering if everything would play out the same on the lower end model.

# ? Nov 3, 2009 17:54

Beer4TheBeerGod: Aug 23, 2004; Exciting Lemon

The Aphasian posted:

This is loving great news. I've been putting off buying a HTPC, not because of money, but because it seems like every week I come up with a new build ("But this one will let me play current games", "This one is an excellent price and will run video excellently, but no games", "This one is dirt cheap, but I don't know if it can run flash") etc. The price + OS + good stock model

What kind of video have you tried on it (720p, 1080p, BluRay???) and how easy was set up?

Not to say I'll buy it, I'll probably still drag my feet. I really want an HTPC with a BluRay drive that's rock solid, but if it can do it (as the Gizmodo preview said it could) I just might get it. The fool in me still wonders "What if I upgrade the processor just a little bit?"

Well at the moment I've just goofed around with Hulu and ESPN360. I'll try streaming Netflix when I get home. To be honest this is pretty unfamiliar territory for me. I've got Hulu desktop installed on it as well.

Set up was a breeze. Add batteries, connect the power and HDMI, and it's good to go. I've spent more time deleting unwanted crap than anything else.

What's a good way of testing XBMC? I think I'll install that next.

# ? Nov 3, 2009 17:58

FCKGW: May 21, 2006

Well poo poo, I just realized Lifehacker did a huge featured post on installing XBMC on the $199 Revo.

Installation seems to be a breeze, although they didn't mention how the playback looks thus far.

# ? Nov 3, 2009 18:03

Kalrand: May 21, 2009

I have the acer revo 3610 getting delivered today. I'd love it if anyone could point me in the right direction as to how I can take all of acer's crap off the install, or just fresh install windows 7 without a disk.

The plan is to put windows XBMC on and test out its performance with some 720p stuff I've got. If that works, the next is some 1080p videos, which I expect XBMC's non-hardware accelerated codec's to choke on, at which point my backup is XBMC live, since video performance is way more important to me than the ability to get hulu or other flash things. Though that would really be nice. And I don't feel like mucking about in linux unless I really need to.

# ? Nov 3, 2009 18:21

vanilla slimfast: Dec 6, 2006; If anyone needs me, I'll be in the Angry Dome

bam thwok posted:

The most workable solution I've got in mind is to run a not too powerful linux back-end with a Hauppauge 2250 dual hd tuner running myth tv, with 1-2 TB of storage. Front end will be an ASRock 330 running Win7 with XBMC, and use the Mythbox script for live-tv/dvr duties.

I use the 2250 with MythTV and it works great. Compiling the custom drivers was effortless (I believe they may be in the mainline kernel by now).

For XBMC, you can actually directly reference a Myth backend as a source without using the MythBox plugin. You only have limited options in what you can do though, and certain critical features (such as commercial skip) are not supported. I toyed with the MythBox plugin but it was an early version and seemed really buggy. I haven't revisited it in a few months

quote:

Ideally I'd like to eliminate the back-end, use the windows port of mythtv on the ASRock, and throw two usb tuners on it.

I'm pretty sure the windows port of mythtv is only for the frontend.

quote:

So I've got a couple of questions that you guys might be able to answer.

Is there a better setup that accomplishes all my goals, and is the condensed setup I've got in mind asking too much of one measly front end? Can anyone familiar with mythtv and XBMC tell me if it's possible to automate commercial removal, compression/transcoding, and transfer to XBMC's tv library during idle time? I remember reading that beyondtv metadata couldn't be read by XBMC, but haven't found much discussion of using mythtv with it.

Myth's backend is pretty customizable in terms of automated scripts you can schedule or run after a recording is finished. It's already got the built in commercial detection and transcoding options, as well as 4 custom "user jobs" you can point to anything. If you read through the mailing list archives you can read about folks using scripts to remove commercials with the cutlist, transcode to mpeg, burn to dvd, etc. The possibilites are pretty limitless if you have the tools and scripting knowledge to do it (or find someone who has already built something to do what you're looking for)

The XBMC-to-Myth integration is pretty good, but not quite 100% yet. It's the only thing keeping me from running XBMC as my frontend app instead of Myth's native frontend.

FWIW, I'm doing all this on a combined frontend/backend box that I built 2.5 years ago.

One other advantage to running XBMC on your frontend under linux is you could take advantage of VDPAU hardware acceleration for playback. Gaming and BluRay playback are a no-go on linux though

vanilla slimfast fucked around with this message at 21:03 on Nov 3, 2009

# ? Nov 3, 2009 20:59

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# ? Jun 12, 2024 06:09

Thermopyle: Jul 1, 2003; ...the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. �Bertrand Russell

There's work being done (slowly) on a unified PVR front-end.

# ? Nov 3, 2009 22:16

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