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Tedronai66 posted:Case: Pick any of these with a power supply under 70 bucks
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Feb 9, 2012 20:18
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I used the barebones Zotac Zbox E-350 (which seems to be deactivated on NewEgg), a 4GB stick of memory, and a spare hard drive that I got at work, because gently caress hard drives are expensive right now. I think that came out to about $250 total, and it runs like a dream (except when Sickbeard updates the library while I'm watching a show).
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Feb 9, 2012 20:30
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n0n0 posted:Thanks, you've given me a lot to consider. Adding a hard drive and a remote/ir received would add a little cost, too... but maybe I could get away with thumb drive for a while. If you have a smartphone, there are some pretty nice XBMC remote apps available. Also the Asus ion board I bought a while back came with a remote and an external laptop-cord style power supply.
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Feb 9, 2012 21:10
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Tedronai66 posted:Case: Pick any of these with a power supply under 70 bucks Specifically: (prices in Aus$ so you could probably source these cheaper in the US): Case and PSU: $35 http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16776 (I got what I expected to get for a case+psu at $35, it's a little noisy but it does the job, once in my HT cabinet I can't hear it). 4GB Ram: $32 https://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=13599 (I could have gone cheaper one this to cut some costs) Don't forget that motherboard has an on-board CPU/GPU so you don't need to shell out for either, so add a HDD you have laying around for a total build under $200. I rounded down, the motherboard cost me $145, but it looks like you can get it a lot cheaper there so $200 is achievable even if you have to buy a small HDD.
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Feb 10, 2012 01:29
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n0n0 posted:Thanks, you've given me a lot to consider. Adding a hard drive and a remote/ir received would add a little cost, too... but maybe I could get away with thumb drive for a while. $9 shipped for IR/Remote, http://www.dealextreme.com/p/wireless-multimedia-infrared-ir-remote-controller-with-usb-receiver-for-pc-1-cr2025-33872 I only needed the IR receiver since I use a Harmony, it's in transit right now will post how well it works (or not) when it arrives.
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Feb 10, 2012 01:31
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Factory Factory posted:How would I go about automating the following: Theoretically, MCEBuddy http://mcebuddy.com/ will do this, but I couldn't get it to work right for me. I ended up converting to DVR-MS and queuing up those files in Handbrake every so often.
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Feb 10, 2012 01:50
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do you guys ever combine file servers with your HTPC? For example, an HTPC with a 4 drive RAID5 array or whatever inside it? Or do you usually just buy one of the off the shelf arrays and eSATA it or whatever?
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Feb 11, 2012 22:28
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Anti-Derivative posted:do you guys ever combine file servers with your HTPC? For example, an HTPC with a 4 drive RAID5 array or whatever inside it? Or do you usually just buy one of the off the shelf arrays and eSATA it or whatever? I know people do, but I'll never understand why. Having a big, hit, loud computer with a bunch of HDDs in my living room doesn't sound fun, and I'd anything goes wrong with it you won't be able to use it for anything.
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Feb 11, 2012 22:53
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hmm, i suppose, but in my case the living room is basically the only room in the house other than the bedroom (London). Do you just network attach your storage (if so, do you use wifi or cables) or do you use eSATA or whatever because you need higher speeds?
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Feb 11, 2012 22:59
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Server is my office, and I have it connected via gigabit Ethernet. I have a homegrown WHS box full of SATA drives, and have never had a problem streaming anything, including 1080p stuff. If I was limited in space, I'd get a drobo (or whatever) and hope that I never max it out, then put that behind the entertainment epicenter. I seriously doubt you'd ever need eSATA for anything.
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Feb 11, 2012 23:04
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BattleHork posted:Theoretically, MCEBuddy http://mcebuddy.com/ will do this, but I couldn't get it to work right for me. I ended up converting to DVR-MS and queuing up those files in Handbrake every so often. That's looking pretty good, but it's not very configurable. I'll have to wait to see its output, I guess. Also, I dunno what I was expecting, but the conversion takes quite a while on my HTPC.
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Feb 12, 2012 00:30
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Anti-Derivative posted:do you guys ever combine file servers with your HTPC? For example, an HTPC with a 4 drive RAID5 array or whatever inside it? Or do you usually just buy one of the off the shelf arrays and eSATA it or whatever? Yes, my HTPC has about 7 hard drives in it right now, in an Antec 300 tower case. You can't hear the fans unless you're right next to it.
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Feb 12, 2012 19:17
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UndyingShadow posted:Yes, my HTPC has about 7 hard drives in it right now, in an Antec 300 tower case. You can't hear the fans unless you're right next to it. do you have any heat issues with that? I had an antec coolermaster with 4 HDDs and they would die more often than i would like (thankfully RAID 5 is mighty) and I suspect that it was due to heat issues. Also, would there be any issues tipping that case on to it's side to sit inside a TV stand? I accept a full ATX case is going to look balls, but that would at least reduce the amount. Looks like all the air intake is on one side, the front and the rear so it might be okay? Anti-Derivative fucked around with this message at 20:13 on Feb 12, 2012 |
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Feb 12, 2012 20:11
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Scratch2k posted:$9 shipped for IR/Remote, http://www.dealextreme.com/p/wireless-multimedia-infrared-ir-remote-controller-with-usb-receiver-for-pc-1-cr2025-33872 Received the remote/Ir dongle the other day and plugged it in. It works just fine natively with the included remote but refuses to work at all with my harmony (programmed as a MCE remote) or my actual MCE remote so the IR dongle must be hard coded to only work with the raw codes from the included remote. I could get around this by using the harmony to capture the raw codes from the remote, it does have some handy custom buttons (like left/right mouse click, alt-tab, media hotkeys) but 5 minutes after plugging it in and trying it, most of the commands stopped working and after several minutes of trying I couldn't get it to work again so chalk that up for $8 of lesson learned, I'm going to buy a genuine Hauppauge and use that, it works perfectly on my other HTPC.
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Feb 13, 2012 00:39
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OK, this is only kinda HTPC related, but I don't know where else to ask. I have an older computer (around 4 years old) with an Nvidia 8800gt in it. I run a DVI-HDMI cable from it to my HDTV currently. Obviously audio doesn't carry over this. This wasn't a problem before, but in my new apartment my computer and speakers are much further from the TV than before and the sound situation is not as good. I'm wondering if there's a cable or adapter where I can connect my video card's DVI and an audio cable from my motherboard's sound card, and then have an HDMI cable coming out of the other side of that to get audio and video to the TV. Does this exist? Some kind of signal fuser for audio+dvi->HDMI.
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Feb 13, 2012 05:01
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Yep, DVI + audio (either stereo RCA or SPDIF/coax) to HDMI converters: http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10114&cs_id=1011405
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Feb 13, 2012 07:06
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UndyingShadow posted:Yes, my HTPC has about 7 hard drives in it right now, in an Antec 300 tower case. You can't hear the fans unless you're right next to it. This is basically my setup. It's not anywhere near the TV, I use really long cables.
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Feb 13, 2012 07:38
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Anti-Derivative posted:do you guys ever combine file servers with your HTPC? For example, an HTPC with a 4 drive RAID5 array or whatever inside it? Or do you usually just buy one of the off the shelf arrays and eSATA it or whatever?
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Feb 13, 2012 08:39
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japtor posted:Yep, DVI + audio (either stereo RCA or SPDIF/coax) to HDMI converters: Which one do I want if my speakers just plug into a green headphone-style jack in the back?
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Feb 13, 2012 21:38
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LeftistMuslimObama posted:Which one do I want if my speakers just plug into a green headphone-style jack in the back? Alternatively if you want to go all digital, you can get some USB audio to SPDIF/coax adapter (~$20 I think) then hook that up to that other box.
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Feb 13, 2012 22:03
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Really good deal on an excellent HDTV tuner: http://www.dealigg.com/story-SiliconDust-HDHR3-CC-HDHomeRun-PRIME-CableCARD-Premium-Digital-Cable-Television-with-3-Digital-Tuner-2
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Feb 14, 2012 20:34
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Any recommendations on the cheapest way to run flash video to a tv? Something that can run all the time and is somewhat easy to use? My idea was a Logitech revue, any advice on that ?
Fcdts26 fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Feb 16, 2012 |
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Feb 16, 2012 06:31
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I know this is only vaguely, vaguely an HTPC question but: Can anyone tell me if there is a torrent client (for Mac) that I set up that so between certain hours it runs and during other hours it pauses everything? I forget to turn it on every day before I leave for work and never have anything new. It can't be on while I'm here because we are on limited bandwidth and the internet gets lovely.
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Feb 18, 2012 00:58
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Could you set up a cron job that would just quit the program at a certain time, and open it at another? Or are you looking for something more elegant? Because otherwise that would allow you to use any program of your choice.
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Feb 18, 2012 01:35
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Rrail posted:I know this is only vaguely, vaguely an HTPC question but: utorrent is on mac I believe and it allows scheduling times where it should be using less bandwidth (you can set it to stop completely if necessary).
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Feb 18, 2012 01:46
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i get unlimited internet between 2am and 8am (meaning what i dl/ul doesn't count towards my bandwidth quota for the month) so i have utorrent and sabnzbd run only between these hours. in utorrent it's a grid of squares you turn on/off under scheduler.
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Feb 18, 2012 02:47
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Oh sick, thanks guys. 
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Feb 18, 2012 20:45
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Transmission also has a "speed limit mode" you can set to whatever bandwidth restrictions you want and then schedule it
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Feb 23, 2012 07:59
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So what's the minimum spec I need to actually do Netflix HD on a htpc? e-350 obviously doesn't cut it. I was thinking an a6-3500 or something.
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Feb 23, 2012 17:46
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For the last year I've been running XBMC, Sickbeard,Couchpotato, and SABnzbd on an old headless laptop with a 2TB usb hard drive, attached to my TV via VGA and my soundbar via RCA. I desperately want to get something more streamlined, better performing, and sensible, but am pretty lost on what would be the right way to go. The OP is nearly 3 years old, and AVS is borderline incomprehensible. Most of the posts in this thread seem to be troubleshooting rather than success stories, so I'd like to know, does anyone have a build/setup that they're truly and completely happy with? My budget is $400-$500, and ClearQam tuning/DVR functionality would be nice-to-have but not necessary. The box is going into the bedroom, so noise is an issue, but I live in an apartment, so there's not a ton of good places to stick a server or NAS either. Thoughts?
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Feb 23, 2012 22:50
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I'm using a box I built out of the ASUS AT3IONT-I Deluxe. The power supply is laptop style so there is no fan blowing, and it comes with a remote that is pretty easy to set up with xbmc. I think there are newer versions out now, but I'm running all the same programs you are with no problems. 1080p works fine, and you can stuff it in any mini-ATX case you want. The only slowdowns I've noticed are when my laptop is backing up over the network, but that manifests mostly as taking forever for the save file dialog to pop up when I'm trying to save something from the web to the queue directory, and sometimes the first video I play on a given day takes a couple of seconds to start. I have no idea why that is, but it only happens once, so I don't really notice it.
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Feb 23, 2012 23:08
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cornface posted:I'm using a box I built out of the ASUS AT3IONT-I Deluxe. The power supply is laptop style so there is no fan blowing, and it comes with a remote that is pretty easy to set up with xbmc. A couple of questions; what do you use for the main system drive and for storage? Do you see any slowdowns when SABnzbd is un-raring a download while you're playing a video, or do you schedule your downloads and such for idle times? How much RAM have you got in there? Got a link to a laptop-style hard drive I can take a look at? I run into the same slow-down on the first video I play after a while, so I think it may be something in the power-saving profile for the USB ports or the USB drive spinning up.
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Feb 23, 2012 23:22
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bam thwok posted:A couple of questions; what do you use for the main system drive and for storage? Do you see any slowdowns when SABnzbd is un-raring a download while you're playing a video, or do you schedule your downloads and such for idle times? How much RAM have you got in there? Got a link to a laptop-style hard drive I can take a look at? I honestly can't remember the brand of drive that's in it now because I've swapped it out a couple of times. I want to say it is a 2TB WD Caviar Green desktop SATA drive. I have everything on the one drive and just have the OS partitioned off from /home and leave all my sickbeard/sabnzbd/xbmc configs and downloads in /home. I'm a reformed file hoarder and I delete crap I'm never going to watch again fairly regularly, though. I've never had downloads or sickbeard/sabnzbd affect watching videos at all. Since the video processing is mostly all offloaded to the video card it doesn't really consume much in the way of resources. I don't schedule them at all. I have 2GB of RAM which has been plenty.
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Feb 24, 2012 02:01
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bam the wok read through these two links which will help you get a grasp on what you want perhaps. http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=94199 http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?p=843683#post843683 I have a Zotac ZBOX-AD02-U and its completely silent and has played everything I have thrown at it in xbmc.
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Feb 24, 2012 02:30
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Ceton reduced the price for their 4 tuner (PCIe or USB) to $200: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13845_3-57381343-58/get-a-ceton-infinitv-4-tuner-for-$199/
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Feb 24, 2012 09:56
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I just want to be able to stream MLB.TV and 1080p movies from a laptop/netbook to my 52inch TV. Would anything with a HDMI out pretty much do the trick? I'm looking to go cheap as possible. Mostly it's for MLB.TV.
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Feb 24, 2012 22:50
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BotchedLobotomy posted:bam the wok read through these two links which will help you get a grasp on what you want perhaps. Thanks. I'm liking the ZBox; do you also use it as a sabnzbd box or have you got a separate server?
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Feb 24, 2012 22:53
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I do all my file storage and SAB work on a separate server in my closet. It could do the work fine, but I could see it bogging your video down during playback if it tried to unpack something. A lot of people have also been using the HP N40L for a htpc and storage setup since its a small box that can play 1080p and also holds up to 6 hard drives. Maybe that would work for you?
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Feb 25, 2012 00:22
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irrelevant, I just bought a boxee. It is everything I have ever wanted, so far.
Telex fucked around with this message at 23:23 on Feb 26, 2012 |
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Feb 26, 2012 05:31
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Telex posted:irrelevant, I just bought a boxee. It is everything I have ever wanted, so far. Yessss, 
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Feb 27, 2012 23:34
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