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

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > The HTPC Thread - Dont buy an HTPC

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

K posted:

E: Holy oh my god this does support unencrypted QAM. So how does CableCARD fit into this whole scheme? Once again, I'm lost.

It doesn't. Whatever you get has to have a cablecard slot, and run vista if you want encrypted hd off cable.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2007 04:48

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 2, 2024 06:17

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

have you tried it without mirroring turned on incase thats causing an issue?

Also everything im reading says while its 1080p nothing but the atsc tuner and firewire supports 1080p input. Your best bet is to try to set the mac to 1080i and letting the tv do the rest. Though since its a dlp there will be a bit of overscan meaning your dock and apple menu will be cutoff.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2007 21:33

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

CDOR Gemini posted:

I've been considering trying to use my MacBook as a HTPC once I upgrade and I have a cable question: Does a converter like this exist?

DVI + Minijack or composite -> HDMI

You will get the mini dvi to dvi connector, and then a dvi to hdmi plug and hook directly into your hdmi port on your tv. for audio you can do analog or digital audio out from the macbook's headphone jack.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2007 06:18

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

SnatchRabbit posted:

I'm interested in building a DVR/PVR for my parents for Xmas but not sure how to go about doing it. I know that I'll need a PVR-150 card and some software, most likely MythTV. I'd like to build a fairly compact rig as cheaply as I can while avoiding the TiVO subscription fees. How much should I expect to spend? Could I spend less than I would for a new TiVO which I think are around $300 with HD support? Also, my parents are not tech savvy at all, so would I be able to program the box to boot directly into the PVR software? Would a PVR Linux Distro be worthwhile?

This is my basic list of Reqs:
Compatibility with Dish Network with an assortment of premium channels
Remote/IR blaster. Possibly a Harmony for Universal support.
Decent sized HDD, CPU and RAM for HD
Wireless support

I basically know which parts I should buy, but is there any way I could conceivably build something like this for $200-300? The Harmony could go, I guess to keep the price down. Any thoughts on which way I should go?

It would be a better idea just to get them the dish network dvr. I dont know of anyway of setting up a HTPC that interfaces properly with a satellite box doing HD stuff, you would have to have 2 capture cards with component and hd support, 2 dish boxes, etc...

They would be much better off just having the dish provided box.

# ¿ Nov 14, 2007 21:14

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Ubitquitin posted:

Sooooooooo....my big christmas present is a 24" Dell 2407WFT-HC monitor and I want to use this as a TV in my bedroom. I'm not worried about my CPU or video card but I am wondering what kind of TV tuner to get. I have regular cable but I will pay the extra to get digital along with sweet, sweet unencrypted HD (so I'll need QAM). The cable company though doesn't have all the local HD stations so I would need to get some over the air too. Finally I want to be able to record (this appears to be common now) and I am using XP Pro OS. I was looking at this card but it seem pretty pricey, but I am willing to get it if it gets the job done. Also what is the benefit to having dual tuners?

Also, what do some of the other HTPC software (Myth TV etc) actually do? Are they the same as the software that comes with the tuners only better?

you should already be able to get any unencrypted QAM stations without any change to your cable account, since they are unencrypted they are already being sent to your house clearly. To get the encrypted digital channels you will need a cablecard setup.

# ¿ Dec 26, 2007 09:13

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Saddamnit posted:

Thanks for your help, guys. I have a cable box through Comcast that has a USB port on the front of it. Any way I can use that in conjunction with an HTPC? I want to be able to watch one thing on my TV, while having something on a totally different channel being recorded on the PC at the same time.

no, most of the jacks on those boxes are disabled. The only ones that generally work are the outputs and the firewire.

# ¿ Jan 25, 2008 00:53

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

HinderedUseless posted:

Which leads me to my next question. I'm thinking of upgrading. I was thinking about a 50"-60" Panasonic Plasma. How do I know if under/overscan is going to be a problem? Are there sites that try and find this out?

Find out if the tv you are looking at supports 1:1 pixel mapping. It will either be a view mode, or on some tv's you can set an input as PC and it will do 1:1 pixel mapping. If you can do 1:1 pixel mapping then your tv should have zero overscan.

# ¿ Feb 7, 2008 20:50

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

vanilla slimfast posted:

It comes with a heatsink/fan combo. It'd be a good idea to get an aftermarket cooler that will run cooler and quieter than the OEM one.

The Zalman ones are really nice, IMHO

the retail intel heatsink/fans are fine if you arn't overclocking. Just enable fan throttling in your motherboard bios.

# ¿ Feb 8, 2008 22:50

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Got my Zotac AD10. Thing is working awesome. I can only hear the hard drive i have in it, the IR receiver can turn it on and off, and its even in logitechs harmony database.

# ¿ May 17, 2012 14:53

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

sweek0 posted:

If you're planning on running XBMC: It works a lot better with the Logitech Harmony if you set it up as a Microsoft MCE Keyboard in the Harmony software, and then use these shortcuts.

Yea, i found a walkthrough, set up a microsoft MCE keyboard and an SE remote so i can use all the functions. Thanks.

# ¿ May 18, 2012 18:00

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Staples carried the k400 and will price match.

# ¿ May 21, 2012 02:39

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

I played TF2 and HL2 without any real issues @ 720p yesterday (on my ad10). Ive only tried 8 and 16bit emulators but they all worked perfectly.

# ¿ May 21, 2012 15:26

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

g0del posted:

Would you mind linking the walkthrough you found? Because I'm not having any luck at all getting my harmony to talk to the ad10 when set up as a MCE keyboard. I'm running the latest beta of openelec, if that makes a difference.

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=95063

Here, you can learn the power on and off from the original remote if you want them. If you are using windows 7, put xbmc into your task bar shortcuts and make a key win+number of slot and you can launch xbmc with it.

# ¿ May 24, 2012 13:06

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

faustcf posted:

Does anyone know if the boxee will play .srt files?

It does.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2012 02:45

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Zotac has released a beta bios for the AD10 that allows you to set the video memory allocation. Setting it to 1gb seems to take care of any flash stutter i was having with 1080p files

http://www.zotacusa.com/forum/topic/5534-zbox-nano-ad10/

# ¿ Jun 18, 2012 16:07

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Hulu works fine through xbmc though the ui is lacking.

# ¿ Jul 10, 2012 02:52

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Esk1 posted:

My understanding is if your running xbmc on top of windows on one of those it's a little sluggish. Openelec would preform flawlessly but would have less features. Never ran one personally but it may be just preference.

Xbmc doesn't feel sluggish to me at all on an ad10.

# ¿ Jul 10, 2012 05:44

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Ciaphas posted:

Yeah I just got back with the AD-10 and I kinda remembered how butts Vista actually is . Is there anywhere online I can just buy another home premium key or something?

Anyone have any advice to offer on setting up/configuring the AD-10 or is it going to be pretty straightforward?

If you are using Windows then get the latest Catalyst drivers (12.7) as they fix an hdmi sound loss issue. Also install the beta bios from their forums

http://db.tt/K0NaXslU (do not share this link outside of this thread)

This will allow you to specify the video ram size (i set mine to 1gb which leaves 3gb for windows 7 which is plenty).

Then finally use the latest XBMC 12 http://xbmc.org/natethomas/2012/06/05/xbmc-11-0-may-cycle/

Make sure you plug your thumb drive/external dvd drive into one of the usb 2 ports when installing windows as the installer will not pickup the usb 3 ports.

# ¿ Jul 10, 2012 20:52

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

japtor posted:

Any particular reason for getting a 3610 vs newer boxes, or is it just to save some money?

How cheap are you talking? Newegg sells foxconn branded barebones that just need ram and HDD for $107

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856119059

# ¿ Jul 11, 2012 19:05

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Jim Jones posted:

I'm looking to build an HTPC since I finally cancelled the rip-off which was my cable subscription. Here's what I've come up with so far:

SILVERSTONE Black Aluminum / 0.8mm SECC Grandia Series GD05B micro-ATX Case

ASUS E35M1-M PRO Fusion AMD E-350 APU (1.6GHz, Dual-Core) AMD Hudson M1 Micro ATX Motherboard/CPU Combo

Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W Power Supply

Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory

Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Rii 2.4GHz USB Mini Wireless Keyboard with Touchpad For Wii/ PS3/ HTPC

The total comes out to around $625 with shipping, which is fairly reasonable. I'm not too familiar with Crucial SSD's, but it seems to have decent reviews for use as the operating system drive. The G.Skill memory doesn't show up on the ASUS motherboard's approved memory list according to the manual, but appears to be one model number newer from a previously listed model, so I'm sure it would work okay.

I was looking for a good compromise of mini-mouse/keyboard, and the Rii seems to meet that qualification well. I considered the Logitech diNovo, but the price seems unreasonably high, and many people report problems such as low battery life and connectivity issues. The Lenovo N5901 looks interesting, however, it is aesthetically weird and I could see my hands hating it. My ideal option would be something average remote sized with a relatively full keyboard, mouse function, media keys, and backlight if at all possible.

As far as the case, the price on the Silverstone is okay, but it's pretty boring. I like the look of the Antec Fusion HTPC Case, and it comes with a decent remote, but the price goes up. I'll spend some time and figure out which case I like more.

I still have research to do on what front ends to use, but there's other threads for that.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

This setup is only $597 and the motherboard has a $40 rebate on amazon. Free shipping if you have prime.

# ¿ Jul 12, 2012 21:36

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Ciaphas posted:

For those of you with a Zotac AD10, is there some trick I'm not seeing to make the remote that comes with it fully functional with XBMC? Most of the buttons seem to work OK (as keypress sims--so the OK button just sends Return/Enter, back sends Esc, etc), but some--the Info, Windows, and color buttons come to mind--don't seem to do anything or, worse, launch MCE. The ShowKey app doesn't display anything for those keys either.

Would it work better if I switch to OpenElec? Can OpenElec even do the SABnzbd/sick beard thing? Should I just buy a different remote ?

The zotac remote is sending windows media center commands, not xbmc commands. I recommend using a harmony remote and mapping the keys to keyboard commands.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2012 15:10

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Ciaphas posted:

How do I map the harmony keys to keyboard commands? I saw a Harmony 300 on the cheap today and picked it up, but I can't work out how to do that--I add the Zotac AD10 as a device but when I go to modify buttons it only shows commands, not keypresses.

Adding it as a ad10 just has the same commands as the factory remote. You want it to send keyboard commands. Here is the walk through

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=95063

if using windows 7 I recommend putting a shortcut to xbmc as the first item in the QuickStart bar and program a button to win+1 so pressing it will launch xbmc from the windows desktop.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2012 03:45

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Ciaphas posted:

I'm with you right up to the part where eventghost is supposed to display the key I'm hitting. Where is that?

Also, I thought I had to select a device on the harmony that's compatible with my IR receiver--namely the one in the ad10, not just any old device?

The link i posted sets it up to send keyboard keys. Use that. No need for extra software.

Even if you don't have activities you should still be able to map keys to buttons.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2012 21:03

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

New ad10 bios is up. Officially supports specifying video ram like the beta bios.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2012 04:16

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

japtor posted:

More fun times with the Zotac, apparently the internal IR receiver can boot the machine up but not wake it from sleep. The USB receiver can wake it at least, haven't bothered testing booting cause the machine won't be shut off. However the USB receiver appears to suck with anything other than the bundled Zotac remote, like from 10ft out or so the Zotac works fine, but not the Harmony 200 I just got (which works fine at similar range on my other machine). Hopefully a different receiver will do the trick.

And one little thing I noticed while messing with the Harmony's "Watch TV" button (to turn on the TV and wake at the same time) is that video doesn't come back, I guess something to do with HDMI handshaking or something. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an option for a time delay between the signals on the 200 so I just mapped wake separately. (and I'm too cheap for that little Gefen HDMI thingy that supposedly gets around problems like this)

Make sure you install the 12.6 or 12.7 beta catalyst drivers for hdmi issues. Some people have had good luck runnin it through a powered hdmi switch as well.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2012 13:53

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

You can get the Logitech K400 keyboard for $5 right now at staples. Its perfect for a HTPC.

http://slickdeals.net/f/4921844-4-99-Logitech-K400-Wireless-Keyboard-Touchpad-w-Unifying-Receiver-after-coupon-Staples-B-M-Only-YMMV

# ¿ Jul 24, 2012 14:59

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Super Dude posted:

What's a decent wireless keyboard for less than $40? I'll be connecting to my computer which is at a desk roughly 10-12 feet away. It doesn't need to be fancy, I already have a nice keyboard for when I'm sitting at my desk.

http://slickdeals.net/f/4921844-4-99-Logitech-K400-Wireless-Keyboard-Touchpad-w-Unifying-Receiver-after-coupon-Staples-B-M-Only-YMMV

# ¿ Jul 27, 2012 17:54

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

I cant say i ever hear my AD10.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2012 19:22

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Thermopyle posted:

Ok, fine you guys convinced me.

Going to set up my XBMC with Advanced Launcher and some emulators.

I've got like 8 Wiimotes...do those work ok with a BT adapter as emulator controllers?

Problem with wiimotes is they suck for anything but NES or master system. Id look into xbox 360 controllers.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2012 22:40

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Bonzo posted:

I had no idea you would use a Wiimote on an HTPC. I run a Revo3610 for my XBMC setup. Am I going to run into any issues? I mainly just would be playing old NES, SNES and genesis ROMs.

Genesis roms that use 3/6 buttons will be an issue.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2012 15:52

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

TraderStav posted:

So if I'm reading this right there are proper emulators for PS1 and PS2?? Holy cow, this is going to be great. What are the system requirements for these? My HTPC isn't that beefy, as it's designed for video playback and not games. I'm using onboard video as it is. I may need to invest a little into this sucker now.

I imagine the 'roms' are all :files: for those titles.

the ps2 emulator seemed to run fine on my AMD e350 system with onboard video. N64 not so much.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2012 16:52

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

mobby_6kl posted:

Let's change gears for a moment then! I asked about this already in the SH/SC keyboard thread but this is more suitable thread.

I'm currently using a C2D T61 I got from work for $100 and it works fine, however once I connect it to both video (VGA-only sadly) and audio, I can't really put it on the table and it become awkward to use for controlling the playback. So I've been looking at either of these:

I can get either version, with the older one being about $20 cheaper and having a trackball instead of the optical thingie.

However I was recommended this:

which is obviously going to be much better for actually typing on. But I was thinking that I'd generally only need to type for a quick search or something, and one-hand operation and accessible media keys would be more important. So what's your experience, does typical HTPC use lend itself to enough typing to warrant a "proper" keyboard? I'd really rather avoid buying both, I've spent enough as it is already and I still have to buy some B&W speakers

If you arn't using the keyboard for gaming, id probably consider this instead

http://www.amazon.com/FAVI-Entertai...ds=rii+keyboard

# ¿ Aug 27, 2012 19:58

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

TraderStav posted:

Use the component output of the cable box of you're worried about the device you choose won't have anything but hdmi.

Agreed, the cable box really gets no benefit from hdmi.

# ¿ Sep 3, 2012 04:22

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

B&h has the hdhomerun dual for $60 until midnight. Works with tons of tv software.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2012 01:31

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Fox_Spy posted:

Recently I got a new TV for one of the rooms in the house. I have a revo in another room running xbmc with an SQL server so that another xbmc instance can share the db. I used to have a full scale computer attached in this room, but I rebuilt it into a desktop for my wife.

As such I'd like to get a new computer for the second TV room. I've been reading the last few pages and people seem to be leaning towards the Zotac Ad-10 or id81. However, I'd like to be able to purchase and plug in and go like I mostly did with the revo. It would need to have wireless as I don't have a wire run to that room, although that may change as the revo got wired specifically because of the streaming over wireless issues.

My current setup:
The primary wireless router is one room and a hallway away. The wireless repeater is in the room below this. A network attached drobo is where all the media is stored. As I mentioned, a wired revo has the SQL db for xbmc to allow multiple computers to use one library.

What would everyone recommend in this case?

Wait for the ad12 and run an Ethernet line.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2012 04:22

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Crumps Brother posted:

I almost have my HTPC ready to go. Although now there seems to be just one problem left that's plaguing me. I can't seem to get decent network speeds through my system. My media sits on an external HDD that's plugged in to the USB port on a Linksys E3200. My HTPC is a Zotac AD-11 with XBMCuntu installed on it running an Eden build. For some reason the most I can squeeze out of my wireless connection is about 550KB/s. If I run a cable to the router from the HTPC then HD content will play with no problems (runs around 7.1MB/s), but if I try to watch any HD videos over wireless it has to buffer video every 10 seconds or so.

I should be able to play HD stuff over wireless, right? Are there better drivers out there I could try? I'm really at a loss for what else I can do. I'm also not sure if this question is better suited for the XBMC thread or another thread for networking support.

The zotac wireless card is poo poo. Hardwire it or order an intel card.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2012 19:47

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

berzerker posted:

I don't get quite what you're asking for here. Some sort of wireless HDMI wire? The way to broadcast an HDMI signal from one room to another is an HDMI wire. Alternately, an HTPC in the other room. If you're just worried about waking her up, get some headphones and turn the monitor away from the bed.

There are plenty of wireless hdmi devices.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...wireless%20hdmi

# ¿ Sep 11, 2012 20:32

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Why not just leave your server alone and build a small HTPC?

# ¿ Sep 26, 2012 19:43

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Gweenz posted:

No real good reason except I'd like to keep my energy bill down a bit, and I like to dink around with operating systems. I'd really like to get rid of the 1800 as well.

Replace the 1800 with a $60 router and stop using AD at home?

# ¿ Sep 26, 2012 20:15

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 2, 2024 06:17

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Gweenz posted:

Obviously nobody in their right mind needs AD at home, and my router is perfectly capable of DHCP. I have an AD server because I'm a student and it's good for practice.

The 1800 is a loud, horribly inefficient dual Xeon 2.8 hog (the price was right). So, it's getting replaced either way. If I have to dual boot and reboot to mess around with Server 2008 i can, but Ideally I'd like both my server and my media server/htpc on the same box, running 24/7.

If you want to practice install a VM on your regular pc and play with it there.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2012 21:35

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > The HTPC Thread - Dont buy an HTPC

«‹›9 »