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

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Ryokurin: Jul 14, 2001; Wanna Die?

Doc Faustus posted:

Bought a small formfactor PC at a garage sale, and I'm looking to turn it into a HTPC of some sort. If all else fails, it'll just be used as a Media Server.

It's got an AMD Sempron 3000+ (1.8 GHz) with 2GB RAM. I know this is generally enough to play regular AVI files or some such, but what about an MKV or any other 720/1080 file? Obviously I'd need to add a video card of some sort as onboard VGA isn't going to cut it.

Is this serviceable to play files? Act as a TV Tuner? Or is this doomed to be a media server forever?

EDIT: Lowest score in the "Windows Experience Index" is the graphics, at a score of 2. RAM and Processor score a 4. Since I bought the base machine for $10, I wouldn't have any problem spending some cash on good graphics, so long as it would actually be a decent HTPC afterwards.

For mpeg-2 it will be fine. anything over 720p is going to be a stretch however. And depending on the card that's in it now, even that may be impossible at a high res, due to the card not having enough bandwidth. A video card that can assist acceleration may help, but you may also want to think about power since anything from that era AMD and especially Intel is going to be a lot more power hungry then something low end from today. I recently redid my system using a Celeron e3200. Along with a gigabyte mainboard that has advance power management features I'm coming in about 30-40 watts lower then a system I had a few years ago with an A64 3200+. I have a 8600GT in to assist, but since that still is kind of iffy with subtitled content I usually run with DXVA off and I haven't seen anything higher than 60% usage. Grand total, not counting memory? $100. Probably could have gotten it under 80 if I went with a low end board.

# ¿ Feb 4, 2010 19:12

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 12:13

Ryokurin: Jul 14, 2001; Wanna Die?

May sound like a stupid question but it is valid: is the receiver on before you turn on the computer? I have a similar issue with my system. If the htpc is turned on before the set then windows won't activate the display. Never found a solution then to just make sure the set is on first or use DVI.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2010 18:18

Ryokurin: Jul 14, 2001; Wanna Die?

Crackbone posted:

Well, the good thing is virtually any HTPC platform can decode HD through the video card, so even if you don't need it now you'll have it in the future.

On the AMD side, an x2 240/245 + 785G board is low power and could handle what you need. You can even find "low power" 45w x2 240s for about $20 more if you want.
On the Intel side, an i3 530 + H55 motherboard would do the same thing, and by all accounts it's as good if not better for power consumption - neither one consumes more than 150w under load.

If you want SD recording, it's pretty trivial - there are dozens of NTSC tuners that you can buy for old fashioned analog cable.

Alternatively, an Acer Revo or Dell Zino will do everything you want as well, although for DVR functionality you'd have to get a USB tuner/video capture unit.

ANYTHING you buy today can handle SNES and probably PSX emulation as well.

Unless the real reason you want i3 is because of bitstreaming you can even go lower end with like a Celeron E3300 and a cheap 775 mainboard. The E3300 is dual core, supports virtualization, and x64 and is basically a Dual Core E5000 in a smaller die. I have a similar system running a GF8600GT and it's pretty much has run everything I've thrown at it, and for under 125W.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2010 16:11

Ryokurin: Jul 14, 2001; Wanna Die?

Question for the people using Revo's or basically any retail HTPC unit. Are any of you running it on a SD set, and if you are what equipment are you using to do it? I've been thinking about building a small system to replace my current ATX based system (since Comcast killed off unencrypted channels) but If I build one small enough to take when I travel I need something that can at least support s-video out and that's starting to get rare.

I thought about getting a WDTV, but most of my media is on discs, and my understanding the DVD drive mod still requires a hard drive to be connected and I rather not have wires all over the place. I've seen DVI/VGA to Svideo adapters but I'm not for sure if any are good for video. any suggestions?

# ¿ Sep 15, 2010 18:27

Ryokurin: Jul 14, 2001; Wanna Die?

TheScott2K posted:

An XBox360 can serve as a Windows Media Center Extender, which basically duplicates all the DVR features of Media Center using the computer's tuners, including watching live TV. I've always wondered why Microsoft doesn't make this more of a selling point, neither the PS3 nor the Wii does anything that cool.

True, but until recently it was too loud for anyone to take it seriously as an extender.

# ¿ Sep 28, 2010 17:13

Ryokurin: Jul 14, 2001; Wanna Die?

Tedronai66 posted:

Using anything other than confluence, views load slower than old people gently caress. Even on confluence it feels like pulling teeth. I guess I'm used to snappier interfaces.

My old computer (i5-750, ssd, etc. combined with a 6500-ish (or maybe I'll splurge for a 7700 to be able to do some gaming on it)) is going to become my htpc once I get IB. I don't really care much about power use, since it's usually only on when watching videos.

I learned a long time ago that typically when it comes to HTPC's a bunch of people saying that some low end piece of hardware can play HD just fine, there's usually some catch. Like the old Geforce 8300s (which could do 1080p but 1080i was horrific) or a lot of the Intel graphics which have judder issues. Most of the newer trends like the e350 and Atom's being similar in the fact that they just barely can handle HD and everything else is slow. After getting burned a few times I did similar and built a Celeron e3200 (which was a die shrunk core duo) and a AMD 5770 and hadn't had any trouble since. It's not really power hungry either, it peaks at 170w when it's being worked which is rarely.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2012 01:24

Ryokurin: Jul 14, 2001; Wanna Die?

PicoPSU's may work. You need to make sure that your computer dosn't use more power than it's rated however. http://www.mini-box.com/picoPSU-160-XT I have seen a few sold at Fry's but I think the biggest one was a 120w not the 160 in that link. I don't know anything about the company in the link, It's just what I found in a quick search.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2012 15:14

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 12:13

Ryokurin: Jul 14, 2001; Wanna Die?

sweek0 posted:

I've just switched to Synergy based on the recommendations in this thread, and it's awesome. I have my laptop nearby at any time anyway so I just open it up and move the mouse to the left to go onto my HTPC. It's so easy and smooth and works across different operating systems.

Maybe it's because I'm still in the process of setting things up, but one annoyance I have with Synergy is how it won't work with elevated programs. Have you found any work around other than disabling UAC?

# ¿ Sep 18, 2012 15:39

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