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critique my htpc build

S

songokussm

Senior member
I am building an htpc. I would like your input. It will be used for watching and simultaneous recording HDTV shows, watching bluray, and being a data server.

AMD Athlon II X2 240
2gb ddr2 800mhz
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 Dual TV Tuner
ASRock A785GMH/128M
Rockraid 2320 x4 1tb wdc green drives (amazon had a sale 54 bucks each 😀)

thank you.
 
just watch newegg combos. every other week they offer really good prices on Athlon II + 785G combos.

this isn't a bad deal, but normally you would be able to get an X3 for this kind of money. I think the third core would be handy when you're recording two streams and doing playback.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.357498

consider going up to 4GB of memory unless you are budgeting.
 
What about an i3/i5 dual core?
Cause the offer dts-hd and dolby true hd bitstreaming. Of course only needed if you have an an according receiver that can play it.
 
Your RAID is pretty much over kill if your intention as a 'data server' is simply to stream media.

Alyarb's combo of the Gigabyte 785g / Athlon 240 costs about the same. AsRock makes decent stuff but that Gigabyte mobo includes eSATA and has been qualified for the x6 Phenoms (if that matters to you down the road).

To stream my media I run a 5-bay external enclosure with WD 'Greens' off the eSATA on my Gigabyte 785g.

If you want to stick with the AsRock you may be able to simply purchase an eSATA bracket for less than $10 to serve an external enclosure. I've never tried to use the 'port multiplier' in that fashion, so you could give it a run and let us know how it works 😀




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heyheybooboo-
I already have the rocket raid and the hard drives. I also have cat6 ran in my walls. over kill is my middle name.

alyarb-
I thought 4gb of ram was overkill. My current home server has 2gb and is only using 15% of it. I will watch the combos. This doesn't need to happen anytime soon. just a side project.

beginner99-
I would really like to run dts-hd/dolby true hd but frankly could not find any information on it.
 
what blu-ray player are you going to purchase?

Windows 7?

R you looking at different software for running the tv media? I use to use beyond tv, 4 ATI 650pros with huge hard drive space, but now I switched to use Windows Home Server on my file server (which helps share out recorded shows that any PC backed up has) and then using the hdhomerun networked dual OTA/cable tv tuner which to me is the way to go b/c it is independent of the HTPC and has better uptime, uses less power, and provides seemless operation for all systems on your network. Just a thought. I now just hook up my gateway laptop as the HTPC with 3 cords (power, HDMI, and sound-spdif out to digitial coax on receiver) anytime I want to operate the TV. Pretty simple. Only on when I want it and saved me a whole computer build and power draw.

I know it isn't a critique but just an opinion.
 
Maybe i am going about this all the wrong way. I basically want to build an htpc that does the following:

Act as a DVR for my digital cable, with a tv guide.
Host data files for my household.
Play/stream music and video to my TV (hulu, bluray through the internal drive, netflix, and moviesondemand)
act as a receiver for all of my equipment
 
I'm using an AsRock mobo for my HTPC and I'm loving the Instant Boot feature. I know that it is basically just a fancy way to get into Standby, but it also gives us the "cleanup" of doing a fresh reboot ever night. Coming out of standby takes only a few seconds and usually the computer is up before the TV is.
 
Confirm the height of the heatsink on the motherboard just below the PCI-E 1x slot to make sure it won't block the HVR-2250.

(I tried to install one in a similar board, the Asrock AOD790GX/128M, and had to use a different slot for this reason.)
 
songokussm said:
Maybe i am going about this all the wrong way. I basically want to build an htpc that does the following:

Act as a DVR for my digital cable, with a tv guide.
Host data files for my household.
Play/stream music and video to my TV (hulu, bluray through the internal drive, netflix, and moviesondemand)
act as a receiver for all of my equipment
Click to expand...

Make sure you get the 2250 retail kit, which should have the IR blaster. That will be necessary for you to tune your cable box.
 
songokussm said:
Maybe i am going about this all the wrong way. I basically want to build an htpc that does the following:

Act as a DVR for my digital cable, with a tv guide.
Host data files for my household.
Play/stream music and video to my TV (hulu, bluray through the internal drive, netflix, and moviesondemand)
act as a receiver for all of my equipment
Click to expand...

Sorry, my friend. You're screwed. You need a cablecard tuner and that really limits your options.

And I'm not sure how they handle on-demand. I'm thinking, they don't.

The good news it that there are/will soon be a few more cablecard options. The bad news is that DRM may limit playback of some of your recorded media to the machine it was recorded on.

We have previously been limited with cablecard to specific OEM builds from Dell, HP and some other OEM rig I can't recall (it had to be certified by MS).


edit: here is a release on the Ceton cablecard tuner
http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2010-01/ceton-to-unveil-cablecard-quad-tuner-399/

Hold onto your wallet 🙂


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Last edited:
songokussm said:
heyheybooboo-
I already have the rocket raid and the hard drives. I also have cat6 ran in my walls. over kill is my middle name.

alyarb-
I thought 4gb of ram was overkill. My current home server has 2gb and is only using 15% of it. I will watch the combos. This doesn't need to happen anytime soon. just a side project.

beginner99-
I would really like to run dts-hd/dolby true hd but frankly could not find any information on it.
Click to expand...

songokussm said:
Maybe i am going about this all the wrong way. I basically want to build an htpc that does the following:

Act as a DVR for my digital cable, with a tv guide.
Host data files for my household.
Play/stream music and video to my TV (hulu, bluray through the internal drive, netflix, and moviesondemand)
act as a receiver for all of my equipment
Click to expand...

There are lots of points to hit here:
- You say you already have server. Why not turn this into a media server that can host your Movies, DVDs, downloaded shows etc?

- Most people find that they don't like to have a server in their living rooms. They tend to be noisy, big and have are a huge negative to the WAF (wife acceptance factor).

- As heyheybooboo pointed out, you will need a Cable Card tuner like the new Ceton card if you want to record anything but basic SD local channels. These tuner cards run $400 for 4 tuners. There are supposed to be some 2 tuner versions coming from Ceton and others sometime later this year for probably around $250. And if you think these are expensive then you should look at what the old ones they are replacing cost. They run around $200 - $300 for 1 tuner. You will also need a cable card from your local cable company. They run from $0 - $6 per month.

- If you want bit-streaming (which it looks like you do) then you have two options, either purchase an ATI RADEON 5XXX video card (I would recommend a 5650 or higher) or build an i3/i5 system with an H55 or H57 motherboard. Both these options use HDMI to send the video and audio from the computer to a receiver or directly to your TV.

act as a receiver for all of my equipment
Click to expand...
- Your last wish is not possible. Receivers are still sold for a reason. There is really nothing the can really replace one. If you use your built-in TV speakers and have nothing else then you could just use the one HDMI cable from the computer to the TV. Otherwise, you will need a receiver.
 
seems like my wants are not doable on my budget.

For the tv cable aspect of things, I want to use the standard definition. I think its called unencrypted clear quam. All of my tvs can see the channels with out a box. The box only adds the hd, and the tv guide. Which frankly Me and the wife do not watch tv, and standard definition is good enough for the kids.

lastly my current sever is a p4 2.8 model 680 i believe. It doesn't have the horse power to play bluray. I tried it. also It nearly dies every time i stream an hd movie from moviesondemand.com.
 
Considering your television usage, you might be happy to just get a decent antenna and pick up over-the-air signals with the HVR-2250. Where I live, there are a surprising number of digital HD stations available for free. You can use this tool or something similar to get an idea of what's available near you.

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx
 
richierich1212 said:
Then he'd have to get a separate video card.
Click to expand...

Why? it's in the CPU already. It's actually better than the amd igp concerning htcp usage.

To be exact I'm talking about the arrandale dual core i3/i5's. Maybe even the cheapest one (pentium g....) would be an option though not sure if it offers all relevant features.
 
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