HTPC setups?

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secretanchitman

secretanchitman

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2001
9,352
23
91
rig is in my sig...i should finally get around to posting my home theater setup.

of course, yoyo needs chime in...i know he's been wanting to see pics.
 
Sphexi

Sphexi

Diamond Member
Feb 22, 2005
7,280
0
0
I'm looking into one as well. I have the TV tuner card I'll be using, a Fusion HDTV7 RT Gold from Dvico, nice card, supports un-encrypted QAM digital channels (although my carrier encrypts all but the audio QAM channels). I'll probably end up upgrading my rig and then using the bits and pieces from it for the HTPC. It'd end up having a C2D E6300, 3GB of DDR2 OCZ Gold, 3x500GB in a RAID5, XFX 7950GT XXX (silent cooling FTW, no fan on it), built-in sound, and I'll get a nice small HTPC case to hold it all.

Not sure if I'll go *nix or MCE on it, or something like SageTV.
 
MaxDepth

MaxDepth

Diamond Member
Jun 12, 2001
8,757
43
91
I...got nuthin. :(

Last year, I bought (what I thought) was a sweet 64bit, AMD/ATI mobo with HDMI, component out, firewire, etc. only to find all versions of Linux barf on the ATI R690 video chipset and even WinXP-64 has issues with htpc.

So now it still is on the bench, in pieces, and no where near my HTPC dream.
 
F

funkymatt

Diamond Member
Jun 2, 2005
3,919
1
81
put together a celeron 2ghz machine with a radeon 9200 and 1GB ram. 1TB raid 0+1. I had knoppmyth installed but eventually switched to MCE.
 
L

legoman666

Diamond Member
Dec 18, 2003
3,628
1
0
1.5yr old setup, video card has HDMI out.

320gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS
AMD Sempron 64 3000+ Manila 1.6GHz Socket AM2
nMEDIAPC Black Aluminum / Steel HTPC 288BA Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
MSI K9N6SGM-V AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
MSI NX7300GS-MD256EH GeForce 7300GS 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Low Profile Video Card
Transcend JetRam 512MB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
And I chucked in a 400w silent Zalman PSU I had lying around.

Grand total was $400. A similar setup today would be even cheaper. There is no need to get one of those newer cards with HD decoding. Even a cheapo $40 single core processor can handle everything up to 720p. HD decoding came about 2 years too late. Processors now are so cheap and powerful that there is no reason to offload it to the video card.
 
amdskip

amdskip

Lifer
Jan 6, 2001
22,530
13
81
I've got a dedicated beyondtv box, xp3200, hauppauge dual tuner, etc. Works great and has no monthly fees like tivo.
 
B

bonkers325

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
13,076
1
0
core2duo 1.8ghz, 2gb ram, 7100GS

use CoreAVC x264 codec and nvidia's purevideo codec to watch any/all HD videos you want
 
J

jtvang125

Diamond Member
Nov 10, 2004
5,399
51
91
e4300 @ 2.8
2gb ddr2
gigabyte mb
8800gt
onboard sound with optical pass through
3 internal 500gb hdd
5 500gb hdd in a 6 bay external hdd enclosure
Zalman htpc case
dvdrom drive
Vista Media Center with MyMovie plugin

50" Sony SXRD
 
Funyuns101

Funyuns101

Platinum Member
Jun 15, 2002
2,849
0
0
Originally posted by: amdskip
I've got a dedicated beyondtv box, xp3200, hauppauge dual tuner, etc. Works great and has no monthly fees like tivo.
Click to expand...

I'm using BeyondTV in Windows XP as well:
Barton 2500+ @2ghz, 1gb ram, 160gb HD, DVD-Rom, nVidia 6200, Avermedia a180 tv card and wireless keyboard/mouse combo.

Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done on my 32" LCD tv.
 
R

rsd

Platinum Member
Dec 30, 2003
2,293
0
76
e8400
4gb ddr2
Asus P5E-VM HDMI
ATI 2600xt (using component out unfortunately due to my need to use my component matrix switch)
onboard sound with optical pass through
200gb boot drive
750gb data drive
Antec NSK2480
LiteScribe DVD burner
LG HDDVD/BD Reader
Vista Media Center with MyMovie plugin
PowerDVD Ultra
CoreAVC
FFdshow
Recording HD via QAM through my HDHomerun in VMC

Can play any file without breaking a sweat (I don't think I've seen cpu usage past 20-30% for playback of files)

Unfortunately I have some minor issues that are mainly due to me using component out instead of HDMI. One day when I don't need to use my matrix switch I'll do that hopefully.

At some point I may write a "Dummy's Guide" to setting a htpc + software. I scoured AVSforum and the internet for a long time to get things working just right. I have to say though its the software side that is far more complicated.

I may try to post pics at some point too if people want.
 
lozina

lozina

Lifer
Sep 10, 2001
11,711
8
81
I'm not happy with HTPC anymore.

Back when I made my HTPC setup almost 2 years ago using Cable service it was the best thing ever. I had two cable inputs coming into a dual tuner card on my HTPC and I was able to record shows while continuing to watch live TV on other channels

Now that I got FIOS TV it has made HTPC so difficult and annoying...

See, first of all I could no longer use my dual TV tuner card in my computer, I had to use the external set top boxes Verizon provided me. But in order to get HD content I had to something crazy where I paid like 4 or 500 dollars to have my set top box modded by some company in Connecticut (R5000 system) just so that the set top box can stream HD content to my HTPC via a USB link.

And this link is slow as hell, there is a loooong delay between when I change channel and when the damn channel starts playing on my TV. It has multiple steps... SageTV has to request channel change to the R5000 software, it has to perform a channel change on the external STB, then it waits for the video feed, then it sends the video feed back to SageTV who is waiting. This is a LONG time in a TV watcher's experience. Even my patient dad complains about it. It's like 10 seconds sometimes more.

I dont know if there's a better way to get HD content on HTPC if there is someone please tell me

If not then I regret investing so much money into this thing now.
 
R

rsd

Platinum Member
Dec 30, 2003
2,293
0
76
Originally posted by: lozina
I'm not happy with HTPC anymore.

Back when I made my HTPC setup almost 2 years ago using Cable service it was the best thing ever. I had two cable inputs coming into a dual tuner card on my HTPC and I was able to record shows while continuing to watch live TV on other channels

Now that I got FIOS TV it has made HTPC so difficult and annoying...

See, first of all I could no longer use my dual TV tuner card in my computer, I had to use the external set top boxes Verizon provided me. But in order to get HD content I had to something crazy where I paid like 4 or 500 dollars to have my set top box modded by some company in Connecticut (R5000 system) just so that the set top box can stream HD content to my HTPC via a USB link.

And this link is slow as hell, there is a loooong delay between when I change channel and when the damn channel starts playing on my TV. It has multiple steps... SageTV has to request channel change to the R5000 software, it has to perform a channel change on the external STB, then it waits for the video feed, then it sends the video feed back to SageTV who is waiting. This is a LONG time in a TV watcher's experience. Even my patient dad complains about it. It's like 10 seconds sometimes more.

I dont know if there's a better way to get HD content on HTPC if there is someone please tell me

If not then I regret investing so much money into this thing now.
Click to expand...

I agree that recording/viewing HD TV sucks on an htpc, whether it be what you did, HDHomerun, CableCard Tuner, etc etc. I just accept that you still need your cable box for live watching or get a Tivo. I don't mind my HDHomerun for recording though. Unfortunately I don't see it changing anytime soon.
 
A

AkumaX

Lifer
Apr 20, 2000
12,648
4
81
omgosh, really no pics yet? okay you guys are either going to laugh or cry.. but it works so here goes (see first post) - ask away
 
M

mundane

Diamond Member
Jun 7, 2002
5,603
8
81
Originally posted by: rsd...

At some point I may write a "Dummy's Guide" to setting a htpc + software. I scoured AVSforum and the internet for a long time to get things working just right. I have to say though its the software side that is far more complicated.
Click to expand...

I'll be in the market for one in 4-6 months, and would welcome any tutorials/guides/FAQs :)
 
Gamingphreek

Gamingphreek

Lifer
Mar 31, 2003
11,679
0
81
My PC:
Biostar TA-690G
AMD Athlon X2 3600+
Antec NSK-2480
2x 1G DDR2-667
Onboard Sound and Graphics
Samsung Spinpoint 160G SATA HDD - Soft Mounted
Sony External Receiver outputting 2.0 stereo (<-College guy can't afford new ones yet)

Running Windows Vista Ultimate w/ Media Center and MyMovies

This may be the one thing that Vista has done 100% completely right. MCE on Vista is AMAZING. Computer never breaks a sweat, stays running 24/7, does everything plus more! Best decision I have made in a while :)

-Kevin
 
V

ViperVin2

Senior member
Mar 9, 2001
876
0
76
My HTPC is pretty useless. I tried to sell it here on AT awhile ago with no luck. With Dish Network, HTPC is pretty much useless for recording TV. Only thing it has been good for is showing off to friends and family. Other than that, biggest waste of $800 for me.

HTPC:
Antec NSK1300 MicroATX Cube Case
Intel DG33BUC MicroATX w/Intel G33 Express Chipset
Intel Core2Duo E6550 @ 2.33 GHz (1333 MHz FSB)
HP 2x1GB DDR2-667 PC2-5300 RAM
Samsung HD403LJ 400GB 7200 RPM SATA HDD
ATI Radeon HD 2400PRO 256MB Video Card
DVD-RW 16x Drive
Dell Angel USB TV Tuner w/MCE Remote
Microsoft Vista Ultimate
 
secretanchitman

secretanchitman

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2001
9,352
23
91
M

mpitts

Lifer
Jun 9, 2000
14,732
1
81
It's in this picture. Bottom left of the little entertainment center.

I use it all the time to watch downloaded TV shows and movies on my television.
 
T

TheSiege

Diamond Member
Jun 5, 2004
3,918
14
81
Originally posted by: mpitts
It's in this picture. Bottom left of the little entertainment center.

I use it all the time to watch downloaded TV shows and movies on my television.
Click to expand...

good show to boot, flight of the conchords FTW
here is my htpc Text

733 celeron, 64meg ram XBMC 2TB for content

XBMC FTW
 
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