Need case suggestions for an HTPC/PVR rig

[coolred]

My requirments are this.

1. Quiet-will either be int he living room or bedroom, so as quiet as possible would be good.

2. Can be of any form factor as long as it has at least a few PCI slots for the TV tuner cards and maybe a WiFi card, plus whatever else I can't just use from the onabord of the motherboard.

3.While it doesn't need to be a home theater type of case, I don't want a beige tower in my entertainment center. So preferablly something black or silver, and it can be a home theater type of case, I just said it doesn't absolutely need to be.

4. Price-I am not gonna pay several hundered dollars for some crazy good looking home theater styled case when i can get soemthign from antec, coolermaster and whoever else for half the price.

5. Room to grow-I plan to use a DVD RW drive, so I probablly could get by with 1 5.25" bay, 2-3 would be good as well, I think 4 is pushing it, but don't hesitate to recommend a case that has 4 if it has other good qualities. I haven't decided if I will run a 3.5 inch floppy or not, so either way one or none would be fine, again i suppose 2 is okay. The more internal drive bays the better. I would say at least 2.

6. Good cooling, going for a quiet system, so i don't want to have to run 4 fans just to keep the temps down.

I know there are a ton of cases out there that meet these requirements, and I have already probablly looked at most of them, but I am just having a ton of trouble picking one, so fire away.

 

[irwincur]

1. It will be hard to get a totally quiet case, but you can get close with the right components.

2. Probably the best mid priced case would be the Antec Overture. It is fairly quiet (one 92mm temp controlled fan) and just roomy enough for full sized components. All smaller cases require low profile PCI/AGP cards - lets just say that they are not that common.

3. Overture.

4. $100 or so, but it has a really nice PSU which makes up for a good deal of the cost.

5. Should be fine.

6. ...

I like the Overture because it fits in most normal AV spaces, it is relatively quiet, and it has just enough space.

 

[coolred]

Yeah I had been looking at the overture a bit, and if I remember correctly, your username looks like a name I have seen on maybe the HTPCnews forums, is that correct?

I like the way you left the answer to number 6 blank. I know the guys over at HTPCnews don't care for the cooling ability of this case. While I am still considering it, I am not sure how well it would work. I will have to keep reading on it, but I want a multi tuner system, so figure 2-4 PVR250's, possiblly a video card(likely a crappy radeon based just for the TV out, so not much heat there, probablly a Wifi card unless I go with a USB adaptor, 1-2 hard drives, and I will likely use me current processor in that machine and put the new proc in my gaming rig, so therefore it would have an XP 2100+ on board).

I don't know the specifics of how much heat those give off, so i don't really know if that would pose a heat problem. Oh yeah I almost forgot abotu a couple of hard drives as well, and I am sure you already knew probablly only 1 5.25" and maybe no 3.5" and a couple of sticks of RAM. So its not as if the system will be fully loaded with powerful stuff, so maybe I would be okay???????

 

[xbassman]

Here is the case I am using for my HTPC:
Aopen H400A

I chose this one because it will fit into a standard audio rack. (has about an inch to spare)
It also will accept a full size power supply. (Antec True 430 in mine)

As for cooling It has 2-60mm exhaust mounts in the rear. I cut the grills on those with my dremel then on the side I cut an 80mm hole for an intake. I installed 60mm and 80mm Panaflo L1A's.
With that cooling setup and audio rack closed (except the back of course) My 100% load temp haven't gotten higher than 51C on a barton 2500+ overclocked and overvolted with a slient boost hsf (fan replaced with an H1A)

It also excepts full size pci cards although with my audio card I had to modify the CD audio connector a bit since it attaches at the top of the card.

 

[coolred]

Any idea of how hot the outside of the overture gets? I was just browsing antecs site and an add fro thier notebook cooler was ont he front page. And I thought if heat was being transfered through the case, this could help cool it down. Or you could also drill a few small hole sint he bottom of the case and then it would help circulate more air. AM I just being stupid?

 

[coolred]

That case isn't too bad, a little ugly, but not anything I couldn't get past. Hows the quality on it?


I did forget one major factor, this machine must be stable, will be on 24/7. And while you said the PSU can be swapped, I can imagien the one in it now is total crap. Just wanted to clear that up, that if the power supply is non swappable(this is the case with the overture isn't it?)then it must have a quality PS in it already.

 

[xbassman]

Originally posted by: coolred
That case isn't too bad, a little ugly, but not anything I couldn't get past. Hows the quality on it?


I did forget one major factor, this machine must be stable, will be on 24/7. And while you said the PSU can be swapped, I can imagien the one in it now is total crap. Just wanted to clear that up, that if the power supply is non swappable(this is the case with the overture isn't it?)then it must have a quality PS in it already.

When I was shopping for my case, size was the main limiting factor. The Aopen case is the only one that I found that was narrow enough for my audio rack and didn't use aproprietary PS and half height cards.
Really the pics don't do it justice. It matches the Dell scheme perfectly. (crinkle black/silver) The green sticker in the pics isn't on the case.

If you're looking at MATX cases your choices will be limited.
Almost forgot.... the 200W PS did run the system without hiccup, but the 12v rail was pretty bad. So I ditched it before I started overclocking it a bit.

 

[coolred]

Not sure if I am looking for mATX or not. The smaller formfactor and thus case would be a big plus, but the lack of a couple of PCI slots may end up biting me in the end. I coudl always get the hauppauge USB2 tuner, but its a bit more expensive and using USB could run up the CPU utilization.


Unfortunately my entertainment center sucks. Here is a link to it, its nice enough, but the side area aren't very big. if I remember corrctly its only like 19.5"Hx19.5"Dx15.5"W. Thats total inside dimesions, right now there is a shelf installed divinding the space into 2. The area directly below the TV int he center is nice sized and is currently holding my receiver. I am considering removing that drawer beneath it and addding another shelf, sicne the drawer is only being used for storage, and has probablly only been opened once in the several months we have had it.

 

[xbassman]

I feel your pain brother....

With all the built-in stuff on the mobo's these days you will probably be fine with MATX. Especially if you can find one with a Toslink output for sound. (I couldn't find any, nforce boards that is...)

I still have one slot to spare. I am waiting for a good HDTV pvr card.
Other than that I have the vid, sound, and a Hauppauge pvr-250 in there.

 

[coolred]

Well I guess I really need to narrow down what will be installed on the motherboard.

I should be connecting this to a network via the wireless G standard, possiblly with Dlink or netgear products, or whatever else looks good. So there fore I would need a wireless card or possibly a wireless USB adaptor. I will definately be using at least 2 tuners, maybe 3-4. I am not a huge audipohile, so as long as I can run and optical or coaxial out to my receiver that should be fien I think(your opinion?) so i shouldn't need a sound card. With all the hard drive connectors(PATA and SATA)as well as me likely only using 1 optical drive, I shouldn't need a controller card.

What else am I forgetting that I may need?????

 

[xbassman]

Yep.... I would look at motherboards...
My first thought was an NF7-S (Soundstorm audio with Toslink), but alas I couldn't find a case that would work for my application. I wound up going with a Biostar M7NCG-400 and a Chaintech AV-710 Sound card.
A prerequesit (spelling?) was toslink to my Yamaha surround system.
You are going to have to research a bit to find a board that meets your needs.

Why so many tuners? I have only one and can record from all the sources available to me. (Sat, DVD, Local broadcast, and VCR) The only thing I am lacking is the ability to record in HD. Actually I can record HD channels but it is letterboxed SD. Still looks good though, I just zoom my screen. Also I need to research a bit about recording the Dolby signal.

If you don't currently have a card with more than s-video you'll need to find one with DVI or one that you can use a VGA dongle to use component hook-ups. (might be able to do the later with some of the available onboard graphice solutions)

Probably the hardest part was setting a decent screen res for my TV via DVI connector. Tried the s-video and it was very hard to read characters on the screen. DVI is much better
I need to spend more time there. I have only found 2 1080i resolutions that are decent on my screen so far.

 

[coolred]

I unfortunely have only a standard definition TV, no HDTV for me just yet. The reason for multiple tuners is because I often need to record 2-3+ shows, since my girlfriend and I tend to watch differant stuff as well as her going to bed before some of the shows come on.

I don't know, i am still not even sure if I shouldn't go 64bit.

 

[xbassman]

Originally posted by: coolred
I unfortunely have only a standard definition TV, no HDTV for me just yet. The reason for multiple tuners is because I often need to record 2-3+ shows, since my girlfriend and I tend to watch differant stuff as well as her going to bed before some of the shows come on.

I don't know, i am still not even sure if I shouldn't go 64bit.

Wow....I would definately check the AVS forums and myHTPC forums to see if somebody else is doing that.
My 2500+ is more than enough for 1 pvr-250 card maybe even 2, but you never know...

Actually I kinda cheat if I need to record more than one at a time. My daughter's TV is actually her PC with a Leadtek capture card. (the satelite installer was kinda dumbfounded...he just handed me the cable) We can record there, then either stream or transfer it across my network.

I'll bet you are going to need a bigger box....
MATX= 1 AGP & 3 PCI

 

[coolred]

Oops, my fault I said that in a bad way. If I go with an A64, that will go in my main rig and my 2100+ will go in the PVR. BTW the processor speed has nothign to do with handling the PVR250, they have hardware encoders.

I am thinking i will probablly go ATX maybe with an Antec overture, but mATX would still work, it would be a full case and may need to use a few USB devices, but it woudl likely work. But I agree ATX will likely suit my needs better, except for size.

 

[xbassman]

Actually Multiple capture cards also means multiple software apps for each card.
So processor speed may mean more than you think.

I think I remember seeing something about problems when running 2 identical cards also. Software getting confused and such.

 

[coolred]

Actually Multiple capture cards also means multiple software apps for each card

This is true in the case of your ledtek or my AIW as they both use software encoders, but the hauppauge WinTV PVR250's, 350's and the USB 2 version use hardware TV encoders, thus taking the load off the CPU. You should be able to use as many as you want and would likely see very little CPU utilization increase.

 

[coolred]

Oh yeah I almost forgot what else you said. Using 2 or more of the WinTV PVR's can cause problems if they are not of the same chipset. If they all match then it should be fine. I plan to get matching cards.

 

[xbassman]

Originally posted by: coolred
Oh yeah I almost forgot what else you said. Using 2 or more of the WinTV PVR's can cause problems if they are not of the same chipset. If they all match then it should be fine. I plan to get matching cards.

I am not really all that hip to some of the software out there. Do you know of some that support multiple cards?.
Currently I am using WinTV2000 that came with my Hauppauge. It's a little buggy. They have updates available, but the update for the ir remote is still in beta. (That one is the buggiest.)

 

[coolred]

Yeah there are 2 big names in PVR software right now, well 3 if you know linux. From what I have heard the best software is MythTV, but that is the one for linux and you have to know quite a bit of linux to set it up properly.

The 2 windows apps are Snapstreams BeyondTV3 and Frey tech's Sage TV2.0

While I have not used either of these, i have researched them a bit. Beyond an sage have many the same features. One feature beyond has as opposed to sage is auto commercial skip. The software trys to pick out the commercials by frame changes, and then sets the show up by chapters. SO when you get to a commercial you just press a button to go to the next chapter and no commercials. I have heard this works pretty good, but could end up being a legal hassle. Beyond also supports setting up recordings via the internet, I don't think sage can do this.

And the one thing sage has that beyond does not, is the multi tuner support. Beyond allows 1 tuner only, sage I think allows up to 5.

Now heres the catch though, ebyond may work with your ledtek, but I know sage will only work with hardware encoder cards like your hauppauge.