Pics of my new HTPC

[BoldAsLove]

Originally posted by: Syringer

Originally posted by: BoldAsLove

Originally posted by: Syringer
How many hours can you record on the 120GB drive? How important is the video card for the system?

And since you're using a TV tuner in the comp, can you hook up an HDTV/Digital cable box to it and keep all its functionality?

I can get 50 hours of straight tv on MPEG2 on a 120GB...Im looking into getting a 300GB soon, just so I never have to worry about anything .

As for the tuner, you can hookup HD if you get a tuner card that supports HD, and as for digital cable, that will work in a regular tuner card.

Don't you need a cable box to get digital cable though?

yes

 

[BoldAsLove]

unless you can somehow think of a way to descramble digi cable which is pretty impossible

 

[RossMAN]

Can you post pics of your rig?

I wish I had purchased BTV4 sooner as they were offering the FireFly remote for free ($49.99 value).

Hmmn it looks like they extended it until 12/27, awesome!
http://store.snapstream.com/btv-sidebar.html

Do you use your PC's keyboard/mouse or a remote?

 

[Kilrsat]

Give me a minute and I'll get some pics of my setup. I have a FireFly remote, another remote I can't mention right now, and a BTC wireless keyboard/mouse combo for when I absolutely need a keyboard (like fiddling with bios settings).

 

[Goosemaster]

I need to psot pics of my setup as well....I've changed it....

 

[Kilrsat]

A few pics:

http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20011.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20012.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20013.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20014.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20015.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20016.jpg

The machine itself is:
SilverStone LC10B (case)
Athlon 64 3500+ (w/ Zalman 7700Cu hsf)
Abit UL8
512mb pc3200
Gigabyte GeForce 6600 (fanless)
AverMedia A180MCE (hd-tuner)
Vbox DTA-151 (hd-tuner)
Intel PRO/1000 gigabit nic
Generic 3 port firewire
WD 160GB (system drive)
LaCie Big Disk (500GB external firewire drive)
and of course, Beyond TV + Beyond Media to run the show


(and the 50" HD plasma really ties it together quite nicely)

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Kilrsat

The machine itself is:
SilverStone LC10B (case)

Why did you choose that case over the OP's SST-LC13-B?

 

[Kilrsat]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Kilrsat

The machine itself is:
SilverStone LC10B (case)

Why did you choose that case over the OP's SST-LC13-B?

For reference:
LC13: http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc13.htm
LC10: http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc10.htm

I don't like the door of the LC13. Other than that the two are very similar in terms of size and cooling. I think the LC10 looks a little more elegant with easy access to the dvd drive. For my next build, I've been looking at the LC16M, but after seeing the build quality (the function knob was severely warped on the example I looked at) I may be going with another manufacturer.

The big advantage of the LC16 over the LC10 is the use of 80mm exhaust fans in the rear instead of the 60mm ones. I've had a real fight to quiet the 60's, finally having to use a pair of fanmates to bring them down to under 1800rpm. Some of the Ahanix cases are looking really nice and the Uneed ones don't look bad either.

 

[bradruth]

If one was to use an HTPC exclusively as a PVR would there be any real need for anything more than a remote on a daily basis?

 

[SilentZero]

I use SageTV for mine, but BTV looks much better

 

[Kilrsat]

Originally posted by: bradruth
If one was to use an HTPC exclusively as a PVR would there be any real need for anything more than a remote on a daily basis?

No, when I'm not in a tinkering mood all I ever pick up is my firefly remote. I've gone weeks with only using that to control the monster.

I'd still recommend installing a VNC server on the machine, just in case you need to do something more difficult (like change video card drivers), but the remote works fine for the average use case.

 

[Leper Messiah]

Floggy Molly fan :thumbsup:

 

[bradruth]

Originally posted by: Kilrsat

Originally posted by: bradruth
If one was to use an HTPC exclusively as a PVR would there be any real need for anything more than a remote on a daily basis?

No, when I'm not in a tinkering mood all I ever pick up is my firefly remote. I've gone weeks with only using that to control the monster.

I'd still recommend installing a VNC server on the machine, just in case you need to do something more difficult (like change video card drivers), but the remote works fine for the average use case.

I might end up having a micro tower Gateway that I could use as a PVR. It looks I might have to go with a USB tuner, though, because it only takes low profile PCI cards and I'd like to use the BeyondTV software. The specs are...

1.4ghz Celeron
256mb PC133 RAM
Geforce 2 MX 400 (PCI)

And I'd use an 80gb HD instead of the 20gb that's in there now.

 

[RossMAN]

Here are the specs on my ghetto HTPC

Antec Aria case with power supply
MSI KM4M-V MicroATX Socket A (AMD) motherboard
256MB RAM (will be bumped to 512 or 1GB)
AMD Sempron CPU (dont remember speed - between 2200+ and 2400+)
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9500 AGP Video Card (w/ DVI)
PCI FireWire Card
Hauppauge PVR150 and 250, which should I use?

Would that be sufficient for mostly PVR stuff?

Is there a quiet and reliable hard drive you'd recommend? 200GB+ preferred.

 

[Kilrsat]

Originally posted by: bradruth

Originally posted by: Kilrsat

Originally posted by: bradruth
If one was to use an HTPC exclusively as a PVR would there be any real need for anything more than a remote on a daily basis?

No, when I'm not in a tinkering mood all I ever pick up is my firefly remote. I've gone weeks with only using that to control the monster.

I'd still recommend installing a VNC server on the machine, just in case you need to do something more difficult (like change video card drivers), but the remote works fine for the average use case.

I might end up having a micro tower Gateway that I could use as a PVR. It looks I might have to go with a USB tuner, though, because it only takes low profile PCI cards and I'd like to use the BeyondTV software. The specs are...

1.4ghz Celeron
256mb PC133 RAM
Geforce 2 MX 400 (PCI)

And I'd use an 80gb HD instead of the 20gb that's in there now.

You can find a few low profile tuner cards, if you look hard enough. I believe there are low profile version of Hauppage's PVR-150 and ATi's Theater 550. The specs there are on what I consider to be the low side, but it should still be do-able if its a dedicated unit (and you aren't interested in HD). A little ram would go a long way, and a cheap FX 5200 would really help.

 

[newParadigm]

Originally posted by: bradruth

Originally posted by: Kilrsat

Originally posted by: bradruth
If one was to use an HTPC exclusively as a PVR would there be any real need for anything more than a remote on a daily basis?

No, when I'm not in a tinkering mood all I ever pick up is my firefly remote. I've gone weeks with only using that to control the monster.

I'd still recommend installing a VNC server on the machine, just in case you need to do something more difficult (like change video card drivers), but the remote works fine for the average use case.

I might end up having a micro tower Gateway that I could use as a PVR. It looks I might have to go with a USB tuner, though, because it only takes low profile PCI cards and I'd like to use the BeyondTV software. The specs are...

1.4ghz Celeron
256mb PC133 RAM
Geforce 2 MX 400 (PCI)

And I'd use an 80gb HD instead of the 20gb that's in there now.

Get a TV tuner thats not fuoll height, and bust out the dremel?

 

[Kilrsat]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Here are the specs on my ghetto HTPC

Antec Aria case with power supply
MSI KM4M-V MicroATX Socket A (AMD) motherboard
256MB RAM (will be bumped to 512 or 1GB)
AMD Sempron CPU (dont remember speed - between 2200+ and 2400+)
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9500 AGP Video Card (w/ DVI)
PCI FireWire Card
Hauppauge PVR150 and 250, which should I use?

Would that be sufficient for mostly PVR stuff?

Is there a quiet and reliable hard drive you'd recommend? 200GB+ preferred.

I'd go with either the PVR-150 or an ATi Theater 550 based card. Its a toss up on which offers superior quality, although the specs of the ATi say it should be the better option.

The latest Seagates are supposed to be very quiet, but from what I've seen, if you get it down to the point where its the hard drive making the most noise then you already won the noise war.

 

[bradruth]

Originally posted by: Kilrsat
You can find a few low profile tuner cards, if you look hard enough. I believe there are low profile version of Hauppage's PVR-150 and ATi's Theater 550. The specs there are on what I consider to be the low side, but it should still be do-able if its a dedicated unit (and you aren't interested in HD). A little ram would go a long way, and a cheap FX 5200 would really help.

There's a fairly short list of cards compatable with BeyondTV that have hardware decoding, though...I'll have to see if I could find one that would work.

Originally posted by: newParadigm
Get a TV tuner thats not fuoll height, and bust out the dremel?

Eh, that's a lot more work than I'd like to put in.

 

[stinkynathan]

Originally posted by: Kilrsat
A few pics:

http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20011.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20012.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20013.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20014.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20015.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20016.jpg

The machine itself is:
SilverStone LC10B (case)
Athlon 64 3500+ (w/ Zalman 7700Cu hsf)
Abit UL8
512mb pc3200
Gigabyte GeForce 6600 (fanless)
AverMedia A180MCE (hd-tuner)
Vbox DTA-151 (hd-tuner)
Intel PRO/1000 gigabit nic
Generic 3 port firewire
WD 160GB (system drive)
LaCie Big Disk (500GB external firewire drive)
and of course, Beyond TV + Beyond Media to run the show


(and the 50" HD plasma really ties it together quite nicely)

what keyboard is that?

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: Syringer

Originally posted by: BoldAsLove

Originally posted by: Syringer
How many hours can you record on the 120GB drive? How important is the video card for the system?

And since you're using a TV tuner in the comp, can you hook up an HDTV/Digital cable box to it and keep all its functionality?

I can get 50 hours of straight tv on MPEG2 on a 120GB...Im looking into getting a 300GB soon, just so I never have to worry about anything .

As for the tuner, you can hookup HD if you get a tuner card that supports HD, and as for digital cable, that will work in a regular tuner card.

Don't you need a cable box to get digital cable though?

I have the PVR-150, it comes with a program/cable called IR Blaster, it basically allows the card to control your cable box. You tell the software to change channels, and it relays the correct IR codes to the cable box through a little IR transmitter on the end of the cable. I don't use it as I have basic cable, but I do use the remote that came with it.

 

[BoldAsLove]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Can you post pics of your rig?

I wish I had purchased BTV4 sooner as they were offering the FireFly remote for free ($49.99 value).

Hmmn it looks like they extended it until 12/27, awesome!
http://store.snapstream.com/btv-sidebar.html

Do you use your PC's keyboard/mouse or a remote?

I'll post some pics in this thread tomorrow. My batteries in my cam are dead and im too lazy to go downstairs right now xp
As for keyboard/mouse/remote, I use a remote to control everything(the Hauppauge remote which came with my tuner), but I still have a mouse keyboard just to perform other tasks if need be just in case.

 

[BoldAsLove]

Originally posted by: stinkynathan

Originally posted by: Kilrsat
A few pics:

http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20011.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20012.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20013.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20014.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20015.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20016.jpg

The machine itself is:
SilverStone LC10B (case)
Athlon 64 3500+ (w/ Zalman 7700Cu hsf)
Abit UL8
512mb pc3200
Gigabyte GeForce 6600 (fanless)
AverMedia A180MCE (hd-tuner)
Vbox DTA-151 (hd-tuner)
Intel PRO/1000 gigabit nic
Generic 3 port firewire
WD 160GB (system drive)
LaCie Big Disk (500GB external firewire drive)
and of course, Beyond TV + Beyond Media to run the show


(and the 50" HD plasma really ties it together quite nicely)

what keyboard is that?

That keyboard was a BTC some sort of model (i forgot)...but anyhow as for other peoples questions, yes the seagates have been said to be the quietest. I have the 7200 7 seagate in my htpc now, and it is quieter than many other hard drives I have had before. I'm hoping theres gonna be a nice LCD on sale during after christmas sales. I have been looking at the Syntax Olevia's.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Sphexi

Originally posted by: Syringer

Originally posted by: BoldAsLove

Originally posted by: Syringer
How many hours can you record on the 120GB drive? How important is the video card for the system?

And since you're using a TV tuner in the comp, can you hook up an HDTV/Digital cable box to it and keep all its functionality?

I can get 50 hours of straight tv on MPEG2 on a 120GB...Im looking into getting a 300GB soon, just so I never have to worry about anything .

As for the tuner, you can hookup HD if you get a tuner card that supports HD, and as for digital cable, that will work in a regular tuner card.

Don't you need a cable box to get digital cable though?

I have the PVR-150, it comes with a program/cable called IR Blaster, it basically allows the card to control your cable box. You tell the software to change channels, and it relays the correct IR codes to the cable box through a little IR transmitter on the end of the cable. I don't use it as I have basic cable, but I do use the remote that came with it.

Did you buy the PVR150 RETAIL? I bought mine from Circuit City for $99 - 10% coupon - $40 rebate = $50.

I haven't opened it yet though.

edit - http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/oid/993...ccd/productDetailSpecification.do#tabs

 

[salt9876]

Lookin good, im jealous

 

[Kilrsat]

Originally posted by: stinkynathan

Originally posted by: Kilrsat
A few pics:

http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20011.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20012.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20013.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20014.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20015.jpg
http://www.kilcli.com/htpcimages/htpc%20016.jpg

The machine itself is:
SilverStone LC10B (case)
Athlon 64 3500+ (w/ Zalman 7700Cu hsf)
Abit UL8
512mb pc3200
Gigabyte GeForce 6600 (fanless)
AverMedia A180MCE (hd-tuner)
Vbox DTA-151 (hd-tuner)
Intel PRO/1000 gigabit nic
Generic 3 port firewire
WD 160GB (system drive)
LaCie Big Disk (500GB external firewire drive)
and of course, Beyond TV + Beyond Media to run the show


(and the 50" HD plasma really ties it together quite nicely)

what keyboard is that?

Its a BTC 9019URF.