HTPC: What to get?

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AcidT

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So I have been contemplating on building up a HTPC that will be used to play anything from MP3's to HD content as well as Blu Ray disks.

Any suggestions on the hardware such as CPU, Graphics, Motherboard, RAM and most importantly the correct case that has a display and remote.

Also just a thought but which OS would be best suited to give the most performance from the hardware.
 
Just buy a PS3 and then buy the bundled remote+extra controller and you good to go :)
Oh and just install PS3 media server on your normal pc. Then setup your PS3 wireless or run a cable from the router to it and you all set :)
 
nakedpeanut said:
Just buy a PS3 and then buy the bundled remote+extra controller and you good to go :)
Oh and just install PS3 media server on your normal pc. Then setup your PS3 wireless or run a cable from the router to it and you all set :)
Click to expand...

Souns good but I want to be able to just update the codecs and any media software on the fly without having to find any compatable software and so forth. How does the PS3 compare with this compatability?
 
There's many options. If you only want media, not LiveTV, use fairly entry level hardware: something socket 775 based with HDMI and you'll be sorted. In countries that have Internet based TV providers, some guys have got rid of the set top boxes and run purely of the net. They have HTPC's that are Atom CPU based that are very small and are quite cheap.

However, if you want to have LiveTV, then that's a whole different problem. I tried many options for that and in the end, for me, a Windows 7 Media Center based system worked the best.
 
Synology NAS + Jailbroken AppleTV2 + XBMC = Great appliance like home theatre experience,you still need a pc to rip and transcode Blu ray discs though.

Or get a PS3 and a big external drive or a PS3 media server running on your PC that will transcode on the go. This will always be cheaper than a HTPC with Blu ray.


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AcidT said:
Souns good but I want to be able to just update the codecs and any media software on the fly without having to find any compatable software and so forth. How does the PS3 compare with this compatability?
Click to expand...

I don't have any media on my ps3 except for games, but I stream all movies from mkv to avi (it also does subs) from my pc using the media server program.

Look I'll admit a htpc will definitley be more flexible, in than you can surf the net and if some new random codec comes out you could then install it and use it. But cost wise the ps3 is the better route, especially if you want bluray.

I've also got a mede8er and they are very nice! but copying to it over the network is a damn pain!! but it streams alright for some reason.. It can only have a 1 drive if you want to store media on it. My 1TB in mine is full

if you want htpc give us a budget and we can spec accordingly.

I'd go for
i3
2GB ram (4gb is so cheap you may as well get 2 sticks :p)
a whole lot of HDDs
350w-400w PSU (not that you'll need more than a 200w) but try get a silent one
Any case of your choice that fits with the furniture (you can get a small one if you buy a matx mobo)

You could go for an atom setup, but I'd just go i3 cause you can do some light gaming on it with it's on-board gpu..
 
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I upgraded my HTPC a few months ago. Like any PC it is always a work in progress. The current configuration is:

Motherboard: Intel Tom Cove (specifically made as a media motherboard)
CPU: i3 2.93 GHz 4M cache
RAM: 2 x 2048 MB DDR3 1333 MHz
Optical Drive: very ordinary DVD writer for the initial PC setup
HDD: 2x1TB
Sound Card: Asus Xonar STX
TV card: ancient Hauppauge PVR 150 (to be updated when digital TV actually happens)
Case: Antec NSK 2400
OS: Ubuntu Lucid
Software: Mainly XBMC, Quod Libet and VLC

This plays everything including Blu Ray h264 rip files to a full HD television. Am trying to get away from playing off optical drive in order to maximize the benefits of the HTPC, so the Blu Ray discs are ripped on a separate (more powerful) PC. If you want to play the discs themselves directly then a Win 7 / Power DVD combination should do the job.

This case does not have the display you asked about. I looked at them a little while ago and the displays needed OS specific drivers, which are often not updated. For example some people who had XP specific displays found that they could not carry on using them with later versions of Windows. I don't like to change my case when I change OS.

I also used a remote control for a while, but found all the button pushing was a lot more effort than using a wireless mouse. If you only have a small amount of media that you can navigate through quickly then then a remote should work nicely.
 
Time for a leetle resurrecting? :D

I'm in the market for an affordable HTPC/media server setup (around R3,000 - R4,000), with wifi access to the home LAN so that we can transfer media to a shared folder on the HTPC. After some reading and searching, it's come down to this:

- AMD Athlon X2 260 3.2Ghz
- Asus M4A88T-M (fanless heatpipe design, on-board HD4250 directX10.1 with HDMI)
- Antec Fusion Remote
- Seagate 1Tb 7200.12
- 2x2Gb DDR3-1333
- Zalman ZM400-ST PSU
- Wifi NIC

(approx R4000)

- Ubuntu running MythTV or XBMC from a flash drive

I also considered an I3-540 + H57 uATX board, but I'm not convinced that the extra cost is justified over the AMD setup.

A friend also suggested the cheaper CFI A2059 ITX case (R600, with 300W PSU and 120mm fan), with an ITX AMD E-350 board (same price as AM3 board + X2 CPU) and adding my own USB MCE remote, like the Hauppage MCE remote. Now I could save a substantial amount with this route (about R1,500), although

a) it seems as if a discrete motherboard + CPU would be preferable to the 1.6Ghz all-in-one kit.
b) I don't know whether we can locally source and correctly configure the remote to drive XBMC and to turn the HTPC on and off. The much pricier Antec Fusion is known to manage this.
 
NBS said:
i3 3.1 GHZ 1155
MB + intergrated graphics, HDMI port, DVI, Optical out
4GB DDR3
Isonic 400w case
Compro K300 remote
R2900

if i could choose over, i would leave the remote, mouse and keyboard, and use the money for this little device : http://www.prophecy.co.za/cideko-wireless-mouse-keyboard-p-81719.html
Click to expand...

An interesting choice there. Adding the Air remote puts that price at almost 3,500 and means using a tower case. Seeing as this will sit by the hifi and LCD, I'm still leaning toward either the Antec Fusion or perhaps the Silverstone Grandia, which fits in better. Or, just live with the performance knock of the E-350 setup which saves me both space and R1,500? Oh, then there's the slight challenge of getting XBMCbuntu to work correctly with the E-350

:D
 
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recently bought stuff for a NAS:

Lian-Li PC-Q08
Intel H57JG 1156
i3-540
2x 1Gig DDR3-1333

my main reason for going with these was I wanted to secure storage expansion and thus the mobo supplied that (yes I could have gone for an Atom setup with one of the Zotac mobos).

now even though I am loving it, the case is a tight fit with the standard ATX PSU.

yeah it sucks that in choices, you have to be able to make some difficult sacrifices.

I would knock stuff like USB3 and SATA6.0 off as long as it has the important Gigabit LAN.

if the mobo I chose could lose the HDMI/DVI I am sure it could have been cheaper.
 
Have you considered using an AMD Fusion E-350? Its integrated GPU is good for that kind of stuff I think.
 
I went for an Intel Atom D510 (Zotac mobo) PC and it's working fine as an HTPC, BUT I haven't managed to play 1080p quality videos yet, which most people would consider as a big draw back. It could simply be that I haven't installed the correct drivers in Ubuntu.

As a NAS, it's working fine - seeing that I can get 40MB/s (when using multiple segments) via FTP.
 
 
NBS: that is a very cool suggestion. I'm just very curious to see what it's power consumption & performance would be like!
 
NBS said:
i strongly considered this, at the end i leaned towards my current system (normal tower HTPC)
But not a bad choose at all
Someone also suggested this to me
http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?products_id=56610
with a
http://www.prophecy.co.za/thermaltake-lanbox-black-minichassis-p-37046.html
or
http://www.prophecy.co.za/thermaltake-mozart-vf3000-silver-media-music-chassis-p-90428.html
Click to expand...

I'm liking the mobo, but the cases are the issue for me. They are not discrete enough. :(

I have just ordered the HP dm1z with the AMD E-350 in. I'm keen to see how it performs on HD content. If it is good enough I might consider the Asus mobo and try and get hold of a decent case that can be tucked away somewhere where it can't be seen.
 
Have to agree about "discrete" looks, as well as sound. I'm not buying a case with 80mm fans (or smaller!) running at 2000+ rpm. Insisting on 120mm fans, the Antec Fusion and Silverstone Grandia 05 cover the uATX side and the CFi 2059 would be my choice for mini-ITX.

Pricewise, it seems I can put together an AMD AM3 or Intel HGG/I3 uATX box for about R4,000, running XBMCbuntu. Alternatively, go mini-ITX with AMD E-350, accept a 1.6Ghz CPU with 6310 DX11 GPU and Win7 MCE for R500 less. Obviously, it seems the decent E-350 mobo's (Asus-e35m1-m-pro) aren't available locally and there's only the Sapphire model with noisy little CPU fan. These all seem preferable to the Zotac Mag at R3,000 (excludes OS and remote control)

A discrete mobo + CPU would allow for an upgrade later of both the CPU and gfx (hopefully not likely) and should work fine with Ubuntu (certainly the AMD route). However, the 2 cases above have a larger footprint than my existing DVD player, which is irritating.
 
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