HTPC

Oh and by the way, Media Portal is free.

Media Center comes shipped with Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate.
 
if you are up for a learning curve, mythtv is the bee's knees

I run a Celeron 2.4GHz with 512MB RAM
An nVidia FX5200
Onboard sound on an old Gigabyte MB

Runs beautifully except for matroska files. which is to be expected really. but runs them better than my P4 2.66GHz mentioned above when it is in Windows. One of the great things with mythtv is that I have set it up in what is called LVM so when I add a new harddrive, it sees all the space as one partition.

EDIT: There's also the fact that as opposed to Windows Media Center, it is free and also the addons.
 
I've changed a while back from MCE to Mediaportal and never looked back. Infinitly more stable.

Client/server with shared database is incredible. Content on the server and multi-client access.
 
MCEGuide said:
Yeah I agree with unsecluded. You can't really tweak Windows Media Center.

Okay you can't tweak it at all.

But that's what I like about Media Center. It's so easy and straight-forward to set up and use. If your not tech savvie, then go for Media Center but if you like to fiddle and play around with all sorts of settings that who-knows-what-it-does, then go for Media Portal.

I used Media Portal for maybe about a month or two before switching over to Media Center and I liked it but now I can't even get it to work.
Click to expand...

Same here. I used MCE XP, then Media Portal, then MCE Vista and I find Vista to be very stable. My favorite Vista MCE plugin is DRMtoolbox that will convert all my files and auto skip commercials. :D
 
unsecluded said:
im using asus m3n78 motherboard connected to a 46" lcd, no graphics cards. and it runs fine, no problems. i play everything from divx to HD content fine.
Click to expand...

I read this thread with great interest as I am looking to upgrade my HTPC and the biggest thing for me is the mobo.
The ASUS M3N78-EMH HDMi (which I assume is that same one that you are using) looks like a good option.
I see that you connect to a 46" LCD. Is that via the HDMi port on the mobo? If so what is you picture quality like.
I have a 47" Sinotec LCD and can't test the quality with HDMi as I don't have and devices to test it with and my only concern is the HDMi picture quality on this screen. VGA from my XBOX is superb and HD from my (now obsolete) HD DVD addon is also brilliant over VGA, but HDMi worries me.

You said that the onboard sound is OK. I will be connecting to a Yamaha receiver via optical. Surely the sound from the mobo should be fine over SPDIF. I mean it mearly passes the signal to the AMP? correct?

The onboard GPU attracts me as I don't have dosh to buy a separate GPU card.
I am busy eyeing an LG blu ray/hd dvd internal drive on auction. It is selling for around R1300.
It is a LG GGC-H20L BLU-RAY+HD DVD+LIGHTSCRIBE+16X DVD±RW. NGR have these for sale for R3500
 
New HTPC build

Hi Guys,

Yet another HTPC question...okay so after doing some research and reading some of the forums threads here, a lot of peeps settled for the HP Proliant MicroServer to serve their needs as a HTPC.

I was settled on going with the HP MS route but a friend pointed out that someone at his work place built the machine below as his HTPC,

MSI E350IA-E45 w/ Integrated AMD APU
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/E350IA-E45.html
Price: R770

8GB RAM
Price: R416

Cooler Master Elite 120 Mini-ITX Cube Chassis
http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?product_id=3102
Price: R580

16GB USB3 (Running OpenElec via USB)
Price: R122

Total: R1 887.

What are your guys thought's on this machine and also compared to the HP Proliant Micro Server?
 
daWolf said:
Hi Guys,

Yet another HTPC question...okay so after doing some research and reading some of the forums threads here, a lot of peeps settled for the HP Proliant MicroServer to serve their needs as a HTPC.

I was settled on going with the HP MS route but a friend pointed out that someone at his work place built the machine below as his HTPC,

MSI E350IA-E45 w/ Integrated AMD APU
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/E350IA-E45.html
Price: R770

8GB RAM
Price: R416

Cooler Master Elite 120 Mini-ITX Cube Chassis
http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?product_id=3102
Price: R580

16GB USB3 (Running OpenElec via USB)
Price: R122

Total: R1 887.

What are your guys thought's on this machine and also compared to the HP Proliant Micro Server?
Click to expand...

It'll do the job fine. That case is mighty fugly though. Wouldn't want that being seen in my living room...
 
Unless I'm mistaken, that case doesn't include a PSU. If so, you'd want a decent, silent unit, which will add a fair bit to the price
 
Messugga said:
It'll do the job fine. That case is mighty fugly though. Wouldn't want that being seen in my living room...
Click to expand...
LOL, doesn't look too bad.

flarkit said:
Unless I'm mistaken, that case doesn't include a PSU. If so, you'd want a decent, silent unit, which will add a fair bit to the price
Click to expand...
Finding out now if the case includes a PSU.
 
akescpt said:
i thought the microserver was the best solution?:confused:
Click to expand...

The Microserver is excellent, but personally, I don't like the noise that much. The big fan on the back is slightly noisy in a perfectly quiet room, as is the hard drives. I've brought in a Scythe replacement fan that should produce about half the noise, but I'll probably get something else to perform HTPC duties and move the Microserver to the study to serve purely as a NAS. The new system will probably be a completely custom chassis with a fanless PSU and a closed-loop watercooling system like the Antec Kuhler, with an uprated fan, to perform cooling duties for an AMD integrated system and a SSD for storage purposes.
 
Messugga said:
The new system will probably be a completely custom chassis with a fanless PSU and a closed-loop watercooling system like the Antec Kuhler, with an uprated fan, to perform cooling duties for an AMD integrated system and a SSD for storage purposes.
Click to expand...
That sounds like a top build!
 
daWolf said:
Spot on! No PSU...so you looking at another +-R250
Click to expand...

:wtf: Huh?? For what? At that price, I'd question the reliability and silent operation of the PSU. A noisy, whooshing HTPC would irritate me no-end
 
flarkit said:
:wtf: Huh?? For what? At that price, I'd question the reliability and silent operation of the PSU. A noisy, whooshing HTPC would irritate me no-end
Click to expand...

Yup. Be prepared to drop R700 or so on a decent quality PSU. You won't need anything more than 450W, which is the minimum from the quality brands these days anyway.
 
daWolf said:
Hi Guys,

Yet another HTPC question...okay so after doing some research and reading some of the forums threads here, a lot of peeps settled for the HP Proliant MicroServer to serve their needs as a HTPC.

I was settled on going with the HP MS route but a friend pointed out that someone at his work place built the machine below as his HTPC,

MSI E350IA-E45 w/ Integrated AMD APU
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/E350IA-E45.html
Price: R770

8GB RAM
Price: R416

Cooler Master Elite 120 Mini-ITX Cube Chassis
http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?product_id=3102
Price: R580

16GB USB3 (Running OpenElec via USB)
Price: R122

Total: R1 887.

What are your guys thought's on this machine and also compared to the HP Proliant Micro Server?
Click to expand...

The guy that did the build above didn't mention the PSU he bought. I just found out that he fitted the PSU below,
http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?products_id=70313

Thoughts?
 
You can get an LGA1155 motherboard for that price.
LGA1155 sockets also Celerons, Pentiums and performance is way up from the LGA775 ones.
 
daWolf said:
The guy that did the build above didn't mention the PSU he bought. I just found out that he fitted the PSU below,
http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?products_id=70313

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I haven't seen any dedicated sound tests on it, but reviewers seem to rate it as a decent unit for a PC with lower power needs (which fits the HTPC bill). I'd up it to the 450W model, just to be safer. Would be curious to hear what one sounds like in a mini-ITX enclosure.
 
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