Considering building a home theater p.c.

[Knucklehead]

Does anybody have one in use? If so, what is your set-up?

[DanAckerman]

The new ones are pretty sweet
Less power, optical audio port, 802.11n, bluetooth, gigabit ethernet, firewire 800. Really a sweet little device. I use Front Row all the time for movies and music off this.

$599 for the current model is the only downside.

But you can grab a refurbished 1.83 Core2 Duo for $419. Just missing a few of the features, but I'm still using one from 4 years ago and haven't had the pressing need to upgrade yet.

Install Airfoil and you can use your receiver as a wireless set of speakers for your laptop.

http://rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/

We have ours ran into my Denon for both audio and video. It pipes it to my TV as a monitor, but you can just go directly to your TV if you don't have a switcher.

Install VPN or grab a wireless keyboard and mouse and you are set. If you really can't stand mac's you can even install windows on these boxes. The only other thing you will end up wanting is disc space, we have over a terabyte and are looking at doubling that.

[bobman1235]

If you build your own, dont' forget to think about fan noise.

[Knucklehead]

WOW, 2 TB! But I guess video does take up a lot of space, i think I have a 500g and a 250g laying around, should get me started anyways. Thanks for the info.

[Knucklehead]

If you build your own, dont' forget to think about fan noise.

Excellent point considering i installed a cooling fan for my AVR and had to remove it because it was just too loud.

[sucks2beme]

Antec makes several quiet cases. The power supply and fans are different,
and the drive mounts are isolated.

[jimbo1421]

Since I don't need to take it on the road much I use my MacBook Pro 2.1 GHz. DVI/HDMI cable to 37" Sharp Aquos; optical audio out to Yamaha AVR provides 5.1 & 2.0 audio; 1.5 mbps DSL for online video (not quite enough bandwidth for HD internet video but the best available in my neighborhood). I use an external DVD burner for DVDs and CDs to save wear and tear on the slot loading player in the MBP and because I already had one. I also play my iTunes library through it. Until it developed a buzz, I used to use a Griffin iMic for 2 channel audio into the MBP for converting LPs to CD and MP3. Depending on whether I am using the Mac Front Row or Mac OS interface, I use either the Apple remote or Bluetooth Kensington SlimBlade trackball mouse for remote control.

Pluses: Saved money since I already had the DVD/CD burners. I already know the Mac OS GUI interface by heart. iTunes is the most convenient way to organize and play music. The MBP is quiet.

Minuses: The DVD burner is more finicky about the quality of the DVDs I rent; about one in ten disks won't play. It is also noisy when playing CDs (not DVDs for some reason). I can't turn off the MBP screen.

[DanAckerman]

WOW, 2 TB! But I guess video does take up a lot of space, i think I have a 500g and a 250g laying around, should get me started anyways. Thanks for the info.

750MB fine to start with, would probably keep you going for quite awhile. My wife and I just have a huge collection and TB drives are going for around $80 now, so cost isn't too much of an issue. Most important part of the drives is the speed for when you are ripping a disk.

[ryanjoachim]

I'm looking into getting HTPC/home server soon. I have 3 TB of storage right now (1TB external, 1 500gb external, and 1.5TB internal), but i'm looking to get around 4TB more so that I can backup/archive my wife's 500+ dvd collection.

Keep in mind that backing up and transfering large files takes a lot of processing power, so make sure that your htpc isn't a slouch on the CPU/ram side.

[Ender]

Hmmm... How were you planning on doing it? I actually have my HTPC networked with a server computer that holds all my media files. Therefore, I don't need to stuff the HTPC with HDD's and I can just have one HDD. Without the need for too much space, I was able to purchase a small form factor computer case so that the case sitting next to the TV could be small.

Also, did you want to shoot for pure HDMI or...? I decided to stick with SPDIF and DVI for now... HDMI is too iffy and expensive for me.

[jinjuku]

My setup consists of:

AMD X2 5050e (Brisbane) its thermal dissipation is a extremely cool 45 watts

Fanless Heat Sink is the Scythe Ninja

Mainboard is the GIGABYTE GA-MA780G-UD3H

2GB of Kingston RAM

320GB Samsung spinpoint (quiet)

Another 1.5TB in a machine downstairs

Power Supply is an Antec Earth Watts (very quiet) 380 watt (way more than enough juice for HTPC).

Vista 32bit edition

Case is the Antec 300. I have two 120MM fans modified to run on the 5V supply. Silent.

[ryanjoachim]

Keep this in mind if budget is a concern:

Most of the ATI 4000 series have HDMI built in, or available through an adapter. That allows you to output 1080p and 7.1 surround sound with just 1 cable all through the video card. That could temporarily negate the need for a $200+ dedicated sound card.

[Ender]

Dream HTPC Case: http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=757

Totally fanless as long as you have really good heatsinks.

[ryanjoachim]

Dream HTPC Case: http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=757

Totally fanless as long as you have really good heatsinks.

Typically, HTPC's are designed to fit right into your home theatre and not look out of place.

Obviously, some people don't care about that aspect too much (myself included).

I'd go with a full-tower size case, stuff it full of HD's, and let it roll. Fan noise isn't something I'm worried about since i'm partially deaf and have the volume cranked all the time.

[Knucklehead]

Hmmm... How were you planning on doing it? I actually have my HTPC networked with a server computer that holds all my media files. Therefore, I don't need to stuff the HTPC with HDD's and I can just have one HDD. Without the need for too much space, I was able to purchase a small form factor computer case so that the case sitting next to the TV could be small.

Also, did you want to shoot for pure HDMI or...? I decided to stick with SPDIF and DVI for now... HDMI is too iffy and expensive for me.

is it networked wireless or hardwired?

[jinjuku]

Keep this in mind if budget is a concern:

Most of the ATI 4000 series have HDMI built in, or available through an adapter. That allows you to output 1080p and 7.1 surround sound with just 1 cable all through the video card. That could temporarily negate the need for a $200+ dedicated sound card.

The 3200 integrated graphics on AMD's 780 platform is 1.3a with audio. Mainboards are right around $80-$110.

[Ender]

is it networked wireless or hardwired?

Wireless. Using a DWA-552 and DIR-655. LOVE D-Link (when you get the right products from them).

[ryanjoachim]

I wasn't sure if on-board hdmi suffered from what on-board audio does (noise from electrical components on the board)

But yes, there are motherboards out there that have HDMI and 7.1 surround sound built-in also.

[jinjuku]

I wasn't sure if on-board hdmi suffered from what on-board audio does (noise from electrical components on the board)

But yes, there are motherboards out there that have HDMI and 7.1 surround sound built-in also.

Noise can be an issue with the analog section. I have found the digital out to be 100% clean.

[Ender]

Yeap. What jinjuku said. :D

I know some guys who have HDMI coming out of their mobo and they say it works great and it eliminates need for other cards. I think there was a mobo with HDMI audio and has onboard HD graphics decoding? 9400 or something?

[jinjuku]

Yeap. What jinjuku said. :D

I know some guys who have HDMI coming out of their mobo and they say it works great and it eliminates need for other cards. I think there was a mobo with HDMI audio and has onboard HD graphics decoding? 9400 or something?

Nvidia and ATI have compelling and competing solutions. The 3200 and 3300 onboard by ATI has HD decoding built in.

Check out this ECS board

[ryanjoachim]

For on-board solutions, wouldn't you need a more powerful cpu than you'd normally put into an HTPC? That means more heat/power.

Although having an add-in video card generates enough heat to cook popcorn...

[jinjuku]

For on-board solutions, wouldn't you need a more powerful cpu than you'd normally put into an HTPC? That means more heat/power.

Although having an add-in video card generates enough heat to cook popcorn...

No, not at all. The newer graphic chipsets have dedicated H.264 and other native HD hardware. They do the HD decode so your processor requirements go down to nil...

Nice thing about the computer based graphics from ATI/nVidia is they do a stellar job at upscaling DVD's.

Now if you plan on a gaming rig, that is where you get into some high temp cpu's and graphic cards.