11 replies to this topic

[monster]

Hey guys, just figured I'd post about my new HTPC that I built a few days ago.

It's nearly silent, has dual MPEG hardware tuners, running on XP pro.

I use Snapstream Beyond TV 4.6 as my PRV software. It supports multiple tuners, advanced scheduling, web interface, etc. I bought it as a bundle on their site, got a hauppage tuner, beyond tv 4.6, and the firefly remote for $99 USD....




EDIT: The Firefly RF remote is f*cking amazing.





Case: SilverStone LC20 HTPC / Multimedia Server Chassis, Silver




Mobo: Asus M2A-VM

- The first integrated VGA MB supports Playback of HD DVD and Blu-ray Discs with HDCP compliant
- Support Dual-VGA output(DVI-D&RGB) and SurroundView
- Support AMD Socket AM2 CPU
- AMD 690G Chipset
- Integrated ATI Radeon X1250-based graphics
- PCI Express architecture
- Gb LAN
- DDR2 800
- 4*SATA 300MB/s RAID 0,RAID 1, RAID10




Proc: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ EE




TV Tuner: 2 x Hauppauge WinTV PVR 150MCE




Power Supply: Enermax 420W EG425P-VE Noisetaker




DVD-ROM: LiteOn 16X DVD-ROM SATA, Black


RAM: Micron Original 1GB PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM


Hard Drive: Seagate 320GB Barracuda 7200.10 SATA II w/ NCQ, 16MB Cache

*Holds about 100 hours of MPEG recordings... may end up putting more 320's in there as a raid... not needed yet.



It works great. Dual tuners are almost a requirement, if you want to record 2 shows at once or watch one while recording another. It's a pain trying to configure the computer with no keyboard or mouse, but I just remote into it when I need to update things. Once setup properly (auto logon, disable messages, etc) the operating system is hidden to the user, leaving a seamless tv (with benefits).

Edited by monster, 20 April 2007 - 10:04 AM.

[medel]

Very nice! The remote is RF, not IR, isn't it? Wouldn't want to leave out that RF makes it even f*cking better! I actually hated beyondTV when I was playing around with them, but I think they fixed a lot of the bugs (it crashed every 5 min on my old media box)..
Also, that case is beautiful!

[monster]

heh... right, it's RF.

Beyond TV has been rock solid for me... I hear that version 3.xxxx was buggy.


Here are some shot's of my setup:

[Billy Pumper]

too bad you don't have more room to spread it out with a bigger tv and that would be beautiful. still awesome gj

Edited by Billy Pumper, 20 April 2007 - 11:11 AM.

[Chris82]

Nothing wrong with a glass CRT, provided the picture is good and it doesn't weigh 500 pounds.

[monster]

Ya, Toshiba 26" wide crt.



Picture is good, got it pretty cheap about a year ago.... when I get an LCD it's gonna be titty f*cking nice.

[Sniprwulf]

sweet deal. what graphics card are you using, ur old x800xt?

[monster]

sweet deal. what graphics card are you using, ur old x800xt?

Yeah, finally found a use for that passive card... lol

[wondergod]

good stuff...

anyways I've built many a media center...and here is a great link. Its so you can have multiple sessions of remote desktop without affecting the person using the machine(the tv watching). I actually find it so useful i usually set this up on all my pc's media center or not.

its great when you need to work on the machine but are watching tv on it

http://sig9.com/arti...-remote-desktop

btw if you ever want to add another tv tuner card they make ati theater 550's in PCIe 1x flavors...usually www.pcalchemy.com runs deals on OEM ones, I've bought 3 from there for like 40 bucks a pop.


also if you are brave you can try out MythTV for Linux it's a GREAT media center software and is extremely customizable and has a lot of great features(also works with firefly remotes) and its free! However if you got samsung chipset haup 150's I would not advise you to do so...


now wait to become addicted to tv recording, you will never watch a live show again...and you 320 gigs will be full in a few months...next machine to start looking forward to is the fileserver ;)

[monster]

good stuff...

anyways I've built many a media center...and here is a great link. Its so you can have multiple sessions of remote desktop without affecting the person using the machine(the tv watching). I actually find it so useful i usually set this up on all my pc's media center or not.

its great when you need to work on the machine but are watching tv on it

http://sig9.com/arti...-remote-desktop

btw if you ever want to add another tv tuner card they make ati theater 550's in PCIe 1x flavors...usually www.pcalchemy.com runs deals on OEM ones, I've bought 3 from there for like 40 bucks a pop.
also if you are brave you can try out MythTV for Linux it's a GREAT media center software and is extremely customizable and has a lot of great features(also works with firefly remotes) and its free! However if you got samsung chipset haup 150's I would not advise you to do so...
now wait to become addicted to tv recording, you will never watch a live show again...and you 320 gigs will be full in a few months...next machine to start looking forward to is the fileserver ;)

Already have a fileserver with 2 x 320's in raid 0.... and I usually delete my shows after recording them anyways, no need to archive something I've already seen... heh

[Sniprwulf]

just wondering, what's the deal with the mediacenter software recognizing your cable and its menu's and such. like does it automatically configure to if u have satellite, comcast, cablevision etc. and can you get your premium channels when not having a box>?>? just wondering.

[monster]

The guide is downloaded from their servers automagically... just tell it your location and provider and it fills in the channel lineup.


If you want to get full digital cable or satellite, you need an IR blaster for your set top box....


EDIT: to get satellite or digital cable channels, you will need a set top box.

Edited by monster, 23 April 2007 - 12:37 PM.