So I'm throwing one of these together and thought I'd put it out to anyone out there who might know a thing or two more than I do about this stuff (ie, not a whole lot). My requirements were/are thus:

- HDMI video output - This is a must, my tv (Panasonic 42" plasma model TH-42PZ700A) will only do 1080p over hdmi, component/vga will only take 1080i/wxga. I'd rather not have to gay around with dvi+audio->hdmi adapters too, but would if anyone has any good suggestions.
- Audio is not a huge thing, preferrably over hdmi for convenience as the tv only has rca inputs otherwise, but not really that major as I don't have any system where it'd make a difference anyway atm.
- Small form factor case, desktop sized case with a space of 19cm high and around 50cm wide, 50cm deep.
- Quiet, preferrably.
- Supported under mythtv. After doing some reading this seems to be quite decent for this kinda thing. I'd have no quarms using windows media centre/mediaportal because of drivers or whatever, but myth seems to have all the features.
- Max budget around $900, ideally sub 800.

So here's what I've come up with in terms of hardware to match:

Tuner: Hauppauge Nova-T-500 MCE Dual-Digital TV Tuner PCI card OEM $185.00 - apparently a good dual digital tuner (no analogue afaict, but who cares) supported by mythtv and can apparently record 2 digital channels at the same time. + low profile for case
RAM: DDR2 2Gig(2x1G) PC6400 800Mhz Dual Channel Geil $75.00 - meh, might end up skimping on this for $'s sake either 667 or 2x512 or both.
CPU: Intel ATX E4600 CORE 2 DUO /2.4GHz/ $139.00 - cheapest c2d, should handle most if not everything I throw at it hopefully.
MOBO: Asus P5E-VM-HDMI QuadCore G35 FSB1333 DDR2 PCIEx16 VGA RAID GLAN 1394a $198.00 - this is what I decided to base the system around, basically it will do full 1080p + audio over hdmi version 1.2, while still remaining upgradeable with pci-e slots and a pci slot, inbuilt gig lan for transfers etc. Basically, it's more annoying/not as effective to do all this with a cheaper mobo + video card + adapters while keeping it small and preferrably as passively cooled as possible/quiet.
Optical: Pioneer DVR-215BK 20x Dual Black OEM with software - SATA $34.00 - hopefully not too noisy, might end up trying to find a low speed 2nd hand one.
Case: Antec Minuet 350 Slimline case with 350W PSU $118.00 - good cheap small form factor - low profile - case inc psu, 9.4cm(H) x 31.9(W) x 43.9(D) so it fits fine. I could probably go with a non-low profile (full height pci cards etc) case, but this seems like a good cheap option. Could end up going for http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=91480 or http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=92480 depending on 2nd 5.25 bay or using the external 3.5 bay for some sort of fdd/card reader combo.
HDD: Western Digital 640G SATAII 7200 rpm HDD (WD6400AAKS) $113.00 - getting this for the io performance of the 2x320gb platters, seek time suffers a bit but meh.
Total $862.00

Buying from umart. I'm still tossing up regarding the mobo, and might end up cutting down on hdd/ram to save a few dollars.

Any suggestions/thoughts on anything would be appreciated.

Have you got a remote/wireless mouse for it?

Oh yeah, I won't be using a mouse/kb at all ideally (if that's possible? hopefully it is) once the system is setup and running, I was just looking at using either some form of universal remote + ir receiver, or the windows mce remote.

get a silverstone case, i love mine : )

get an 8800gt passivly cooled with an aftermarket cooler

i'm still planing my htpc but i think i'm going to go with a watercooled 9800 instead of a weaker card.. but i want to play games on it too

Get another hard disk to backup or mirror your data, believe me it's painful loosing terrabytes of data. The NovaT500 is a bit difficult at times using windows, but is very good if you can find the right combination of drivers for the o/s... speaking of which, MythTV is great but using the MCE keyboard and remote requires MCE o/s? If you go a windows o/s, media portal is a very good alternative.

g'luck

get an 8800gt passivly cooled with an aftermarket cooler

i'm still planing my htpc but i think i'm going to go with a watercooled 9800 instead of a weaker card.. but i want to play games on it too

he's building a HTPC not a gami.. oh wait

well an 8800gt is a good card for htpc's cause it has hdmi out and can be passivily cooled...

i dunno if the mobo option will have enough grunt for 1080p

Get another hard disk to backup or mirror your data, believe me it's painful loosing terrabytes of data. The NovaT500 is a bit difficult at times using windows, but is very good if you can find the right combination of drivers for the o/s... speaking of which, MythTV is great but using the MCE keyboard and remote requires MCE o/s? If you go a windows o/s, media portal is a very good alternative.

i'm using the mce remote on my mythtv box no worries at all

you thought about using

ASUS M2A-VM-HDMI AM2 690G PCIEx16 DVI VGA RAID SATA2 GbLAN SND mATX
Internet Price: $87.00

might save a bit on costs, although it amd.

regardless, its a bit overkill is it not, to have 1080p output happening unless you intend on playing bluray discs through it. the hdtv broadcast in australia is 1080i on all and 720p on abc sometimes. i have a dvi cable running from my mythbox to my lcd and it had the resolution sorted straight away.

also, i didnt have any troubles using 2x dtv1000 tv tuners. myth picked them both up no worries.

also, in my experiences, mythbuntu has been the easiest to get running, heaps less f***ing around then windows MCE, not nearly as painful as mythdora, and it recognised everything. the windows MCE remote i am using works really well too

get an 8800gt passivly cooled with an aftermarket cooler

If there existed such a thing in a low profile card, I would definatley think about it. I don't really want to have to buy a full height desktop case just because they don't make smaller video cards. But using this current motherboard the option is there in the future (I won't be gaming on this at all).

Get another hard disk to backup or mirror your data

Thought about it, but this isn't a huge thing. It's only gonna be movie/tv/music storage. If it dies, that's what the internet is for!

you thought about using ASUS ...

Yeah, thought about it. But I don't really want to go near an ati card under linux (bad experiences), and it's using an external adapter tog et the hdmi (while not bad just means more mess and annoyance). I'm definately considering it though, but only because it's cheaper and not better.

its a bit overkill is it not, to have 1080p output

That's what I intend to get in a few months, and it's also for 1080p media from hdd/network.

One thing that was brought up was hdd write speed recording dual 720p channels. Might have to go for some lower size drives and raid0 them, but I'm not too sure. Will probably just wait and see how that goes. I might end up having to get a larger case, and therefore have space for a video card and other junk but iuno.

Hmm personally your system is all over the place.

Personally get a motherboard with the AMD 780G chipset (eg. this review, you won't need a video card. Which means a smaller quieter psu, and less heat which means less fans. With a 5000+ or great AMD cpu, get the lowest wattage over 5000+ that you can, again with the heat and the fans.

I'd get a different case, but that's just me.

I'd get more HDD space, Live recording chews it up fast (well under vistgay is does), and I'd also go greenpower drives (they are way cooler, I wish I had) again means less fans. I went 2 750G, probably over kill, but I don't think I'd go less then 2 500G... and that was in raid 0 (big files get a benefit from it)

The tuner card ... personally I'd go with Hauppage HVR2200 PCI-E (but maybe mth doesn't support it)

But then again I don't use mythTV (it was far more work then I was interested in) I went vistgay, my htpc is WAAAAAY quieter then my 360 (not that that is hard)

I agree with Obes go the 780g.

My system specs are as follows and I think Obes are pretty similar:

Giga-byte 780G mobo
AMD 4800+ CPU (65W version)
2Gig DDR2 RAM
2 x Samsung 750Gb HDD
1 x LG BD/HD DVD
HD 2600XT 256Mb PCI-E vid (you won't need this)
Hauppage HVR-2200 PCI-E TV card (best card on market atm)
Dlink DWL-G510 wireless card
Antec Fusion Black HTPC case
Media Centre Remote

Hardware cost: $1300 you can save $150 swapping the BD/HD drive for a DVD


Windows Vista Home Premium
Movie Collector (new interface is awesome)
CoreAVC codec (allows playback of ripped .m2ts and .evo files)
Vista Standby Tool
MCE Buddy
My TV
AVG Free
Free EPG

Software cost: $230

There is nothing I cannont playback on this system the interface is controlled entirely by remote. My wife and kids use it with ease and it has a real wow factor with the Movie Collector interface.

Similar to Mass cept, I didn't bother with wireless (didn't need it, I have a switch there for my xbox, 360 and future consoles)
Didn't bother with a bluray drive (blu-ray support in media center is poor at this stage)
Didn't get a video card.
I went the silver case (it has a VFD instead of LED)
And a faster cpu

All up my hardware costs were more 1000/1100

Anyone else read RPC/HTTPS

Obes, how do you connect your system to the TV?

HDMI The gigabyte 780G spec mobo has HDMI out.

I have to use component to my CRT atm thats why I have video card. I am looking at getting a 50" Pio Plasma soon, then I will ditch the video card and use the HDMI as Obes does. If you want full 7.1 audio channels over HDMI the only mobo currently doing that is the Intel G35, but it suffers from poor video performance so you need a high end CPU to decode the video. This doesn't affect me cause I haven't spent the $2K+ on a new reciever that can decode 7.1 and pass HDMI 1.3 anyways. The new Intel G45 (due in next couple of months) is supposed to take care of the video issues.

HDMI The gigabyte 780G spec mobo has HDMI out.

no s***, that's cool

The 780G is designed for htpc.

Digital optical out, hdmi (at a bios level), onboard decoding capable of handling blueray fine (with a 5000+ cpu or higher). Hybrid crossfire just incase they come out with something that needs more.

8.4 catalysts improved it too. Overscan support for 720p at 50hz.
720p at 50hz seems to remove the small stutter I was getting noticable on scrollign bars eg. the ticker on Sunrise.

Thanks for the info on the 780g, I can't say I looked too heavily into a nvidia chipset as I had some bad experiences with the 600 range. The only thing that's stopping me putting that into my system would be audio. Does the board do audi out over hdmi?

This is mk 2,

From Umart,
Optical: Pioneer DVR-215BK 20x Dual Black OEM with software - SATA $34.00
RAM: DDR2 2048MB(2x1G)PC6400 800Mhz Kingston $53.00
Case: Antec NSK2480B Solution Series MicroATX Desktop Case Black 123.00
HDD: Western Digital 500G SATAII 7200 rpm HDD Green Power $105.00
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H AMD780G 5200HT DDR2 VGA PCIE2.0 RAID GbLAN 1394 $98.00
CPU: AMD Athlon™64 X2 4850e AM2 45w Energy Efficient CPU $109.00
Sub: $522.00

From CA,
Tuner Hauppauge HVR-2200 Dual HDTV + Analog Tuner PCIe $229
Remote: Microsoft Remote Control for Windows Media Center $39
Sub: $268

Total: $790

last edited by eXemplar at 17:31:05 19/May/08

Umart has the HVR-2200 for $205

The 780G will do sound over HDMI but its not full 7.1. Check out either www.xpmediacentre.com.au or www.avsforum.com those are an absolute wealth of knowledge with product reviews, guides and troubleshooting.

mate of mine just sent me a link to this

looks interesting . .. . .

http://www.mwave.com.au/newAU/mwaveAU/productdetail.asp?SKU=29030163

newer version

http://www.tvix.co.kr/Eng/products/HDM6500A.aspx

just need to slot in a hdd and away you go;

last edited by Spook at 11:52:57 21/May/08

Personally I'd go a bit more grunt in the cpu, its good mobo and it does have the ability to debode bluray, but they rekon 5000+ is the minimum for bluray.

And I really would go a htpc case.

Can any of the free/OSS software packages out there play BluRay discs yet? Or do you need to use some lame Windows-only player that comes with the drives or something?

Blu-ray ... free ? cmon trog, its Sony. They might want to use other peoples software for free, but they want everyone to pay for theirs several times over.

Only 1 of the programs (the arcsoft one) has a Media Center plugin.

Personally I'd go a bit more grunt in the cpu, its good mobo and it does have the ability to debode bluray, but they rekon 5000+ is the minimum for bluray.

Yeah, I'm going to be doing that.

And I really would go a htpc case.

Define htpc case, and how the one I'm looking at getting isn't usable as one? It fits in the area I need it to, is cheap, comes with a psu, has rubber mountings etc for quiet(er) operation and it is smaller case and fits the matx mobo. I don't see the point in buying a fancy case that is more about looks or has a screen on the front or anything gimicky crap like that, when it's just not needed.

Well my htpc case had a bunch of stuff to power the infrared reciever regardless of the pc state. ie. wasn't relying on usb power.

Blu-ray ... free ? cmon trog, its Sony. They might want to use other peoples software for free, but they want everyone to pay for theirs several times over.

Right - so I guess that means Linux users (and by extension MythTV users) are SOL if they want to use their PC to play BluRay, yeh?

Yeah, pretty much. It's the encryption that causes the problem, not the actual video itself. There's programs for Windows which rips and decrypts BD (AnyDVD HD), but until an equivalent for Linux exists, they are, as you say, SOL.

Of course, AnyDVD HD could possibly work under WINE, I'm not sure.

Well my htpc case had a bunch of stuff to power the infrared reciever regardless of the pc state. ie. wasn't relying on usb power.

Isn't that supported by most motherboards anyway now? Jumper/bios/drivers or whatever.

until an equivalent for Linux exists, they are, as you say, SOL.

/me pretends that there will never be a cheapo $30 BR player @ Crazy Clarks or Aldi

I look forward to bigger blank disks to dump family photos and movies of the kids onto.

if this doesn't happen with BR then it'll be the same old story.. someone will just come out with another way.


damn - you can buy a 120gig usb external hdd now for less than $100. not that anyone will want one once ram hdds take off in the next 12 months.

I went 2 750G, probably over kill, but I don't think I'd go less then 2 500G... and that was in raid 0 (big files get a benefit from it)

quote of the thread...

the only thing better than a stripe is two ram drives striped.

try running your HTPC with a hardware stripe for your system volume instead of just your storage. it'll change the way ya see the performance of your pc spec for the better (unless you're running a crapola NForce raid controller - get an Intel ICH9R ya cheap carn). that crappy media centre you built is the prolly your only real life opinion on well this tech actually runs. welcome to 2005

last edited by koopz at 22:37:41 21/May/08

You're a tard koopz.

ps. they sell keyboards with shift keys now.

I found an article on anandtech today with his experience setting up a basic HTPC and thought it a good read for anyone interested in HTPC. Pretty much the same specs as Obes and Mass. He reckons the new AMD 4800+ Athlon X2 45w version is pretty good, and combined with a 780G chipset it's actually more powerful than you would need for any HD content.

good find saint!

I'm giving up on any hope of Xbox 360 use for media center, I can't be f***ed jumping through hoops to use the hardware that way MS want me to. If it can't run XBMC or some other software that'll play media directly off a share it's just a waste of my time.

Soon as I have spare time I'm definitely going to knock together a HTPC (prolly w/ the specs Obes/Mass mentioned). Only question I have at this point is - can I get it working happily running Luinx! Bring on XBMC for lunix.

Personally ... I wouldn't want to waste the time to get loonix working for it.

My time is more valuable then the cost of a Vista licence. (The idea of getting linux drivers for the 780g and the Hauppage tuner all to play nice with some open source software that is never finished makes my head hurt, you want to turn it on and for it to work).

If all you are using it for is a glorified media player, a HTPC will disappoint (got get a popcorn hour). Its the EPG, and PVR along with the media playing capablilities that make HTPC good.

I wouldn't have guessed that Annand would be so rich.

My time is more valuable then the cost of a Vista licence. (The idea of getting linux drivers for the 780g and the Hauppage tuner all to play nice with some open source software that is never finished makes my head hurt, you want to turn it on and for it to work).

Yeh, ditto, at the moment anyway. I think I'll wait until I have some spare time to tinker.

Its the EPG, and PVR along with the media playing capablilities that make HTPC good.

I don't really have any interest in FTA other than sports (which I'll only ever watch live) and I'm not interested in foxtel until their price at least halves (or I get more control over channel bundles).

i reckon, on both points above:

theres nothing really worth taping on fta (cept the bill, which i can just watch on abc2 for a catchup anyway)

and foxtel sure does screw you for package deals;

The perhaps you should consider a popcorn hour http://www.popcornhour.com/ its 1/5th the price. It really only lacks DVD (you can play them on your 360 and it upscales) and FTA which if you use so little you can just use the TV. The only other annoyance with it is Digital audio is via coax.

I never used to use FTA .. now with a HTPC fta is surprisingly useful.

btw a HTPC won't help with foxcrap.

That Popcorn thing would be great if it supported H.264 HP@L5.1, which it doesn't

It seems the only thing which does is a PC, which s***s me off, and is pretty much the only reason I want to buy a HTPC.

if wait a couple of months got confirmation that http://www.mvixusa.com/
are making a box that support MKV high def videos.. but not to sure when the release date is....

There's already a heap of media streamers that support HD MKV files, including the Popcor Hour box that Obes mentioned, it's just that none of them have very good (or any) support for H.264 files in High Profile@5.1. Most only go up to High Profile@4.1. It wouldn't be a problem if all of my HD Linux ISOs were encoded in the latter, but at the moment, these streamers are no more useful than my PS3.

I'm getting one of these:

AL Tech MG450HD Mediagate
and 640GB SATA HDD, total of $404 bux... Not exactly HTPC but it'll do what I want.

Isn't blueray only hp@4.1 ?

on a side note but related (or should this be a new thread?), s'the best quality vs. cost ratio for large screen tvs? 've been warned against plasma's but on the other hand, i was warned against LCD screen (which i've now got and is fine, but is a small 22" monitor).

Isn't blueray only hp@4.1

Yeah, but lots of the HD videos you find on the net are in H@L5.1, because the idiots who encode them just think that higher numbers means it's better, without realising that they're breaking compatibility with pretty much every HD playback device on the market, save for a PC. It's really annoying that I'm either looking at re-encoding videos all the time, or having to buy a HTPC just to play them in the lounge room.

And Fixity, here probably isn't the best place to ask for plasma vs LCD advice. You'll just get Spook and Mongie in a flame war. Just Google it, there's heaps of articles out there.