£100 & 24 hours = One Credit Crunching HTPC

vasili · 2008-10-25, 13:18

Hardware:
i-Cute case
Amd Athlon xp2700+ 2166mhz
Msi 6777 motherboard
512mb RAM
Ati Radeon 9600 128mb
2 x dvd drives
2 x hdd 120gb & 40
Nova 500 T dual tuner
Wireless keyboard & mouse

Software:
Medi Portal (xface)

Hi, New to the htpc scene and i just want to show people can do with a small budget & a bit of luck.

I started thinking about building a htpc a month ago fed up of having tangled wires everywhere 6 types of inputs mulitple romote controls and a untidy system to view all my media

Then whilst browsing to buy a computer with windows media center built-in i came across you (media portal)
i installed it in my regular pc just to see what it could do and was amazed so i decided to build one that day aroud media portal best thing it is free but i would buy the program its that good.

Anyways about a week later i had my first bit of luck i was given a pc not a great spec a old amd athlon 2700 with 512mb of ram in a horrible gray/white case you know the type in offices and schools. So first thing to go was the case i binned the white case straight away had a quick search on the net for a small pc case and came across the I-Cute I-box it was small piano black cube type case, then seen the price £40 notes so that was case for me. now because i wanted to replace everything under my tv with one piece of equiptment i had to get a tv tuner, so then another quick search i found somthing else that was idea on a tight budget the Nova T 500 digital tuner £45 pound later i had that too. 2nd bit of luck my brothers pc blew up (not lucky for him) but for me it ment i could have his old graphics card ati radeon 9600 128mb again not exactly upto date lol but got enough ooomph to do the job , it can handle 720p HD & 1080p i was very suprised. sound is handled atm by reqular sound card hooked into my technics sound system. The 24 hour part was when i had all the componants together thats when i started to build it i stripped the old case, and unpacked the i cube, installed the motherboard & hard drives 120gb & 40gb 2 then i added 2 X DVD drives one was a dvdr/cdr that came with pc, the other was a dvd-rom drive i managed to get from work that was lying around. But whole sucess was down to the tv. my HDtv i bought a few months before i reserched and i wanted HDMI for future proofing but i seen a tv with Vga as well so i decided on a TV that had 2 X hdmi ports , a Vga port A scart Port , and everyother port you can think of , this came in very handy for my system as i could just connect it straight away with no messing around ..... Built in 24hours with a buget of £100 and heres my results

Paranoid Delusion · 2008-10-25, 13:30

That blows all the high tech specs away LOL

Nice looking piece of kit, especially for the price

vasili · 2008-10-25, 15:37

Thanks, really happy with results but i think this is just the started lol , i got the bug bad

and this place seems like a great place to find info how to tweak it to perfection.

if anyone can tell me what are essential plugins for it for managing my tv-series/movies music & pics be really greatfull

Bagal · 2008-10-25, 23:21

I started similarly to you about 3-4 years ago with a bunch of spare parts and a small budget for a case, tv card etc. fast forward to the present day and I'd hate to think how much I've spent but it's been a real blast

You'll be wanting to have a look at MP-TVSeries and the Moving Pictures plugins to handle your tv series and movies, enjoy!!

DaFixer · 2008-10-30, 00:11

Very nice

Also your set looks great in your room

vasili · 2008-10-31, 21:40

Thank's guys , still happy with it

and it do suit the room since i live in a small flat. Thanks for advice on moving pictures it's a vgood plugin , and i even made 20 backdrops for it already,could not get mptvseirs to work thow..... tv is only 26 inch ...so upgrade there soon i think

... thanks once again

DaFixer · 2008-11-02, 22:48

Also i see a ps2 like controller

Do you play emulator's?

vasili · 2008-11-02, 23:24

O yes lol , the small balck box next to the controller is a ps2 usb box converter basically means i can plug any ps2 type controller in

, mostly Neo-Neo Games snes & N64.

jburnette · 2008-11-03, 00:42

I really like that case and that seems like a good price for it. Out of curiosity, where did you find that?

vasili · 2008-11-03, 18:05

Here is manufaturs website iCute i actually got it from a maplins store @ £40 for a case with a digital disply for temp & fanspeed very good price indeed

2008-10-25, 13:18	#1 (permalink)
vasili Portal Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: cardiff Age: 26 Posts: 7 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	£100 & 24 hours = One Credit Crunching HTPC Hardware: i-Cute case Amd Athlon xp2700+ 2166mhz Msi 6777 motherboard 512mb RAM Ati Radeon 9600 128mb 2 x dvd drives 2 x hdd 120gb & 40 Nova 500 T dual tuner Wireless keyboard & mouse Software: Medi Portal (xface) Hi, New to the htpc scene and i just want to show people can do with a small budget & a bit of luck. I started thinking about building a htpc a month ago fed up of having tangled wires everywhere 6 types of inputs mulitple romote controls and a untidy system to view all my media Then whilst browsing to buy a computer with windows media center built-in i came across you (media portal) i installed it in my regular pc just to see what it could do and was amazed so i decided to build one that day aroud media portal best thing it is free but i would buy the program its that good. Anyways about a week later i had my first bit of luck i was given a pc not a great spec a old amd athlon 2700 with 512mb of ram in a horrible gray/white case you know the type in offices and schools. So first thing to go was the case i binned the white case straight away had a quick search on the net for a small pc case and came across the I-Cute I-box it was small piano black cube type case, then seen the price £40 notes so that was case for me. now because i wanted to replace everything under my tv with one piece of equiptment i had to get a tv tuner, so then another quick search i found somthing else that was idea on a tight budget the Nova T 500 digital tuner £45 pound later i had that too. 2nd bit of luck my brothers pc blew up (not lucky for him) but for me it ment i could have his old graphics card ati radeon 9600 128mb again not exactly upto date lol but got enough ooomph to do the job , it can handle 720p HD & 1080p i was very suprised. sound is handled atm by reqular sound card hooked into my technics sound system. The 24 hour part was when i had all the componants together thats when i started to build it i stripped the old case, and unpacked the i cube, installed the motherboard & hard drives 120gb & 40gb 2 then i added 2 X DVD drives one was a dvdr/cdr that came with pc, the other was a dvd-rom drive i managed to get from work that was lying around. But whole sucess was down to the tv. my HDtv i bought a few months before i reserched and i wanted HDMI for future proofing but i seen a tv with Vga as well so i decided on a TV that had 2 X hdmi ports , a Vga port A scart Port , and everyother port you can think of , this came in very handy for my system as i could just connect it straight away with no messing around ..... Built in 24hours with a buget of £100 and heres my results Last edited by vasili; 2008-10-25 at 13:57.

2008-10-25, 13:30	#2 (permalink)
Paranoid Delusion Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cheshire UK Posts: 7,051 Thanks: 139 Thanked 259 Times in 230 Posts Country: My System	That blows all the high tech specs away LOL Nice looking piece of kit, especially for the price __________________ Ray\PD Check your codecs are fine with Filmerit. Upload Logs\Pictures etc, use the "Go Advanced" and select the + feature to upload\attach files.

2008-10-25, 23:21	#4 (permalink)
Bagal MP Donator Join Date: Dec 2006 Age: 30 Posts: 147 Thanks: 16 Thanked 6 Times in 6 Posts Country:	I started similarly to you about 3-4 years ago with a bunch of spare parts and a small budget for a case, tv card etc. fast forward to the present day and I'd hate to think how much I've spent but it's been a real blast You'll be wanting to have a look at MP-TVSeries and the Moving Pictures plugins to handle your tv series and movies, enjoy!! __________________ Server/Bedroom Client: XP; P4 3GHz; 1.5GB ram; Hauppauge Nova-T x 2; GeForce 6600GT; 3TB Storage; 19" Belinea Widescreen; Lian-Li PC60 case; Lounge Client: Vista x64; Q6600; 4GB ram; Hauppage PVR-150MCE (connected to SkyHD); GeForce 8600GTS; 320Gig storage; 40" Samsung LCD 1080p; Logitech Harmony 525 remote; Zalman HD135 case; Blu-Ray drive; Kitchen Client: XP; P4 3GHz; 1GB ram; 280Gig storage; 17" AG-Neovo; Lian-Li PC60 case; NAS: Thecus N4100+ with 1 x 1TB Samsung Spinpoint

2008-10-31, 21:40	#6 (permalink)
vasili Portal Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: cardiff Age: 26 Posts: 7 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	Thank's guys , still happy with it and it do suit the room since i live in a small flat. Thanks for advice on moving pictures it's a vgood plugin , and i even made 20 backdrops for it already,could not get mptvseirs to work thow..... tv is only 26 inch ...so upgrade there soon i think ... thanks once again Last edited by vasili; 2008-10-31 at 21:43. Reason: Stoned spelling

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2008-10-25, 15:37	#3 (permalink)
vasili Portal Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: cardiff Age: 26 Posts: 7 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	Thanks, really happy with results but i think this is just the started lol , i got the bug bad and this place seems like a great place to find info how to tweak it to perfection. if anyone can tell me what are essential plugins for it for managing my tv-series/movies music & pics be really greatfull

2008-10-30, 00:11	#5 (permalink)
DaFixer Portal Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Age: 25 Posts: 72 Thanks: 5 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Country:	Very nice Also your set looks great in your room

2008-11-02, 22:48	#7 (permalink)
DaFixer Portal Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Age: 25 Posts: 72 Thanks: 5 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Country:	Also i see a ps2 like controller Do you play emulator's?

2008-11-02, 23:24	#8 (permalink)
vasili Portal Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: cardiff Age: 26 Posts: 7 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	O yes lol , the small balck box next to the controller is a ps2 usb box converter basically means i can plug any ps2 type controller in , mostly Neo-Neo Games snes & N64.

2008-11-03, 00:42	#9 (permalink)
jburnette Portal Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Kentucky Age: 23 Posts: 755 Thanks: 142 Thanked 105 Times in 57 Posts Country: My System	I really like that case and that seems like a good price for it. Out of curiosity, where did you find that?

2008-11-03, 18:05	#10 (permalink)
vasili Portal Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: cardiff Age: 26 Posts: 7 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	Here is manufaturs website iCute i actually got it from a maplins store @ £40 for a case with a digital disply for temp & fanspeed very good price indeed

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