First HTPC

[AVGUY]

Hi all,

This is my first HTPC build so please be gentle with me.
I moved into my girlfriend house a couple of months ago but unfortunatly could not squeeze in my tower PC or large dvd/video collection (girlfriends rules not mine). So after doing some research i found out about HTPC's and Mediaportal (amazing program), i decided this was the best solution for me so i sold my PC and put the money towards buying parts for my HTPC. I started buying in March i am down to just needing the CPU to get up and running i will be buying the graphics card at a later date.
Here is my spec so far:-

CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 Socket 775 2.4GHz (Buying this month)
M/board - Gigabyte GA-Q35M-S2 iQ35
Graphics Card - Sapphire HD 3650 512MB (Buying next month)
RAM - Crucial 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2
H/D - WD 300GB (20GB for OS the rest Media. Will eventually buy 1TB Drive)
DVDRW - LG GSA-H55NBAL 20x DVD±RW/DL/RAM IDE
CPU Cooler - Scythe mini ninja
Case - Aplus Black Media Center Case
PSU - Arctic Power 500W PSU With PCI-E
TV Tuner/Video Capture - Hauppague PVR USB2

Wanted to go for a slightly more powerful graphics card as i want to play games as well but budget won't allow anything bigger. Ill also be buying a Scythe Kama Fan controller to replace on of the 5 1/2 bays.

O/S - XP
Mediaportal - Mediaportal RC1

Can anyone give me any recommendations on the Mediaportal version is RC1 ok? Im going to mainly using this to play films on and record off tv any recommendations to plugins would also be helpful.

Any advice anyone can give me i would be grateful. And can i just say you all do a fantastic job with Mediaportal and on the Forum. Thankyou.

Update: Just realised that the Scythe fan controller is going to be to big to fit in the front of the case due to covers. Oh well back to the drawing board on fan control. Any ideas?

[Game_dude]

Nice! I have the same case except mine has DVD logos on the trays. Hmm you shouldn't have any problems using RC1 I never have

[AVGUY]

Hello again,

Can i just say what a piece of software Mediaportal is, brilliant. Finally managed to build my HTPC after getting the CPU last week. (See attached pics). Im really pleased with how its working i've loaded Mediaportal RC1 latest SVN, works brilliantly i have gone for the Project Mayhem III skin i just love the look of it. I've still got to get a graphics card and another hard drive to in but i just wanted to get things set-up first.

The one thing i am having trouble with is i can't get fan art to work on the skin anyone have any tips? I have looked at the skinning document but i don't really understand what it is saying. Any help would be gratefully appreciated.


AVGUY