Completed A work in Progress (1 Viewer)

[mickb]

Hi

I thought I would post the details and a few photos of my system to see what people think. I firstly have to thank Curtis (Coruba67) for his help and patience with a relative newbie.

OK the system:

Case: Accent HT-400B with the built in Imon IR & VFD
MB: ASUS A7V880
CPU: AMD Athlon XP2800+
RAM: 1Gig DDR
Video: Leadtek Winfast nVIDIA 6600GT
TV: Ultraview Plus (Dvico clone)
Sound:HDA Digital X Mystique 7.1 Gold
HDD: Western Digital 200G ATA
DVD: Pioneer DVR-107D
PSU: Usicase 400w Silent Power

I built my current house so have run all TV, audio, telephone and network cable to a cupboard in the living room with a 19" rack in it to hold all the equipment. I have an IR receiver on the wall in the room so I can control everything with the door shut. Cables are accessed from another door in a corridor behind the rack.


The video out and the optical audio are all connected to the inputs on a Onkyo AV reciever and distributed to the TV (Mitsubishi 90cm CRT) and the surround sound speakers. I have taught the Onkyo remote the buttons from the Imon remote and can do almost everything with the 1 remote.

I have MP3's and AVI's stored on a network server and Mediaportal accesses them across the network.

I am currently running 0.1.1.1 but will be making the jump to 0.1.3.0 soon

Some not so good photos can be found here:

http://au.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wezoom2/album?.dir=943c


I look forward to getting any feedback

 

[mama]

Server rack, built in IR receiver, separate "technics room"... Cool! I think I really have to take a lot more time to plan my next house!

 

[Jean-Max]

I have an IR receiver on the wall in the room so I can control everything with the door shut.

Hi, mickb !

Good choices for the hardware
Good idea to separate HTPC from spectator's zone

What model you choosen for the in-wall IR receiver ?
Thanks .

(Actually, I use a Powermid XL couple to transmit IR orders to the HTPC, not so discrete than an in-wall system )

 

[mickb]

Hi Jean-Max

I have used an Andrews Audio IR receiver/transmitter system for the whole AV system. I don't know if they are available in France but they haven't given me any problems in the 6 years I have been using them.

About all I want now is a plasma or LCD screen to get the full value.

Thanks

 

[Callifo]

Sound:HDA Digital X Mystique 7.1 Gold

Nice choice, finally someone that didnt think htpc=audigy 2 then later discover it cant do full 5.1 on digital. :wink:

Got one in my main pc and love it.

 

[mickb]

Sound:HDA Digital X Mystique 7.1 Gold

Nice choice, finally someone that didnt think htpc=audigy 2 then later discover it cant do full 5.1 on digital. :wink:

Got one in my main pc and love it.

Not to mention about half the price of the Creative card!

 

[Jean-Max]

Hi Jean-Max
I have used an Andrews Audio IR receiver/transmitter system for the whole AV system. I don't know if they are available in France but they haven't given me any problems in the 6 years I have been using them.

Hello mickb,

Thanks for your reply

-> Have you a link to Andrews company which manufacture your in-wall IR receiver/transmitter system ?
I didn't find any available info on the net ..

Have a look to my HT install
As you see on the bottom of this Hardware List, I use IR receiver/transmitter from Powermid, but no discrete like an in-wall system
But the IR Powermid transmitter has an advantage: it can send orders to 3 more hardwares by a small wire + 3 IR emitters :
-> Is-it the same with an in-wall IR receiver / emitter system ?

For the fun and headache , have a glance to my HTPC (= PCHC) connection mode

Best regards

 

[mickb]

IR Receivers

Hi Jean-Max

Here is the link to a web site that has a lot of gear for audio & IR cabling:

http://www.leisuretech.com.au/

There are links to Andrews and you way well be interested in the A-Bus as well.

Great site for your system by the way. Makes me feel inadequate. Very through overview of the whole thing and very obviously a labour of love.

Regards

 

[Jean-Max]

Re: IR Receivers

Hi Jean-Max
Here is the link to a web site that has a lot of gear for audio & IR cabling:
http://www.leisuretech.com.au/
...

Many thanks for this very good link for me
Best regards

 

[mickb]

System Update

Well after running the system pretty well unchanged for 5 years I had a motherboard failure and had to undertake some major upgrades to get the system back up and running.

Firstly I am currently residing in Dubai and although everything is available you really need to know where to go. Very few of the outlets in the more popular parts of town sell computer components.

Anyway, the system config is as follows:

Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H
CPU - AMD Phenom X3 64 (8450 2.1Ghz & 3.5MB L2 + L3 Cache)
Ram - 2GB DDR2
HDD - 160GB Seagate
OS - XP Pro SP3
Graphics - Onboard Radeon HD3200 256MB
Sound - HDA Digital X Mystique 7.1 Gold
Remote - Imon (I should have a new MCE remote in a few days)
Mediaportal - 1.0.0
Media Storage - 2TB Linksys NAS200
BluRay/DVD - LG BE06LU10 External Drive
Surround Sound System - Phillips HTS8100
Display - Benq 37cm HD Ready LCD connected via HDMI

I had to use the HDA sound card as the motherboard only has an optical S/PDIF out and my Phillips unit only has a coaxial input. There is an optional expansion S/PDIF cable which gives optical & coaxial in/out ports but it wasn't available in Dubai so I reused the HDA card and disabled onboard audio.

The system is now very fast and seems to be very stable. Having just moved from 0.2.2.0 to 1.0.0 the interface is taking a little bit to get used to, which isn't helped by the Imon not really working correctly. Hopefully the MCE remote will fix that up.

All in all very happy with the way the system works. The combination of more powerful hardware and the new software, clean install of XP has really made the system sing. The Devs deserve a very big hand as it was a step into the unknown for the Wife Acceptance Factor as she was very comfortable with 0.2.2.0. So far she loves 1.0.0.