Could someone comment on this hardware setup for MP? (1 Viewer)

[FredSven]

Hi, I have been using XBMP/XBMC a couple of years now and am planning to upgrade my multimedia solution to a HTPC with Media Portal.

This is the hardware I plan to buy:
Shuttle ST-62K (http://www.silentpcreview.com/article139-page1.html)
This baby can be made almost silent with proper harddrive mounting according to the article above. It has an integrated vga solution (ATI 9100), and is quite small.

P4C 2,8 GHz
Samsung P80 160 GB 8MB
2X256MB Kingston CAS2,5
Logtech diNovo keyboard/mouse
IMON inside plus remote
NEC DVD burner ND-3500
Hauppauge WINTV PVR-250 MCE

I havent bought a plasma/lcd TV yet so I am going to use this method http://www.idiots.org.uk/vga_rgb_scart/ http://www.nada.kth.se/~feldt/vgascart/
to hook it up with my 30" 100Hz Samsung TV.

Will this work? How will the integrated VGA (ATI 9100) work with MP? It is only DirectX 8.1 compatible. Is there another way to achieve perfect picture in a traditional TV besides the method described above? What do you think of the hardware components?

Thanks for all comments!
/FredSven

 

[rich710]

I will say to you, be shure that the cable method work on your Samsung TV, alot of people including me had problem with the cable, I couldn't get it to work, only white picture, I Bought an external VGA-TV converter and then it worked. Think samsung has some special thing for their SCART contacts, I also have problem with my videosender connected to the samsung scart.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi FredSven

Welcome to the forum. Sounds a nice roundup. I have one of those iMon inside things and I think they're great. Your biggest problem with the 62K is a lack of an AGP which can be pretty limiting. I suppose you could always get a PCI video card and then get a USB capture card. Kinda misses the point of a SFF to have lots of things hanging off it it. I don't think the 9100IGP will be good enough for MediaPortal, ask other for their advice. You could always go for one of the "normal" Shuttle boxes. I have an old 61G2 which does the job. Shuttle have some nice boxes these days. All much quieter than mine is. The rest of the line up looks good. With the HDD, can the 62K take SATA? If so get one, those PATA cables just disrupt the airflow too much in a small box.

 

[FredSven]

Thanks for the input.

Rich, I dont know how to make sure that the cable method works on my tv other than test it. If I cant get it to work, I will have to buy an external converter like you, so its not that big of a problem

Forbes, I have read on this forum about a few people using ATI 9100 and they said it worked OK. e.g http://nolanparty.com/mediaportal.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1710&highlight=9100

If someone is using the Shuttle ST-62K and it is not working good, please let me know. I think noise is an important issue, and in that point of view, the ST-62K is the best SFF there is. And Shuttle sends a PATA cable that has the perfect size for the job, so it doesnt affect the air flow.

/FredSven

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, I am very interesting by your configuration. Do you already buy it?
In fact, i am looking for making the ideal SILENT htpc, and for the moment I really focuse my attention on the Shuttle Zen which seems the quietest one.
Do you test the MP on the Radeon IGP?

Thans for answer

 

[Kulle]

Does your machine wake up from Hibernate/standby when a recording is due? Mine does not, exact same machine :-(
Using WIndows XP pro, Shuttle ST62k