Ongoing Fixer's first HTPC (1 Viewer)

[DaFixer]

Hi I own my HTPC for some time, But i have not the time to start a topic

About 1/2 years a go.I heard the first time about this great program media portal.
After some testing and playing around with MP on my old laptop. And after alot of
thinking about it and I like to have a systeem, That I can use for all my music and emulator's and HD stuff.

Also my girlfriend and I love to watch (horror) DVD/HD movies . So she is very happy with it.




My setup:
---------------------------------
MediaPortal Version: 1.0 RC4
MediaPortal Skin: Black&White 1080p v1.0
Windows Version: Xp Pro sp3
CPU Type: AMD64 x2 4200
HDD: 2x 500 Gig sata2, 1 TB sata2
DVD Drive: Sony 16x DVDR Writer
Memory: 2gig DDR2
Motherboard: Asus M2A-VM HDMI
Video Card: ATI Redeon 3450 256mb silent
Video Card Driver: CCC 8.3
Sound Card: Onboard Realtek HD Audio
Sound Card Driver: v2.0
Codec pack: K-Lite 3.8 + ffdshow from 4.17
MPEG2 Video Codec: ffdshow
MPEG2 Audio Codec: AC3filter
h.264 Video Codec: ffdshow
HTPC Case: Antec Xpack
Power Supply: Antec
Remote: MCE v2
Game Controlers: 2x Xgear Wireless Controllers (There are very good)
Keyboard: Trust Vista MCE keyboard (i know its crap. But i haved find a better one)
TV: Mirai 107cm FullHD LCD TV
TV and HTPC Connection: DVI => HDMI
Sound: Logitech 5.1 set

Plugin's Used:
My Emulators (works great!!)
Shoutcast
Tv Gemist
Usenet

Emulators:
Gens 1.21
Project 64 1.6
Mame
Snes9x
Magic Engine 1.0
ePSXe 1.7

Installed program's
AVG 8.0 free edition
DVDfab 5
Nero 9
Norton Ghost 14 (very good to make image's)
Winrar 7
Daemon Tools 4.12.4

Totaal Cost:
+/- 800 euro




Todo:
A better HTPC case
Find a nice lcd screen for in my case.
Audio on 5.1 set + lcd tv at the same time.
Low noise DVD wirter/Case fan/CPU fan





I was very happy to get the hardware and MP working
My systeem plays 720p stuff realy good also 1080p movies
And to play Super Mario Bros 3 on a big screen is a must

Hardware pic's


Here are some pic's of my HTPC in action:











I wil update when i change some things on my HTPC.

 

[ThaClown]

Cool build, I actually like the case looks cool!

 

[DaFixer]

Thanks ThaClown

 

[SwingSultan]

if 1080 stuff isnt working properly, you could buy a radeon 3650 graphics card. with the right software like power dvd or something it should work fine. at least it does with bluray discs. iirc the lags are due to the copy protection so you shouldnt have any problems with your 1080p stuff. another way to find out os to try some hd content using the mplayer (not that microsoft thing ). is it lags there, you should do something otherwise use another player.

 

[DaFixer]

Now i have a ATI redeon 3450.

Stil some large 1080p movie's are laging

When i have the time i wil try power dvd codec's.

for the replay

 

[SwingSultan]

what kind of source for hd material are you using? hd material which has no copy protection like .mkv files shouldnt be a problem as i said earlier. blurays and hd-dvds are another story. basically there are 2 major codecs and copy protection systems which work better on nvidia or ati gpus or to be more precise their video engines. the main problem with those codecs etc is the software support for the hardware acceleration. so in order to get sufficient advice you should also post all the software and gpu drivers you have tried. in all articles i have read about watching of protected hd content the conclusion was always the same. no software (the last article was from 3 months or something ago) is able to just play something without giving you a headace. so it would probably be best if you post the problem in the software board.

 

[DaFixer]

I watch WMVHD and x264 hd movies.

I wil make a post "get surport" group

 

[DaFixer]

yes finally i have fix my 1080p lag problem
I have update my k-lite codec pack and some tweaking and now 1080p movies runs smooth

 

[Stutch]

K-Lite Codec pack always seems to give troubles. Anyway, love the little setup, a bit cramped but looks really nice!

 

[DaFixer]

Yes it is my Bethroom. I'm still waiting for a home for my and my grilfriend
And i can't use a another HTPC case. It won't fit in my tv stand