Hardware For HTPC (1 Viewer)

[goulin]

Hi,

I've been meaning to build a HTPC for a long time, but moving into a new house with a new HD TV and 5.1 channel HT system has really given me an incentive to finally get off my butt and build a HTPC. The following hardware was what I was thinking of getting - I was wondering what people thought... any advice?

Case - Antec NSK2480b
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2L
Processor - Intel E8200 6MB L2 2.66 GHz 1333 MHz
Hard Disk - Samsung SATA2 500G (for media), left over IDE hard disk for Windows
RAM: 2GB-800
Video - Gigabyte 512M 8500GT PCIe
DVD - left over from other PCs
TV Tuner - Leadtek DTV2000H PCI (how do you know what chipset it is using to confirm that it is supported by MediaPortal?) - need 1 analog tuner for cable TV (in Australia) and at least 1 digital tuner (one should be enough, but two is better than one right?)

I have heard that the 8500GT cards can be large in size, and encroch over other PCIe/PCI slots on the motherboard. Anyone else able to provide feedback?

Also, given my requirements, do you think it would be better to buy a seperate analog and digital TV tuner cards?

The main requirements for the system is to:
1) Record TV from cable (analog) and TV (digital)
2) Play HD content from DVDs/BD from my BD drive (I will purchase when I eventually get some BlueRay disks)
3) Do all this above well and quietly

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

 

[topdiggy2]

You will be fine!

Hello:

For the most part sounds like a pretty solid system. I am in north america so i can not help you with the tuning specifically as it relates to your service provider and Media portal. I too am a newbie persay to mediaportal.

With that being said, what exactly is your question? that system will do exactly what you want to do without a problem. As a standalone unit you should be fine. Just make sure you have the proper codecs installed to playback your media (mpeg4, h.264, blueray is another should come with the drive disk, divx, etc.)

- Topdiggy2

 

[goulin]

Thanks Topdiggy2... I guess I just wanted confirmation that I was on the right track with the system, since I am a mediaportal newbie, you know, in case someone had had a bad experience with a particular component of the system that I was planning to put together (I noticed some people had previous issues with certain gigabyte motherboards and AMD processors etc).

Cheers

 

[bolders]

HI goulin

With regard to creating a quiet PC have a look at the Noctua fans. Ive recently built a new system using two NF-R8 80m fans and a NF-P12 120mm. They are not cheap but they really are quiet. Ive got that paired up with a Enermax modu82 425watt PSU and all I can hear now is the Hard drives. Next plan is to swap the HD with a 2.5" laptop drive to sort this.

With regard to system spec that looks plenty powerfull enough. Im running an AMD 2.3GHz chip and its fast enough to decode all the HD content Ive got when using the coreAVC codec.

I am running the Gigabyte 780g MB that I think you're refering to and its working really well although many of the problem posts Ive seen, relating to this board, seem to be from people in NZ (not sure if your in OZ or NZ). The recomendation is for a Nvidia 8500GT in this case - so the card you have chosen is probably the right choice (just look for one without a fan if silence is your goal). There is a bit of info in this thread.

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/htpc-projects-42/migration-amd-690g-780g-40706/

For Blu ray playback you have to use an external program such as power DVD as it can't be done within Media Portal. However I have just got this working myself using a "work around" created by MoPhat. The thread can be found at this link

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/plugins-47/blu-ray-hd-dvd-player-powerdvd-working-solution-32268/

With careful selection of desktop background and usage of the right skin in powerDVD the solution can be made to appear seemless.

hope the build goes well

bolders