Completed Laptop based HTPC finally finished (1 Viewer)

[jay_galway]

can i ask why you chose to use a laptop ?

surely it's not the most energy efficient solution ?

Hmmm I cant say I really choose my target systems based on how green they are for the environment.

Having said that, a laptop uses less power than a convential PC...

But to answer the question... outside the realms of power consumption, I chose a laptop as I dont have anything else So in actual fact I am doing a great deal for the environment, as I am recycling hehe.

Now in the future I may move towards an alternative, but this was more of an experiment to see if I could achieve what I originally set out to do.

On the energy side of things, I would have thought you would have maybe asked me why I used a 46inch LCD when I could have easily used an old CRT 14inch? After all Im sure that would conserve more energy

 

[funkstar]

I think i'll be using my existing laptop as a frontend in my bedroom in a few months.

It's a Centrino 1.66Ghz from a couple of years ago. Still runs well so there is no point in binning it, i just need more horse power for some of the photo work i do now. Turning it into a MediaPortal client is a perfect use i think

 

[CHli]

It depends on the onboard gfx card

 

[Nightmare77]

hey jay_galway , just out of interest, does your pc do 1:1 pixels from your dvi>hdmi cable to the hdmi input on the samsung?

 

[jay_galway]

hey jay_galway , just out of interest, does your pc do 1:1 pixels from your dvi>hdmi cable to the hdmi input on the samsung?

Yes it does and the LCD supports it, I select just scan on the Samsung, I do no scaling and there is no overscanning.

The picture is actually clearer than my laptops LCD. The photos I have uploaded do not do the LCD justice. I will try and get some more better pics instead.

The resolution I work at is 1920x1080@60Hz

 

[phunqe]

can i ask why you chose to use a laptop ?

surely it's not the most energy efficient solution ?

Um, unless you have an Alienware or something I'm pretty sure the laptop consumes less energy.

I use a MacBook Pro (which by the way plays all HD material perfectly, even 1080p) and the powersupply consumes a max of 85W.

Or did I miss something

 

[carthol]

From the start you said you haven't yet selected a USB TV Tuner Card. Figured that out yet? Have you seen any good HDTV USB tuners.

I'm actually trying to set up a almost identical system. Though the one requirement I haven't been able to solve yet was the HDTV tuner.

I'm actually basing my system on an older 17inch Dell, but the GF6800 in it should cover the graphics power requirements. Right now I use the laptop (using MP) to do everything except watch TV (I do all my movies and such). But it would be amazing to be able to get the same quality I get inherently from my Settop Box.

Instead of the 42", I'm using a HD projector, with Component/VGA input. So, one input is my HDTV and one is my computer. I'm actually considering selling the laptop and building the system from scratch as a HTPC. But that seems ridiculous to me that I can't get this one last piece of functionality to work well.

Anyway, any thoughts on this problem would be great!!

 

[Hopkins]

As someone that is still lurking and thinking about getting MP working, what skin are you using on this (the picture of your TV with Pirates looks great)?

 

[rav994]

Hi i am also turning my laptop into a htpc.
I have a latitude d610 lying around doing nothing.
May i know which external drives you used.
I am looking for an external drive with spindown.

nice setup btw

 

[druffski]

Awesome setup, looks good.

Mine is just a PC sitting behind the tv.