Greece
My HEPC past, present, future...
Past and current hardware:
> Case: ACCENT silver with HD44780 2x16 VFD display (connected on parallel port)
> Motherboard: Chaintech Zenith (i875)
> CPU: intel Pentium 4 @ 2.6GHz
> RAM: 512MB RAM (HT)
> HD: 120MB SATA
> VGA: Asus, ATI 9800XT/256MB
> Audio: on-board Envy24 7.1 audio
> K/M: Logitech DiNovo (keyboard, X900 mouse, mediapad)
> Control: Marmitek PC Control (RF/IR remote connected on USB)
> Speakers: Logitech z-680, 5.1, DD/DTS, THX certified (connected with SPDIF)
> Display: Sony WEGA Trinitron 21" CRT
> Other notes: always connected on my Gigabit network (all PC NICs and switch are Gigabit), multi-card reader, no floppy, I could install one of my DVD-Recorders (I have three), but I didn't bother and I don't care doing this thing on my HEPC since it is always connected to my LAN (and my server is always on), I might throw on it my Audigy some time (when I won't care using it on any of my other computers)
Future hardware:
> AMOI LC37AF1E 1920x1080P capable LCD TV (already almost made the deal, probably in the house before July)
> Buy much larger HD (I don't rush it since I have about 1TB in three external enclosure disks that I have made MP see either shared in the LAN or directly connected on the HEPC)
> Switch motherboard etc. with one of my more modern PC (i925 and 3.2GHz) if I update that other PC
> Logitech z-5500 just because they exist
> An MCE compatible Thomson/Gyration remote I spoted
> Satelite hardware (probably wait for a DVB-S2 card or just get a Skystar 2 because of its "flexibility")
> DVB-T hardware (since we are all moving there)
> Indirectly related: Upgrade my 384/128 ADSL to 1024/256 (don't laugh, ADSL prices are stupidly high-priced here)
Features (and minor pending issues):
> Display analog time-shifted TV - check, works fine (one channel could be cleaner, not MP issue)
> Play FM radio - check
> Play videos, subtitled, DD/DTS/AC3 pass-through to my external Logitech decoder - check, works fine (must find a good solution for MP4 and MediaPortal should add support to control SPDIF volume... I now have to use Girder for volume control, the only reason I still use Girder!)
> Trailers - check, work fine
> Play MP3 - check, works fine (although I must clean up my folder structure as I never bothered with album classification, I would live MUCH better visualization support)
> Show pictures - check, works fine
> Play some games - check, work fine (needs my keyboard and/or gamepad for most, just 4 games installed)
> Play with COMPLETE MAME 0.105 collection - check, works fine (again needs my keyboard and/or gamepad)
> Play CBM64 software - check, works ok (keyboard is of course a must)
> Weather - check, works fine (use Greek satellite images too)
> Wake-up/sleep timers - check, work fine (although wake up doesn't mean the computer too... I haven't bothered with that)
> On-demand aquarium (the famous screen saver) - check, mostly works (with MultiShortcut plugin)
> Play CDDA - check, works fine
> Play DVD - check, works ok (implementation of DVD player could be much better though)
> Play other media CD/DVD/cards - should work ok, haven't checked (but I have the system ready to see all the cards, DVD drive and virtual DVD)
Future features/to-do list:
> I should soon fix a 1920x1080 skin (!!!)
> Fix Daemon Tools 4 support
> Play Internet radio - could have made it, just haven't bothered yet
> Record radio?
> Use it to play/record more than one TV channels (related to the corresponding hardware upgrade of course)
> Organize my MP3 MUCH better
> Implement more emulators (since I have about 150GB in Emulation material anyway - yes I am a retro lover)
> Really find good CODECs for my Video needs (i.e. play everything)
...and do whatever it takes to raise the W.A.F.
Regards
You can see some photos of my HTPC in here:
http://www.ilogic.gr/webshots
...but bear in mind that you see myHTPC (not even Meedio that came next) screen shots and I currently use MediaPortal of course
Past and current hardware:
> Case: ACCENT silver with HD44780 2x16 VFD display (connected on parallel port)
> Motherboard: Chaintech Zenith (i875)
> CPU: intel Pentium 4 @ 2.6GHz
> RAM: 512MB RAM (HT)
> HD: 120MB SATA
> VGA: Asus, ATI 9800XT/256MB
> Audio: on-board Envy24 7.1 audio
> K/M: Logitech DiNovo (keyboard, X900 mouse, mediapad)
> Control: Marmitek PC Control (RF/IR remote connected on USB)
> Speakers: Logitech z-680, 5.1, DD/DTS, THX certified (connected with SPDIF)
> Display: Sony WEGA Trinitron 21" CRT
> Other notes: always connected on my Gigabit network (all PC NICs and switch are Gigabit), multi-card reader, no floppy, I could install one of my DVD-Recorders (I have three), but I didn't bother and I don't care doing this thing on my HEPC since it is always connected to my LAN (and my server is always on), I might throw on it my Audigy some time (when I won't care using it on any of my other computers)
Future hardware:
> AMOI LC37AF1E 1920x1080P capable LCD TV (already almost made the deal, probably in the house before July)
> Buy much larger HD (I don't rush it since I have about 1TB in three external enclosure disks that I have made MP see either shared in the LAN or directly connected on the HEPC)
> Switch motherboard etc. with one of my more modern PC (i925 and 3.2GHz) if I update that other PC
> Logitech z-5500 just because they exist
> An MCE compatible Thomson/Gyration remote I spoted
> Satelite hardware (probably wait for a DVB-S2 card or just get a Skystar 2 because of its "flexibility")
> DVB-T hardware (since we are all moving there)
> Indirectly related: Upgrade my 384/128 ADSL to 1024/256 (don't laugh, ADSL prices are stupidly high-priced here)
Features (and minor pending issues):
> Display analog time-shifted TV - check, works fine (one channel could be cleaner, not MP issue)
> Play FM radio - check
> Play videos, subtitled, DD/DTS/AC3 pass-through to my external Logitech decoder - check, works fine (must find a good solution for MP4 and MediaPortal should add support to control SPDIF volume... I now have to use Girder for volume control, the only reason I still use Girder!)
> Trailers - check, work fine
> Play MP3 - check, works fine (although I must clean up my folder structure as I never bothered with album classification, I would live MUCH better visualization support)
> Show pictures - check, works fine
> Play some games - check, work fine (needs my keyboard and/or gamepad for most, just 4 games installed)
> Play with COMPLETE MAME 0.105 collection - check, works fine (again needs my keyboard and/or gamepad)
> Play CBM64 software - check, works ok (keyboard is of course a must)
> Weather - check, works fine (use Greek satellite images too)
> Wake-up/sleep timers - check, work fine (although wake up doesn't mean the computer too... I haven't bothered with that)
> On-demand aquarium (the famous screen saver) - check, mostly works (with MultiShortcut plugin)
> Play CDDA - check, works fine
> Play DVD - check, works ok (implementation of DVD player could be much better though)
> Play other media CD/DVD/cards - should work ok, haven't checked (but I have the system ready to see all the cards, DVD drive and virtual DVD)
Future features/to-do list:
> I should soon fix a 1920x1080 skin (!!!)
> Fix Daemon Tools 4 support
> Play Internet radio - could have made it, just haven't bothered yet
> Record radio?
> Use it to play/record more than one TV channels (related to the corresponding hardware upgrade of course)
> Organize my MP3 MUCH better
> Implement more emulators (since I have about 150GB in Emulation material anyway - yes I am a retro lover)
> Really find good CODECs for my Video needs (i.e. play everything)
...and do whatever it takes to raise the W.A.F.
Regards
You can see some photos of my HTPC in here:
http://www.ilogic.gr/webshots
...but bear in mind that you see myHTPC (not even Meedio that came next) screen shots and I currently use MediaPortal of course
