Completed My HTPC / MediaCenter (1 Viewer)

[sjonnieroughwood]

Pffff, that was a lot of work javascript:emoticon('8)')Cool

I wrote a document (ahum) in dutch with my experiences. The Plan, The Reality, The Hardware, The Software, enz. Of course with some pics. The document is 'alive' and shall grow with experiences with the MP software and some configuration settings.

Case : Antec Minuet
Mobo : Asrock P4S61
CPU : Intel Celeron 330, 2600 Box Socket 468
Memory : Kingston 512Mb, 400 Mhz
DVD-rom : Plextor 16-speed
Case cooler : Papst 80x80
Graphic card : XFX, Geforce FX5200 128Mb DDR, TV-Out (S-Video)
Capture card : Hauppauge PVR150MCE, low-profile
Sound card : Maya 5.1 MK-II, low-profile
Remote : Microsoft XP MCE, Remote controller
WLAN : E-tech, wireless 54 Mbps USB adapter, WGUS02
Modding : Vantec Nexus Fan Controller
Keyboard : Techsolo TK-20N USB

The (dutch) PDF document :
http://www.jan-en-esther.com/oug01/computer/handleidingen/htpc/MediaCenter-jee.pdf

Greetings, Jan aka sjonnieroughwood[/url]

 

[Wally]

Hi Jan

Nice piece of kit you slapped together.
Just had a guick look at your document and I'm sure gona read that thoroughly some time this week. Being a HTPC starter as well I need every bit of info I can get. Almost have all the components, just waiting for my case and hell can begin.

Cheers

 

[sjonnieroughwood]

Hi Wally, Thanks for your reply. I hope you can use the document and especially take notice (ahum) of my mis-steps. Good luck and a lot of pleasure during the assembly of you're MediaCenter !!! 8) Greetings

 

[Wally]

Gues what, my HTPC case arived this morning. I'm now the proud owner of a silver DVINE 5.

Jan, as you mentioned in your document; building a mediacenter is one thing, getting it to work properly and finetune it is another thing! This is the part that scares me the most.

Cheers

 

[pinkus]

Wow another person that has a Minuet for a HTPC, we're a rare breed thats for sure!
I bought the case before I did any real research, based on the looks alone. Love the look, not so happy with the internal space, but can't have everything.

Have you found that the Antec power supply is the nosiest thing in your setup now? I've got a Zalman Aclu based cpu cooler and a Thermaltake case fan wich are both rated at about 18db and the only way i konw its on now are the power supply and the hard drive spin up every now and then.

Only thing I have left to do with mine is add a 2x16 lcd into the 3.5" drive bay and its done. I've already hidden my DVD drive by modifying the 5.25" drive bay cover so that its now attached to the dvd tray, looks quite good I think.

Nice work you've done there though, much impressed.

 

[pinkus]

Wow another person that has a Minuet for a HTPC, we're a rare breed thats for sure!
I bought the case before I did any real research, based on the looks alone. Love the look, not so happy with the internal space, but can't have everything.

Have you found that the Antec power supply is the nosiest thing in your setup now? I've got a Zalman Aclu based cpu cooler and a Thermaltake case fan wich are both rated at about 18db and the only way i konw its on now are the power supply and the hard drive spin up every now and then.

Only thing I have left to do with mine is add a 2x16 lcd into the 3.5" drive bay and its done. I've already hidden my DVD drive by modifying the 5.25" drive bay cover so that its now attached to the dvd tray, looks quite good I think.

Nice work you've done there though, much impressed.

 

[JonVisc]

How much did you system cost? I can't read Dutch unfortunately but want to price out a cheap nice looking system that is reliable and generally without stutter when recording or playing back.

I saw on page 7 you listed everything, what currency is that? I need to convert it to USD.

 

[sjonnieroughwood]

Hi JonVic, the currency is euro's .... Google learned me EUR/USD that I can buy with 1 euro 1,22 USD. The total cost of my project was 761 euro's is about 622 USD. My english is not good enough to translate the whole document. But I fell in a lot of pitfalls... The low-profile case makes it difficult to get the proper PCI-cards (i.e. soundcard with SP/DIF). I also 'invested' some money in extra cooling and to make it more quiet. I hope you build a nice and good performing system. By the way this system performs well! But the encoding of recorded television is done by the capture card. If this job has to be done by the CPU it's get difficult. Greetings 8) 8) 8)

 

[sjonnieroughwood]

Hi pinkus... thanks for your posting and i am very sorry I didn't read your contribution sooner. Yeah you are right about the internal space
Greetings Sjonnieroughwood