A topic for the hardware to build a dedicated Home Theatre PC, and advice and help with doing so.

Many earlier hardware related questions, and software related questions can be found here:

http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2282&start=0

New questions about HTPC hardware or need HTPC hardware advice? Have advice? Please post it here.

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John - thanks for starting a new thread. I am new to the HTPC world, as John was able to provide a lot of guidance in my first build. Look forward to posts from other members.

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Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

Here is a link to someone who built an HTPC out of an old Tivo case:

http://www.johnfatica.com/custom-home-theater-pc-htpc/

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Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

That's pretty cool...but an awful lot of work.

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All my HTPC builds have, so far, had DVD-RW. I'm not too keen on Blu-ray yet personally, but in the "What would I build today" sense, I've been looking at BD Drives. In looking into this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129016

I like it as a combo drive for a small case, and I notice in the reviews on Newegg and elsewhere, an absence of complaints about the bundled player software, which is a common complaint for many others. Until MSFT addresses BD playback in MC, It's nice to know you don't have to pay an extra $90 to replace the crippleware bundled with the drive.

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anyone have any pointers to a plance with a lot of easily broasable cases?

for space reasons I'm looking for a horizontal case rather then a tower. I'd like just somethign plain black like the old days when everone put their big crt monitor ontop of their desktop. But mostly i seem to find millions of towers, "htpc" cases that cost a ton and/or are guady, or server cases with handles on the front for rack mount.

any pointers?

This might help:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010090007%201054808292&name=MicroATX%20Desktop

There are horizontal cases designed to fit in A/V rack spaces, but they are quite expensive. There are two schools of thought on HTPC: Bling! look at me and, to paraphrase the old saying, HTPCs should be seen and not seen.

Mine so far simply blend into the dark. I even disable the power LEDs (which makes you nuts sometimes)

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How about this combo drive John? This is the one that I purchased for my HTPC build. Advantages is that it supports blu-ray AND HD-DVD if you own or ever encounter those disks. Plus, it's $10 cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 20GGC-H20L

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Richard

My gadget blog: http://www.gadgetinsane.com

What are you using for BD playbacK?

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The bundled PowerDVD 7.3 that comes with the blu-ray drive will play BD but crippled down to 2 channel stereo.

In a 32-bit Vista (not sure about XP and I know you're an XP user), Arcsoft TotalMedia Extreme or Theatre will play BD and will integrate into WMC so that you can play BD directly from WMC. This integration will not work in 64-bit Vista. As a bonus, it will play HD-DVD if one cares about that.

On its own, it will cost anywhere between $90-120. I was fortunate to get it for a lot cheaper as a registered user of one of their products a LONG time ago.

If you upgrade to PowerDVD 8, you get full audio channel support and Blu-Ray support as well. No HD-DVD support with version 8 but existed with version 7.x. No WMC integration.

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Richard

My gadget blog: http://www.gadgetinsane.com

Richard - there is a hack to get HD DVD on the PowerDVD 8 (http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/ ... page1.html)

I have the same LG drive as Richard. I also have about 30 HD DVDs so that was part of the reason, but you can still get HD DVDs out there much cheaper then the Blu Ray version

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

Thanks for sharing this information Damian. I did not know that.

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Richard

My gadget blog: http://www.gadgetinsane.com

thanks for the correct pointer- I was looking around new egg but couldnt find a way to get the cases i want sorted out.

for folks looking for blue ray playback- I just stumbled on the Sony BDUX10S SATA Blu-ray Disc-ROM Drive at staples.com for 149.

that's a price cheaper then newegg. And you can get free 1-2 day shipping form staples. And there are freuently coupons to be found- currently i got a 40$ off in the mail. Buy and datavision have it for 135 but with a coupon and free shipping I think staples would probably be cheaper.

also found that sony has the refurb for just 99 now for people into that:
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... 1665305104

Finally spotted the Palit 4670 card on this Canadian site:

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=33829&vpn=AE%2F46700%2B0551&manufacture=Palit%20Multimedia%20Inc.

Hopefully, it will be moving South soon.

I'm eagerly awaiting this, as supposedly, 4670 promises hardware upconversion of SD-DVD to 1080 with a very reasonable price.

Notably, the Palit has D-sub, DVI, HDMI AND Displayport...

When I get some feedback on this model, I'm going to take the plunge and decide which 4670 to buy, and then can do a comparison with the MK-1 eyeball.

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