News - SilverStone announces "infinitely expandable" GD03 HTPC chassis

[HEXUS]

SilverStone seems to have a knack for HTPC chassis, here's its latest effort.

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[jaffacakeking]

I'm a fan of Silverstone cases - good quality and distinctive styling but for me this still isn't a suitable HTPC. I maybe wrong but isn't a HTPC supposed to not look out of place with Hi-Fi equipment? Something this size, and it's an observation that can be aimed at other HTPC cases too, would not blend in at all. It's far too deep when compared to your average CD player for example. A 14TB media server it maybe but still not an HTPC in my book...

[Syd]

If you look at some of the larger 7 channel AV amps and processors IMO It matches in quite well - most people this serious will either have a 'stealthed' system or a dedicated large rack so personally I don't see the size as an issue. However I personally can't see the need for a HTPC - Sky Plus and a Bluray player along with a Subscription to Love Film fill up all my spare time!!

[Jay]

its too big and bulky for me.

[dangel]

If you look at some of the larger 7 channel AV amps and processors IMO It matches in quite well - most people this serious will either have a 'stealthed' system or a dedicated large rack so personally I don't see the size as an issue. However I personally can't see the need for a HTPC - Sky Plus and a Bluray player along with a Subscription to Love Film fill up all my spare time!!

On the former i agree - I have a AV rack below the TV and the bottom shelf has a silverstone case and a yamaha amp on it - they're very close in size and style - so much so that people don't clock it's a PC.
On the latter - can't say I miss sky, or it's clunky boxes

[Syd]

On the latter - can't say I miss sky, or it's clunky boxes

OK, I've always liked the idea of a media PC..............

However for someone (like me) that records a few programmes in the week on Sky Digital - mainly series link, and mainly on the core 4 channels, and watches maybe 2 films a week (on bluray via love film) I've just never found a justification for it.

I'd be interested to hear your opinion on the benefit of running a media PC. Bearing in mind ease of use (for my gf) is crucial.

[dangel]

OK, I've always liked the idea of a media PC..............

However for someone (like me) that records a few programmes in the week on Sky Digital - mainly series link, and mainly on the core 4 channels, and watches maybe 2 films a week (on bluray via love film) I've just never found a justification for it.

I'd be interested to hear your opinion on the benefit of running a media PC. Bearing in mind ease of use (for my gf) is crucial.

What we're talking about is WAF: Wife Acceptance Factor. I can only report that mine is extremely happy with Windows 7 Media Center (VMC is fine too) via the MS official remote. TBH using one compared to a sky box feels like you've teleported to the future - it's fast, super slick and doesn't suffer from the glitches of Sky boxes (I had sky/sky+ for about 9 years previously). Curiously, series recording is flawless (sky has series links 'proper' but then the boxes decide to not record things or remove them from your planner anyway) too.

Pluses:

- UI experience light years ahead
- abillity to integrate multiple tuners from multiple sources (i have two freeview and one freesat allowing triple-channel recording)
- In addition to tv does: photos, blu-ray, video files, weather, streaming etc etc
- far more reliable than my sky boxes ever were
- acts a media hub (extenders let you use it remotely and you can share files)
- your only ongoing cost is electricity
- not paying Sky
- woman go "ooooooooohhhh"
- woman won't let you have the remote

Cons:

- initial cost
- limited range of crap compared to sky. But OTOH I do get the God Channel just like Sky does. Yay!
- sky won't stop trying to get you back. Even after death.
- woman will complain about the transition until she tries using the new box.


Overall I couldn't go back and wish i'd done it years ago - but it's a personal choice. What did it for me was seeing XP media center in action a few years back and being utterly blown away.

[Funkstar]

I'll add a bit to what Dangel said.

If you were to use MediaPortal (http://www.team-mediaportal.com) instead of MCE, you can go some cool things like have a server PC with the tuners tucked away somewhere, and then multiple front ends streaming the TV from that, all sharing the recordings, epg and schedules.

you can also record multiple channels with just one card as it makes use of the whole Multiplex. So you could record BBC and BBC2 at the same time with just one tuner. Put 6 tuners in there and you can record everything on every channel if you wished (and had enough storage that could keep up with the MPEG-2 streams).

There are some great skins and plugins for MP too