Help a Newbie re: HTPC Build

[Arsalan]

Hi there,

I'm pretty much a newbie to HTPC's (Only started looking at these things today). The reason is that at the moment we are paying around 400-500 pounds for Sky TV per year. So I've been thinking about a PC which we can connect to the TV so we can watch our DVD's, BluRay's and shows from various online streaming services right on our TV instead of paying for lots of stuff we don't watch.

Looking around, I quickly got lost in the world of HTPC's, so I turned to this forum. If anyone here can help me put together a HTPC I would really appreciate it. I've got everyone at home interested in an HTPC, but they want to know the exact details of how much it will cost and what we can do with it etc. So can you guys help me?

I am looking for an HTPC which can play and do the following:

* Region free BluRay's
* Region free DVD's
* Surfing the web
* Watching online streams in browser in Fullscreen
* Playing Music
* Watching Slideshows of pictures (Card reader?)

Another reason I want to switch to HTPC is that some people around here have been looking at getting the Pioneer LX91, an expensive BluRay player, to get most out of their BluRay's. Surely an HTPC would produce a better quality image? Also, the HTPC needs to have quality audio encoding. IF it can be future proofed for at least 5 years, that would be great.

Anyone have any ideas on the type of hardware I should get? I can try and put it together myself instead of ordering a pre-built one.

Thanks in advance, guys

[Arsalan]

Ok, so I tried to put together something on my own:

hxxp://i51.tinypic.com/2z5u1z4.jpg

Any tips? I know nothing about what should go in an HTPC or whether these are compatible.

Thanks

[scaryjim]

i7 2600k and a 6970 for an HTPC? Massive overkill. What you're aiming for with an HTPC is low power draw and minimal cost. You don't need poweful CPU and graphics for playing back Blurays and DVDs - even integrated graphics contains specialist hardware blocks for media decoding.

Something like an Athlon II X2 250, an AMD 880G based motrherboard, and 4GB DDR3-1333 RAM should more than suffice: total cost ~ £120. Just add a case, Bluray drive and hard disk and you're off

[Arsalan]

Thanks for that insight. As I said I have no idea what goes into an HTPC. I want the BluRay quality to be brilliant, perhaps equalling the Pioneer LX91. Is that possible with an HTPC? Any other tips?

[Arsalan]

Ok, so someone recommended the following:

hxxp://i56.tinypic.com/15d8cnl.jpg

What do you think?

[scaryjim]

Unless you're planning on doing some light gaming on your HTPC you don't need the discreet graphics card. You haven't included gaming in your list of planned uses: if you're sure you're not going to game then drop the card.

The Antec Fusion Veris is a lovely case, but for my money massively overpriced for what it is. I'd look for a decent mATX desktop case at £50 or less.

A 550W PSU is at least twice the power output you'd need for that system: three times if you drop the discreet graphics card. Look for a good brand PSU rated at about 300W - 350W: anything priced above £30 is likely to be a reasonable bet.

8GB RAM is massive overkill; 4GB will be more than enough. Also, Intel Core processors don't really gain much from faster memory, so you can save a lot of money going for 1333MHz RAM instead of 1600MHz. The 4GB 1333MHz set I linked to in my previous post is less than half the cost of the set in your new link, and you wouldn't be able to tell any difference whilst watching a Bluray.

I wouldn't bother with an SSD. This isn't going to be your main computer that you're using for several hours a day; it's going to be turned on, and once it's booted up you're going to leave it alone for several hours whilst you stare at the screen. Chances are what you're actually going to want to do is store lots of music and ripped or downloaded video on it, so what you need is very large mechnical drives.

The CPU and Motherboard ... are not bad choices actually. But everything else is more of a mid-range gaming PC than an HTPC. At the risk of repeating myself, an HTPC should be as cheap and as low-powered as possible; otherwise you're paying not just for more expensive components that will spend their entire life sitting idle, but also for a much higher power-draw when it's running. Otherwise you might as well just buy a dedicated Bluray player and save yourself the hassle!

I can't say much about the quality of PC-playback Bluray vs. dedicated players, as I have no experience with either; perhaps someone else will chip in with a thought!

[Arsalan]

Thanks man, that's all I wanted to know

Oh, forgot one thing. That setup you recommended, without a discrete graphics card, will it be fine for viewing Freewview HD with a tuner card?

[bibio]

Hi, this is to do with PS3, but you will see info about Bluray Picture Quality etc:-


http://www.avforums.com/forums/blu-r...ay-player.html

In some ways your talking numbers, or are you going to use a projector, showing a 100" or bigger picture ?
If HTCP in Living Room, same as Scaryjim + think of size, think of noise. Lots of standalone Bluray Players prob have PC Opt Drives inside the, some can be noisy (I got a Sony 380 for one of my Sisters, only tested, but high pitched whine when playing Blurays, certainy wasn't good. By all accounts, touch wood, it could quieten down, but ? OK with DVD).
Being HTCP storage might be a point to consider too ie HDD's inside HTCP or NAS etc. HDD's not totally quiet ec.
As per Jim low power usage, noise etc. One thing to consider maybe, streaming ability, especially if having to decode on the fly, prob especially HD. Whether from Internet or your own Network, NAS's etc.

This looks good, or something similar or a bit beefier, not sure how it will handle a Bluray Opt Drive or streaming etc ? Or if you can get/ use HDMI from it ? Certainly any type of heavy decoding etc (prob best done on a seperate PC anyway).

http://forums.hexus.net/current-barg...ld-online.html

Another thing you can consider, is something like this:-

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=330

Might not meet all your criterior thou.


Cheers BOB

ps TV's now & things like Humax HD boxes, can do a lot more than they did, but not always in a ideal way IMO ie connect to HDD's, stream etc etc. Or PS3, xBox, PS3 certainly ain't quiet thou or good for browsing the web IMO.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I came up with the following build using parts from Scan.



The 35W G620T does have an IGP which is slower than the 65W G620 so I am uncertain whether it will be up to the task. The Intel IGPs still do have the 23.976 playback glitch still:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/t...-2100-tested/7

Edit!!

I just realised you need Blu-Ray playback ability too. I would get this Blu-Ray drive:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/sony-...-slim-sata-oem

It might cheaper to use a PS3 and an external hard disk or NAS.

[DanceswithUnix]

Surely an HTPC would produce a better quality image?

True if you get it right, but that is a bit of a minefield.

I have a media PC downstairs (linux running MythTV) and upstairs I often use my AMD E350 based netbook for media. Thing is, they work with DVDs but they aren't great (and the netbook can't even play HD BBC iplayer downloads).

So whilst low powered machines can play video content here are some observations:

* Basic video decoding is supported in all video hardware, but post processing effects are not. If you want quality, you want enough graphics shaders to apply noise reduction, de-interlace etc well. Something like a GT430 is fine, but look out for small whining fans.

* A big PSU is not necessary, but as it isn't stressed it may be quieter. Check the site http://www.silentpcreview.com/ for PSU recommendations.

* A grunty CPU is only grunty when it needs to be. A cheap AMD Phenom doesn't use much power at idle, and 2 throttled cores at 800MHz give more throughput than an Atom at full pelt. Just don't get a motherboard loaded with useless features as each feature probably requires a support chip that draws a few watts and it all adds up.

Anandtech has regular HTPC reviews on there, so I would start with them.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4380/d...-gpus-shootout

[DanceswithUnix]

Oh, I used an Antec Fusion for my living room PC, but these days I think I would be tempted by:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...ov-vision.html

just cos it looks nice

[bibio]

Hi, does look nice that case
Don't do a lot of streaming etc, as my PC is in same room as TV. Do use PS3 for a few things, Play TV recording etc. But i have put PS3 in another room (being wireless OK, have to go to other room to put Blurays in it etc ), ie cables through wall, so don't hear its noise etc. PS3 not supposedly very energy friendly, i keep hearing, haven't measured its power usage thou.


Cheers BOB

[Arsalan]

Thanks for all the help and information guys!

[shaithis]

I would strongly recomend reading this thread. Lots of good information there.

[rob4001]

Loads of good advice too much even! Now I'm confused most people seem to recommend sandy bridge cpu. I was thinking of amd A6/A8 but other threads have said the ati drivers are a pain to use and buggy intel much simpler to setup for HTPC. Then again Sandy bridge has 24p playback issue....arghh now I haven't a clue

Apologies for hijack as I am also wanting to build an HTPC.

[ratbasket]

I have to agree with some folks and say that you don't need to overkill. my Htpc is running on a sempron (single core, 2.7ghz) using integrated gfx on a ASUS M4A78-VM 780G (hd 4600 or something) and it handles anything. No doubt someone is going to tell me that my 1080 isnt as good as theirs, but I'm not a connoisseur of the extreme fine detail and/sounds. I don't have a £1000 htpc system next to mine to compare to, so the missus doesn't know better