HTPC to replace V+ box

Flashheart · 6 Feb 2012 at 17:01

I am considering saving £20 a month and getting rid of the tv portion of my virgin media connection.

I am still in the prelim thinking stages really, but was wondering if anybody had tried a similair thing?

My TV has freeview, but I'd like to have a "do all" HTPC to record tv, play blu ray, dvds etc and to stream tv online, Iplayer etc.

Currently on a 50mb virgin connection (soon to be upgraded to 120) so internet speeds are not a problem.

How big do the hard drives need to be to record TV shows in windows media center? Is this a suitable alternative to my V+ box?

Any information or experiences would be duly welcome

Thanks Flash

beejjacobs · 6 Feb 2012 at 17:03

Do you have to send it back? You might be able to keep it. they never took the router when I cancelled.

Flashheart · 6 Feb 2012 at 17:13

This is a possibility, but I'd still like a PVR function which won't work with virgin unless I pay the fiver a month.
Plus I'd really like to have the project to work on

beejjacobs · 6 Feb 2012 at 17:22

Well, I don't know much about HTPCs, but I'm sure you can get one which will do everything you need. More depends on budget probably?

Flashheart · 6 Feb 2012 at 17:30

Not sure on budget yet, although I'm looking to keep it conservative.

Does anybody know if the Gpu in the Celeron G530 will be capable video wise for a HTPC? Having trouble finding reviews. It looks a great cpu for the money, about evens with the Llano 3300 just not so good for gaming, but that doesn't matter.

Coupled with 8gb DDR3 for £24 and we are cooking so far.

413x · 6 Feb 2012 at 17:55

Only need 4gb although ram is dirt cheap.
Think the llano is meant to be rated, but not much power needed.

Have a i3 2120 in mine, but that is overkill

Hdds? Depends how much you want to record!

arad85 · 6 Feb 2012 at 18:08

All my HTPCs are Ion based systems (apart from the old PC I turned into an HTPC). Video decode courtesy of Nvidia based chipsets. I run xbmc as the front end and MythTV as a back end all under Linux. Storage is from a central house server.

Not necessarily plug and play (XBMC is, but getting MythTV running with it takes a bit of understanding).

Surveyor · 6 Feb 2012 at 20:17

beejjacobs said:
Do you have to send it back? You might be able to keep it. they never took the router when I cancelled.

The routers are given to you and are yours to keep.

V+ boxes remain the property of Virgin Media, you effectively rent them with your subscription.

beejjacobs · 6 Feb 2012 at 20:20

Surveyor said:
The routers are given to you and are yours to keep.

V+ boxes remain the property of Virgin Media, you effectively rent them with your subscription.

Ah, sorry didn't realise that!

CinderzFTW · 6 Feb 2012 at 20:37

They never took back my old V+ box when I updated to Tivo. I dismantled it and stole the 160GB HDD out of it... free storage F T W!

Blue160 · 6 Feb 2012 at 21:03

I've based a HTPC round a G620T and an ASRock H61 mini ITX board. It's got a 500GB hard disk, 4GB of RAM, a Blu ray burner, and a USB tv card. It works really well with the onboard graphics. Very nearly silent with the fan profile set very low as well. It cost about £380 all in.