HD VCR HTPC

Sukh · 9 Jun 2008 at 10:39

Been thinking about making a HTPC for a long time, and finally decided to show people my ideas. .The main idea behind it is to be able to show HD content, 720p, as our 50' pioneer plasma doesn't support 1080p.

Start with the interesting part of the build, the case isn't the Antec or Silverstone, but an old Aiwa vcr that stopped working, here are a few pics (sorry for blur, taken with phone and shakey hands):

Provisional Specs:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4050e
Picked this to pair with the mobo, has 45w so will be good for the leccy bill and low heat which is essential for this build.

Mobo Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H
Picked for onboard graphics, and the optical out for sound, which will both be used.

RAM 2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2
2GB to allow smoothness in general, as it will be used to browse the internet, and its the cheapest **** do.

Harddisk 750 GB Western Digital WD7500AACS Caviar GP
Picked to store lots of music and video, more expensive due to "green power" edition which is quiet and low on energy consumption

CD/DVD Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE
Not sure on if this is the best drive, cannot afford a blu-ray drive yet, will put one in when the prices come down a bit, this drive has a reputation for being quiet and will be used to upscale SD DVDs.

PSU Shuttle PC40 250w
This was picked to hopefully be quiet, anyone know about this? And mainly due to the space restrictions due to the case.

Fans 120mm Noctua and 80mm Noctua
Picked to be as quiet as possible, whilst producing good air flow

CPU HS Silverstone SST-NT06 Lite NT06
This was chosen to hopefully be run semi passive, with no fan directly attached but as you can see from the diagrams, with a fan overhead attached to the case.

HD CoolerZalman ZM-2HC2
Will be used on the HD to keep it nice and cool, but will not reduce vibration as the HD will be mounted from underneath using the four holes on the face.

LCD/Remote Here is where I am completely lost, as you can see in the sketches, the LCD/VFD will be placed where the VCR's original was, but must have the ability via remote control to turn on the HTPC.

So to where I need help:

1) Does anyone know how quiet Shuttle PSUs are in general?
2) Need some help with the LCD/VFD with the IR receiver, what suggestions are there that allow the HTPC to be booted via remote control?
3) Anyone have experience with the cooler, hopefully will be able to run semi-passive.

Just so you guys have some idea what im thinking of:

Front View (drawn in sketch up) The lcd will be where the original is on the VCR shown in the first post, and the usb ports where the old RCA ports are at the front on the original VCR.

Top View:

Back View: The long box on the top right of the VCR is the PSU

-Neil- · 9 Jun 2008 at 18:51

Wow, that looks interesting. Loving the sketches!

Neil.

babyface uk · 9 Jun 2008 at 18:53

looks very interesting - someones been to CAD school.

misterPK · 10 Jun 2008 at 10:36

Now that is a cool idea!

I have an oldish shuttle with a similar PSU (I can't remember if its 230 or 250) and it is very quiet. When I say that I mean I can't hear it over the main fan anyway! It's also coped very well with me hooking a lot up to it, so that should answer any power issues you have too.

As for the display, I recently modded the front of my shuttle with something similar. I used a Soundgraph iMon VFD which does allow you to turn the system on and off remotely. It connects to the power switch headers and the motherboard power supply so it still operates when its turned off.

Its designed to go in a 5 1/2 bay, but as its just a circuit board attached to a mount it can be easily removed and used separately. I managed to adapt it into the front plate of my shuttle, which only has 1 5 1/2 bay that I needed for an optical drive.

The only problem I have is that when XP loads up and gets to the Select User page, you have to use a proper mouse as the to pick one as the iMon drivers aren't loaded yet. If anyone knows a way around this I'd like to hear it!

If you really want a challenge you could have a go at rigging up a pulley system so that the dial on the front of the VCR turns the volume dial built into the iMon!

Good luck!

PK!

m_cozzy · 10 Jun 2008 at 23:00

Brilliant

You have put far to much thought into this, just whack it together to see if it works

I tried this ages ago with a broken dvd player but my enthusiasm outweighed my abilities by a large amount.
Shuttle psu's can be quite loud as they have a small 40mm fan. Also the mce remote/ir sensor can be used to hibernate/standby & resume. I assume you dont mean boot from totally switched off.

sparkey196 · 10 Jun 2008 at 23:14

Love it! nice work with sketchup too, it looks like google has come up with an excellent free app.

misterPK said:
Now that is a cool idea!

The only problem I have is that when XP loads up and gets to the Select User page, you have to use a proper mouse as the to pick one as the iMon drivers aren't loaded yet. If anyone knows a way around this I'd like to hear it!

PK!

The drivers will certainly be loaded by this stage so what you need is the iMon utility to start before you log in. Perhaps this could be achieved by starting it as "default user" or by running the exe as a service (see google for how to do this).

see also XP Auto Logon.

misterPK · 11 Jun 2008 at 09:07

Thanks for the tip sparkey, that auto logon looks like the trick I need. If I start keeping sensitive information on my HTPC then I might look at the other ways you suggested.

You can have your thread back now Sukh.

PK!

Sukh · 11 Jun 2008 at 10:15

m_cozzy said:
I assume you dont mean boot from totally switched off.

I know there are some imon VFDs used in silverstone cases, where the power button leads are plugged into the back and it has a bypass lead from the power supply that allows you to completely boot from the remote control, but can't find them seperately, the sound graph one is to big to fit where the original one goes

babyface uk said:
looks very interesting - someones been to CAD school.

That took all of an hour, sketchup has a gallery of components you can download, the PSU is the only one I did, hence looking very much like a plain box

misterPK · 11 Jun 2008 at 10:57

Sukh said:
I know there are some imon VFDs used in silverstone cases, where the power button leads are plugged into the back and it has a bypass lead from the power supply that allows you to completely boot from the remote control, but can't find them seperately, the sound graph one is to big to fit where the original one goes

How much space do you have? As I said, I stripped mine down, got rid of the plastic front and bay mounting. You could put it behind the exsisting front panel if you have about 3 cm to play with.

Another more expensive option is to buy the iMon Remote, mod that into the case where you can and add a different thinner pannel at the front.

Soundgraph also make the ThermalTake Media Lab VFD, basically the iMon without the knob! Looks like its still the same depth though.

PK!

Subterranean · 11 Jun 2008 at 14:14

For an LCD, the Matrix Orbital GX Typhoon looks very good and customisable, with built in IR reciever, though it may be hard to get hold of.

siege2 · 12 Jun 2008 at 09:57

did a google and found the module u mentioned also the forum is http://www.lcdforums.com/forums/index.php?c=8

tbz_ck · 13 Jun 2008 at 13:40

Does *** DVD drive totally fill the VCR loading hole? If not how are you intending to modify the front of the VCR case so it looks neat?

Thanks

Sukh · 14 Jun 2008 at 23:01

Nope, it takes about 2/3 of it, working on a motor (servo from remote control models to open the flap, but it doesn't take up the entire width of the vcr flap.