HTPC spec and advice

[aydinh]

Hi I am building a HTPC for my living room for me and my girlfriend to use, I would like a bit of advice and some of your opinions on the spec and any changes you would make, here is my current spec:

Antec Fusion Remote HTPC Case - Black £139.99
Asus AMD E35M1-M PRO Hudson M1 Integrated Dual Core Zacate 18W APU SATA-600 DDR3 mATX £109.99
OCZ Vertex 2 50GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive £59.99
Seagate Barracuda 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache £46.99
Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit £21.59

Ok this is what I want from it: I want it to boot from the control, if possible? I would like to use it for light internet browsing, watching iplayer, skyplayer, youtube, films and music over network from my NAS and blu-ray discs.

I am not buying a blu-ray player yet as I want to keep the price down, the current spec is also a bit over budget really.

I have chosen that case as I want the remote, could I get a different case and any remote to work with it? What other cases would you recommend? There aren't that many nice HTPC cases on overclockers. I want the computer to turn on fast hence the SSD and boot straight in to media area, ie media centre, if possible. I want it to be easily navigable by less competent users, ie no need to login and launch apps to get working.

I originally thought of using XBMC as I think it can boot straight in to media area, but have been told linux can't decode blu-ray discs? Would windows fit my requirements?

Now I want to watch HD freeview on this box aswell and I'm a bit confused as to the current state of affairs concerning TV Tuners. I want to play and record simultaneously, eg two tuners. What is the difference with T1 and T2 tuners? Advantages of T2? Can T1 still stream HD? Also I read that some new T2 tuners have inteference problems with wireless cards etc. This is not really acceptable for my requirements. I want the box to works simply like a freeview box with no running problems as my girlfriend is gonna get ****ed off with and will probably end up replacing it with a £20 freeview box, and I really want a HTPC

Can anyone check over my spec and requirements and give me and advice/ recommendations for the build?

Thank you and sorry about the hundreds of questions

edit: also need a PSU, not sure what wattage this spec will need?
Aydin Hassan

 

[Reaper 392]

for power supplies it really is a case of getting the cheapest one from a decent maker that you can. the antec 400W would be more than enough to power what you have.

from what ive heard the antec remote case is great. however, if your looking to find a cheaper HTPC style case that will fit an mATX motherboard you will have to look elsewhere because overclockers has the choice of about 3 that are half decent, with the antec being the cheapest.
as for remotes it not something ive thought of myself, i would be very surprised if you couldnt buy one separately

this is what i'd recommend based around what you've initially gone for

YOUR BASKET
1 x Antec Fusion Remote HTPC Case - Black £139.99
1 x Asus AMD E35M1-M PRO Hudson M1 Integrated Dual Core Zacate 18W APU SATA-600 DDR3 mATX (Fusion) £109.99
1 x OCZ Vertex 2 50GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTX50G) ** NEW LOWER PRICE ** £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £47.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 400W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £43.99
1 x Corsair Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit £19.18
1 x Samsung SH-S222AL/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £453.12 (includes shipping : £12.50).


i wasnt sure if you needed a DVD drive so i added one into the spec. feel free to remove it

if you have a bit more cash to spend then i;d go for the Crucial M4 SSD

i know even less about TV cards than you do unfortunately so i figured i'd wait for someone else to recommend one

 

[aydinh]

Ok thanks, I don't need a DVD drive, I have one knocking round somewhere PSU sorted then, other than if you know of any nice cases with a PSU included? And I can have a look and find them on a different site. Cheers

 

[aydinh]

Bump

 

[Vimes]

Random thoughts...

I used a small tower case and a std MCE remote (ebay) with a TGB (the green button). This had a usb receiver and thus enabled me to control...

Media Portal - look it up and have a read. It seems to do what I want for both movies and TV shows.

DVB viewer - for my TV SAT card. This allows me to watch the HD channels etc that I like via an ex SKY SAT dish. But that is all I do and do not bother with the EPG, recordings etc.

I use Windows 7 x64 and initially I did have a play around with Windows media centre and I did enjoy it, it also picked up the TV card and populated a good EPG, but I do like Media Portal which I had prior experience of using. However I do not like it to control the TV card.

I bought a Gigabyte ga-e7aum-ds2h motherboard. This has a NVidia 9400 GPU on-board. I did NOT want an ATI on board solution as I have found the most success with a HTPC and Nvidia (though not perfect) than an ATI solution.
Sometimes an issue can be to get the source material (if it is 23.976 fps or 24p as it can be known) to run smooth with no jitter. Using MP it will auto switch the TV to 24hz and thus enable a reasonable solution.

A read up about certain GPU's when used with a HTPC...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4380/discrete-htpc-gpus-shootout/1

I have 2x2TB HD's for the media. I have just replaced my clunky old and failing 120GB mechanical HD with a Plextor SSD for the boot drive. I must admit that was a bit OTT as the HTPC spends its time in S3 sleep when not used.

If I was you I would change your 1TB HD to a 2TB one as the cost difference is hardly anything for the size you would gain. I got the WD green drives and they are great for media.

EDIT: Just to add that I think a purpose made HTPC case looks nice but is often overpriced, cramped and everything gets quite hot inside. A small tower is much cheaper, uses a std ATX PSU and cooling and storage space is not a problem. It might not have the looks but makes up for it in everything else.

 

[aydinh]

Okay thanks for all the info. Not sure about the GPU and motherboard stuff you explained. I don't think I can afford to buy GPU, CPU and MOBO all seperate hench why I picked what I have, unless you can get relatively the same power for the same price in individual components. And I don't need more HD space, got 2TB in my main rig and 2tb in my NAS. Thanks for all the info, I might buy a crappy standup ATX case and wait till I have more money and buy a smart HTPC case.