Spec Me A HTPC (i think)

Alexrose1uk · 29 Aug 2011 at 13:39

sHo0sH said:
I'm going to chime in here blowing the trumpet of the boxee box.
It has been fantastic for me and plays every file format under the sun, it's not cheap at £200 but it is well supported and comes with a very nifty qwerty remote, and an absolutely beautiful interface, check out version 1.2 for screenshots. You can now even use it as an AirPlay target for media from your iPhone or iPad ( if you have one)

The boxee box is basically an XBMC box with a different shell, with some tweaks made

sunderland · 29 Aug 2011 at 17:41

GeX said:
Yes, because with it being a PC you've got the ability to add extra codecs etc as they're needed. You're not stuck waiting for someone else to write/convert them.

I've just built a system using a ZOTAC Zbox AD02. (£169) I stuck an OCZ Vertex SSD (£60) in there and 8gb DDR3 (£42).

It's mounted on the VESA mount holes on the back of TV, runs Win7 x64 with XBMC on top.It outclasses the Revo 3x00 series.

It has so far handled everything I've thrown at it.

I don't shut it down, I just suspend it to S3 sleep. It is then woken using an MCE remote (£15);

I considered a boxee box, but wanted something can browse the web / play flash movies on other streaming sites.

this is the first time ive seen this and it looks fantastic,so i can just put my own O/S on and use media player and TMT5 for all my movies is that right,sry for hijacking thread

GeX · 29 Aug 2011 at 19:15

sunderland · 29 Aug 2011 at 20:43

GeX said:
Yup

cheers GeX,how is fan noise on these then,and suppose i would have to use a usb pen drive to put my O/S on it

GeX · 30 Aug 2011 at 00:04

Fan is inaudible unless I'm stood leaning over the telly with my ear near the vent,and even then its very low. There is space for a 2.5" drive inside, I boot off an SSD that is installed there.

sunderland · 30 Aug 2011 at 09:43

GeX said:
Fan is inaudible unless I'm stood leaning over the telly with my ear near the vent,and even then its very low. There is space for a 2.5" drive inside, I boot off an SSD that is installed there.

thanks mate im going to buy myself one

Assassin_012 · 30 Aug 2011 at 13:50

GeX said:
Yes, because with it being a PC you've got the ability to add extra codecs etc as they're needed. You're not stuck waiting for someone else to write/convert them.

I've just built a system using a ZOTAC Zbox AD02. (£169) I stuck an OCZ Vertex SSD (£60) in there and 8gb DDR3 (£42).

It's mounted on the VESA mount holes on the back of TV, runs Win7 x64 with XBMC on top.It outclasses the Revo 3x00 series.

It has so far handled everything I've thrown at it.

I don't shut it down, I just suspend it to S3 sleep. It is then woken using an MCE remote (£15);

I considered a boxee box, but wanted something can browse the web / play flash movies on other streaming sites.

thanks for the info.

but can this connect to my CRT TV? if so how? (just wanna see if i can save the money from buying the new TV)

but if not, then this will be my setup:
-zbox with windows 7 and XBMC
-TV (not decided yet) xD
-MCE Remote (and keyboard? for youtube streaming?)

problem is. how would i be able to connect to the internet? wirelessly?
because my router is downstairs, and therefore i dont have an ethernet cable long enough to connect it via ethernet port

also, since im not gonna upgrade it or anything yet, would it cause any slowdowns (laggy when using XBMC)? can it handle windows 7?

now that others have mentioned the boxee box, im not sure what to get now. boxee is £179.99

what should i do!! =S

Alexrose1uk said:
BTW, also realised we've almost completely missed your request on TVs, all I'll say here is the current Panny range are rated well across the board, both LCD and Plasma.

do u mean the panasonic TVs? right? ..never used these terms before xD
but i heard samsung TVs are quite good too
any ideas on both comparisons?

GeX · 31 Aug 2011 at 12:41

Assassin_012 said:
thanks for the info.

but can this connect to my CRT TV? if so how? (just wanna see if i can save the money from buying the new TV)

but if not, then this will be my setup:
-zbox with windows 7 and XBMC
-TV (not decided yet) xD
-MCE Remote (and keyboard? for youtube streaming?)

problem is. how would i be able to connect to the internet? wirelessly?
because my router is downstairs, and therefore i dont have an ethernet cable long enough to connect it via ethernet port

also, since im not gonna upgrade it or anything yet, would it cause any slowdowns (laggy when using XBMC)? can it handle windows 7?

I've no idea what TV you have, and so no idea how to connect it to it. I binned my 36" CRT shortly before buying my new TV and the zbox. I didn't want the hassle of trying converters, wasting money etc when I could get a decent 40" Samsung panel for £350.

XBMC has a youtube plugin, so you can browse via that. You can get away with just using the remote if you want. But I do like having an RF Keyboard/Trackpad as well.

What do you mean by 'not upgrade it'? You can't really upgrade it, it comes barebones - so you need to buy some RAM and an HDD anyway.

Laggy? Not really too sure what you mean there, but no - it doesn't 'lag'. Handles Win7 fine, why wouldn't it?

It has WiFi built in.

monkeyspank · 31 Aug 2011 at 12:47

I've got a Revo with XBMC live on it.
Streaming 1080p stuff from my NAS works like a charm
iplayer works great too.
controlled with either a harmony remote or XBMC commander iphone app

All gravy. Cost £180

Alexrose1uk · 31 Aug 2011 at 17:08

Assassin_012 said:
do u mean the panasonic TVs? right? ..never used these terms before xD
but i heard samsung TVs are quite good too
any ideas on both comparisons?

Yep sorry, I meant Panasonic. They tend to get referred to as Panny a bit by other owners as it's shorter.

Samsung TVs tend to look nicer, but Panasonic tends to make the better TV imo, from my experience they also tend to last longer.
Panasonic tend to make the best consumer range Plasma's on the market right now, better than both LG and Samsung, it's a closer thing with LCD, plus there's more competition in the LCD market

Assassin_012 · 1 Sep 2011 at 13:47

GeX said:
I've no idea what TV you have, and so no idea how to connect it to it. I binned my 36" CRT shortly before buying my new TV and the zbox. I didn't want the hassle of trying converters, wasting money etc when I could get a decent 40" Samsung panel for £350.

XBMC has a youtube plugin, so you can browse via that. You can get away with just using the remote if you want. But I do like having an RF Keyboard/Trackpad as well.

What do you mean by 'not upgrade it'? You can't really upgrade it, it comes barebones - so you need to buy some RAM and an HDD anyway.

Laggy? Not really too sure what you mean there, but no - it doesn't 'lag'. Handles Win7 fine, why wouldn't it?

It has WiFi built in.

i c...so il def need a TV then =) saves the hassle..

what? 0.0? Zbox 2 comes barebones? so then if i were to get the same ram and HDD, it will cost overall around £270???? for the box?
no way....thats gone way over my budget...

what about the boxee? is that the same too? do i need to also get a internal HDD? with RAM?
also, is the boxee customizable? like XBMC?

Alexrose1uk said:
Yep sorry, I meant Panasonic. They tend to get referred to as Panny a bit by other owners as it's shorter.

Samsung TVs tend to look nicer, but Panasonic tends to make the better TV imo, from my experience they also tend to last longer.
Panasonic tend to make the best consumer range Plasma's on the market right now, better than both LG and Samsung, it's a closer thing with LCD, plus there's more competition in the LCD market

lol..your right, did a search on panny TVs..they do look crap xD
also, how comes they all look the same?

il prob go for an LCD or LED TV =/
any chance of helping me find one? from my search results all pannys look the bloody same =/
maybe i suck at searching xD
just want some nice looking glossy type =)

also. would u consider me getting a monitor? with freeview built in? (obviously around 32-40" or somthing if there is 1 like that xD)
i heard its better and cheaper too
any ideas?

Alexrose1uk · 1 Sep 2011 at 14:46

lol they're not the best lookers but its the results that matter. To be fair most Samsungs of a generation also tend to look the same.

I wouldn't get really get a monitor for media use; I'd get a decent TV. The monitors at the 30" range usually tend to have extremely high resolutions for business work (2560x1600), rather than being intended for use as media screens. Monitors don't always support the range of refresh rates or processing you might like to give the best/smoothest picture and motion, and having the much higher resolution than the source matter results in heavy upscaling which can sometimes make things look...not so nice. Essentially, a TV is designed for media, whereas a monitor is designed for general usage. I know that's a generalisation, but it's more or less correct. If you were only gaming (via a high end PC) for example, then the monitor WOULD be better, but for media/HTPC use, I'd say the TV is the better choice.

I'm not massively fluent on Panny's currently LCDs, as I always paid a lot more attention to thier Plasma range, but if you take a look at sites like avforums, some of the people there spend quite a bit of time with a lot of the screens, and the reviews they do tend to be pretty good as well.

All the manufacturers tend to use a grade system, so you'll have different class bands in thier range, and then screens within that class band, as you go up the band you get more expensive, but tend to get more features, better electronics, sometimes a better panel etc.

Here's an example of a review of one of Panny's current LCDs, the entry model. The review seems to rate it down for lack of features, but crucially the picture is recommended as good.

The TX-L32E3B makes its strongest impact with sharpness when watching high-definition content. Detail levels are striking for a relatively small set, easily revealing individual hairs and facial pores during closeups.

Crucially, this impressive clarity isn't accompanied by the sort of noise that would suggest the sharpness is being forced; grain levels aren't excessive, edges don't have the tell-tale glow of clumsy edge enhancement and any noise that might be in a source isn't given the extra prominence that sometimes results from resolution boosting technology.

The lack of conspicuous over-processing contributes to an extremely natural performance, even with standard-definition pictures.

If you do want to crank up the sharpness you can experiment with the Resolution Enhancer without having to worry about it making pictures look too artificial (if you stick to using it on its lowest setting, at any rate).

The TX-L32E3B's pictures might not be the most eye-catchingly vibrant around, but seem to require little tweaking for optimum Blu-ray performance. Of course, this is just as well given that the tools available for adjusting hues are practically non-existent.

The IPS Alpha panel enables the pictures to retain colour and contrast from an appreciably wider viewing angle than most LCD TVs, while gamers should enjoy the TX-L32E3B's astonishingly quick response time (just 10ms), which all but eradicates input lag.

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/au...s/panasonic-tx-l32e3b-958452/review?artc_pg=3

You can get that screen for £400, dependant on what you want to spend. Seriously though there are lots of good TVs out there from multiple brands. Set yourself a budget and a target size (realistically -ie not a 50" for peanuts!) and then do the reading, and you'll get a good TV.

-BA- · 2 Sep 2011 at 23:38

GeX said:
Yes, because with it being a PC you've got the ability to add extra codecs etc as they're needed. You're not stuck waiting for someone else to write/convert them.

I've just built a system using a ZOTAC Zbox AD02. (£169) I stuck an OCZ Vertex SSD (£60) in there and 8gb DDR3 (£42).

It's mounted on the VESA mount holes on the back of TV, runs Win7 x64 with XBMC on top.It outclasses the Revo 3x00 series.

It has so far handled everything I've thrown at it.

I don't shut it down, I just suspend it to S3 sleep. It is then woken using an MCE remote (£15);

I considered a boxee box, but wanted something can browse the web / play flash movies on other streaming sites.

Hmm this Zotac looks quite promising. I am looking for something a bit more versatile than my TViX M6500a. Don't get me wrong it has been pretty good but is a media player and nothing more. Now I know this thing isn't really built for gaming but would be interested to know how well it copes with some of the titles out there.

The other thing I would be curious to know is how well this might handle transcoding using something like Orb? I recently bought a Touchpad and would like to be able to leave a pc on all the time (something I don't like to do with my noisy main pc).