Your HTPC...

Matt · 4 Jan 2009 at 14:34

What setup do you have?

I have rebuilt my 4yr old MCE box to this:

- Gigabyte MA78GM
- AMD X2 5050e (energy efficient)
- Scythe Ninja
- 2gb RAM
- 160gb + 500gb Seagates
- DVB-T TV Card
- M-Audio Revolution 5.1 Soundcard
- Enermax Modu82+ 525w PSU

This system is running very quietly (only fans are 1x 120mm exhaust and the PSU fan). It is also very cool running (case cold to touch, exhaust pushing cold air). The energy consumption is down too, it now uses 75-90w.

Software wise i am running Media Portal + StreamedMP skin, which after using XP MCE i am very impressed with. The TV side isn't up to MCE standards really, but it's not at all bad.

I was running 2 TV cards but found the onboard sound of the Gigabyte to be appalling compared to the MAudio when outputting to my Cyrus amp.

Media Portal + Streamed MP Easy (very easy) install guide on AVS

TV
For logos in the guide:
- Download http://www.typetech.org/mediaportal/UKTVLogosFree.zip
- Move files to: C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\Thumbs\TV\Logos (Vista), C:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\Thumbs\TV\Logos (XP)

Matt · 4 Jan 2009 at 16:54

I have edited my first post with a link to the Media Portal + Streamed MP guide on AVS Forums. This makes it all so easy and removes all the confusion

My reasons for going with Media Portal are just that it's so easy to use, and looks really good. I couldn't be bothered with a setup where i can't just use the remote, and where if someone else needs to use it, it's not really obvious how it works.

I really am amazed how much difference using a sound card makes on my setup. I always had the MAudio card on the HTPC, but when i upgraded i got an matx board that only had enough slots for the TV cards. So i tried onboard sound, and it was BAD, so i have gone to one TV card + the MAudio! This is only really an issue if you aren't using the digital output though.

I might just end up get a USB DVB-T card so i am back up to 2. They seem to be £25 each.

If any of you have any interesting front ends, could you post a couple of screenshots?

Matt · 4 Jan 2009 at 17:37

Fanatic said:
Cool looking setup Matt, could I ask how you got the icon pictures for the TV channels in the guide?

I have added that to my first post

Matt · 5 Jan 2009 at 21:30

ScarySquirrel said:
That sounds awesome. Why didn't I get an HTPC sooner?!?!

One more quick question as I don't want to derail the thread, does anyone have any good resources for learning about HTPC hardware, software, setups, how to's etc?

I have mentioned this loads of times, but the AVS forums are a very good resource.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=940972&page=85 <- Guide to building a HTPC (really long, but will be invaluable in deciding on spec)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1092168 <- Media Portal install guide (makes it very easy)

Matt · 5 Jan 2009 at 21:31

atomiser said:
i suspect the trickiest part (only going on the fact that i haven't done it yet!) is getting the tv side of things working.

If you use MCE (Vista or XP), or Media Portal, + a few others, then this really is very simple

Matt · 6 Jan 2009 at 22:27

I am thinking of getting a Freesat card to go in my box now along with the Freeview one

Has anyone done this? I am told it's just plug and play in Media Portal though (as with Vista MCE), which is cool.

Matt · 7 Jan 2009 at 08:27

Vertigo1 said:
Don't know about MP though, would be interested to hear if this is possible.

Apparently its fine in MP as long as you are using TV Server... which i am!

Matt · 7 Jan 2009 at 08:28

Fanatic said:
More questions for Matt

In your first pic, you have the weather top right and news at the bottom. How do you get them working like that?

I looked at the StreamedMP editor but it looks complicated and I don't want to break it.

Cheers.

Read this... http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1092168
'# Configure the RSS plugin: Launch MediaPortal Configuration and choose the Plugins section in the left-hand pane. You'll see all your plugins listed on the right-hand side. Under "Process Plugins", right-click on "MP-RSS Ticker" and choose "Configuration":

* RSS Ticker settings section: Enable the "RSS Ticker enabled" checkbox; enter your favorite RSS feed (e.g. http://rss.cnn.com/rss/cnn_mostpopular.rss); leave items at 10; leave separator as "::"; enable the "Auto refresh enabled" checkbox.
* Weather settings section: Enable the "Weather enabled" checkbox; enable the "Auto refresh enabled" checkbox.
'

Matt · 7 Jan 2009 at 12:58

The music section is a bit poor in the StreamedMP skin for MP, but hopefully will quickly improve

As default MP looks quite basic, but the skin i am using (StreamedMP) and the plugins this has (MyTVSeries, MovingPictures, etc...) make it a lot better.

Follow the link at the bottom of my first post for info on getting it setup.

Matt · 7 Jan 2009 at 19:42

AcidHell2 said:
Does media portal work on linux?

If so what linux to go for?

No. Windows only.

XBMC works on Linux though

But there is no TV PVR side to it. It's great at everything else though.

Matt · 10 Jan 2009 at 15:53

Does anyone know of an iPlayer plugin for MediaPortal? I am sure there isn't one, but i thought i would double check!

There's one for Vista:
http://www.milliesoft.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9&Itemid=11

Matt · 11 Jan 2009 at 09:15

Oxy said:
Don't like this skinnedmp skin, monochrome or titanuimHD is wht the cool kids use

Do you have screenshots?

F11 takes a screenshot in MP and puts in into your My Pictures folder.

Matt · 8 Aug 2009 at 20:35

Just noticed my AMD 5050e in my HTPC was running at 85c today. I might just install the CPU fan for a few days!