My New HTPC Config

[ajaydand65]

Hi Friends,

I'm planning to build an HTPC with the following setup:

MoBo - Gigabyte GA-H77-WIFI (Mini-ITX, Supports HD-Audio, built-in WIFI)
Proc - Intel Core i3-3225 (Inbuilt Intel Graphics HD4000)
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 8Gb DDR3-1600
SSD - Crucial 128 Gb 2.5" (For OS + Apps)
HDD - 2 TB Seagate/WD
Cabinet - BitFenix Prodigy (180 Watts)

I'm planning to build it with Windows 7/MediaPortal to complement my Panny 55"

The primary aim is to watch lot of HD/3D stuff, and not gaming. Also I intend upgrading the sound with 2.1 Floor standing speakers. I'm not too keen on anything larger than 2.1 for Audio. The choice is between Yamaha or Sonodyne (preferably 3 cone).

The questions to the esteemed experts here are:

a) Your comments/suggestions for the above setup.
b) Do I really need add an Amp/Receiver for the audio, considering my modest requirements?
c) Since Intel Graphics HD4000 has decent 3D performance, I was hoping to avoid adding a graphic card for viewing 3D content, and save the sole PCI slot for adding a TV tuner card. Do you think this is correct?
d) Please suggest a good TV tuner card for capturing live TV.

If this question has been answered before, please excuse the repeat and point me to the right threads.

Thanks in advance.

Ajay.

 

[ajaydand65]

Sorry, I forgot to add - I'll be adding a BluRay Drive to the HTPC also. Haven't thought of any particular brand. Suggestions welcome.

 

[baijuxavior]

The components selected are highend for htpc purpose. You can save a few bucks by using 4GB RAM, 64GB SSD. Use XBMC instead of media portal. The latest beta of xbmc frodo has support for live tv. There is not much choice in Blu-Ray drives - Mostly you will find Asus/LG/HP in online stores. They will cost around 7K-8K. Ypou will need a good amp or avr if you want to use floor standers.

 

[ajaydand65]

@baijuxavior

Thanks for your suggestions. I was getting a good deal on the 8Gb/SSD, so I thought might as well ramp up to make it future proof.

Can you explain a bit, why you suggest XBMC over MediaPortal?

Thanks again.

Ajay.

 

[baijuxavior]

XBMC is the number one media center with a large user base and the developers are very active in adding new features. The new Frodo supports DTS HDMA and Dolby TruHD. Above all I like the interface which is a pleasant experience to use. There are lots of skins also. Just install it on your laptop point it to your movie location and it will download all features of the movie with thumbnails, fanart etc. It is a visual treat. http://forum.xbmc.org/

 

[rud3dawg]

Hey..just wanted to know.. Where are you planning to get the Betfinix Prodigy from and how much would it set you back with ? Any particular reason as to this particular case?

 

[ukjeyaraj]

+1 to xbmc. Its amazing with so much options for customizing. I have made it very thin with just what I want.

If you can afford, look for a HTPC cabinet.

 

[reignofchaos]

That is a very nice config. I have a very similar config other than a 64gig ocz vertex4, an i3 2100 and a discrete AMD 6570 with the Asus H77 board. I do not use wireless as it is useless for 1080p streaming.

If you have an HD DTH connection, then the only card that works reliably is the Hauppauge Colossus for video capture. Also it'll only capture the channels that are not encrypted. Not worth it IMHO - get the DTH operator's DVR if you need time shifting.

As for media centers, I prefer none. I use MPC-HC with lav filters and madVR for the best video quality. Everything else seems to output sub par image quality compared to this.

Also I have the hard drives and the bluray drive for ripping blurays on another machine on my home network as both of these devices are noisy. I prefer the HTPC to be as quiet as possible. To augment this, I also use a 3rd party, scythe kozuti heatsink/fan combo. This is the only heatsink that can fit in my tiny antec isk310 case.

 

[ajaydand65]

Thanks guys for all these suggestions/comments.

@rud3dawg - I bought from Xtreme Graphics. They are the distributors in India listed on BitFenix site. The reason I chose this one was I wanted to make sure the case would have sufficient cooling options, if in case things being to heat up, since I plan to keep this box inside a wall unit cabinet. Also this one isn't too deep, so it fitted well within the dimensions of the cabinet. Besides, it has enough space to add more HDDs if the need arises. I had almost finalized on Coolermaster Elite, when I happened to check out BitFenix. Luckily the disty also was not too far off. Online shops were quoting higher prices. I got it for 6K

@reignofchaos - This board supports WiDi also. I read on the net, that it was possible to capture Airtel and other SatTV feeds through TV Tuner Cards. This would obviate the need for buying costly DVR Set-top box, and use a plain HD STB instead. Besides, recording directly on to the HTPC would be cool. I think, it also does a better job at capture than the STB-DVR.

As for the cooling needs, one of the reason for chosing BitFenix, is that it is one of the few cabinets which supports large - 200mm - fans! I know, I might not need it at all, but hey, no harm being prepared.

Can you please elaborate a little more on your MPC-HC setup?

Thanks,

Ajay.

 

[reignofchaos]

Just curious - how do you plan to capture encrypted video from HDMI without a cablecard based system which none of the indian service providers have?

Media center setup is fine - how will you set it up to grab data from hdmi when the data coming in is encrypted?

 

[Oakley]

Bitfenix are good enclosures, may be called as Mac's brother

Oak

 

[akd]

Two weeks back I build a PC which I don't intend to use as HTPC, rather my aim is to experiment with media server and especially Bluray playback

First components

Mobo: ASUS M5A88M
Pros: AMD FX 4100
Ram: Corsair Vengeance 4GB DDR3
HDD: WD caviar green 1TB
PSU: Corsair builder series CX 430W
Cabinet: Coolermaster Elite 310
ODD: ASUS 12x BD writer
Monitor: BenQ 24" G2420
UPS: APC ES 500
Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse

I bought everything from Flipkart with insane discounts except for ODD (bitfang), Monitor (infibeam) UPS (local store)

I did all the connections which was easy and didn't take any time at all. However, ATX 20+4 pin Mobo connector kept me in dark for some time.

I kept it running for days to see its intial performance. Its absolutely silent and stable. Windows 7 64 bit gave loads of trouble with video encoder and some other s/w, so I went ahead with 32 bit which worked flawlessly.

My rough comparison tells me its faster than intel core 2 duo and at par with i3, though these are only visual observation.

BD playback: I heard the main issue with HTPC is BD playability. I bought the ASUS 12x BD writer and stock s/w came as Power DVD 10. I was quite surprised to see it can play almost any BD with menus. Till now I have tested around 20 Discs (region A,B,C) and it worked like a charm. loading time, menu interface, progressive scan..... everything seemed perfect and I didn't have to tweak at all. If I run anyDVDHD in the background I noticed the menu is automatically skipped.

Video encoding: made a few MKVs using MakeMKV and then tried my hand with Handbrake. 1080p encoding is taking on an average 7 hours, 720p around 2-3 hours. Handbrake doesn't support subtitles.So I use MKVtoolnix to mux the subtitle in the ripped file. Original MKVs are almost 30-40GB while the 1080p ripped ones 4-8 GB. Some of the ripped files played well enough in VLC (PC) but only found crackling audio in my media player. Moreover, progressive scan is also doesn't work properly. Is this a common issue with Handbrake?


Now Issues and doubts:
1. I observed Handbrake presets are not fully reliable, sometime they work sometime they do not. My stand alone media player is ASUS HDP R3. But all ripped Mp4/MKV played well in VLC but not in my stand alone media player. Moreover VLC showed 1920x1080 while media player showed 1920x1088, why? what am I missing?

2. form USB 3.0 I am getting average transfer speed of 60 MB/s (starts with 150 and drops to 60). I expected a much better speed from USB 3.0. Will defragmentation of the source HDD help? I need to sort out this. USB 2.0 as usual giving 35 MB/s

3.The onboard graphics is below average and hardly can push 1080p videos on screen > 40".

So my impression about Bluray ripping is its rather a painful job which needs improvements.

I intended to see if media playability (video files+DVD/BD discs, audio mp3, FLAC) and HD STB can be assembled in a single PC. So far I got my answer as AV media playability is not at all an issue. But I am not sure about inclusion of a TV tuner. If this happens successfully then will build a HTPC for my Optoma HD 20 with single source and no source comes close to a well built PC in terms of versatility and customization. Comments and suggestions please

Arnab