What is Digg?92 Comments
- JimXugle, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15They Misspelled MythTV throughout the article.
"Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005"
maybe some exotic form of 133t? - Naruto28, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"there aren't any great capture cards on the market for HDTV quite yet"
Umm...yeah, okay. I've used the old Fusion 3 HDTV card for quite a while now, works flawlessly with MCE. And the author would have found plenty of others great cards as well if he would have looked around. This guy is clueless... - nemattoad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I really hope this guy doesn't make PCs for a living. He used far too much thermal paste on that CPU.
- j_bellone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4BeyondTV works well.
- jpcoder, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I agree with nitroskanker. I think this is way overkill for a DVR.
- smiller329, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4How many "build your own HTPC" guides do we need to digg?
- r3zonance, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Nice, but I don't want a media centre that takes forever to boot up and hogs about 250-300w of power. Under 125W, now that would be good.
- deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Media Center is probably the best thing Microsoft has done in a while.. personally I'd use MythTV but you've gotta respect MCE for being idiot proof. I bet my grandmother could install it.
- tsupersonic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Wow, a really good guide on building a HTPC.
- gaqua, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4It's not just a DVR though which is the cool thing. I mean I could rip movies in DivX and store them on a fileserver in another room and just map to the network drive and stream them to this. And I could chat with people over trillian while watching something on my big screen TV if I wanted. I like it. I don't know if I would use such expensive hardware but I'll probably build one of these.
- nitroskanker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Well I run just 512mb of RAM on my PVR and so far it works completely fine. A gig would be nice but so far it's not needed.
- MrStylz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4A price list at the end would have been nice, but a good build.
- AidanRowe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Taken from their forum:
Buying all the hardware on various sites would cost about $1750 or so, that includes WinXP Media Center Edition 2005. If you wanted to you could cut that price down quite a bit by using existing hardware you have laying around or buying a cheaper case or a cheaper power supply or a variety of other things. It's possible to build a very good HTPC from scratch for under $1000. - LumberjackBauer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think there are certainly many good aspects to going the mac route, sure. But some people want raw power. Personally, if I was to build a rig like this I would be using it for more than just the basic FrontRow features. Gaming specifically. I believe that the aim of this article was to show raw unadulterated power, and while the mac mini is aesthetically pleasing, power is not it's first concern.
Also, personally I have not used Front Row too much but I do not recall a DVR function at all. I realize you would need an external PVR system most likely going through USB, but what about a guide, recording setup and all that? Does front row have these options? Also, where does "it is more stable" come in? Keep in mind I am not trolling I am honestly curious. - EpicSA, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Yeah that is true but the functionality blows a tivo away as well. Besides they probably used 2GB of RAM because Corsair is a RAM company and they have that sort of thing laying around.
- jetta421, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This is a case of "do it because you CAN". I love the pictures, great touch! It seems a bit like overkill though. I agree with Original Gamer, Mac Mini is way more aesthetically pleasing...and stands a better chance at passing the wife-o-meter. Major props for the good manicure in the close-up CPU shots.
- eliomar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i too recently made my HTPC.
AMD2800
256MD RAM
80GB HDD
WINTV PVR2 USB
WIndows MCE OEM
also as a back up Media Portal
I like Media Portal because of functionality but can be tricky to set up. Far better than MCE because of plugins and customizing. MCE is just good for easy layout and showing off IMOH. - jaydee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Jees there's a lot of haters on here.. I have a MCE PC in the lounge that is used 24/7 by myself and the other half, its in a case that's no bigger than a DVD player and will do everything that a normal TV does + all the other PVR functions. Its hooked up to a 42" TFT screen so its one hell of a home theatre / PC. Quite simply it works and as far as i'm concerned is the best solution on the market today.
This complete setup was £1400 GBP or about $2500 in US money and for what I got I consider that to be money well spent.
Oh and i'm not a MS fanboy (I run linux on 2 other PC's at the office), its just that I can see the best solution from a mile off and as much as you might not like it, this ones a M$ one - tomciob, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4this guy wants a quiet system yet he chooses a hot ass pentium chip
and my neck of the woods has no good channels in the analog range
it all sucks unless you get digital cable
worst htpc ever, they all are ! - el_jefe, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I have to agree with Kodiak. I have used it. Bought MCE certified parts. The thing has to rebooted every 2 days or so, or it completely bogs down to the point where the sound is choppy and video hangs when simply watching TV. It locks up constantly requiring reboot. I replaced the 7200 SATA drives with 10,000 rpm SATA drives, and replaced the ram. Nothing helps. Not to mention the recorded shows are in dvr-ms format and not easily transfered to other OSs. I guess I think a quality product should be interopreable with other OSs and devices. (Yes I know there are third party plugins, but I odont think I should have to add functionality to software that should already support this stuff)
I would switch to MythTV but i went the cheap route and bought MCE certified parts which mythtv doesnt support without a lot of work. I am trying out mediaportal as an alternative. I personally wouldn't recommend MCE, but your miles may very. - aznboi04k, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2weak. doesn't teach how to set up an hdtv htpc mce.
- XSforMe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Okay. before this madness goes on, and somebody actually spends 2K dollars on an overblown VCR, let me link on how things are actually done. It doesn't have pretty pictures, but at least you will not end up with an over sized paperweight sitting in front of your TV.
http://www.mythtv.org/modules.php?name=MythInstall
Whats wrong with the proposed setup? Well, for starters it is huge, loud and ugly, it is an overkill for what's required (Pentium D? 2 GB of RAM?), it really falls short on areas that matter (no high def?), you will not be able to stream your content to other TVs on your house, not to mention the recorded content will be DRMed and non portable. - nitroskanker, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Nice guide but the parts chosen far out cost the price of a TiVo. I don't entirely see why 2g of RAM is needed.
- dnthomps, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You think he wanted to admit how much this thing costs? Not a chance!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Well done and dugg. They made a nice box. I don't think I would have gone with such a large PS, but that's me.
- master_of_fm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2every seems to ask why would someone go out and build a system like this? simple answer, because they can and it is fun. same reason people make hot rods or custom choppers. sure you can go out and buy something pre-made, but some people crave more than "store bought". plus with all then shenanigans tivo has been pulling lately with there pricing structure, or comcast and directv want to charge you yet another monthly fee and limit your abilitly to what you can do with those recordings. me personally my HTPC is a conversation piece, people are always amazed when I show them that i can play music, watch tv, watch dvds all with one remote and never having to switch inputs or turn additional equipment on, plus my silverstone LC17 just looks cool in the equipment rack
- Naruto28, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2True, you have to be happy with OTA channels, but seeing as this build is for a MCE box (which only allows OTA HDTV anyways), he could have chosen from a number of cards to support this. If his HTPC needed to support cable or satellite HDTV as well, then his options would be limited and he would definitely have to use different PVR software.
- TGDuff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This article makes no sense. They want a 64-bit processor ("just in case") and choose an Intel chip. They want to use a video card yet they get a motherboard with needless integrated video. They want a quiet system and do not use a Seagate HD.
- FishyJoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2All fine and dandy, but will we all be screwed by cable card?
- ngageguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yea, I agree with the comments above about a price list. I might have to find some of the other diggs on this topic to build on the cheap a quality, quiet unit. FishyJoe, from what I have seen of cablecards, they REALLY suck, at least for now. I think if they get the firmware right to be universally compatible, stay away. If the Mac Mini comments are true, can someone built a cheaper, quieter Media Center? Just curious.
- nitroskanker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I built my PVR out of old computer parts with just a couple upgrades (ie tv tuner). I just used parts that were left after various upgrades to my gaming pc and a PVR was born. It works great!
- cosulliv755, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This is an amazing guide. I've been trying to wade through the mire of home Theater PC's for weeks. There is SO much information out there, and its soo easy to get lost in the details. At this point, I don't care about the cash, I just want a bad ass HTPC. And this is it. This guide, should be used as a reference for all such guides (and yes I'm talking about myth on Linux). Well dugg and recommended to everyone I know.
- ToeCheese, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Get the PVR-250 if you don't need to output to SVideo and the PVR-350 if you do. I have the PVR-150 but have had issues with the IR Blaster.
- ToeCheese, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I took an old P3 933 Compaq ($25 from my office). Dropped in a 200GB HD ($70 w/ MIR), NVidia 5200 ($72) and a PVR-150 ($96). Popped in KnoppMyth CD and was up and running within 2 hours. The hardest part was setting the Overscan/Underscan to my Sony HDTV. PVR-150 was a mistake because the IR Blaster sucks on it. 1 hour later I had MAME running on it.
After Mods:
- Myth2iPod script was added and now I can view my recordings via iPod Video (or PSP)
- Samba sharing to my XBox - holdemcharts, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wouldn't it be a lot easier and cheaper to just get an XBOX and use the open source XBOX media center? http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/
- pabster, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Would have been nice to see an in-depth setup of a Linux solution as well.
Systm has an episode on building a Myth box if anyone cares. - ToeCheese, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Can XBMC record TV? If so, please provide us with a link. Not being sarcastic just would like to add that feature to my XBMC which I use to stream from my MythTV box.
- colbymulkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That would be swell if there were a way to build a system that didn't draw as much power as a PC PVR, but it would also be nice if there were a PVR, that didn't draw a lot of power, that also didn't require a monthly subscription. I'd rather spend the extra money on my utility bill every month, and have the added functionality of a PC than have to spend money on a monthly subscription.
- ToeCheese, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Build your own allows for multiple options. Tivo is great for many but there are some people who need features that Tivo doesn't offer. An example of these are: RSS feeds of select recordings for any portable video player. Burn DVDs which are compatible with portable DVD Players. Gaming not just Quake and Half Life, but retro gaming like Arcade, Genesis, NES, etc... Also streaming video to different rooms of my house and the ability to convert a 400MHz PC into a player using compact flash to load the client.
- slack31337, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i have tried knoppmyth mutiple times and it is hanst worked >>> I will give it a E for effort but it does need to mature.
- ssvalenteno, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Too much denaro, just take a tip from "System" http://revision3.com/systm/mythtv/ you can get the same result for a lot less money and by using a old junky PC 600mhz
and el_jefe use GBPVR, smoother and less prone to crashes - lightningrod220, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2... not to mention expensive.
- mezoko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Page was hacked :(
- modix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I recently put together a HTPC using spare parts from my PC prior to upgrades (athlon XP 2000 with 512 RAM), with my old 9600pro. I bought a Hauppage 150 for $65, and a new mini-tower for $40.
I tried for about a week to get Myth installed, and it was one of the most frustrating computer experiences I've ever had. Got fed up, set up a dual boot on my Linux box for XP, installed all the drivers and had the Hauppage WinTV software working within 3 hours (most of which was taken up my the XP install, of course!).
I grabbed the GB-PVR program, which is a wonderful free HPTV user environment so you never see nor smell XP unless you want to. It works wonderfully and is recording 4 shows tonight as I speak. Altogether the project cost me less than the case they used in the article. - jlam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Excellent guide! Just what I was looking for to build my HTPC.
- Cameron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Very detailed guide, but that system is far from cheap. Doesn't help people like me who have a budget.
- qwab, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I just use my three trusty ReplayTV's (Series 5500) and a copy of DVArchive (www.dvarchive.org) running on my PC.
- master_of_fm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1the thing is that 945G motherboards are typically cheaper than plain old 945 chipset boards
- Anacriosd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Does anyone else but me, think that the interface for MCE is a sick joke?
- Trublmakr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Best line in the article,.. re: the expensive case: "It was worth it for the WAF". (Wife acceptance Factor.)
(Familiar with the concept.,. but didn't know it had earned an acronym :-) -
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