The New Sandman's HTPC

[LoganSix]

Okay, with the nice little rebate from the government coming, I've decide to stop procrastinating and do something about building my HTPC.  Also, my old laptop is dying, so I have to replace it.

Here is what I want the HTPC to do :

• Record HD OTA and DirecTV Channels
• Surf the Web
• Play Internet/MP3 music w/ visualizations for parties
• Play Music from Radio ~ future ability to play Satellite and/or HD Radio
• Play Movies (Netflix, owned DVDs)

Here is what I want the HTPC to replace :

• VCR
• Web surfing on PC /  Wii
• Audio Receiver
• DVD/MP3 Player/Burner

Here's what I'm thinking :

• I would like to use MythTV as the software for the HTPC. 
• I am thinking about either the SilverStone LC14m or Termaltake Mozart. I prefer something that is black.  I also want something that holds an ATX board, because if I can make this the only component (besides the Wii and DirectTV box) under the tv, then have a small form factor doesn't matter.
• Based on Miller's recommendation, I'll probably go with the Auzentech Prelude.
• Since I don't plan on recording Analog OTA signals, I don't think I need a tuner card if I use HDHomerun.  I will need some verification on this.  I might still need it in order to pick up the radio stations and possibly for the DirecTV.
• I figure if I have Audio output from the TV to the HTPC, it should handle the sound from the Wii being hooked up into the TV. I have both coaxial and optical audio out on my LG 32 inch tv.

Beyond that, I don't have a firm decision on mother board, cpu, ram, graphics card or harddrives.
So, any help or suggestions would be helpful.

[Miller]

I think to record the DirectTV channels you'll need an analog tuner. You could check this by calling them and checking what kin of signal they send or by testing it with your tv. If you have an old analog tv then you'd need an analog tuner for those channels. If you have a digital tuner tv then any channel you can get with that tv you should be able to pick up with the HDHomeRun.

I'm not sure about the HDHomeRun and Myth. It says it's supported on the website, but you might want to see how much success people have had before you go that route. (I've heard that the SiliconDust people are very helpful and friendly though.)

I haven't used the LC14, but be aware that the usb and firewire ports are on the left side (viewed from the front) of the case. It only holds four hard drives so that means if you want space between your drives you might only want to put 2 drives in there. Of course with 1TB drives now this probably isn't a problem. I don't like the Mozart, but that's just becasue of the 2-tone look.

If you're not doing any serious gaming on this computer you probably don't need the Prelude and could get by with the X-plosion or one of the other cards. I forget which card supports what Dolby/DTS sounds though so double-check that to make sure you get the card that has the type of sound you like. (Of course, the Prelude is cheaper than most receivers so you're probably saving money no matter what here.) Those cards have an audio in too so you should be able to take your tv's audio and input it just fine.

As for your other parts, any dual-core or better cpu should be fine. You'll want to make sure your motherbaord has the slots you need for your parts. I'd go with 2GB minimum for RAM. As long as it's DDR2 you should be good here. And for graphics card I would go with an ATI 3xxx or nVidia 8xxx (or even 9xxx) card. You can see my thoughts for the computer I just upgraded on my post here:

http://forum.byopvr.com/dvr/index.php/topic,9011.0.html

[LoganSix]

If you're not doing any serious gaming on this computer you probably don't need the Prelude and could get by with the X-plosion or one of the other cards. I forget which card supports what Dolby/DTS sounds though so double-check that to make sure you get the card that has the type of sound you like.

I don't think the X-plosion has the feature to split out the music into 5.1, I will have to triple check the specs again to make sure.  And I agree, the card is cheaper than a new receiver.

Thanks for the other input.

[Miller]

If you mean re-master a stereo source into 5.1, then it does. The Mystique does this as well - it just doesn't have DTS. The one thing I don't know about is what kind of speakers you would get to hook this up to. I'm not sure conventional speakers would work. You might have to get a set of computer type speakers...

[LoganSix]

In that other thread, the guy mentioned just getting the splitter for Left/Right.  I found speaker wires that have an RCA jack that split to the normal +/- connectors.  I should have booked marked it when I found it.


SOUND CARD => LEFT RIGHT SPLITTER -> RCA to Speaker

[Miller]

So I guess you could use this:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021804&p_id=666&seq=1&format=2

http://www.connectworld.net/cgi-bin/iec/L7422-01?TjCqsUcI;;11

But it would probably be better to just buy speaker wire and add rca plaugs onto one end. (My speakers don't have rca jacks on them.)

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102841&cp=2032058.2032231.2032280&allCount=308&fbn=Cable+type%2FPhono+%28RCA%29+plugs+%26%23038%3B+jacks&f=PAD%2FCable+Type%2FPhono+%28RCA%29+plugs+%26%23038%3B+jacks&fbc=1&parentPage=family

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062472&cp=2032058.2032231.2032280&allCount=308&fbn=Cable+type%2FPhono+%28RCA%29+plugs+%26%23038%3B+jacks&f=PAD%2FCable+Type%2FPhono+%28RCA%29+plugs+%26%23038%3B+jacks&fbc=1&parentPage=family

[LoganSix]

The 18 AWG Speaker wire with RCA Male adapter was what I was looking at, thanks for finding it.

So, basically, the RCA jack goes into the left/right splitter, which comes out of the sound card.  Then the split wire connects to the regular speaker connections.

I've heard it is best to just connect the wire directly to the connections instead of adding banana plugs and other adapters, because it just makes another spot of poor connection.

[Miller]

They look like they should work fine, but it might be cheaper to make your own. I've used banana plugs and the sound was the same as far as I could tell. They did make it look nicer and easier to plug and unplug. Monoprice has solderless banana plugs that I used.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10401&cs_id=1040115&p_id=2801&seq=1&format=2

[LoganSix]

Looking on the back of my DirecTV box last night and only found a USB connection. So, I will have to use the instructions for controlling the box with that.  I guess I will also still need a PVR-150 for the connection to the DirecTV box for recoding.

I was looking for a motherboard with a Firewire connection, but I guess that's not as necessary now, since the DirecTV box doesn't have that connection.  I do have an external hard drive that uses Firewire, but it also uses a USB connection.  From my limited searching yesterday, motherboards with an integrated Firewire connection are not very plentiful.

[Miller]

You could also use an IR blaster to control your box if the usb doesn't work. Sometimes those usb ports aren't active either so it might not even work if you have it set up right. If you buy a retail version of th Hauppauge cards they will usually come with an IR blaster/receiver and a remote.

You can get motherboards with firewire, but it's usually the more expensive models. (The ones with dual-SLI, wireless, etc.) It's probably cheaper to just add a firewire card.

Any reason why you're looking at the pvr150. The hvr1600 is a 150 with a added digital tuner. It's usually cheaper too.

[LoganSix]

Any reason why you're looking at the pvr150. The hvr1600 is a 150 with a added digital tuner. It's usually cheaper too.

If that's the case, I'll just go that route.
I hadn't really looked at the recent prices of the two yet.  Still trying to figure out the right motherboard and case choice.

[LoganSix]

And of course, there's this

There are only beta Linux drivers available for the WinTV-HVR-1600 as of yet

[Miller]

As I understand it the drivers work fine for the analog tuner (since it's based on the 150), but the digital tuner still doesn't work. You have to figure it's just a matter of time though so I would still recommend the 1600 so that when the drivers do come out you'll have both tuners.

[LoganSix]

So, I am hoping that when the rebate check comes in, I can start buying parts for the DVR.
I figure, if I take the plunge and get the case and the mobo, then I'll force myself to make time to build it.

[Miller]

Here's a timeline for that check:
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=180247,00.html

Although I hear they are actually ahead of schedule and the first batch went out yesterday (00-20), with the 2nd batch going out Friday. (I never thought I'd hear myself say the government was ahead of schedule.)