Show Your HTPC Setup - Page 15

Bluray HTPC,2 TB Lacie HD,Nintendo wii,Pioneer SVX-917v,5.1 Acoustech Labs Surround Sound and 42" 1080p LG Plasma.

I am building my first htpc, I have a lot of work to do before catching up to some of your setups. thanks for making me want to spend more money...

Beautiful setup, very clean and modern. I Like the backdrop behind the TV. That super bright blue light from your PC - does it get in the way? I had two very bright leds on my case and had to remove them because they were distracting.

Thanks for your comments, no the blue light doesn't get in the way, I really like it actually. It looks cool when all the lights are off.

I really wish to see someone will build with this case.
nMediapc HTPC 1080i

It looks really cool.

How do you like the Pioneer receiver? What were you using before?

Im looking into upgrading my 3+ year old receiver.

HTPC

• Antec 900 mid-tower
• Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L Micro-ATX
• Intel Core 2 Duo E5200
• Corsair XMS2 2x2GB DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
• Gigabyte 4670 512MB GDDR3
• Corsair 520HX PSU
• Samsung 20X DVD burner
• Seagate ES 320GB drive
• Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
• Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000 Bluetooth keyboard/mouse
• Sony 46" XBR6 LCD

Other items:

• StudioTech HF-4 B/B component rack w/ 2 additional shelves and casters
• Onkyo TX-SR606 with 2 Infinity Primus P362 floor-standing speakers and an Infinity PS28 8" sub
• Cable box, PS3, XBox 360, Wii, GameCube, N64, PS2

Main PC / Fileserver

• Lian Li PC-A77B aluminum full tower
• Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz OCed to ~3GHz
• Corsair XMS2 4x1GB C4 DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
• EVGA GeForce 8600GT 256MB GDDR3
• Corsair 1000HX PSU
• Samsung 22X DVD burner
• Plextor *old* IDE DVD burner
• Samsung floppy
• Seagate ES 320GB OS/Prog drive
• Adaptec 51645 Raid Controller & Adaptec ABM-800T BBU
• 2x Supermicro CSE-M35T-1B 5in3 hot swap SATA bays
• 5x Seagate ES.2 1TB drives in a RAID-5
• 5x Hitachi Ultrastar 7K2000 2TB drives in a RAID-5
• 1x Hitachi Ultrastar 7K2000 2TB drive as a global hot spare
• Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
• Old Samsung 20" LCD

Recently bought a new house and am still planning my rewiring. I still have 2 Netgear GS108 8-port Gigabit switches that I used in my apartment. Also, with the layout of my TV components now I can't conveniently put my HTPC anywhere it doesn't stand out so I'll need to actually get a real HTPC case...


I have no recent pictures of my HTPC itself, but have one of my fileserver:

HTPC

Antec Fusion Remote Black
ASRock H55m Pro
I3-530 @ 3.3GHz
2 GB G.Skill DDR3 1600
OCZ ModXStream 600W
Sappire 5670
1TB Barracuda 7200.12
LG Blu-ray Combo UH10LS20


Audio

Rotel 1068 Pre/Pro
Rotel 1095 Amp
Denon 2900 DVD/DVD-A/SACD
Infinity Alpha Speakers
SvS 2039 PC+ Sub
Harmon Kardon Pa2000 (Zone 2)


Tv

Sony 52" XBR9

Sony KDS-60A3000 HDTV,
Denon AVR-591 A/V Receiver,
Custom HTPC (HDMI 1),
Panasonic BDR-202K BluRay player (HDMI 2),
Microsoft XBOX360 (HDMI 3),
PolkAudio 5.1 Speakers,

Antec Fusion Remote Max Case,
ASUS P5Q-E motherboard,
Intel E6600 CPU,
4GB DDR2-1066 RAM,
AMD/ATI HD5750 1GB Video Card,
(2) WD 75GB SATA HD (RAID0, System Disk),
(2) WD 500GB SATA HD (Recorded TV / Media),
(2) Hauppauge HVR-2250 Dual Channel Tuners,

Windows 7 64 bit w/Media Center,
AMD/ATI Catalyst 10.9a (w/ATI HDMI Audio Driver),
ReClock 1.8.7.1,
iMon Manager,
MyChannel Logos 1.12,
MediaBrowser 2.2.5,
Media Center Master 1.24,
Arcsoft TMT3 Platinum (w/ .185 patch) w/SimHD

Custom WHS w/ 5 TB storage (not shown)

Yes, the Panasonic BluRay player is redundant!

tehowell,

did you get the entertainment center custom-built?

No. We bought the big outer piece off-the-shelf at a Sound Advice (Tweeter) ~2002. The manufacturer is JSP Industries. I searched the web and unlike Tweeter, it seems they're still in business (link). They have a page where you can enter a zip code and find a local dealer. They tend to be up$cale near me.

The base piece (beneath the TV) wasn't there initially. The first TV was a floor standing Rear Projection TV - a Mitsubishi WS-65909. The outer set was designed specifically for this type of TV. We had to add the base when we upgraded to the Bravia (for HDMI, etc.). It was also purchased off-the-shelf at a Circuit City (gone), a few years ago.

They don't match very well, but no one seems to notice. At least not after we start up Media Center .

I love it. It really has everything I need 3 HDMI in 1 out, HD Component, etc. Can't go wrong, it is very nice. Actually I used to have a Technics receiver back in the day lol. Big improvement in sound. This is my second setup My first setup is upstairs, I have a Denon receiver which is the cream of the crop for me. 5.1 DTS-HD, etc. You really can't go wrong with any of these brand of receivers.


I posted on here before but here are some pics of my upstairs setup with some upgrades.

Still have some tweaking to do, as well as hide some wires, but wanted to post my pic of my htpc. Here are my components, I used renethx's june htpc guide to build it pretty much as he recommended. Very happy, still have to save a couple more dollars to get a dual tuner.


HTPC:

• CPU: Core i3 530 2.93GHz LGA1156
• Motherboard: ASRock H55M/USB3 LGA1156 Intel H55 chipset microATX
• Memory: G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ DDR3-1600 2 x 2GB Kit
• Graphics Card (Optional): Sapphire HD 5670 GDDR5 512MB 100287L
• HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB ST3500418AS SATA 3.0Gbps 7200 RPM
• PSU: Corsair VX450W CMPSU-450VX 450W
• Case: Antec Fusion Remote Black microATX, with LCD/IR receiver/remote

• Panasonic g50
• Yamaha YSP 4000
• YAMAHA SW315 10" 250W Powered Subwoofer
• PS3
• Nintendo Wii
• Harmony 650 Remote (Not pictured)

Gosh! All ATX and mATX cases look exactly like coffins: big and ugly... At some photos they look not so bad, but still like a hi-fi electronics from the 80s...
I wish more people with expensive htpc and/or setups could spend their money on something like A-Tech Fabrication or Moneaul..
And why are Antec Fusion cases considered so cool looking? Silverstone has much better cases, which at least don't have ugly green and pink mic+audio and usb on the front panel.

Wow.

Wow someone has their panties in a knot! Haha

That's like, your opinion man...

haha yeah totally what I was thinking, only I felt compelled to respond with the same level of diplomacy as the original post...better done your way.

I am all for a warmer looking more blended setup but I would really rethink the silky curtain around the TV.

It's hideous.

I would not say that so bluntly if the setup was not otherwise very nice.

Looks nice and comfortable. Sweet remote too, they make a real difference don't they. The curtains are not my style but other than that cool.

I have the same remote. It's awesome!

• Sony HTPC model VGX-XL3 with twoVGP-XL1B3 200 Disk DVD Changers
(HTPC hardware is stock except for a 2 TB USB external drive, I'm running Vista Ultimate & MyMovies 3)
• Logitech DiNovo Edge Bluetooth keyboard
• Logitech Harmony 1100 universal remote
• Sony HES-V1000 200 Disk Blu-ray Changer
• Sony BDP-CX960 400 Disk Blu-ray Changer
• Sony STR-DN1010 A/V Receiver
• Yamaha YST-SW160 Subwoofer
• Sony left and right speakers model SS F6000
• Polk Audio center and surround speakers
• 60 in. Sony model KDS-R60XBR2 television

Ok, so I finally have what I consider to be a respectable home theater. I'm still working on converting my TV and Movie collection for use on my HTPC. Going through Doctor Who (2005 forward) at the moment. Battlestar Galactica (the new one) is next.

I started off this year with a little 24" LCD alongside my HTPC, but I finally upgraded to a decent 37" Vizio.

Here are the specs:
Home Theater:
Vizio SV370XVT 37" LCD
Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Speaker Set
Roku (was the middle model before the new ones came out)
Logitech Harmony One Remote
Logitech K340 Keyboard
Logitech V450 Mouse
Dell Infrared Recevier
8 Port Gigabit switch

HTPC:
Intel Q9400 Core 2 Quad 2.66Ghz CPU
Asus P5QL Pro Motherboard
4GB (2x2GB) OCZ RAM
Radeon HD 5670
Coolermaster Praetorian Case
LG Bluray/HD-DVD Drive
Samsung DVD Burner
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit

NAS: (where all my media is stored, in my computer room)
Jetway NC92-330-LF Dual Core Atom Mini-ITX Motherboard
Chenbro ES34069 Mini-ITX Home Server/NAS Case
80GB Seagate 7200RPM 2.5" Hard Drive (OS)
Highpoint Rocket Raid 1740 SATA RAID Card (PCI)
4x 1.5TB Seagate 7200RPM Barracuda Hard Drives in RAID 5 (~4.1TB total space. about 10% left at this point)

The Dell Infrared Receiver is actually part of a home theater set that came with the XPS laptop I have. The set includes a WMC Remote and a digital tuner, but the tuner I've never been able to get working completely.

Runs XBMC (Aeon theme) primarily. I just got my Harmony remote programmed to control XBMC fully using Evenghost. I can fully use XBMC without touching either the keyboard or mouse (including starting up XBMC). The infrared Receiver works great and combined with Eventghost to send proper commands to XBMC...it does a great job. Only remotes I use on a regular basis are the Harmony One, the keyboard and mouse (when doing stuff outside XBMC), and the lenovo remote (when laying on the couch and doing stuff outside XBMC).

Receiving local channels via ClearQAM over my cable connection. I don't pay for cable tv though, I just use what Comcast puts out with my high speed internet (12/2 business class).

My only issue with this setup is that the speaker system is hooked up via Optical from my TV and it doesn't always put out center channel sound in some cases. Most of the time it's a commercial though, so it's not a major problem.

Also have Boxee on the HTPC, but I use XBMC the majority of the time. I definitely don't like boxee for my movies and tv shows that I have stored on my NAS as it ended up replacing a lot of the artwork I associated with the shows using Ember Media Manager. I still haven't fully gone back and set them all back to what they were supposed to be.

Planning to upgrade my NAS to an ION motherboard and use it as my HTPC instead. The Quad core is nice, but can be better used elsewhere (dual box gaming).


A shot of XBMC running on the HTPC


Shot of the HTPC's Desktop, yes it's named ODIN


My Entertainment setup


the HTPC


Inards of the HTPC


Remotes: Logitech K340 Keyboard, Logitech V450 Mouse, Roku Remote, Logitech Z-5500 Remote, Logitech Harmony One, Lenovo HTPC remote, Vizio TV remote


Left side of the TV: Dell Infrared Receiver, iPhone Dock, Roku, receivers for Lenovo remote and Logitech Keyboard


Right side of the TV: receiver for mouse, heavy rain oragami, 8 port gigabit switch


My NAS, it's named ASGARD

Panasonic 50" G25 Plasma TV


ASUS M4A785-M mobo
AMD Athlon x2 240
4GB Ram
250GB HD
Blu Ray Player
Windows 7 64 (w/ media center)
SilverStone Grandia Series GD04 Case

Tannoy P50 Speakers
NHT Center
Paradigm Atom rears
KLH 10" Sub

Panasonic TC-P50S1 50" Plasma (Thank you Best Buy Cyber Monday)
Sony BD Player (Not used very often because of the HTPC)
Xbox 360
Wii
Old stereo
University of Central Florida Flag


Shot of the living room. One bedroom apartment shared with my wife and two dogs. The yellow lab is a neighbors dog that I bring up to my place on my days off. Just to the left of the front door is where the HTPC and desk is.


HTPC Specs:
Antec MicroFusion 350 Remote
Gigabyte GA-880GMA-UD2H
AMD Athlon II X3 445 (Overclocked from 3.1 to 3.5GHz)
Scythe Shuriken 100mm CPU HSF
2x2GB Geil RAM
LiteOn BD Drive
Western Digital 1TB HD
Avermedia Duet
Hauppauge 2250
Three Noctua 80mm case fans with a splitter I made myself to run off the motherboard to control speed
Cheapo keyboard/mouse
Logitech X-530 5.1 speakers


The HTPC feeds the TV via a 25' HDMI cable run under the carpet. The HTPC is fed with coax from just to the right of the fireplace. I can't relocate coax in my apartment so I had to do a ~25' run from the wall to the tv, split it there and do a 25' run from the TV to the HTPC where the coax is split again to feed the two tuners. Luckily I have great signal and my cable company only encrypts the PPV and premium channels. All "standard" channels are analog and the local HD stations are ClearQAM.

Once we're out of the apartment the HTPC will be on the entertainment center and I'll build a server/home computer for the desk. Right now, the HTPC serves double duty as a home computer and a HTPC.

Hey buddy, this is the "Show Your HTPC Setup" thread. How about some pictures?

Nice and clean, love it!

I hope there is some sarcasm in there...hard to tell on the interwebz. I fixed it up though. Sorry for the bluryness. I took the pictures with my phone and aparently I have shaky hands and my phone doesn't like dark rooms (blinds were closed to keep the heat down...it gets hot in Orlando)

I know you guys have been dying to see my latest improvements, so I won't keep you in suspense.

http://toughguy.homeip.net/htpc/webp...ing%20HTPC.htm