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Show Your HTPC Setup - Page 26

post #751 of 1001
9/22/11 at 3:36am
Cleaned the setup up a little bit, reorganised the shelves, cleared up that mess of cables in the corner and also cabletied the three behind the television together. Looks much, much better imho.

Gonna be getting a new case for the HTPC - sadly, it's ATX and there's no ATX htpc cases below about 40cm deep, and to fit in the cabinet they'd have to be like 39cm deep tops. Also getting a small table to put it on that is the same style as the cabinet so it at least matches.

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post #752 of 1001
9/22/11 at 4:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by wiggindude View Post

Seeing everybody's rigs really make me want to get back into the HTPC. I currently have one but it's for regular DVD only. I want to build a HD-HTPC but my main concern is can you really get 1080P blu-ray and DTS-MA/DD-HD bitstream to the receiver?

Yes and it's easy. Just about every sticky in this forum that recommends hardware/software for building a HTPC can bitstream DTS-MA/DD-HD. The only requirement beyond that is having a receiver that can playback the HD audio.

Go for it...you won't regret it!
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post #753 of 1001
9/22/11 at 5:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by KoNP View Post

Cleaned the setup up a little bit, reorganised the shelves, cleared up that mess of cables in the corner and also cabletied the three behind the television together. Looks much, much better imho.

Looks pretty good. Your brick walls are highly reflective for sound, which will affect your imaging and sound quality. You should consider adding some sound absorption to that back wall. Maybe a heavy curtain across the whole thing. Also consider some 2x4' absorption panels for the first reflection points on the side walls.
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post #754 of 1001
9/22/11 at 11:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DougSmith View Post

Looks pretty good. Your brick walls are highly reflective for sound, which will affect your imaging and sound quality. You should consider adding some sound absorption to that back wall. Maybe a heavy curtain across the whole thing. Also consider some 2x4' absorption panels for the first reflection points on the side walls.

As true as that most probably is, I wouldn't be able to convince the girlfriend I need to spend the time effort and money to achieve it. It already sounds really good.

On the subject though what kind of sound absorbtion are you talking here?
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post #755 of 1001
9/22/11 at 12:34pm
Fabric wrapped fiberglass panels like one of these:

http://www.realtraps.com/p_microtrap.htm
http://www.rpginc.com/products/absorbor/index.htm
http://gikacoustics.com/gik_artpanel.html
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post #756 of 1001
9/22/11 at 11:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DougSmith View Post

Fabric wrapped fiberglass panels like one of these:

http://www.realtraps.com/p_microtrap.htm
http://www.rpginc.com/products/absorbor/index.htm
http://gikacoustics.com/gik_artpanel.html

I could probably DIY something like that out of wood and insulation.

Can you possibly highlight the areas on my pic that those things should go? I'm a bit of an acoustics noob. Also, as you can see to the right, there's a big open area there. Should anything be done there?

And what kind of improvement would I be expecting to see if I installed a few of those things?
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post #757 of 1001
9/27/11 at 7:34pm
Never seen speakers set up this way. Is that a custom casing? Is it plastic? do they connect or are they custom cut? Where can I get some?

Quote:
Originally Posted by ctantra View Post




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post #758 of 1001
9/28/11 at 1:34am
Update from my system:

TV: Samsung PS59D8000 Plasma (ISF Calibrated)
HTPC: Silverstone CW03 running Mediabrowser with Maelstrom skin
Video card: MSI NVIDIA GT520 (3D, Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD MA compatible)
Audio: Denon AVR 1912 (NEW)
Speakers: Boston Acoustics Soundware 5.1 XS (NEW)
Remote: Logitech Harmony One
Keyboard + Mouse: Logitech diNovo Edge + Air Mouse
Storage: 25TB

Pictures:

Overview
Old:




New:




HTPC:



Receiver:

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post #759 of 1001
9/28/11 at 12:50pm


Very slick setup.

I am going to have to try that skin.
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post #760 of 1001
9/28/11 at 2:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stevedawg85 View Post

Never seen speakers set up this way. Is that a custom casing? Is it plastic? do they connect or are they custom cut? Where can I get some?

Do you mean the wire duct? Yes..., it's custom cut. The wire duct is 2 meters long and there is L Shape for the corner and T Shape for other customization. They are double taped to the floor using 3M PE Foam Tape.
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post #761 of 1001
9/29/11 at 1:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by assassin View Post

Very slick setup.

I am going to have to try that skin.

Ty, this skin is amazing for big collections :-)
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post #762 of 1001
9/29/11 at 5:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by KoNP View Post

I could probably DIY something like that out of wood and insulation.

Can you possibly highlight the areas on my pic that those things should go? I'm a bit of an acoustics noob. Also, as you can see to the right, there's a big open area there. Should anything be done there?

And what kind of improvement would I be expecting to see if I installed a few of those things?

Ethan Winer has a lot of helpful information on his web site. For example: http://www.realtraps.com/art_room-setup.htm

Check out the demonstration videos as well.
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post #763 of 1001
9/30/11 at 7:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by KoNP View Post

I could probably DIY something like that out of wood and insulation.

Can you possibly highlight the areas on my pic that those things should go? I'm a bit of an acoustics noob. Also, as you can see to the right, there's a big open area there. Should anything be done there?

And what kind of improvement would I be expecting to see if I installed a few of those things?

You want to cover all of your reflection points. So start with some traps behind the towers, maybe some bass traps in the room corners. Then give a full length mirror to your girlfriend and sit down in the listening area. Get her to move the mirror along the wall (and ceiling if you really want to go all out) and put some diffusion where you can see your speakers in the mirror (use egg cartons, quadratic diffusers, etc) or absorption (panels or curtains).

I suspect that you'd want absorption because your walls are going to diffuse the higher order harmonics already. I'm certainly no expert, but I suspect that your problem is going to be bass and and mids rather than highs (most standard absorption panels don't do anything below about 800 Hz anyways).

Hanging curtains or having bookshelves along the back wall (behind the listening position) can help too, depending on the size of the room and the distance of the listening position from the back wall.
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post #764 of 1001
10/3/11 at 8:41am
Here are some pictures of the HTPC I built a friend of mine. It's a 12.5 Tb server for his dvd and blu-ray collection. He loves it as he has 1300 dvd's Makes life alot easier and he doesn't have to go hunting them down any more. Also he can watch blu-ray now on his older projecter that doesn't have HDCP.





Here are some picutes over my HTPC/Gamming rig. It's in my office with a HMDI cable ran to my server rack where my HT gear is so you can't hear it. Not that it's loud. It just streams everything off of my Windows Home server in my rack.





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post #765 of 1001
10/3/11 at 11:58am
ahh haven't seen water cooling in awhile! Well since the days of my modding ended lol
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post #766 of 1001
10/5/11 at 2:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ac5881 View Post



intel i3-2100T
gigabyte itx H67
2x2gb ocz ram
2x2tb samsung hd
90watt pico psu
thermalright HR02 cpu cooler
custom chipset cooler

Amazing HTPC, great design, minimalist, clean and transparent. Who gives more?
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post #767 of 1001
10/31/11 at 8:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by smuller View Post

Update from my system:

TV: Samsung PS59D8000 Plasma (ISF Calibrated)
HTPC: Silverstone CW03 running Mediabrowser with Maelstrom skin
Video card: MSI NVIDIA GT520 (3D, Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD MA compatible)
Audio: Denon AVR 1912 (NEW)
Speakers: Boston Acoustics Soundware 5.1 XS (NEW)
Remote: Logitech Harmony One
Keyboard + Mouse: Logitech diNovo Edge + Air Mouse
Storage: 25TB

Pictures:

Overview
Old:




New:




HTPC:



Receiver:


Is there a big difference going from DTS and Dolby Digital to DTS-MA and Dolby-TrueHD? Also, how were you able to bitstream DTS-MA in WMC? Great setup!!!
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post #768 of 1001
10/31/11 at 8:36am
If your using ISO's you can use Powerdvd to send bitstream. Thats how to do mine. Works fine.
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post #769 of 1001
11/3/11 at 7:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by smuller View Post

Update from my system:

TV: Samsung PS59D8000 Plasma (ISF Calibrated)
HTPC: Silverstone CW03 running Mediabrowser with Maelstrom skin
Video card: MSI NVIDIA GT520 (3D, Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD MA compatible)
Audio: Denon AVR 1912 (NEW)
Speakers: Boston Acoustics Soundware 5.1 XS (NEW)
Remote: Logitech Harmony One
Keyboard + Mouse: Logitech diNovo Edge + Air Mouse
Storage: 25TB

Pictures:

Overview
Old:




New:




HTPC:



Receiver:


very nice setup.thats alot of storage.
?1.how are you liking the dinovo touch pad? I was seriously concidering it backed out when I learned about the charging stand.
?2. did the ISF Calibration make a big differce?
?3. I see you'r HTPC has a nice display doe's it have a dimmer?
?4. on you'r HTPC I see blue ray disc. displayed is this a player or can you also rip Blue ray quaility discs from WMC.?
?5. do you you have exhaust fans on the back of you'r inclosure?

STB
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post #770 of 1001
11/6/11 at 1:33am
Here's my main HT room setup. - I should point out that this is also the main gaming and is used for video editing (hence the hardware specs). Just in case anyone was thinking I was nuts with a build like that for an htpc ;D

HTPC
Lian-Li PC34
Asus Rampage III Extreme
Intel I7 950 w/Koolance 360 waterblock
16GB Corsair Dominator
Intel X25 SSD
LG Blu-ray Drive
Samsung 1tb drive
2x Radeon 5870 x-fire'd w/Koolance fc water blocks
Logitech G19, Logitech Dinovo Mini
Logitech Harmony One
Mobile Air Mouse (via iPhone 4s)
Cyborg RAT 7 Mouse
Koolance RP-401X2 Single 5.25" Reservoir w/2 PMP-400 Pumps

HTPC(s) are served by a Windows Home Server 2011 box with 3 hardware RAID 5 arrays (HD movies 16tb, TV 8tb, music+pictures+misc 8tb) via teamed Intel gig server nics through a D-link managed gig switch, whole home wired cat 6. HTPC in master br is also served along with ipad/iphone/printer/receiver/Sling HD/PS3/etc. Cicsco 4200 wireles router + netgear 3700 wrireless router (as main router) running DD-WRT.

Home Theater
Denon A100 100th Anniversary Edition Receiver
Klipsch RF-7II, Klipsch RC-64, Klipsch RB-82, Klipsch RS-64
4x Sanus UF34 stands
2 x Elemental Designs A5-350 Subwoofer + 2 x ED Subwoofer Isolation Pads
Samsung 55" lcd wall mounted
Samsung 46"lcd wall mounted
Slingbox HD
Dish 920
PS3
Horizon N702 Solid Wood TV Console
Misc remote extenders, etc.



Home Theater Room shots:















HTPC shots during the build:



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post #771 of 1001
11/7/11 at 11:57am
My first HTPC build

It should be easy with a big case like this
LL
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post #772 of 1001
11/7/11 at 12:59pm
^Depends on how much storage you want :P
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post #773 of 1001
11/8/11 at 4:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by santiagodraco View Post

Here's my main HT room setup. - I should point out that this is also the main gaming and is used for video editing (hence the hardware specs). Just in case anyone was thinking I was nuts with a build like that for an htpc ;D

HTPC
Lian-Li PC34
Asus Rampage III Extreme
Intel I7 950 w/Koolance 360 waterblock
16GB Corsair Dominator
Intel X25 SSD
LG Blu-ray Drive
Samsung 1tb drive
2x Radeon 5870 x-fire'd w/Koolance fc water blocks
Logitech G19, Logitech Dinovo Mini
Logitech Harmony One
Mobile Air Mouse (via iPhone 4s)
Cyborg RAT 7 Mouse
Koolance RP-401X2 Single 5.25" Reservoir w/2 PMP-400 Pumps

HTPC(s) are served by a Windows Home Server 2011 box with 3 hardware RAID 5 arrays (HD movies 16tb, TV 8tb, music+pictures+misc 8tb) via teamed Intel gig server nics through a D-link managed gig switch, whole home wired cat 6. HTPC in master br is also served along with ipad/iphone/printer/receiver/Sling HD/PS3/etc. Cicsco 4200 wireles router + netgear 3700 wrireless router (as main router) running DD-WRT.

Home Theater
Denon A100 100th Anniversary Edition Receiver
Klipsch RF-7II, Klipsch RC-64, Klipsch RB-82, Klipsch RS-64
4x Sanus UF34 stands
2 x Elemental Designs A5-350 Subwoofer + 2 x ED Subwoofer Isolation Pads
Samsung 55" lcd wall mounted
Samsung 46"lcd wall mounted
Slingbox HD
Dish 920
PS3
Horizon N702 Solid Wood TV Console
Misc remote extenders, etc.



Home Theater Room shots:















HTPC shots during the build:




Nice setup! Reminds me of mine!
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post #774 of 1001
11/8/11 at 7:03am
I think you need a few more displays... J/k.

Side note:
I don't know if you have seen "Mouse Without Boarders". It is an awesome tool when trying to multitask between two or more PCs. you can drag and drop files from one to the other. I use it when editing videos, or just watching HTPC and emailing on laptop.
http://blogs.technet.com/b/next/arch...t-borders.aspx
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post #775 of 1001
11/8/11 at 10:07am
Lol, I've at times contemplated adding a third display to the left for Eyefinity.... imagine racing games like that. But my insanity has limits

Both displays are running off a single HTPC so not need for a multi-pc solution at this time. But I have played with it and it's very cool.
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post #776 of 1001
11/19/11 at 8:01pm
Heres my little setup:
•Case – NMEDIA 2000b atx case with lcd
•Powersupply – OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W
•Optical Drive- Lite-On Bluray
•System Drive -Western Digital Caviar Blue 6gbs 250gb 7200rpm
•Storage Drives – 2 1TB 7200rpm drives
•Processor – AMD Athlon II X2 250 3.0gh dual core with oem cooling
•Motherboard – ASRock 880G EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI
•Video Card - Zotac Nvidia 430gt
•Tuner - Hauppauge HVR-2250
•Memory – G.SKILL Ripjaws 4GB DDR3 1600
•Inputs – IOGEAR RF Multimedia keyboard w/ trackball – Xbox-360 wireless controller – Harmony 300 remote control
•Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit












(A little dusty)

Screen Shots:






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post #777 of 1001
11/20/11 at 5:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by scoyne88 View Post

Heres my little setup:
Case - NMEDIA 2000b atx case with lcd
Powersupply - OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W
Optical Drive- Lite-On Bluray
System Drive -Western Digital Caviar Blue 6gbs 250gb 7200rpm
Storage Drives - 2 1TB 7200rpm drives
Processor - AMD Athlon II X2 250 3.0gh dual core with oem cooling
Motherboard - ASRock 880G EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI
Video Card - Zotac Nvidia 430gt
Tuner - Hauppauge HVR-2250
Memory - G.SKILL Ripjaws 4GB DDR3 1600
Inputs - IOGEAR RF Multimedia keyboard w/ trackball - Xbox-360 wireless controller - Harmony 300 remote control
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

What software are you using to run your LCD? Had hell with the Mplay software on my 2000b.
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post #778 of 1001
11/20/11 at 8:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by thefever View Post

What software are you using to run your LCD? Had hell with the Mplay software on my 2000b.

Yep, im using that same crappy software. It will randomly freeze, change modes, decide that the clock should take precedence, etc. I haven't been able to find anything else compatible, so I guess im stuck with it.
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post #779 of 1001
11/25/11 at 8:31pm
Hi guys, after a lot of RMA's with the speakers going through different brands, this is my final working build:

TV: Samsung UN60D6400
PC: build by me self, AMD Phenom II X4 905e 65 watts onboard HD4200 video
AVR: Onkyo TX-NR609
Speakers: 7.1 setup: Energy CF30 system ($999 5.0 energy + free premier acoustic sub) plus 2 front height polk OWM3($80)

On its way: Sapphire Radeon HD 6570 1 GB DDR3 HDMI/DVI-D/VGA PCI-Express Graphics Card 100323L black friday deal at $49.99 plus $10MIR just to get some True HD audio and frame packing 3d.

My onboard video works flawlessly even with blu ray rips...it just lacks the True HD audio and 3d frame packing.

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post #780 of 1001
11/25/11 at 9:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by scoyne88 View Post

Yep, im using that same crappy software. It will randomly freeze, change modes, decide that the clock should take precedence, etc. I haven't been able to find anything else compatible, so I guess im stuck with it.

Yeah, it's crap alright. I messed around with a bunch of other programs to try and get it to work, but haven't found anything.
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