I posted this in another forum as a foundation post for HTPC's:
With the computer industry addressing this niche of our world I decided to do a write up on what would be a good HTPC build. Something that wouldn't be complete budget but not really a break the bank top of the line everything screamer. In this I will discuss the components I chose, why I chose them and what software is best/easiest to use. If my wife can operate it, then anyone should be able to operate it. You don't have to build exactly as me but can use this thread as a foundation for your own HTPC or if you want to have a seperate HTPC you can then follow this thread with ease (I hope).
DISCLAIMER: There is a program that will be needed for ripping blu-ray, HD-DVD, and DVD but due to it's nature it can also be used to do illegal things. I do NOT condone this action and ask that you only use it to do the legal thing of backing up your movies to your hard drive. With that being said and because it's against FS's TOS I will not name this program by name here in this article. You can either figure it out for yourself or contact me through my e-mail for that information.
Components:
Intel Core i3-530 - $125
GIGABYTE GA-H55M - $90
OCZ Obsidian 4GB - $100
LG Blu-ray reader - $90
Thermaltake 430W PSU - $42
WD Caviar Black 1TB HD - $100
WD Caviar Green 2TB HD - $180
Media Center Remote - $25
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit OEM - $105
Nmedia PC HTPC 5000B Case - $60
Total Price: about $930 from Newegg.com
I like the Core i3 chip because of the small die size and the fact that it's onboard GPU is fully HDMI 1.3a compliant with the supplied motherboard. Also, with the new Intel supplied HSF you could easily bump that cpu up to 3.3Ghz or a bit farther with ease (although you probably don't need it to be that fast). The case may not be everyone's favorite but for the money I think it works out really well. It looks like part of your entertainment system and is really quiet. The hard drives should be setup with the 1TB being your main OS/DVR/Music drive with the 2TB being used for movies (blu-ray, hd-dvd, and dvd) being backed up on it. Western Digital seems to be the new Seagate of old with the 5 year warranty on their caviar black series and the green series being very efficient and cool (which is always nice in a HTPC build). Both are great compliments to each other and with the motherboard supplied there will be 3 more SATA spots open so you can easily expand with 3 more 2TB drives if you felt the need. For those ordering parts a Blu-Ray disc will have on average about 40-45GB of information, HD-DVD will have 25-30GB of info, and a DVD will have anywhere from 5 to almost 10GB of information (Pirates of the Carribean is the biggest DVD I've seen at 7GB of information). Hopefully this will help you plan accordingly when figuring out your setups for HTPC. Finally the HTPC remote is nice, you don't have to use it, I use the IR receiver and have it mapped to my Harmony 880 remote although I did use the remote for awhile and it is nice in itself. Definately a must have for any HTPC build.
Okay on to
Software:
Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre 3 Platinum - $90
Slysoft Virtual CloneDrive - $0
My Movies 3 - $0
The program that rips disc images and allows you to watch those images on your PC is subscription based. They offer 1-4 years and Lifetime. 1 year is $70, Lifetime is $155. I got the Lifetime as it will let me upgrade the product for the time I am using it.
So I know most of you haven't heard of Arcsoft's TMT 3 but it is a great program that I like alot better than Corel and Cyberlink. It also has a WMC plug in which allows extremely easy access when controlling your HTPC (bring up your WMC and voila, it's right there). My Movies is a WMC plug in that will organize your .ISO so you can scroll or search for the movies you want, it can also setup client-server status, with another PC that you want to be an extender, really easy. This allows your main HTPC to act as a server if you wish and you can make a laptop (with WMC) be an extender for another TV in your house with no problem all with a few clicks of the mouse. Once you pick the movie you like from My Movies it will automatically mount it in Virtual CloneDrive and play it over TMT 3 or if it's a DVD you can pick between WMC or TMT 3 as if you had the disc. My Movies 3 does like to charge but for what you need it to do, it's free. For the $50 they ask for it will make the .ISO and automatically organize the movie but won't always let you watch the movie (that's what you need the other program for) so I just use it for it's WMC Plug-in even if it takes some extra button clicks to set up.
.ISO vs. .MKV
.ISO are an image of the disc you are copying which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. For me I get an exact copy of the disc that allows me all the features of the original. The negative to this is that it takes up alot of room. With a program like ClownBD you can make an .MKV of the BD or HD-DVD and trim down the fat by eliminating extra audio tracks and special features (I.E. I just want the movie and the 7.1 English sound track). By doing this you can take a 45GB BD and trim it down to 20GB or so. So the benefit would be more room for your HD movies. The negative is that like working on an engine by tweaking and tuning it more things can go wrong. I've heard some people tried and spent hours trying to get their .MKV's to work and never got them to play back properly and I've also heard of great success stories as well. Playing .MKV's also allow you to use Windows Media Center to play them all you need is the .MKV codec which is free with some searching.
You mentioned DVR, but no card?
You are right because most people will find their favorite shows on Hulu.com, or the major networks websites. But if you are one of those that have Dish, Direct TV, Cable, or you want to capture over the air (OTA) here are a few good cards that you can add to your HTPC:
ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner
WinTV HVR-1600
Ceton MOCURS
Silicondust MOCURS
I will keep adding to this list as I find more but those are the only two, from what I hear, that are worth a look but offer features such as DVR, rewind/fast forward of live TV, and TV Guide programming/recording. They also work with WMC.*EDIT* I just found the Ceton and Silicondust cards and from what I read, when they are released, they will be the most fully featured HTPC cable card on the markets. I like the specs of the Ceton better (and it is supposed to be released soon) but both will offer the ability to watch/record up to 4 channels in HD quality from your cable company.
One thing I will add is that for $20 more someone recommended the Corsair VX 430W PSU over the Thermaltake I listed. If that matters. And now I get to put it to the test of the AVS Forums ; ) We'll see how much red (ink) there is.
With the computer industry addressing this niche of our world I decided to do a write up on what would be a good HTPC build. Something that wouldn't be complete budget but not really a break the bank top of the line everything screamer. In this I will discuss the components I chose, why I chose them and what software is best/easiest to use. If my wife can operate it, then anyone should be able to operate it. You don't have to build exactly as me but can use this thread as a foundation for your own HTPC or if you want to have a seperate HTPC you can then follow this thread with ease (I hope).
DISCLAIMER: There is a program that will be needed for ripping blu-ray, HD-DVD, and DVD but due to it's nature it can also be used to do illegal things. I do NOT condone this action and ask that you only use it to do the legal thing of backing up your movies to your hard drive. With that being said and because it's against FS's TOS I will not name this program by name here in this article. You can either figure it out for yourself or contact me through my e-mail for that information.
Components:
Intel Core i3-530 - $125
GIGABYTE GA-H55M - $90
OCZ Obsidian 4GB - $100
LG Blu-ray reader - $90
Thermaltake 430W PSU - $42
WD Caviar Black 1TB HD - $100
WD Caviar Green 2TB HD - $180
Media Center Remote - $25
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit OEM - $105
Nmedia PC HTPC 5000B Case - $60
Total Price: about $930 from Newegg.com
I like the Core i3 chip because of the small die size and the fact that it's onboard GPU is fully HDMI 1.3a compliant with the supplied motherboard. Also, with the new Intel supplied HSF you could easily bump that cpu up to 3.3Ghz or a bit farther with ease (although you probably don't need it to be that fast). The case may not be everyone's favorite but for the money I think it works out really well. It looks like part of your entertainment system and is really quiet. The hard drives should be setup with the 1TB being your main OS/DVR/Music drive with the 2TB being used for movies (blu-ray, hd-dvd, and dvd) being backed up on it. Western Digital seems to be the new Seagate of old with the 5 year warranty on their caviar black series and the green series being very efficient and cool (which is always nice in a HTPC build). Both are great compliments to each other and with the motherboard supplied there will be 3 more SATA spots open so you can easily expand with 3 more 2TB drives if you felt the need. For those ordering parts a Blu-Ray disc will have on average about 40-45GB of information, HD-DVD will have 25-30GB of info, and a DVD will have anywhere from 5 to almost 10GB of information (Pirates of the Carribean is the biggest DVD I've seen at 7GB of information). Hopefully this will help you plan accordingly when figuring out your setups for HTPC. Finally the HTPC remote is nice, you don't have to use it, I use the IR receiver and have it mapped to my Harmony 880 remote although I did use the remote for awhile and it is nice in itself. Definately a must have for any HTPC build.
Okay on to
Software:
Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre 3 Platinum - $90
Slysoft Virtual CloneDrive - $0
My Movies 3 - $0
The program that rips disc images and allows you to watch those images on your PC is subscription based. They offer 1-4 years and Lifetime. 1 year is $70, Lifetime is $155. I got the Lifetime as it will let me upgrade the product for the time I am using it.
So I know most of you haven't heard of Arcsoft's TMT 3 but it is a great program that I like alot better than Corel and Cyberlink. It also has a WMC plug in which allows extremely easy access when controlling your HTPC (bring up your WMC and voila, it's right there). My Movies is a WMC plug in that will organize your .ISO so you can scroll or search for the movies you want, it can also setup client-server status, with another PC that you want to be an extender, really easy. This allows your main HTPC to act as a server if you wish and you can make a laptop (with WMC) be an extender for another TV in your house with no problem all with a few clicks of the mouse. Once you pick the movie you like from My Movies it will automatically mount it in Virtual CloneDrive and play it over TMT 3 or if it's a DVD you can pick between WMC or TMT 3 as if you had the disc. My Movies 3 does like to charge but for what you need it to do, it's free. For the $50 they ask for it will make the .ISO and automatically organize the movie but won't always let you watch the movie (that's what you need the other program for) so I just use it for it's WMC Plug-in even if it takes some extra button clicks to set up.
.ISO vs. .MKV
.ISO are an image of the disc you are copying which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. For me I get an exact copy of the disc that allows me all the features of the original. The negative to this is that it takes up alot of room. With a program like ClownBD you can make an .MKV of the BD or HD-DVD and trim down the fat by eliminating extra audio tracks and special features (I.E. I just want the movie and the 7.1 English sound track). By doing this you can take a 45GB BD and trim it down to 20GB or so. So the benefit would be more room for your HD movies. The negative is that like working on an engine by tweaking and tuning it more things can go wrong. I've heard some people tried and spent hours trying to get their .MKV's to work and never got them to play back properly and I've also heard of great success stories as well. Playing .MKV's also allow you to use Windows Media Center to play them all you need is the .MKV codec which is free with some searching.
You mentioned DVR, but no card?
You are right because most people will find their favorite shows on Hulu.com, or the major networks websites. But if you are one of those that have Dish, Direct TV, Cable, or you want to capture over the air (OTA) here are a few good cards that you can add to your HTPC:
ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner
WinTV HVR-1600
Ceton MOCURS
Silicondust MOCURS
I will keep adding to this list as I find more but those are the only two, from what I hear, that are worth a look but offer features such as DVR, rewind/fast forward of live TV, and TV Guide programming/recording. They also work with WMC.*EDIT* I just found the Ceton and Silicondust cards and from what I read, when they are released, they will be the most fully featured HTPC cable card on the markets. I like the specs of the Ceton better (and it is supposed to be released soon) but both will offer the ability to watch/record up to 4 channels in HD quality from your cable company.
One thing I will add is that for $20 more someone recommended the Corsair VX 430W PSU over the Thermaltake I listed. If that matters. And now I get to put it to the test of the AVS Forums ; ) We'll see how much red (ink) there is.
