[rybread]

Whats in your HTPC? Whats its main use? How d u control it? What upgrades do you plan on doing? I'll start:


black dvine limited ed w 1 drive bay

albatron px845pe pro 2

p4 1.6a @ 2.35, (soon to b new p4 2.4c w 800mhz fsb)

corsair pc3200 @ 390mhz

revo 7.1 spdif out, going to analog when i get hk avr225

padeon 9000, passive cooled to sony 42 inch standard tv at 1024x768

barracuda 60 g (soon 120g) + barracuda 5 120g w 8m cache

lite on 16x dvd (soon dvd/cdr)

winfast 2000xp w svid from cable box

2 panaflo 60 mm at 6v


im quadriplegic w arm movement so i cant get dvds in player so prim use is easy movie access, limited tv rec, music + lots of divx encoding (use fast proc to encde + watch mov at same time).fav sw-mp 6.4.0.4, myhtpc, gordian knot, windvr. cntrlled by laptop via realvnc (wifi through router), woking on remote setup. 50 encoded movies sofar. usually do 2 a day.


well, thats it

 

[cpc]

Really this is just my PC as its been for 3 years, but buying a projector has it doing HTPC duties for now


The HTPC parts:


Asus K7M Slot-A motherboard running @ 100 mhz FSB (200 mhz EVA bus)

Athlon Slot-A T-bird 850 mhz

512 MB PC-133 SDRAM @ 100 mhz

Adaptec 2930U scsi card

Pioneer 6x scsi DVD drive

Matrox G400 MAX 32MB with dual-head

IBM 13 GB 7200 rpm ata 66 HD

PCI SB 128


the non-HTPC parts:

1.44 MB floppy.external usr modem.dlink 528tx nic.D-link router.Speedstream DSL modem.Plextor 24/10/40 IDE burner.crappy PC speakers.Umax scsi scanner.Epson C80 printer.


Issues-reasons to upgrade?


Few problems. I cannot as yet obtain DTS through my receiver. I have been able to send AC3 DD to my receiver successfully and it seems ok. Can't do DTS yet.


Not sure yet. Might upgrade if I try to use as a scaler and have probs. No reasons to upgrade anything except possibly DVD software and/or sound card. Rarely stutters. Rarely crashes. Colour and picture/video/de-interlacing appear great so far.

 

[cowtown]

Nothing technically yet but I go tomorrow to pick up my MB and case for the HTPC.


It will consist of the following.


ATX 6119b case (as per pic) with 300W Power Supply ($89cnd)

http://uniwest.homestead.com/files/Cases/6119B.jpg


MSI K7T266 Ultra2-U ($89cdn)

Duron 950 (already have a spare, eventually it will be an Athlon XP 1700+)

512MB DDR ($100cdn)

120GB 7200 RPM Seagate Barracuda ($199cdn)

Aopen DVD Drive (Black) ($69cdn)

ATI AIW 7500 ($209cdn)

10/100 NIC, possibly a wireless NIC though.

Audio Authority Transcoder ($190cdn)


That should do it, I will use the onboard sound cause the Realtek 650 works really well. Mine will be used primarily for PVR and DVD duties, and maybe MP3 serving depending on how much use the PVR sees.