Topic: Share your HTPC Setup

[ronjet]

hi sir iceman... sir jpadua just listed it out the parts you "may" want a page back. same query as mine.


sir jpadua.. ill try to visit that site. thanks. im still reading all your inputs and some members here in this thread po... to know and learn more....

[iceman90a]

thanks ronjet ito ba yun?

Anyway I gathered some market prices for you: Rough estimates.

Case/PSU/Keyboard/Mouse = P1,500 (Most cases come with PSU/Keyboard/Mouse just look for a nice looking case) - PC Express
Processor: Athlon64 +3200 socket 939 = P9,800 - PC Corner
Motheboard: ECS Nforce4 = P5,100 (has 5.1 Audio outputs, and coaxial digital output) - PC Corner
Ram: Kingston 512MB = P2,800 - PC Corner
Video Card: Inno3d FX6200 = P4,650 (supports Nvidia Purevideo and WMV-HD acceleration) PC Corner
Harddisk: Seagate 7200rpm 120GB = P4,350 - PC Corner
DVD Writer: Benq 1640 DVDRW = P3,100 - Computer Farm Festival Mall
TV Tuner: Leadtek winfast Expert =P 2,850 - PC Corner

Total: 34,150

This is pretty solid na for an HTPC. You can get an Inno3D 6600GT PCIe instead if you also want to use it for decent gaming, maybe add around 2-3K? or you could also use a lower CPU to cut your cost by about 1-3K either an Athlon64 3000 or Athlon 64 2800.

[nerveblocker]

I was thinking if those HTPC casings or those horizontal casings can accomodate all of the peripherals like cards and all the accessories that can be placed in a tower casing?  What are the limitations?  What motherboard can fit?   Can I just transfer all of my stuff inside my tower casing to the horizontal one?  I'm interested coz it will look good with all of my audio video stuff in an AV rack.

[ronjet]

sir nirv... i was thinking of it too. looks good nga. dont know lang kung how much. i think sir jpadua can answer this. meron sa link niya sa sig na binebenta

sir iceman90a... yup. yan nga yun.. meron pa si sir jpadua na ni list down aside from that. wala lang dyan is yung monitor

[jpadua]

sir nirv... i was thinking of it too. looks good nga. dont know lang kung how much. i think sir jpadua can answer this. meron sa link niya sa sig na binebenta

sir iceman90a... yup. yan nga yun.. meron pa si sir jpadua na ni list down aside from that. wala lang dyan is yung monitor

Naku boys, medyo mahal yun case,  16.5k yun... ewan ko bat napaka mahal...  I just sold my personal HTPC case to Bran for 9k.. mura na yun sa lagay na yun... mahirap ibenta kaya I dont get large orders mga 2-3 pcs lang and its for our HTPCs (yung binebenta namin) If I can get a pool of about 5 buyers pwede tayo mag order. Actually sa Silverstone dapat 20PC ang MOQ, but they are nice to me I guess promotor ako dito sa pinas hehehe.

I have 2 of these on hand right now
http://www.pcalchemy.com/product_info.php/pName/silverstone-lascala-sstlc16m-wvfd-and-remote-black/cName/htpc-cases

$269 USD lang.... kaso the shipping and customs and vat cost me an arm and a leg!!!!

I'm trying to get my hands on these
http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/06/14/home_theater_pcs/page2.html

Its only sold in the UK, apparently UK sellers are not allowed to sell these outside the UK.  Good thing the manufacturer recommended I talk to one of their Australian resellers, they can ship to the philippines.  I dont know how much it would cost pa.

This is a super slim case... its so SEXY! 

It only has 1 expansion slot, so thats reserved for a TV card.  You have to use a mATX board too, good thing the 6150 boards are here na so HD video and HD audio are covered na.  It can fit 1 standard sized hard disk.

Also the DVD rom drive has to be a laptop drive... I'm also ordering the Panasonic Slimline DVD/CDRW combo laptop drive which is a slot load, para sexy ulit heheh kaso its not available here so I have to order it abroad again.

Another problem is the heatsink.  You have to use a 1U (1inch) server type heatsink.. again not available here bummer.

Anyway hopefully that Australian reseller can get me the parts I need (slot load laptop drive, 1U heatsink w fan) And finally make a demo unit of this thing.

[jpadua]

I was thinking if those HTPC casings or those horizontal casings can accomodate all of the peripherals like cards and all the accessories that can be placed in a tower casing?  What are the limitations?  What motherboard can fit?   Can I just transfer all of my stuff inside my tower casing to the horizontal one?  I'm interested coz it will look good with all of my audio video stuff in an AV rack.

You know I think if you look hard enough, you can find a cheap desktop case here... its not going to look like hi end AV equipment though pero at least desktop orientation sya.  Dami mga Point of sales na PC panay desktop mATX.

Eto binebenta ng Villman
http://www.villman.com/products/specs/enlight/en-7472.asp?code=en-7472&ref=enlight/en-7472.asp
I'm sure you've seen this in a lot of restaurants.

With a little modding, you can make it into a fine HTPC case! pagawa ka ng bagong face plate if you know anyone who does custom aluminum jobs.
 

[nerveblocker]

Yup saw those at PC Buyers Guide and this one also caught my attention:



Antec Overture in Black Piano Finish

Features:

~ TruePower 380 Watt ATX12V Power Supply features a single-fan design for ultra quiet operation.
~ Front mounted USB & IEEE 1394 (FireWire®) ports
~ Washable Air Filter
~ Front Audio ports
~ 7 Drive Bays:
- 2 x 5.25" external drive bays
- 2 x 3.5" external drive bays
- 3 x 3.5" internal drive bays in individual trays with rubber grommets to absorb hard drive vibrations
Cooling: 1x92mm Fan
- 1 rear (standard) 25mm thick
~ Motherboards up to Standard ATX

Review: http://www.pcabusers.com/reviews/antec/overture/page1.html

This retails at P6950.00 based on PC Buyer's Guide price list.

[jpadua]

Yup saw those at PC Buyers Guide and this one also caught my attention:



Antec Overture in Black Piano Finish

Features:

~ TruePower 380 Watt ATX12V Power Supply features a single-fan design for ultra quiet operation.
~ Front mounted USB & IEEE 1394 (FireWire®) ports
~ Washable Air Filter
~ Front Audio ports
~ 7 Drive Bays:
- 2 x 5.25" external drive bays
- 2 x 3.5" external drive bays
- 3 x 3.5" internal drive bays in individual trays with rubber grommets to absorb hard drive vibrations
Cooling: 1x92mm Fan
- 1 rear (standard) 25mm thick
~ Motherboards up to Standard ATX

Review: http://www.pcabusers.com/reviews/antec/overture/page1.html

This retails at P6950.00 based on PC Buyer's Guide price list.

Read reviews muna about that case, it has a lot of heat issues, a lot of user had to do a lot of modifications to it.  Antec will be coming out with a new redesigned HTPC case soon called the Antec Fusion (displayed at the Antec Booth at CES)...




Lovely case! it fits only mATX board, but its uses 2 120mm fans for exhaust.  The internal layout is similar to the Antec P180 so aside from the great cooling efficiency its also dead silent in operation with the 2 120fans in low RPM.  This new case also has a VFD display and comes with an Imon Remote.  The case would probably be expensive though around 10K - 15K not unless the Antec Dealers here can bring down the price.

[nerveblocker]

Oh i see. I was just enthusiastic about it coz it can handle all of the peripherals that a tower has.  Any news on the case that Villman distributes?  It's a lot cheaper din. 

[Philander]

Hi,

Please recommend naman kayo ng video card for HTPC use, mga 2.5K lang po ang price.

Thanks.

[number1]

Hi,

Please recommend naman kayo ng video card for HTPC use, mga 2.5K lang po ang price.

Thanks.

Try getting a video card based on the Nvidia 6200 series chip for its modern architecture and good price/performance ratio.

PCI-Express

Sparkle 6200 64mb trbcache max256 128bit - Php 2,600

Inno3D 6200 64mb turbocache max256  - Php 2,600

AGP

PowerColor ATI 9250 128ddr dvi 128bit - Php 2,100

Inno3D FX6200A 128ddr tv-dvi 8x 64bit - Php 3,000

[Kato]

Hi fellow HTPC enthusiasts

I feel so foolish na ngayon ko lang nadiscover na may HTPC thread pala... all along I thought I was alone in my HTPC experiments. Anyway, great to know so many are into this... I've been reading all your great posts

My current PC setup:

- Intel P4 3.2GHz
- 2GB DDR RAM
- 256MB ATI Radeon X800 XL
- 80 GB HD and 40 GB HD
- AOC 17" LCD (1280px by 1024px) monitor
- 7.1 ch on-board sound card on an MSI motherboard
- 802.11g Wi-Fi
- LG GSA-4163B DVD Writer
- Zyxel X-550 Mimo-G Wi-Fi Broadband Router
- 1.5 mbps DSL connection

I'm almost always using my laptop (Thinkpad T43, 1.86GHz Intel Pentium-M Centrino, 1.5GB DDR2 RAM, ATI X300) so I hardly use my desktop and now I'm planning to get the following for a true HTPC conversion:

- a good sound card (probably Audigy 2?)
- a nice HTPC casing with LED panel and IR remote (saan kaya merong sleek designs?)
- RF wireless keyboard with touchpad (hard to find this one...)
- TV Tuner and PVR (any suggestions on this one?)

Did I miss anything else?

Cheers!

[MAtZTER]

A store told me that there is no more audigy 2 but there is Audigy 4 @ 17k

[ronjet]

Hi fellow HTPC enthusiasts

- a good sound card (probably Audigy 2?)
- a nice HTPC casing with LED panel and IR remote (saan kaya merong sleek designs?)
- RF wireless keyboard with touchpad (hard to find this one...)
- TV Tuner and PVR (any suggestions on this one?)

Did I miss anything else?

Cheers!

Hi Sir KATO! congrats po! GREAT GREAT HTPC YOU ALREADY HAVE THERE!!!  galing! to anwer po some of your queries

 - a nice HTPC casing with LED panel and IR remote (saan kaya merong sleek designs?) - pm or just leave a message here, i know sir jpadua can help you on this. he sells this i think.


- RF wireless keyboard with touchpad (hard to find this one...) - sir rene canlas, got a wireless keyboard that uses RF signal, dont know lang if it has touchpad. he bought it 2,000 at columbia computer store in megamall.. check his review on this at this thread on page 35.


 - TV Tuner and PVR (any suggestions on this one?) - sir jpadua also suggest some few pages back. you may also check it out.

- soundcard... it must have optical or coaxial.

[NongP]

 - TV Tuner and PVR (any suggestions on this one?) - sir jpadua also suggest some few pages back. you may also check it out.

go to "openpinoy.com" they have this USB mini TV tuner selling for P1,890 

[Kato]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the suggestions! Balitaan ko kayo once I finish this project

Cheers!

[bote]

Hi JP. Is it possible to connect a laptop to a receiver for decoding of dvd sounds? If so what do I need? Thanks for any input.


Eddie

[YrNeH]

hi bote, if your laptop supports or has spdif output, you can connect it to your receiver via TOSLINK.  see the cable example below:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/TOSLink-SPDIF-Optical-Cable-Lead-inc-3-5mm-adapt-2m_W0QQitemZ5872358256QQcategoryZ15067QQssPageNameZWD2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

shalom

[Kato]

Laptops with SPDIF output are rare, unless you're using something like an Audigy 2 (or similar) PCMCIA sound card.

A simpler alternative is to use a mini stereo jack to rca adaptor plug (what I use) and just use standard stereo cables to hook up with the A/V receiver. Depending on the A/V receiver (most of the new ones), it should be able to transparently decode the audio fed through the stereo cables. The audio quality will depend on your sound card.

or... http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mce/expert/connect_av.mspx

Cheers!

[agmjr]

hey guys, what front end sw are you using for your htpc? any one here uses winfast tv2000xp with a particular front end with success? thanks in advance.

[mixx]

yes it is possible po if your laptop has an SPDIF port, but you may need an updated version of a DVD program that support DTS, im using an DELL INSPIRON XPS and it is connected to my marantz sr6300 via spdif unfortunately i cant get DTS signals to come out of my amp coz the software doesnt support it  

Hi JP. Is it possible to connect a laptop to a receiver for decoding of dvd sounds? If so what do I need? Thanks for any input.


Eddie

[bejiboys]

Question po sa mga HT/PC experts:

Ano pong locally available brand ng Nvidia FX6200 video card ang me ka-bundle na dongle para may component out?  Based on my research sa web, the Nvidia reference design uses a mini DIN type connector very similar to SVideo but with more pins (6 ata vs. 4 for SVideo).   Inno3D, Leadtek, MSI? 

Also, for video experts:  Straightforward ba po ang "down-conversion" from Y-U-V (component) to Y/C (S-Video) to Composite?  Trying to understand what is contained in these dongles. 

Thanks.

[jpadua]

hey guys, what front end sw are you using for your htpc? any one here uses winfast tv2000xp with a particular front end with success? thanks in advance.

Ive tried to look for compatible frontends for the winfastXP 2000 but its really hard to find one that works.  Media Portal works but only for viewing, Showshifter is the only one I know that works with the winfastXP2000 using the wdm drivers. The best would still be the bundled software.  but the winfast PVR2000 is compatible with almost all! its twice the price but its worth it.  compatible with MCE, Media Portal, GBPVR, and a lot of other 3rd party apps.  Most PVRs are coded to work with hardware mpeg2 encoders.  The winfastXP2000 is a software encoder.

[jpadua]

Hi JP. Is it possible to connect a laptop to a receiver for decoding of dvd sounds? If so what do I need? Thanks for any input.


Eddie

You can get an external USB soundcard that supports spdif output.  Creative meron and also the m-audio sonica theater. 

[jpadua]

By the way I still have 3PCs left of the Xmystique 7.1 Dolby Digital Live sound card.  PM nyo nalang ako if you want.  Thanks! 

[jpadua]

I have an idea, if we can pool at least 5 people (not sure but I can try 5) for HTPC cases from silverstone I can probably make an order.  Actually ang MOQ nila is 20 pcs but they are nice to me so sometimes I can get away with 10 orders cases/accessories mixed.

[timMCE]

been fooling around with the EPG for windows MCE 2005, have been able to create an EPG for Philippines but the time is screwed up, does anyone have any thoughts... oh yeah hi to everyone

running a celeron box with windows XP MCE 2005, hauppauge  tuner card and a Microsoft remote v2

[bote]

By the way I still have 3PCs left of the Xmystique 7.1 Dolby Digital Live sound card.  PM nyo nalang ako if you want.  Thanks! 

Hi JP. Is this card suitable for laptops? Thanks

[jpadua]

been fooling around with the EPG for windows MCE 2005, have been able to create an EPG for Philippines but the time is screwed up, does anyone have any thoughts... oh yeah hi to everyone

running a celeron box with windows XP MCE 2005, hauppauge  tuner card and a Microsoft remote v2

Hi Welcome to Pinoydvd!

Cool, where did you buy your hauppage tuner and MS remote?  What software did you use to create an EPG?  I know you can offset the schedule.  I use Media portal with TVXB and have the same screwed up schedule.  but I remember I got it right before by offsetting the schedule using Media Portal. Does MCE have the option to offset in hours? I just cant experiment now cause I just reformatted my Mediaportal Machine.

So you use TVCB to gather XML data then bladerunner to incorporate it into mce? correct?

[timMCE]

hi jay, this is tim the friend of hans(focal), havent had much time to fool around with MCE but I sold a few setups awhile back for a crazy amount .  This is actually the first time I installed MCE for myself that's why I'm actually taking time to explore other aspects of the OS.  I imported the hauppauge tuners from hauppauge in NY, their dual tuners work great! I also imported cases form Silverstone before, I can help you get dealers prices if you dont have them yet,  I got my company listed under the Philippine dealer for a huge order I did a while back.  I also brought in a few MS remotes before from the states.  I just used the parts I had left over and decided to put together a low cost MCE box for myself. I still have one OEM hauppauge tuner(single tuner) but its MCE 2005 version so it comes with a FM tuner.  Regarding my problem with the EPG,  yes, I am using TVXB and Bladerunner pro

Does MCE have the option to offset in hours?

I dont know yet I will fool around with it some more.  Any other solutions I am really stuck?