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Home Theater PC

NullSmurf

NullSmurf

Das Bruce
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
7,851
Woodbm got me to thinking with this thread, so I'm doing some reading. I have a home theater now including a non HD TIVO - several of em in fact, and a Sony theater AMP. I have digital Comcast as well. Can any of you advise me on the pitfalls of trying to roll my own?
 
I have a HTPC and have tried streaming audio/video through my ps3. HD video is a no go through the streaming software that I have tried with the ps3. The HTPC is much nicer because it allows me whatever flexibility I want. Easier than going through a 3rd part interface.

If you go the HTPC route which I prefer, make sure you have enough processing power if you want to play HD videos. As well if you want a decent picture, make sure your video card has HDMI out. I have a soundcard with optical out as well that goes to my home theater receiver. I know you can get some pretty slick graphical interfaces for HTPCs but I just use a modified windows XP OS and that works for my needs.

Another thing to consider is an input device. I just use my bluetooth keyboard and mouse but I see that logitech has some pretty slick wireless keyboards with trackpads or something of the sort on them.
 
Ahh, the HTPC!

Have one, and I LOVE it. And I agree with Drew... make sure you have the power. I upgraded my gaming 'puter so I robber the parts from that for my HTPC. I'm running a Intel Quad Core Q6600, Nvidia 8800GT vid card, and an Auzentech sound card. I'm looking into the new Asus HDAV1.3 video card with HDMI output for trueHD sound, something you cannot get over SPDIF optical output - only component out. You'll be good with DVI outputs as well, as the only real diff between DVI and HDMI is HDMI can carry sound as well. There are a ton of adapters to change from DVI - HDMI. Mine works great. There are a number of things to look at tho, before you get too deep into it.

Case- if you are adding this to your Home Theater setup, a typical computer case will clash! Get something that blends in with your other components. I have an OrigenAE X10 case and it's the shiznit.

Storage - if you plan on ripping music and movies to disk, go big. I have 3.5TB of stotage and it fills up fast

disk drive - if you're going this far, might as well throw in a bluray player... NewEgg has a number cheaper than a standalong unit.

input - There are remotes that work with computers, but I went with an RF keyboard, with a trackball in it as opposed to a mouse... much easier for selecting stuff easily.

Sound and Speakers - I have an Onyko stereo that has 3 HDMI passthru points... I have computer on 1, cable box on 2 and Xbox360 on 3. All going to 5.1 sound and damn it's awesome! my room won't easily support 7.1 or I'd be there.

Software- you'll run into a number of issues here, one of which can be a real pain.
Copy Protection on disks, and the lameass HDCP compliance issue. Everything on my system meets the compliance part but I still got playback errors with disks (mostly Sony). A WONDERFUL program to circumvent this is AnyDVD HD - it bypasses it and lets you play pretty much anything on the HTPC

Movie playback - nuts and bolts of HTPC! PowerDVD was the standard, but they have slipped. IMO Arcsoft and TotalMedia Theater is the king... for a few reasons, but the biggee for me is playback from hard drive. PowerDVD stopped that feature a few revisions ago.

Movie cataloging - look at MyMovies2. In Windows XP or Vista it acts as a Media Center front end that aloows you to browse your movie collection (on hard drive or on disk) and start the movie with a simple click

​
Feel free to PM me for more... I've spent a lot of time putting this together and making it easy for the wife to use.
edited to add stero info
​
 
Everything you ever wanted to know is here.
 
AVB said:
Everything you ever wanted to know is here.
Click to expand...

AVB, Swissy, and the rest hit it. The AVS forums have all the info you should need. CPU wise, any of the Core 2 Quad line from Intel will be more than enough for HD playback. As for the video card, as long as it has a DVI port, all current models do, you will be fine for HD playback as well. You can always get a DVI > HDMI cable. Though you wont get sound through the cable. I would suggest something in the ATi HD48xx or Nvidia 88xx/98xx lines.
 
AVB said:
Everything you ever wanted to know is here.
Click to expand...

Wow, talk about drinking from a fire hose! Still, lots to digest. You can definitely spend some money. 400 TB RAID arrays? These guys have no fuggin lives.
 
Ok, serious drinking from the fire hose - any yall know me and "search" don't get along for shit. I need to put a tuner in one of my home PCs so my missus can watch her soaps from her workstation (she works at home) and/or record it if necessary. Hep me, hep me!
 
We are about to inherit a PC -minus hard drive from the in-laws and I'll be using your info to try and convince the wife to do this with it. Not only can I get a Blu-ray for the HD TV but I can play games on a 32" screen.
 
NullSmurf said:
Ok, serious drinking from the fire hose - any yall know me and "search" don't get along for shit. I need to put a tuner in one of my home PCs so my missus can watch her soaps from her workstation (she works at home) and/or record it if necessary. Hep me, hep me!
Click to expand...


See the post on Sage TV....that's what the guys at work are doing.

I'm sure there are more options..but this one seems the most traight forward and you coupld just get the software and tuner card....or the whole package.
 
Swissy said:
Ahh, the HTPC!

Have one, and I LOVE it. And I agree with Drew... make sure you have the power. I upgraded my gaming 'puter so I robber the parts from that for my HTPC. I'm running a Intel Quad Core Q6600, Nvidia 8800GT vid card, and an Auzentech sound card. I'm looking into the new Asus HDAV1.3 video card with HDMI output for trueHD sound, something you cannot get over SPDIF optical output - only component out. You'll be good with DVI outputs as well, as the only real diff between DVI and HDMI is HDMI can carry sound as well. There are a ton of adapters to change from DVI - HDMI. Mine works great. There are a number of things to look at tho, before you get too deep into it.

Case- if you are adding this to your Home Theater setup, a typical computer case will clash! Get something that blends in with your other components. I have an OrigenAE X10 case and it's the shiznit.

Storage - if you plan on ripping music and movies to disk, go big. I have 3.5TB of stotage and it fills up fast

disk drive - if you're going this far, might as well throw in a bluray player... NewEgg has a number cheaper than a standalong unit.

input - There are remotes that work with computers, but I went with an RF keyboard, with a trackball in it as opposed to a mouse... much easier for selecting stuff easily.

Sound and Speakers - I have an Onyko stereo that has 3 HDMI passthru points... I have computer on 1, cable box on 2 and Xbox360 on 3. All going to 5.1 sound and damn it's awesome! my room won't easily support 7.1 or I'd be there.

Software- you'll run into a number of issues here, one of which can be a real pain.
Copy Protection on disks, and the lameass HDCP compliance issue. Everything on my system meets the compliance part but I still got playback errors with disks (mostly Sony). A WONDERFUL program to circumvent this is AnyDVD HD - it bypasses it and lets you play pretty much anything on the HTPC

Movie playback - nuts and bolts of HTPC! PowerDVD was the standard, but they have slipped. IMO Arcsoft and TotalMedia Theater is the king... for a few reasons, but the biggee for me is playback from hard drive. PowerDVD stopped that feature a few revisions ago.

Movie cataloging - look at MyMovies2. In Windows XP or Vista it acts as a Media Center front end that aloows you to browse your movie collection (on hard drive or on disk) and start the movie with a simple click

​
Feel free to PM me for more... I've spent a lot of time putting this together and making it easy for the wife to use.
edited to add stero info
​
Click to expand...


I totally agree with Swissy about the nuances of software. If interested you may want to check out the guide section here. It has a whole bunch of guides for different software among other great ideas you might decide to try. Even gives guides on how to convert dvd movies to divx so you can store them on your pc and takes up less space than a normal dvd file. Hope this helps.
 
I second, well maybe third the AVS recomendation. Been a member for maybe 8 or 9 years.
 
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