http://htpcnews.com <=== good site on HTPC

http://htpcnews.com/main.php?id=ffdshowdvd_1 <== Article on using FFDshow in your HTPC

http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/HTPC.html

http://uqconnect.net/~zzswohlt/htpc.htm

http://destiny.lavadots.com/index.php?htpcsoftware

http://www.geocities.com/zero0w/linux-htpc/ < == linux HTPC How-to

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/setup/...DIY_HTPC_1.html

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/HTPC.html

http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/building..._pc/default.asp

http://www.hometheatrepc.com.au/news.php

thanks for the links! i've been researching HTPC's for a couple weeks now but haven't seen these....

i know that i'm going to be going this route! it makes a lot more sense in my situation being that its taking the place for gaming, web-browsing, tv, dvd's

and i figured out a way to get it 12ft back so...bring on the entertainment!

thanks again for the links

daniel duncan

I'm contemplating once I build my test cinema, with the projector, HTPC, to actually try and build up custom HTPC and sell them to consumers in my town.

I can see there is a market for it, considering atm no one here is doing it, and no one is doing it good priced.

I'm interested in going a system running stripped down XP operating system, and a simple to use front end.

That's something to look at down the track.

sounds awesome....

i wish i could but i would never think it would be good enough to sell it...i'm building an AMD3200+xp, 1gig of ddr, 280gig of hard drive space, ati all-in-wonder 9700pro, ati hdtv wonder, m-audio Revolution 7.1, LOGITECH Z-680 5.1 505watts rms....

i'm going to have to but some places, but then again i probably won't wish i had the little extra to get the amd fx-53 and a motherboard that supported pci-express....

i can tell you the hardest part of selling HTPC's up here in north carolina....people just don't know about them

PRetty good specs you got there, I wouldn't bother with the AMD FX, not unless your a hardcore gamer. I'd wait till more software and that is around for 64bit.

http://www.htpcforums.com/ <=== another good link

I have a gang of these for you guys. I have been researching htpc's for more than a year and have links up the wazoo. I will post them tonight when I have a bit of time. Cheers

great! i've really just started thinking about the htpc...but ive been going full steam on research the past few weeks...

and yah you could call me a hard core gamer...but then its going to be over a year before i start thinking about a 64bit cpu....there aren't any games out that i want to play that i can't run right now...

keep the links coming guys

daniel

I say go the AMD athlons, since the 64bits came out, the boards and chips for the AMD 3200 and all have dropped heavily, making AMD bloody good value for money.

64bit stuff to me is all wank at the moment.

A little later than I promised. Better late than never. Lots of info here. Enjoy!




http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?
s=&threadid=207262&highlight=guide
http://www.fatbulldog.com/theater_electronics.html
http://home.houston.rr.com/jeffkohn/htpc_remote.htm
http://www.lastrange.com/ht/htpc.shtml
http://www.linuxnetmag.com/en/issue6/m6lirc1.html
http://www.mediamonkey.com/
http://www.monkeysaudio.com/
http://www.movietrack.net/download.html
http://www.io.com/~kazushi/htpc/htpc1/
http://myhtpc.net/
http://www.mrmicro.net/joshua1/dvd.htm
http://www.laaudiofile.com/mdp100.html
http://www.realvnc.com/
http://ask.slashdot.org/askslashdot/03/01/...7.shtml?tid=129
http://www.codeproject.com/ce/tvremote.asp
http://www.titantv.com/ttv/grid/grid.aspx?contentType=cable
http://cinemawise.com/products.htm

Good shitm need to do some reading myself on all these links.

thanks

Check out the MYHTPC link in my post. Hit the 8th link from the bottom. This is great software, with lots of potential and no cost to you!!

yep i've already d/l'ed the software for myhtpc....looks awesome...now i just need to figure out if i'm going with an all-in-wonder 9700pro and get a remote wonder II or buy just a tv tuner and run with my ti4600 and try and find a good pc remote...

what do you guys think?

ps...i'm really thinking about getting the ati hdtv wonder...that thing is sweet and it comes with the remote wonder II!!!

daniel

I'm leaning toward this:



Click here for specs

..with the optional TV tuner and maybe a more robust Vid Card if needed.

~DT~

Don't do it. You will severly limit your upgradeability. Do some reseach and buy yourself a proper HTPC case. Expensive as they are they will not limit the potential of your system and they look great. One of the main benefits of HTPC is the ability to upgrade 1 component at a time, very hard to do that with these mini atx jobs.

Cheers,
Arkay.

I dig that, but size is a consideration in my application, and this puppy is smaller than the forward chamber on the PJ box.

Plus, I want to make it as unintimidating as possible for my non-techie wife. The MSI has upgradability to a certain extent -- the PCI slot will be occupied by the TV tuner, but there is an 8X AGP slot open as well if I decide or need to upgrade from the on-board vid, although I would be reluctant to stick anything too evil in that AGP slot -- heat has got to be a factor in that tight case. For now I think the onboard Vid will do, I don't plan on gaming on this PC -- I have a portable LAN rig with a 5950 and all that other madness I can drag down to the Den if need be.

Look at those specs (with TV tuner Card), what else do I need? I figure by the time I need to upgrade, it will probably be time to start over from scratch.

~DM~

What are you going to do when you fill your 200GB drive with media? It'd be easier to add another 200, rather than to pull the old one and drop in a newer more expensive 320GB.

Can you fit a burner in there to save your recorded shows permanenty (yes you can transfer and burn by the lan), but is it as convenient?

I understand the space considerations. Just personally don't like the limited number of slots etc in these things.

Cheers,
Arkay.

Yes, it will support at DVD/CD Burner combo drive... what I want is a 5 disk changer but I don't think that is possible.

As for HD space, it will be on the LAN so larger files can be moved to the Linux file server when not in use. I also have an External 120gb USB drive that I can use if need be.

...and I do appreciate your points about expandability -- in any other PC I spec and build that is a very important factor. In this case however, the PC duties will be pretty light, so I'm looking for a compact way to replace a CD player, DVD Player, Surround Sound Processor/AMP, AM/FM receiver, TIVO, and other goodies in the Family Room that doesn't currently have a permanent PC installed. Cat 5 is already in the ceiling nearby from an earlier project, and I also have a 54g wireless AP within range (the MSI unit currently has 802.11b integrated) so I could avoid another cable if I wanted to.

Size is critical because it looks like I'm going to have to rip out the built-in cabinets that currently house all this AV stuff to clear a space for my screen, and I won't have any other place to put equipment, so I'd like to integrate the lightbox and HTPC into one "coffee table" unit.

Of course, all of this is in a perfect world with no budget constraints, we'll have to see how the Projector construction goes first to see if there is enough $$$ to go with this compact unit, or if I will have to Mod a regular PC case to meet my goals.

~DM~

Hehe. Fair enough. I understand





Please, if you find the way there then send me a map

Cheers,
Arkay.

Drudge, I understand the DIY versus off-the-shelf quandary. I would say that most of the micro-atx cases that I have seen are laden with cheap plastic and flaking paint. Do yourself a favor, take a look at this MSI in person if you can. Next, you will still need an amp somewhere. Unless, you are running amplified computer theater speakers i.e. Klipsch, Logitech etc..Finally, how big will you coffee table be?? Most HTPC cases are svelt and sexy and should easily fit in your average coffee table. Good Luck!

I have laid hands on the MSI, and it is VERY nice. I have used a lot of MSI products over the years, all have been good quality and good on the pocketbook.

One of my local computer wholesale sources has one on display, so I have been able to prod at it repeatedly over the past few weeks.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not married to it -- I just think that it fits my personal situation the best of all the HTPCs I have come across so far.

Amplification -- something I have considered, but I'm leaning toward a powered speaker solution for now, again it's a size consideration thing, but if I can find a cheap small amp that will fit in the cabinet I might go that way.

Size of the "coffee table" changes from minute to minute... just going to try and keep it as unobtrusive as possible. Ideally it will end up as more of an "endtable" between the 2 chairs in the front row.

~DM~

i've wanted to do the coffee table design for a long time...and i'm still thinking about it for if i get a bigger room to work with it would work awesome to have a table either ahead of the seats or between the front two...

right now its either going to be flush into the wall or ceiling mounted...and it will probably be ceiling cause i already have holes for wiring

best of luck with the msi...i need mine bigger only cause i'm planning on gaming on it for a while...once 21in lcd panels come down in price then i'll probably back off and just have two seperate machines for two different purposes...

daniel

Dang I haven't posted in here since friday night, had no internet connection.

Those HTPC cases are ridiculously overpriced IMHO. And generally serve 'wank' purpose more than actual functionality. You can build your own case, or just use a cheap off the shelf one, but make sure you put a good power supply.

Actually I did see a photo of someone integrating their projector and PC into the one unit, now that I liked.

Hello all, I'm new to this forum. Just purchased the plans, although I am having some trouble downloading it Just thought that I would add my two cents in here, since I am almost finished building my HTPC. My HTPC:

3.0 Ghz P4 HT
Intel Desktop board 865GBF
1GB RAM
ATI AIW 9600 PRO video card w/ Remote Wonder II
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card
Logitech z-680 5.1 surround speakers
8x DVD/RW
802.11G wireless card
Gyrations wireless keyboard and mouse
and the best part: 200GB 7200 8MB SATA X 3 (600GB)(set up in a RAID 5)
and most likely I will end up with an HDTV tuner card as well.

The reason for so much space is this: I have my entire CD and DVD collection on the hard drive (most DVDs I have encoded in XviD). I noticed that no one in this forum has mentioned links for backing up DVDs.

Great site for all DVD backup info: http://www.doom9.org

There is also a great tool for transfering DVDs to Hard drive: http://www.dvddecrypter.com/

For encoding DVDs on your Hard drive to XviD or DivX: http://www.autogk.net

These are all very useful programs. I have used them extensively to copy all of my DVDs to the Hard Drive.

I also have heard many people talking about using a different shell than explorer.exe for Windows XP. I run Windows XP Pro and I also use a shell called Aston Shell: http://www.astonshell.com They have some great themes as well!

Well until I get my projector plans, I guess I'll just lurk in the forums! Hope this is some useful info so some people!

Andy

I will second the recommendation for using AutoGordianKnot for converting dvd movies with little pain. I tend to use Dr. Divx more as I convert tv captures and convert my vhs collection also. And DVDDecrypter is the best tool!

I noticed a few people use BeyondTV. Personally I tried it and I thought it was pretty decent. However, for my tv viewing needs, I have to recommend SageTV (www.sage.tv). It can only be used with hardware encoder cards but it supports multiple cards so you can capture multiple programs at the same time. Canadian users like me CAN get guide info through a plugin which has been working great for me so far. I also recommend using the Hauppage PVR250 cards with SageTV. The picture quality is really good! Also the ATI e-Home Wonder works with SageTV if you are on a budget. It looks great also.

And I don't remember seeing mention of Zoomplayer PRO or ffdShow in the previous posts...I find these to be really great for people who like to tweak their image. FFDshow also has built in decoding for xvid and divx, so you don't need to install the individual decoders if you use your box for display only, like I do.

Hi Andy,

Welcome aboard. I notice you're a doom9 member, great site.

That's a nice HTPC setup you've got there. I was going to go the encode and store everthing on HD route, till I worked out I need over a terrabyte just for the TV eposides.. Let alone the movie DVD's

Just wondering if you saw the thread on doom9 about lumenlab projectors?

You're gonna love being able to watch that collection on a 10' screen!

Cheers,
Arkay.

Arkay,

Yes, I did see that posting on doom9's forums. But I had been long time lurker on DIYAUDIO also. I had kind of given up on the whole DIY projector because I kept waiting for Ace's plans!! But, I figure that this might be the route to go. We'll see soon enough! How is yours going? Have you got yours built?

Andy

Andy,

Mine is 99.9% finished. I don't know if that last 0.1 ever really gets done

Here's a link to the project thread...

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1375

There's been a few other things done since I last updated it but it'll give you a pretty good idea.

It's a great project and the end results are more than worth the efforts.

As for Ace's plans... Well. Who knows if that will ever happen. Every time I check he's still tinkering with that thing. Besides, it looks a little too nice for DIY

Cheers,
Arkay.

I know the quality of mpeg4(divx) is pretty darn good. However, I hate to degrade the signal I am sending to my projector. I have "decrypted" dvd's to hard drive as an ISO image. After mounting them in Daemon Tools I am able to play them with Power DVD. This gives me an exact copy of the DVD. I realize this will occupy much dedicated hard drive space. This is space I am willing to sacrifice for the presumed increase in quality. To compress or not to compress that is the question?

Divx can easily maintain the quality of DVD (mpeg2) video. It's just a matter of how you use the codec.

I used to do a lot of divx rips, including AC3 audio with no quality loss from the original. In many cases I actually optimised the encode using avisynth filters. Just don't overdo the compression. I see many people trying to get a 3 hr movie into under 700 meg. It just doesn't work. Most of my movie encodes came out at 1-2 Gig. Still much better than keeping the entire 4-8 Gig iso image on the drive and mounting it with d-tools.

Playback can also cause issues, there used to be a lot of problems with divx video and audio sync. That is pretty much resolved these days although I still see the occassional pause-motion-pause in panning scenes with divx. Never really worked out how to fix that one.

It depends on how much time you want to spend. I used to use Gknot to do the video and then mux the audio with avimux-gui (I think thats the name).

I got bored with that eventually and just used avisynth and a couple of standard scripts to do the encodes.

The problems really come about with the differing formats. Divx can't do interlaced material so you have to convert to progressive, depending on the format this can become a nightmare. Particularly with hybrid material that is a mixture of film and video that can't be inverse telecined. Best way I found to do those was to convert them to 60 fps progressive by resizing each individual interlaced field (to full frame size). Then play it back at 60 fps. Which doubles the amount of video (but it still compresses jsut as well, as there's only minor differences from frame to frame)

It all depends on how good you want the finished product to be and how much time you have to spend converting the DVD's.

Edit: If you really want to learn all this stuff get over to www.doom9.org and check out the "Guides" section and join the forums. There is equally as much valuable information about video encoding on there as there is about projectors here

Cheers,
Arkay.

Thanks for the quick response Arkay. I will consider your advice. A lot of knowledge out there and I am thankful people are so willing to share.

brokengrnd,

To get a good feel you might want to use AutoGK to start. I have encoded several movies with absolutely no visable loss. Then again, I do have some dancing blocks in some of my movies. But you can keep some ISO, and some others in MPEG4 format if it doesn't encode well. I figure that when I encode a movie, as arkay, if I can get my AVERAGE movie size down to about 2 gig with no loss, I'm doing pretty good.

Also, if you decide not to go with the encoding, using DVD Decrypter you can also use IFO mode and stream process to cut down on un-needed stuff. This will also cut a few GB off of your ISO image size. You just have to have a player such as PowerDVD that will play VOB files. Good luck!

There are some links in my above post that will help you out to doom9.org, dvddecrypter, and AutoGK.

P.S. I use the XviD codec the most, seems to produce the best results for me.


Back to the topic here: HTPC links

There are also a couple that I did not mention that I use quite a bit.

Streamripper32: This program will rip internet music to your Hard Drive.
http://www.download.com/StreamRipper32/300...tml?tag=lst-0-3

Audacity: Good free music editing program, I use it for Mp3 files mostly.
http://www.download.com/Audacity/3000-2170...tml?tag=lst-0-1

Andy

Andy:

Remember, in a RAID 5 configuration you will loose one drive worth of storage, 3 x 200 gig drives will be 400 gig usable space.

Also, RAID 5 is not the fastest array for data transfer, but that shouldn't make a difference in this application

Geo
Storm Keep Computing Solutions

Yeah thats correct about the Raid 5 but I ended up getting 4 200GB drives, so I did end up with 600 after all! I didn't understand that when I left that post oh so long ago. But I'm a quick learner!