Standalone HTPC?

[jvc]

I know a lot of folks have HTPCs now days. But they are using them as their dvd player, and PVR, hooked up to their main system.
I was wondering how many of you have your PC setup as a standalone HTPC?
Mine is setup as a standalone, but don't use as a PVR, or even watching tv. It's only used in the HT sense, as a dvd player with 5.1 surround.

I wanted it because I like to watch action movies a lot, and my wife doesn't. So, while she watches tv in the living room, I can watch my action movie in surround, in our computer room. It sounds pretty impressive, considering what it is, compared to the main system.

[Otto]

Hi jvc,

Yeah, I have a PC connected directly to my TV and audio system. We use it for DVD playback, and it's also networked to a server that's got all our CDs ripped to FLAC format. We listen to a lot of music; whether studiously or in more of a backgroud fashion, it seems like there's always some music playing. We usually do a Remote Desktop session to the HTPC so that we don't have to turn on the big TV just to control music.

We don't use it for a DVR. A couple reasons here -- we're in a contract with Dish for a while longer, so I have to keep them online. I don't feel like figuring it out right now, and I wonder if it's as reliable and easy-to-use as my Dish DVR. Finally, I don't want my wife to have to learn a new user interface; she's perfectly happy with the Dish interface (I'd have to have both the Dish and the HTPC DVR thing overlapping for a while until all the kinks were worked out).

Anyway, that's pretty much how we use ours...

[wbassett]

We have ours setup as an HTPC for our bedroom.

Ours is hooked up to a 26" Olevia LCD HDTV running at 720p as the main monitor. I have a smaller HTIB 5 disc changer/receiver that handles the audio and also connects to the 21" Trinitron through a GE TV/video to VGA converter. That way I can watch a movie on either the 26" or the 21". The Trinitron can act as a complete standalone system without a PC. Normally that monitor is used for my work laptop though.

Overall it gives me a lot of flexibility, I can do work on one system and have a movie on the other monitor. Laying in bed the 26" works out nicely, but I would like a bigger monitor! Problem is... the wife said NO!

Downstairs I have a PS3 that functions as both our Bluray player and a media server- currently it has a 320GB USB My Book connected to it with movies loaded up. I only mention the PS3 because in my opinion it's a computer in its own right, albeit a specialty computer.

[nova]

I use mine as a stand alone. When I originally built this computer my plan was to integrate it with my HT, but I also had Dishnetwork and could not come up with a good, easy, cheap way to use it as a DVR. I also had problems being able to read stuff from where I wanted to sit and the wireless range of my KB & mouse was about 2 feet shy of what I needed, and so forth and so on. So it's all just set up at my desk with a 22" Samsung SyncMaster.

[mechman]

I have to admit, as a moderator of this forum , I have no HTPC's in my home. I dabbled a bit with ATI's All-In-Wonder cards a ways back and it put such a bad taste in my mouth. That MultiMedia Center junk that they used to put out... I'll skip the rant. It put such a bad taste in my mouth that I don't think I'll ever try this. Maybe if I ever learned Linux a bit better. I'm just not a believer in a computer doing it better than components.

And don't get me wrong, I'm a computer guy. But in this capacity, I'll take the components.

OK go ahead and flog me now!!

mech

[zuter]

Although I've used my pc to watch movies and such I'm fairly new to HTPC. I'm looking at an Antec Veris case, part of their HTPC fusion line, and mating it with an ASUS board that has HDMI. My current HT is a Pio 42" plasma and Pio Elite receiver with 5.1 speaker setup. This provides me with excellent picture and sound and the addition of a HTPC seems a natural progression. This way I can download and watch movies and shows in various formats without worring about if my DVD player will support them.

I have a pc hooked to my HT right now but it is an old system and a little clunky to use! One thing I've added was a Logitech remote (880) and have everything working off of that except the pc. I'm told that the system I'm building will also work with my remote but only with "media center". Is there another software that works similar to media center but with more compatability for other media types that can be controlled with a remote? Or does media center work with most formats. Sorry I'm not that familiar with media center, I've seen it in action but haven't played with it that much!

[wbassett]

Zuter you're off to a great start with ASUS. In my opinion they have some of the best motherboards out there. Hard drives and Ram is cheap so no need to skimp on either of those.

Get a good processor too, if you can swing a dual core go that route, if not the Hyper Threading CPU's are very inexpensive now.

I'm glad to see HDMI starting to show up as a regular video connector now. You'll still need some sort of video tuner or input card though to time shift programs.

Keep an eye out too for BD or HD DVD drives, next year they should start coming down in price to something a bit more reasonable, or even just ROM drives will start popping up for at least half the price of a high def burner. HD DVD is actually pretty easy if you want to go that route, get the XBox 360 HD DVD addon drive, it's a USB drive and will work on a PC as long as you have the correct version of Power DVD or WIN DVD that supports HD playback.

[zuter]

Thanks wbassett

Yeah I didn't mention the whole she-bang, OCZ or Mushkin 2 gb ram, AMD 64 x2 processor, etc...these are already chosen! The HDMI is an addon card that takes up the PCI-E slot, so on board vid only...a slight drawn back but I can always get a better vid card with HDMI down the road.

As for HD DVD or BluRay, LG and others are ready to start shipping drives that support both formats. Should see a drop in price over the next year. Who cares about a format war when it comes to pc's. If they can make it some geek can break it! Thats why I'm going with an HTPC less hassle in the long run!

Still looking for some info on the remote situation. I'll just keep searching the web, someone will have already figured this out too!

[Otto]

zuter wrote:

Still looking for some info on the remote situation. I'll just keep searching the web, someone will have already figured this out too!

Hey zuter,

I'm in a similar situation in that I use a Harmony 890 to control everything except my PC. I do have an IR receiver that connects to the PC via USB. This is an add-on for the PowerDVD program, and it does work with that software. However, I can't get it to consistently work with any other program. It infrequently works with Winamp (kind of) but it only seems to work when it wants. I really haven't been able to get it to work with anything else. It's also kind of slow to respond to IR commands, and may "double respond" to some (for some reason, and I doubt it's my remote).

Anyway, yeah, I'll be interested to hear if you are able to use your remote on your PC.

Thanks.

[Hunter844]

Here is what I just got done ordering: My first attempt at a HTPC. I'll be hooking it up to my older HDTV a 27'' Samsung 1080i CRT with only component hd inputs.

I have a couple questions:

1. What sort of keyboard, Mouse, and Remote is available for HTPC functionality?

2. Will I be able to run my HDTV as the primary monitor via the "tv out" or do I need to get a smaller monitor?


I want to be able to record live HD OTA channels, satellite channels, play movies (dvd and from hard drive), listen to music, maybe play a game or two. If it looks like I"m whiffing on something below....please be gentle.


Existing Parts included but not limted to: HP Lightscribe DVD-RW, 1 SATA HDD 7200rpm, 1 PATA HDD 5400 rpm with Windows XP SP2, XBOX 360 HD-DVD Add-On (if I even decide to hook it up here, might just leave it where it is)

New Stuff on the Way:

Motherboard: EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel

Graphics Card: Foxconn 8600GTS-256 GeForce 8600GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

HD Tuner: AVerMedia 7 95522 96058 0 PCI-Express x1 Interface Video Device (White Box)

PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V EPS12V 610W Continuous @ 40°C Power Supply

CPU: Intel Pentium D 920 Presler 2.8GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80553920

Memory: OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Micron D7 Chip Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2N10662GK


Thanks for any further input...this is still a work in progress. Probably going to just use a regular ATX case for now.

[zuter]

Sorry for taking soooo long to get back.

Evreything looks good to me! You should be able to do everything that you want with this setup.

My setup has run into several problems.

The Antec case (Veris Fusion Black 430) has had issues with the LCD/IR receiver which I found to be common amoungst other users, ie: does not display correctly or except input via the IR properly. This can be researched through iMON forums for more info.

The Asus motherboard M2A-VM HDMI works but audio via the HDMI is 2 channel only. Some users have not found a solution where others have had success...seems to be a hit or miss kinda' thing. What work for one doesn't for another, unfortuneatly I'm in the later catagory. See Asus forums for more details.

I returned my ATI HD 2400XT video card for similar audio problems with the added bonus of display problems. The screen would turn pink on some boot ups and I would have to either re-boot or switch to pc output to correct. This is either a driver or vista or both problem. I resorted to on board video until a solution can be found. Contacted ATI/AMD who recommended I return the card to swap to another but I decided to get my money back instead. I'll wait for these issues to be resolved before purchasing another card.

The problems list above are probably all driver and vista issues due to newer hardware. Much of my system components are the new technology and will probably be corrected once the manufacturers and MS figure out the issues. Many of my issues, except the audio, appeared after letting vista update itself. I'll probably re-install vista and then turn off updates until I see/hear of resolutions to my issues via sites like this and the manufacturer's forums.

My only word of warning is that research the setup before commiting to purchase....something I did do but obviously not far enough. It seems I'll have to wait before my system is fully functional!

[Polypro]

Built my first HTPC in June of '05 and got hooked...they're just too versitile to go back to components My current rig is:

Asus P5W-DH, Intel C2D E6600, Scythe Ninja Mini CPU Cooler, 2x1024 Corsair DDR2 PC6400C4D, 2x WD500YS RE 2's, Asus 8600GT Passive, Plextor PX-712, HP Ext. HD-DVD, 2x PVR500MCE, HDHR QAM, Seasonic S-12 430w, Logitech Z-680, Zalman HD135, Harmony 880, MCE Receiver, MCE Keyboard, Noctua 120mm x 2, 80mm x 1, SilenX 60mm x 2, SageTV 6.2.10, VMR9/Aero Glass (3D), Olevia 542i 1360x768 LCD via DVI/HDMI, nVIDIA Decoders, Java 1.6u3, Vista Business.

I use it for everything, including Video Podcasts via Juice. Joost and Vuze are also installed.

P

[Aminbiz]

the sky is the limit with HTPC's
HiDef ... Blu-ray
1080p Up-conversion
whole house transmission of movies and music
what ever you want to make happen

go themaltake...http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Produc...C=1319&ID=1425