Page 8 likes the Apple TV

8/18/2009 12:50:52 PM

no tuner card or dvr functionality? nthx

8/18/2009 12:58:21 PM

Noen i meant to recommend it to you to when i saw you building but got sidetracked by some naked pictures in chit chat. i've had a card in my desktop since 1999 and this is by far the best one. and fwiw qntmfred, i upgraded from 2 of that m780 to 2 hvr-2250s. the analog on the hauppauge smokes the avermedia and in my experience, digital is digital. if you won't be using the analog part, i think you could save a few dollars by getting avermedia's "duet" tuner.

8/18/2009 1:15:56 PM

Quote :

"no tuner card or dvr functionality? nthx "

those can be added

8/18/2009 1:46:21 PM

Quote :

"Yammm: Auto Rename, Metadata, Artwork, Playlist... http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/t/73390.aspx?PageIndex=1 This has been out since May... Search for & download a file for the movie you would like as a poster and save it in the movie folder and name it folder.jpg. Do this for each movie. "

Lol...I'd rather not.

8/18/2009 10:48:47 PM

It does it for you, duh.

8/19/2009 12:50:34 AM

For the media streamer focused folks....

New popcorn hour is out with bluray option C-200 (http://www.popcornhour.com/)

Has by default an RF remote, can mount it anywhere OOTB.

And one of the latest skins for YAMJ is smooth: http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=25534

Anyway, is anyone on the first order to know the verdict?

edit: adding post/thread of videos showing gui/hardware- http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=23731

[Edited on September 10, 2009 at 2:20 PM. Reason : link]

9/10/2009 2:09:26 PM

those are coool

9/10/2009 2:15:46 PM

any suggestions on an HD tuner card? going in a few year old HP HTPC.. i had bought a cheap chinese brand HD tuner when i bought the computer and windows media center never really detected it right. it would work if i had the other tuner also installed but wouldn't if i just had the HD tuner installed--weird shit really.

anyways. trying to keep it under $100 since i probably need some more RAM for this thing too. suggestions? also thinking about putting win 7 on it. has XP media center now.

oh, also, it'll be connected to time warner's basic cable. local HD channels are supposed to be on there and really that's all i need/want.

[Edited on September 22, 2009 at 10:49 AM. Reason : a]

9/22/2009 10:27:54 AM

I have one that works that I had to remove to get my ATI 4770 to fit.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116010

$60?

9/22/2009 10:51:50 AM

come with the remote? PM me.

9/22/2009 10:56:50 AM

^You want the WinTV 2250.

9/22/2009 7:28:21 PM

cablelabs is supposedly loosening their straneglehold and hauppauge has announced a digital cable tuner that may (or may not) be out by the end of the year. difference sources say different things.

9/28/2009 3:49:27 PM

^the ATI tuner is already available, alternatives would be great

9/28/2009 4:45:34 PM

^^^awesome..thanks. looking into those now. little more than i wanted to spend but looks like a hell of a tuner.

9/28/2009 5:13:26 PM

I'm having some issues setting up a HTPC i built for someone. We just hooked up a Onkyo receiver to his plasma and HTPC using hdmi cables. I'm trying to get the HDMI audio to work on the ATI 4550 i installed on the HTPC.

Right now Vista recognizes that there's an HDMI cable plugged in and that it includes ATI HDMI audio but under control panel sound config it only gives me an option for stereo.

Plus when i try to play something it bypasses the receiver speakers and comes out of the built-in TV speakers.

First of all, how do i fix the stereo-->surround issue in windows, and second why is the receiver passing the audio to the tv but not outputting it to the speakers?

9/30/2009 5:48:02 PM

^I had a similar issue, just good for the realtek hd driver for ati cards. The second problem is just a setting specific to the setup that you're going to have to figure out manually.

10/1/2009 5:44:52 PM

Found out that the receiver i bought does not support HDMI audio, so that's why it just does the passthrough to the tv.

So i hooked up a digital coaxial cable and i'm getting stereo from the htpc to the receiver.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/1280234.html

I think i have to somehow configure the ac3 to grab from the htpc to the receiver to output 5.1 from my .mkv HD files.

Anyone run into this issue?

10/3/2009 1:08:02 PM

Sorry for double post. I got AC3 passthrough working and i can play my files in surround sound using media player classic.

But when trying to use media portal the movies still come out in stereo, and the receiver doesn't switch to surround.

How do i enable media portal to output the surround?

10/3/2009 1:44:28 PM

Putting together a cheap htpc build for someone.

Thinking Asus M4A78T
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131366

with a AMD 2 X3.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103726

Any suggestions on a good psu and ram?

-actually why is this mobo cheaper? It has better specs:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131398

[Edited on November 3, 2009 at 3:48 PM. Reason : .]

11/3/2009 3:40:35 PM

for a cheap htpc, this is what i'd do:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=9806814

i recommended it to a friend last week.

11/3/2009 3:46:05 PM

Probably going to go with AMD because their price/performance is much better in the <$150 range. Plus the onboard video is much better on something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131398

Onboard ATI 4200 with 128mB DDR3.

Not to mention socket 775 is kind of going out of style. For cheap pcs, and upgrade capability going with an AM3 chipset is a much better idea considering AMD will keep making cpus for it, whereas intel won't really make any more socket 775 cpus.

11/3/2009 3:53:04 PM

A couple cool things have come out the last 2 months:

Media Center Studio:
http://adventmediacenter.com/

Quote :

"Overview: Media Center Studio is a free application for Windows Vista and Windows 7 that enables you to customize Windows Media Center. It is the successor of MC Menu Mender, bringing it up to date for Windows 7 and adding support for theme application and editing. Features: * Edit your start menu - rearrange or disable native menu items * Create your own menu strips, and your own items to go in them * Monitors your application and returns to Media Center when it exits * Set up a button on your remote to exit your application * Create menu items that take you to native Media Center pages, or start media * Apply themes to Media Center * Create new themes or edit existing ones"

-



Internet TV:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-media-center/learn-more/internet-tv/articles/internet-tv-overview.aspx

Quote :

" CBS Audience Network: Featuring a variety of shows from CBS Primetime, Daytime, Extras, and TV Classics, including full-length episodes of current TV shows, CBS Classics TV shows, short clips, and Web originals. • Full Zune Video Podcast Library: Thousands of hours of entertainment with full TV episodes, webisodes, clips, and videos from providers including ABC News, CBS News, CNBC, CNET TV, Comedy Central, Current TV, The Discovery Channel, Fox, G4 TV, HBO, MSNBC, NBC, Showtime, and Revision 3, along with some of the best user-generated videos on the Web. Some video podcasts are also available in HD. • MSN and msnbc.com: Clips as well as full length episodes from TV shows such as Arrested Development, news and weather from MSNBC, editor picks and most popular videos, five day weather forecasts, news, video playlists, music videos, movie trailers and more. If you haven't already noticed the upgrades in your Windows 7 Media Center menu, you can manually update by going into Tasks >>Settings >> General >> Automatic Download Options."

Netflix:


http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/11/02/internet-tv-amp-netflix-comes-to-windows-media-center-in-windows-7.aspx

[Edited on December 28, 2009 at 6:54 PM. Reason : .]

12/28/2009 6:52:16 PM

I finally found decent x64 codecs:
http://shark007.net/x64components.html
Adds support to play MKV in 7MC as well.

Also a pretty awesome plugin called Media Browser
http://www.mediabrowser.tv/gallery.html

Quote :

"# Automatic metadata retrieval # Streaming latest online trailers # Media bookmarking (resume play) # Support for external players # Vodcast support (video rss feeds) # Third party plug-in architecture # Automatic updates # Custom view layouts # Multiple themes # Create random / full folder playlists"

Also a nice shoutcast plug-in:
http://en.mcetools.de/



And a nice last.fm plug-in:
http://www.mcefm.com/




Still no pandora support, and the XM radio plugin sucks b/c it was written in 2004, as was the live365 app... MS needs to massively improve the internetTV & internetRadio options.

[Edited on December 31, 2009 at 3:36 PM. Reason : m]

12/31/2009 3:22:21 PM

MSI nVidia GeForce GT 240 1GB (GDDR3) for $58 AR/FS and $12 off using code VGA12312...also comes with a free 6ft HDMI cable

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127465

no, it's not stellar...the GDDR5 240s are much better in terms of performance...BUT, this card runs cool, doesn't require an additional PSU connector, and only occupies ONE slot instead of two...also has HDMI

i picked one up to replace my 3850 (which this BARELY beats) because of the reasons listed above

12/31/2009 7:02:55 PM

are there any options for hdmi carrying video & audio on a computer for an nvidia pci-e card?

12/31/2009 9:09:15 PM

MAC MINI with elgato eyetv and a couple tuners....CANT BE BEAT!
plex, hulu, netflix and eyetv are all i ever need...

[Edited on December 31, 2009 at 9:53 PM. Reason : asdf]

12/31/2009 9:51:35 PM

^^yeah, there are.

1/1/2010 1:52:19 PM

so Win7MC, XBMC, or Boxee - which route should i go?

1/1/2010 2:44:37 PM

i've really enjoyed using win7mc. what types of activities are you trying to achieve?

1/1/2010 3:10:09 PM

Boxee/XBMC - internet TV, internet radio
7MC - Blu-ray, Cable/OTA TV tuning, WHS integration

I'd have to say I like the new Boxee Beta much more than XBMC although currently using 7MC b/c I use blu-ray most of the time

[Edited on January 1, 2010 at 3:44 PM. Reason : .]

1/1/2010 3:42:21 PM

it'd be mainly internet tv and ripped/pirated shenanigans

also for web browsing - i needs mah firefox

[Edited on January 1, 2010 at 3:51 PM. Reason : and if it had a nice bittorrent/usenet client that'd be swell]

1/1/2010 3:47:49 PM

I'd say Boxee then... 7MC internet tv is the absolute worst. about the only option is to install hulu desktop and put a shortcut in 7MC.

Boxee does internet TV & ripped movies great. Search and download the new Boxee Beta..

[Edited on January 1, 2010 at 3:50 PM. Reason : .]

1/1/2010 3:50:14 PM

what's a good htpc remote?

any of them have the ability to power on the PC?

[Edited on January 3, 2010 at 7:39 PM. Reason : also is there no netflix support for xbmc?]

1/3/2010 7:29:50 PM

The microsoft remote (A9O-00007) or just program it into a Logitech Harmony. Not sure if they sell that version anymore, but you can find them all over the place - http://www.xpcgear.com/xphavistabk.html

And yes, my Logitech Harmony (when programed with the MS remote codes) can turn on/off the mediaPC.

1/3/2010 8:37:11 PM

bump for jchill2

Quote :

"The other thread was more than 90 days old and I couldn't ask there, so I figure I'd start a new one. I was using Mediaportal+MP and have completely changed up my network and pcs. Right now I have a file server where all of my data is stored, running Windows Server 2008 R2 x64. I will upgrade it to Windows Home Server v2 whenever that comes out this year. The rest of the machines are the network are W7. I have a OTA tuner for watching tv. The HTPC is beefier with a Phenom II and ATI 4770, so it should be able to handle whatever I throw at it. What software should I use for my HTPC? I'm more interested in being able to sort my movies by genre than anything else. "

[Edited on April 12, 2010 at 9:44 AM. Reason : .]

4/12/2010 9:43:54 AM

If you're going with WHS, it's a no-brainer, use Windows 7 Media Center. WHS has a media center connect software allowing integrated media streaming and DVR video storage.

And use the MyMovies plugin or one of the other hundred plugins out there for media sorting

[Edited on April 12, 2010 at 10:43 AM. Reason : .]

4/12/2010 10:43:16 AM

Quote :

"so Win7MC, XBMC, or Boxee - which route should i go?"

Win7MC + the latest version of mediabrowser is totally tits if you're just looking for media stuff. The built in media scraping in the latest version of mediabrowser owns bones so you dont need an external metadata finder (but you can use one if you want). It doesn't have the cool XMBC/Boxee stuff like pandora plugins or hulu plugins though. IDK if that could be added via the plugin system in media browser or not.

4/12/2010 1:07:57 PM

XBMC on a standalone PC hooked to your computer.

My xbox can't play HD rips without joking out. Need to install it on a dedicated pc with some processing power.

4/12/2010 1:32:30 PM

Pretty good deal IMHO:

Lenovo Multimedia Remote With Keyboard $36
http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/33012

A lot cheaper than the Logitech diNovo mini
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/keyboards/keyboard/devices/3848

[Edited on April 15, 2010 at 5:22 PM. Reason : .]

4/15/2010 5:20:58 PM

^got one last time the deal was on. works good wish it had A bit more range kinda shaky past 12 ft. good for the $$$

4/15/2010 9:45:46 PM

Hey Noen, how did your build on the last page come out? I'm looking to build a HTPC for WM7 + bluray (mostly playback but maybe dvr once the cable card tuners start coming out). It seems the parts are all over the place. A little hesitant on the integrated gpu, so i'd like to hear how it worked out for you.

4/20/2010 8:11:58 PM

I fucking love it. The integrated ATi video (HD3300) has been pretty damn flawless. Full aero, hardware video decoding, and even a little bit of 3d gave it no troubles (not gaming, but visualization stuff). It's never had any HDCP issues, no wake issues, no driver issues, nuthin.

And it meets the bar for the new WMC7 analysis tool for CableCard tuners, which I've heard can be VERY picky when it comes to low end and integrated chipsets.

Love the case too, it's totally invisible in the setup we have. I do wish I had dropped a few more bucks on an aftermarket heatsink/fan combo to get the thing running a little more quietly, but it's not bad enough to go back and change.

I would say to wait for the multi-tuner CableCard PCIe stuff to come out, because open QAM tuners are basically worthless now (or soon will be, depending on your area) and aren't worth wasting money on.

^^^ I have the dinovo mini, and it was worth every penny. Got it from Fry's for $120, and that was just regular price. Battery lasts weeks at a time, and it recharges quickly, and it's easy as hell to use. It passed the "can I use this to play music while drunk" party test with flying colors.

[Edited on April 20, 2010 at 8:40 PM. Reason : .]

4/20/2010 8:38:09 PM

This is my current list: https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=18713528

Yea i hadn't planned on getting any tuners with the initial purchase. I've just been delaying buying a htpc and i dont feel like waiting any more (tuner or not)

What about noise as well? Can you recommend a low noise hdd?

[Edited on April 20, 2010 at 8:40 PM. Reason : a]

4/20/2010 8:39:59 PM

damn, forgot a bd rom too. Should i pick one that comes with software or buy a cheap one w/out software and buy the software separately?

4/20/2010 8:44:54 PM

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=18713528

publish wishlist link

4/21/2010 10:06:27 AM

Here is my recommendation after building my HTPC, failing, and then rebuilding.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=13699872

ASUS M2N68-AM PLUS AM3/AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA Geforce 7025/nForce 630a Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
Onboard bluray playback is possible, but not easy. I encountered nothing but trouble trying to get all the codecs working for hd video in general. By picking this mobo, you're saving yourself $40 ($50 for combo) that will be used in other components. This also uses DDR2 ram, saving you another $20-$30. I've always been a big fan of ASUS, they already announced support for x6 cpus through fw updates to some of their later models and updating is a cinch.
LITE-ON Black 4X Blu-ray Reader SATA Model iHOS104-06 - OEM
This is what I have in my HTPC and it's flawless. The included version of PowerDVD is gimped for hd-audio so I just found a cracked version on demonoid.
Antec Black M FusionRemote 350 Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
I have the same case. It's sexy, well organized for heat and noise, has hdd silencers, and (once set up) has a pretty nifty front LCD.
AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADX240OCGQBOX
This is up to you. I had a 5050e that was using the same cpu layout and it was having a hard time while watching vlc hd content. I upgraded to the Phenom II x2 550 and have never once experienced a hitch. If you're planning on doing moderate gaming, I would recommend at least a 555 BE.
POWERCOLOR Go! Green AX5450 512MK3-SH Radeon HD 5450 (Cedar) 512MB 64-bit DDR3 HDCP Ready Video Card
And here is the big one. One thing I didn't know when I sold my ps3 to build my htpc was the clusterfuck that is hd-audio. There were so many conflicts with drivers, equipment, software that I gave up trying to figure it out. I upgraded to a 4770 and almost all my problems went away. (I still have to restart my PC if I turn on the Home Theater equipment in the wrong order) I still can't get the highest quality audio codecs, but at this point, I've converted my entire library over to .mkv's. ATI has made the DTS-HD, et al. audio codes a standard feature in all 5000 series cards. This is the cheapest. If you plan on watching blu-rays with the uncompressed sound, I would recommend buying this and save yourself the headaches.

[Edited on April 21, 2010 at 5:17 PM. Reason : f]

4/21/2010 5:15:34 PM

good to know. The price of ddr3 is pretty lame indeed. I had heard some stuff about the audio but didn't realize it was such a pain.

4/21/2010 5:36:28 PM

Here's mine, I love it, Blu-ray and 1080p is great, low-powered, small form factor:

Rosewill RC-CIX-01 BK Glossy Black Steel Cube Mini-ITX Computer Case
(150W Power Supply and 1x 80mm Fan)
ZOTAC IONITX-D-E Intel Atom N330 1.6GHz Dual-Core 441 NVIDIA ION Mini ITX Motherboard/CPU Combo
-Onboard NVIDIA GeForce 9400M (ION)
-Onboard 6 Channels HD Audio, Optical/Coaxial SPDIF Out
-Onboard WiFi IEEE 802.11n
-HDMI, DVI, VGA, 6xUSB, 1xeSATA, 3xSATA
GSkill 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-1066 Memory
LG Black Blu-ray/HD-DVD Reader & Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Writer SATA Drive
Hitachi Deskstar 7K400 H3400B72S 400GB SATA HDD

I have a Logitech Harmony to control it all and gigabit LAN to my WHS for all my media and networked TV tuner.

The only hiccup is Flash/Hulu support on the ION is/can be an issue, but 10.1 should fix it. I've never had issues except for inside Hulu.

Framerate could be better, I'm sure the 3300 is the way to go, but I wanted a small form factor and low power solution. I really think the 1080p & blu-ray is pretty good.

[Edited on April 21, 2010 at 10:14 PM. Reason : ,]

4/21/2010 10:12:31 PM

Get the Sony BD-ROM, don't pay for the extra bundled software. Then go buy PowerDVD 10 to get full blu-ray support. I scoffed at the 70-99 dollar price tag at first, but dear lord its worth it and I don't even use the BD-ROM drive. It's THE BEST upscaling video playback I have ever seen, without question.

Also, jchill is on the money, if you have a 7.1+ surround setup, go for an ATI 5xxx series or above. Don't waste your time on nVidia cards at all. If you only have a 5.1 setup and no plans to upgrade, then the integrated ATI 4200HD should be just fine.

Also, I would HIGHLY suggest getting a quad core processor. HTPC's benefit tremendously over a dual core. Indexing, transcoding, media extenders, multi-tuner dvr recording all benefit greatly from those 2 extra cores.

4/21/2010 11:49:24 PM