[Build] New HTPC Upgrade/Build - Pics included (not 56k friendly) - Overclock.net

dhrandy · 03-08-08

April 16, 2009 update

Just thought I'd give an update on my HTPC setup. I'm still using XBMC and Beyond TV and I'm very happy with the setup.

I have combined my HTPC and server to save on the electric bill. I was in the military and didn't have to pay the electric bill before. Now I'm cutting cost where I can. I stuffed 3 hard drives from the server (5 all together) into the small case. I did have to unplug the internal DVD drive because I need the IDE cable for 2 of the hard drives. That's OK since I still have the external Xbox 360 HD-DVD player hooked up.

I'm using clear QAM instead of the antenna for my HD tuner and Beyond TV. You have to manually program the channels to get the guide to work with it. I made an excel spreadsheet to help me in the future.

I was having problems where when I started XBMC and then started Beyond TV on top of it, everything was going fine. When I would exit out of Beyond TV, I would lose sound on the XBMC. I would then have to restart XBMC to regain sound.

I have now wrote a script with AutoIT that will start Beyond TV when I exit out of XBMC. Then when I exit out of Beyond TV it starts XBMC. Problem solved.

I also changed it so that the AutoIT exe file starts XBMC instead of putting XBMC.exe shortcut in the start menu.

And the last thing I had to do is change my remote control so that when I press the start Beyond TV key, it just shuts down XBMC, which with the AutoIT script, starts Beyond TV.

Sorry if I have any grammar errors, I'm really tired right now. I'll update the first post with this information later. No need to update the pics, it still looks the same.
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Updated 15 Oct. 2008

My Goals All Accomplished
1080P (HDMI) output
DVR with recording 2 shows at once (Beyond TV)
Commercial Skip (Beyond TV)
Music Jukebox (XBMC)
Photo Album (XBMC)
Play ripped .ISO dvds (XBMC)
Play avi files (XBMC)
Show Weather (XBMC)
RSS Feed Ticker (XBMC)
Play HD DVDs (PowerDVD)

TV AND SOUND SPECS:
42" RCA 1080P LCD HDTV
Pioneer Receiver and speakers
Sony 12" Powered Sub (no longer using because I'm in an apartment now)
Harmony 550 remote control
Philips MANT940 Indoor/Outdoor HDTV Antenna (using clear QAM now)

COMPUTER SPECS:
GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H 780G Motherboard
AMD Athlon X2 BE-2350 Processor
G Skill 2GB Memory
430 Watt Mad Dog PS
250 gig IDE hard drive
160 gig SATA hard drive
DVD Rom IDE drive
Hauppauge HVR-1800 HD tuner
Hauppauge PVR-150 tuner with IR receiver
Xbox 360 HD DVD player
Linksys RangePlus 802.11B/G Wireless PCI Card, WMP110

SOFTWARE USED:
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate
Beyond TV DVR software with custom skin- $69.99
XBMC PC(Atlantis) with MediaStream Skin- Free
PowerDVD - For future HD DVD and future Blu-ray - $99.95

FUTURE UPGRADES:
Blu-ray drive
Corsair Power CX400W Power Supply or equivalent.

DETAILS ON SETUP
XBMC

XBMC was pretty easy to setup. The only plug-in I added was the one that allows you to launch external applications like PowerDVD. Link. I added some shortcuts in the Keymap.xml file that is located in the XBMC/system folder.

Code:

<y>XBMC.System.Exec("C:Program FilesSnapStream MediaBeyond TVBTVD3DShell.exe")</y>
<t>XBMC.ActivateWindow(MyMusic)</t>
<u>XBMC.ActivateWindow(MyPictures)</u>
<n>XBMC.ActivateWindow(MyVideoLibrary,movietitles,return)</n>
<g>XBMC.ActivateWindow(MyVideoLibrary,tvshowtitles,return)</g>

This added shortcuts for Music, Pictures, Movies, TV series. The first shortcut is a direct link to launch Beyond TV from the remote control. You can make remote shortcuts to launch any program. I could have did one to launch PowerDVD and still may in the future. Don't get this confused with the launch external applications plug-in above.

Beyond TV

You just use the Beyond TV setup shortcut to setup Beyond TV. Very simple to setup. The only things I did with Beyond TV was with the appearance. I installed the widescreen icons that someone made on the Snapstream forums. I also made my own custom skin for Beyond TV to go more with the MediaStream skin that XBMC has.
Widescreen Icons Link
Custom Skin Link. - Install in the Snapstream Media/Beyond TV/fsmedia folder. If you install this, you don't need to install the widescreen icons.

PowerDVD8

I use PowerDVD to play my HD DVDs. If you have upgraded to the newest version, you'll notice there is no support for HD DVD. Luckily there is a mod to get this to work. Link for HD DVD support. I just read where this don't work for the latest version. I believe it only works for the first version that came out after they quit supporting HD DVD. I backed up my Cyberlink folder and tried the updated and sure enough it didn't work. Here is the cool part. I was able to just rename the original folder and now I can still use PowerDVD to play my HD DVDs.

The Remote Setup

For my remote I use the Hauppauge PVR-150 IR receiver. It's so easy to customize for any program. At one time I even had it customized for a screensaver. I'm not going to go into detail here on how to customize the buttons because it's going to take a lot of space. I'm just going to put a link that I made on another forum.
How to setup the Hauppauge 45 button remote to work with other programs link.

To get my Harmony 550 remote to work with my receiver all I had to do is program it to work with the 45 button Hauppauge remote. For the TV,Radio,Music,Pictures and other button that aren't on the Harmony 550, I created shortcuts for the LCD window and then edited it in the remote.ini file for the PVR-150 receiver.

I also setup a shortcut for the remote to launch XBMC when it's on the Windows Desktop. To do this I edited one of the default buttons in the remote.ini file to launch a autokey script shortcut that I made to start XBMC. I had to do it this way beause the remote.ini file does not allow spaces when launching a program. You can see me launching XBMC from the desktop in the video.

LINKS
Beyond TV
XBMC
MediaStream - XBMC skin

Video of XBMC and Beyond TV

XBMC Screenshots - with MediaStream skin - actual screenshots

Beyond TV Screenshots - with my own custom skin - actual screenshots

THE BUILD - this is from the original post. I now have a new TV.

Just got the Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H (780G) motherboard in. Should get the rest tomorrow.

Rest of the parts are in.

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Got it setup on the table and have Vista Ultimate installed. Next will be Beyond TV and Meedio. My son is helping out.

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I've got Beyond TV and Meedio back up and running. The HVR-1800 tuner works great. Of course the OTA HD programs are shrunk to fit the screen. Everything is working so far. This PC runs cooler than my P4. I post so many pictures because I know I like to see lot of pictures of peoples systems. Here you go.

Currently using my 7600GT with the S-video out. I will be using HDMI when my TV returns.

I love my Harmony remote.

Feedback welcome. Let me know if you have any questions.

MnMCap · 03-09-08

I have the same case, not for HTPC, but I really like it. Sounds like a very capable machine. I've used my HTPC for 5 years now and couldnt imagine not having it.

pheonixsingh · 03-09-08

motherboard is a very wise choice! should be very happy with it mate!

dhrandy · 03-10-08

Getting ready to order the parts this weeks. Just saw the motherboard is out-of-stock.

Locool676 · 03-10-08

I wish i had 760 gigs of ram with a P4

Humor aside, looks nice.

**DuckieHo** · 03-10-08

What cooling?

The 45w BE are about $25 more and might be worth it to run near passively.

pheonixsingh · 03-10-08

you could also try:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131273

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135075

both have the same chipset so will do the same job

dhrandy · 03-10-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieHo

What cooling?

The 45w BE are about $25 more and might be worth it to run near passively.

Stock cooling, it's not going to be overclock, so no need for extra cooling. The case has a 120mm fan in the back, 80mm fan in the front. The PS has a 120mm on the bottom for pulling hot air off the pci slots.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pheonixsingh

you could also try:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131273

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135075

both have the same chipset so will do the same job

The ECS A780GM-A is a full atx motherboard, so that one's out of the question.

The only difference I see in the Asus and Gigabyte is that the Gigabye supports 16 gigs of ram and has an optical output. I have a sound card, so I don't need the optical output. I seriously doubt I will ever use 16 gig of ram. The Asus has 6 sata compared to the 5 on the Gigabyte. That don't really matter because my media is stored on a separate server. I also have the option of just getting the Gigabyte elsewhere. Decisions, decisions, decisions....

**DuckieHo** · 03-10-08

The Gigabyte 780G: $87.55 + $2.99 Shipped + Free Game.

http://clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A4830739

dhrandy · 03-11-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieHo

The Gigabyte 780G: $87.55 + $2.99 Shipped + Free Game.

http://clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A4830739

I think I might have to go with this site. That's a great deal. I forgot to mention in the other post that the Gigabyte also supports 10/100/1000Mbps, the Asus only has 10/100.

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