TANK
Shared on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 16:27A few months ago i finished building my Microsoft HOME Server and have been busy testing that out as well as different ways of taking the physical DVD movie and making it broadcast. Right now i've got the time to tinker with different audio/video codecs and sampling rates to produce an acceptable streamable movie from the server to the Xbox360, Home Theater PC and D-Link Media receiver set-top boxes. I managed to build the server for $200 by watching ads, shopping around and another huge help was the fact that I already had the hard drives which easily are 1/3rd the expense of building a home server (the actual case/motherboard/processor/memory being 1/3 and Home Server software itself being the other 1/3rd).
Anyway the Home Theater PC I've always known was going to be the expensive part so i have a target build date of summer sometime. I don't have a big screen HDTV either and I can't use the HTPC without an HDTV to go along with it. So really, there's no rush. Every time i see an ad for one component super cheap, i go and add it to the collection of parts.
A month ago i picked up a VisionTek ATI HD2400 OverClocked video card built to playback HDDVD and BluRay, it's got HDMI output as well as VGA. Got that for $90 saving $50 i think.
Yesterday i picked up the chassis, an Antec Fision Black HTPC case. HTPC chassis are really expensive for some reason and i can't figure out why. The only reason i've come up with is because it's a niche market and they can just get away with it. If you're shopping for a case for your HDPC, they start at about $200 and go up to around 600 for one with a full 5" touch screen LCD but i'm happy to say that I picked up a $220 Antec HTPC chassis yesterday for $99. It's a nice black anodized stainless front with a small scrolling LCD window, one DVD drive bay, two internal hard drive bays, front mounted USB/FWire, two large but low (quiet) turning RPM fans on the side all in a nice rack mount chassis a little smaller than the size of your average home receiver amp. It also comes with a 430 watt energy efficient power supply build for this kind of thing so it's green as well, that gets a thumbs up.
I'm not sure i really need a volume knob since the output of this will go to a receiver anyway but in the very least it's a good disguise from outing this box as a PC. I wasn't sure if i wanted 2 external DVD bays or just 1 but with the killing off of HDDVD, i'll probably pick up a Sony BluRay / DVD rom drive which are currently $199 and that'll fit the need. There's an IR sensor too that doesn't who in the picture but a remote isn't included. So i'l need to look into that, i'm not really sure how to build the front end of the HTPC yet and make it remote controllable as opposed to needing to be moused.
So now i'm on the lookout for a good mobo/cpu combo thats an Intel Core2 Duo 2.4ghz, i had originally thought a 2gig processor would suffice and it probably would but the recommended specs on the SOny BluRay drive is a 2.4 gig, so i guess i'll go that route. Just need to watch the ads and see what i can find for a combo. Also that BluRay drive is fairly expensive, at this rate it'll be the most expensive component in the HTPC so hopefully prices will drop or i can catch a good ad. I've seen the Pioneer one on sale a few times now for less than $200 but i really want the Sony.
My HD Theater setup vision is this HTPC hooked up to some HDMI switching receiver and that into a projector. The HDPC will take care of playing DVD/BluRay media when needed but honestly i'm building this to stream my movie catalog off the Home server, i don't want media cluttering up my theater space. The HDPC would also take care of playing music and i'm hoping to also put in an HD TV Recording device so it can record live TV as well, probably watn at least 2 tuners so i can watch live TV and record something at the same time. So that's the vision, it's a slow build process though as i collec tthe different bits so i can build it as economically as possible rather, otherwise what i want to build is easily a $1200 box full price.
Anyway the Home Theater PC I've always known was going to be the expensive part so i have a target build date of summer sometime. I don't have a big screen HDTV either and I can't use the HTPC without an HDTV to go along with it. So really, there's no rush. Every time i see an ad for one component super cheap, i go and add it to the collection of parts.
A month ago i picked up a VisionTek ATI HD2400 OverClocked video card built to playback HDDVD and BluRay, it's got HDMI output as well as VGA. Got that for $90 saving $50 i think.
Yesterday i picked up the chassis, an Antec Fision Black HTPC case. HTPC chassis are really expensive for some reason and i can't figure out why. The only reason i've come up with is because it's a niche market and they can just get away with it. If you're shopping for a case for your HDPC, they start at about $200 and go up to around 600 for one with a full 5" touch screen LCD but i'm happy to say that I picked up a $220 Antec HTPC chassis yesterday for $99. It's a nice black anodized stainless front with a small scrolling LCD window, one DVD drive bay, two internal hard drive bays, front mounted USB/FWire, two large but low (quiet) turning RPM fans on the side all in a nice rack mount chassis a little smaller than the size of your average home receiver amp. It also comes with a 430 watt energy efficient power supply build for this kind of thing so it's green as well, that gets a thumbs up.
I'm not sure i really need a volume knob since the output of this will go to a receiver anyway but in the very least it's a good disguise from outing this box as a PC. I wasn't sure if i wanted 2 external DVD bays or just 1 but with the killing off of HDDVD, i'll probably pick up a Sony BluRay / DVD rom drive which are currently $199 and that'll fit the need. There's an IR sensor too that doesn't who in the picture but a remote isn't included. So i'l need to look into that, i'm not really sure how to build the front end of the HTPC yet and make it remote controllable as opposed to needing to be moused.
So now i'm on the lookout for a good mobo/cpu combo thats an Intel Core2 Duo 2.4ghz, i had originally thought a 2gig processor would suffice and it probably would but the recommended specs on the SOny BluRay drive is a 2.4 gig, so i guess i'll go that route. Just need to watch the ads and see what i can find for a combo. Also that BluRay drive is fairly expensive, at this rate it'll be the most expensive component in the HTPC so hopefully prices will drop or i can catch a good ad. I've seen the Pioneer one on sale a few times now for less than $200 but i really want the Sony.
My HD Theater setup vision is this HTPC hooked up to some HDMI switching receiver and that into a projector. The HDPC will take care of playing DVD/BluRay media when needed but honestly i'm building this to stream my movie catalog off the Home server, i don't want media cluttering up my theater space. The HDPC would also take care of playing music and i'm hoping to also put in an HD TV Recording device so it can record live TV as well, probably watn at least 2 tuners so i can watch live TV and record something at the same time. So that's the vision, it's a slow build process though as i collec tthe different bits so i can build it as economically as possible rather, otherwise what i want to build is easily a $1200 box full price.
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Comments
Submitted by kewljoe on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 20:46
Submitted by kewljoe on Fri, 03/14/2008 - 21:55
Submitted by TANK on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 23:11