HTPC For dummies..... That's me!

Gadgets

Hi Folks,

New to boards and extremely new to the whole HTPC thing. So I have a question and it may well be one you've heard before and dread the thoughts of answering again, but I would appreciate any and all help.

I have just bought a new house and it is pre-wired with Cat5 in every room. So that got me thinking about networking and HTPC. Unfortunately I have extremely limited knowledge in relation to both of these. So needless to say I am looking for the HTPC for dummies guide.

I guess I better start by giving some idea as to what I am looking for..... I would like to be able to access all my files (Music, photo, video etc.) in any room. I will have Sky+ so ideally would like to be able to view this over the Cat5 aswell (Not sure if you can do both?) Or if that is not possible I would like to be able to take programs from the Sky+ box and save them on the server so they are accessible (i.e. burn to disc and then save to server)....Possible? I have a large DVD collection so it would be great to have space to store these and make them available also? Can I use my TV's as monitors and surf the Web?

I have been reading about HTPC and it sounds ideal, but unfortunately most of what I read is virtually incomprehensible to me. Obviously budget is always going to be a constraint. I am willing to buy the right equipment to have a good and relatively reliable system but don't want to be excessive either.

So can anyone out there help me? What equipment do I need? Do I need to learn a new language just to get this working?

As I said before, any and all help will be gratefully received. I would really like to do this and am hoping it's not a case of it being beyond me.

Thanks in advance for your help.

J-blk

Ok, I'll try to help you out here though some info on your budget and what hardware (if any) you currently have would be nice.

It's pretty cool that you have CAT5 around the house - having everything hard wired is going to be much more stable to use than relying on WiFi for some things. I assume you already have a router? This will network all your systems and give them direct Internet access as well - if you are not using WiFi, you can pretty much hide it away, as long as all the network cables can run to it.

As for the rest of the setup, you need to get yourself/set up a Media Center PC (if you want to stick with Windows that is), either running XP Media Center or Vista Home Premium/Ultimate. As this will your main server/hub PC, it can be as big/ugly/noisy as you like, since it can be hidden away. Make sure it has a lot of space for internal hard drives though - you'll be surprised how quickly you run out of space. This PC will need a TV tuner with a suitable video input for your Sky+ box (so the Sky+ needs to be located close to this PC). You'll also need an IR blaster so that the PC can control the Sky+ box:

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=309575

This PC will then be able to control Live TV and record for you (you could actually just get a normal Sky box if you don't have Sky+ since the PC will be doing all the recording) as well as store your photos, music and you can rip your DVDs as well (as far as I'm aware, with Vista, you can play VIDEO-TS DVD rips through the Media Center interface but with XP you'll need an additional third party plugin). Once this PC is fully set up and configured to your liking, you can use Media Center extenders to get the signal to TV/Monitors around the house. You can get as many extenders as you like, but they're not that cheap. The Xbox360 is a pretty good extender and I've used it with no problems, though there are others from companies like Linksys, DLink, HP and others. This one from HP caught my eye:

http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/2008/07/28/hands-on-hp-mediasmart-connect-x280n/

So you're basically going to need the one main Media Center PC and as many extenders as you need. Good luck with the setup...

SouperComputer

What is your budget OP? A good setup doesnt have to cost the earth. Start with a good server than expand as you need to.

I "think" there's a 5-extender limit with MCE, so keep that in mind. SageTV's software and extender offerings are very good too.

If you have a few rooms that you will be supplying, a decent rackmount switch with at least 1x 1Gb backbone is a good move, you could pick a decent one (3com for example) on ebay for 60-100e.

language wise, you will definately come across new terms and learn more than you ever wanted to know about TV signals and some other things, but it well worth it.

I'd reccommend comandeering a PC you already have, buy a tuner card, MCE remote (this gets you an IR blaster to control the Sky box too), and an extender (or xbox 360) and see how it works for you.

Long term you will probably want to downgrade to 2x sky boxes and have two tuners in the meda PC.

mediacentre.ie

I agree. wired network is a great plus. as SC said the server and extenders are the best way forward.

If you are going down the HTPC route be warned. there is alot of tinkering and configuration to get it 100% how you want it and stable.

weeks and weeks of fannying about and testing your wifes patience. lol

bazwaldo

Theres a million ways to do what you want to do and if you are new to this its probably best to keep things simple for starters and build on it.

I would recommend using Vista Premium/Ultimate as you get the mpeg video decoder included. I found setting XP MCE up was very time consuming, while Vista took an evening from start to finish.

For Vista MCE to have a dvd library, there is a registry edit needed. You change some value to Library or something like that. Very easy. Search thegreenbutton for details.

If you want different content on each of your TVs, then you'll need the extenders/xbox 360. But if you can share the output (whats on one TV, will be the same for all), its a lot simpler. Basically get it working for 1 TV. Then using the cat5 cables, you need to get items called baluns. These can enable you to use cat5 for scart/composite connections. Try s-video.com. Then so as you can use the media center anywhere in the house (the remote will only work where your infrared receiver is), you could use a fancy radio frequency remote, or a bluetooth keyboard.

If you can narrow down what you want and how much your spend can be, then it might be easier to provide some ideas.

Gadgets

Thanks for all the input folks. I appreciate I'm not making it easy by being so vague. So let's just say for starters I had 1500 Euro to spend. What kind of system would that sum get me? What components do I need? and what would be nice to have? Also to clarify that while I have yet to get my Sky and broadband connected as I have not yet moved in, they will both connect to the Hub beneath the stairs as do all the Cat 5 cables. So I will be able to put all and sundry out of site. Was contemplating originally putting something like this in place:

http://www.keene.co.uk/electronics/multi.php?mycode=C5QDA

But have definitely been tempted by what I hear about what HTPC has to offer. That said, if there is as much work in setup as suggested in your posts I fear I may have to revert to my original and basic idea. I am willing to learn and I'm sure I would get there, but not sure how long it would take. Is there something out there which would be easily set up, that I could tinker with as I go along and learn the basics? I feel at this point I should point out, I know nothing about graphics cards and TV Tuners. What should I look out for if shopping for these items?

Enough with all the questions you say.......... And you are right. I must seem like a complete fool to those of you in the know on this subject........ But it will hopefully be worth the embarrassment.

Thanks again for the posts so far............

J-blk

Gadgets, an initial budget of €1500 is not a bad start, though expect to spend more in the long run... You'll see that most posters here have advised on a Media Center HTPC (which will be your server) and extenders combinations. My advice would be for you to get just the Media Center PC for now and worry about extenders and everything else later on. The reason is simply that this system will be at the heart of your setup and it's where you will spend most of your time tweaking, etc. What you could do is get a nice HTPC, set it all up as you like, connected to your main TV and use it for about a month, getting a feel for it. If you are then confident enough and happy with things, you could move it out of the living room/bedroom and hide it away, adding some extenders to your setup, to get all the content on your TVs/monitors around the house. However, if you've decided by then that the HTPC route is not for you, you can always sell the system at that point and make some money back, before you invest in even more stuff.

I (and I assume many others here) would self-build a system, but if you are just starting out, you may want to buy a prebuilt system "off-the-shelf". Mediacentre.ie who posted here runs a business supplying prebuilt (take a guess as to what his website is ) and even though I have not personally bought anything off him, I've seen positive feedback here. Plus, the fact that he takes the time to post here and try to help people out with general advice is a major plus in my book.

You can also buy from other online retailers - I use these two a lot:

http://www.komplett.ie

http://www.dabs.ie

Good prices and I've been happy with them but the major con is that if something breaks, you have to post it back to them, which may be a pain.

I would advise against the brick-and-mortar stores like PC World, because they are overpriced and the staff is generally not very helpful (or know their stuff) but the flip side is that if something breaks, it's easier to return to the store.

Where you end up buying is your choice but like I said, you may want to start with the HTPC ONLY for the first few weeks (and you can get away with ~ €1000 for this) and go from there.

mediacentre.ie

most online retailer have to arrange for collection now if something breaks. so returning items should not be an issue (cost wise anyway). refunds may though. by law retailers do not have to issue refunds on customised items. most PC's and HTPC from online retailers are built to order and customised.

if it is never going to be seen then a case like a antec P182 would be a good choice cooling and noise wise. Or a coolermaster cosmos if you want it to be a little more flash.

motherboard would be something with two network connections.
nvidia 680i board are quite cheap now and good value or intel x975. they are also very good value.

proccessor would be a q6600 quad core. they have gone down in pirce.

4 - 8 GB of cheap memory. there is no need for expensive ram.

something like corsair xms2 PC6400 is very well priced.

one problem I would have with a server is the fact that it can't ge used for gaming. that is why I use a htpc under my TV. so I can play PES and GRID, etc @1080p and they look even better than a PS3 with x4AA.

So with a server an expensive graphics card would be a waste.

now the biggest problem you will come accross is which TV tuners.

I would get a 1300 HVR MCE with an IR blaster. to control the set top box.

It aso have DVB-T so when that comes along you can watch irish freeview.

the problem with this and sky+ is the STB has only one output to the TV card so you can only record 1 channel at a time in analog. so sky+ is a bit of a waste.

two with two STB's can be quite tricky because the IR blaster will interfear with the second STB. so if you channel it will change channel on both.

what I would do it go down this route.

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/skymceintegration.html

get two floppyDTV cards and your server can act like the sky+ set top box. it will also work with HD channels like BBC HD and ITV HD in the new FIJI MCE. It will also be fully digital and by pass the STB.

Bare in mind it is quite tricky to setup.