What components to use?

C14N

Hi, I'm going to say right now that I'm a HTPC nub so try to bear with me.

Now I'm looking to buy a HTPC soon because I'm getting my living room re-designed and I'll be getting a new telly and surround sound system. What I don't know is what parts to get for a HTPC.

I want to be able to play Blu-ray movies is the main thing, stuff like music and pictures can be done easily enough.

I'm stuck for what parts to get though, mainly case and mainboard. I've built a desktop PC before so I'm sure I could do the same with a HTPC but if anywhere has reasonably priced pre-built ones I'd be happy. My budget is less than €700 for just the computer.

I was thinking of buying from hardwareversand and getting a 500gb HDD and 2gb RAM and a dual core CPU and maybe a Radeon 3850 (they're going for only €58 on HVS). Any recomendations?

Edit: I'd also like to know what exactly TV tuner cards do and if they're worth getting.

bazwaldo

Take a look at the post your setup thread. Loads of examples there.

Best thing to do is pick your case. Antec Fusion is very popular but means you'll have to get a micro atx mobo. Not a problem for a HTPC. Thats what I have.

komplett, dabs, ebuyer are all good for buying stuff off.

TV tuner cards are required for playing and recording TV. Depending on whether you have analogue, dvb-s/dvb-t, sky, ntl/upc depends what card(s) you'll need.

For Vista Media Center, you need a card that encodes mpg2 via the card. Most cards do this and probably most media centers require this but I have only used Windows Media Center and never Linux based ones.

If recording TV, 500Gb is a minimum. 4gb per hour with high quality. 2gb ram is fine too.

C14N

bazwaldo wrote: »

Take a look at the post your setup thread. Loads of examples there.

Best thing to do is pick your case. Antec Fusion is very popular but means you'll have to get a micro atx mobo. Not a problem for a HTPC. Thats what I have.

komplett, dabs, ebuyer are all good for buying stuff off.

TV tuner cards are required for playing and recording TV. Depending on whether you have analogue, dvb-s/dvb-t, sky, ntl/upc depends what card(s) you'll need.

For Vista Media Center, you need a card that encodes mpg2 via the card. Most cards do this and probably most media centers require this but I have only used Windows Media Center and never Linux based ones.

If recording TV, 500Gb is a minimum. 4gb per hour with high quality. 2gb ram is fine too.

Okay thanks. I'm still not sure about TV Tuner cards though. I have a Sky+ Box exactly where I'll put this. Does this mean with the right card I can do away with it and record stuff straight to the HDD?

bazwaldo

Yeah, but it depends on what your source for the card will be.

Direct from satellite = dvb-s which will give FTA channels
There is a way to use your sky card with some other PC card - search the forum for details.
From a sky box - take the AV out and thats your input to your card.

TV on Vista can record, series link, play, pause live, rewind....

C14N

bazwaldo wrote: »

Yeah, but it depends on what your source for the card will be.

Direct from satellite = dvb-s which will give FTA channels
There is a way to use your sky card with some other PC card - search the forum for details.
From a sky box - take the AV out and thats your input to your card.

TV on Vista can record, series link, play, pause live, rewind....

When you say FTA I assume that only includes channels like BBC, RTE, ITV etc and not stuff like Sky One?

Oh and does it really matter what case you choose or is it more a personal taste thing? Are there any disadvantages to using a Micro ATX mobo? Like will it still fit a good sized graphics card and RAM and yadda yadda?

Last thing, can I post a proposed setup in the Setup Thread? I know it's fairly tight with minimal chitchat so I didn't want to ask there.

spartacus93

C14N wrote: »

When you say FTA I assume that only includes channels like BBC, RTE, ITV etc and not stuff like Sky One?

Oh and does it really matter what case you choose or is it more a personal taste thing? Are there any disadvantages to using a Micro ATX mobo? Like will it still fit a good sized graphics card and RAM and yadda yadda?

Last thing, can I post a proposed setup in the Setup Thread? I know it's fairly tight with minimal chitchat so I didn't want to ask there.

You're correct about FTA... The easiest way is to connect your sky box to a tv card using a scart to 3RCA cable. The windows media centre remote can be set to change channel on your sky box using an IR blaster. You'll be using the EPG etc., that is included in Vista Media Centre. It works quite well. Using a TV card that can take your sky card and decode all the channels without need for the sky box is a great setup, but requires a lot of setup and is more expensive. I haven't got a chance to try it yet so I won't comment much on it.

mAtx is fine, have a look at my post in the setup thread. I'm using an Antec Fusion 430 case, great case, great design. I'd go for a 1Tb HD, after coming down a lot in price. mAtx can still handle decent graphics and plenty or RAM.

Keep the proposed setup to this thread and when you've it all sorted out post your setup in the setup thread to help others out.

C14N

spartacus93 wrote: »

You're correct about FTA... The easiest way is to connect your sky box to a tv card using a scart to 3RCA cable. The windows media centre remote can be set to change channel on your sky box using an IR blaster. You'll be using the EPG etc., that is included in Vista Media Centre. It works quite well. Using a TV card that can take your sky card and decode all the channels without need for the sky box is a great setup, but requires a lot of setup and is more expensive. I haven't got a chance to try it yet so I won't comment much on it.

mAtx is fine, have a look at my post in the setup thread. I'm using an Antec Fusion 430 case, great case, great design. I'd go for a 1Tb HD, after coming down a lot in price. mAtx can still handle decent graphics and plenty or RAM.

Keep the proposed setup to this thread and when you've it all sorted out post your setup in the setup thread to help others out.

I'll throw a few more things up tomorrow when I get time but for now, would this mainboard be okay for most stuff? I'd say I wouldn't go much further than Blu-ray or maybe the occasional LAN game like Team Fortress 2.