Help with cheap htpc

tap28

Hi,

I'm trying to build a cheap htpc for under €200.

I want BXMC to play films store on my nas via cat5.
I have a copy of windows 7 (somewhere?)
I only need small hard drive because of the nas.

What I would like:
To play up to 1080p
Hdmi and toslink to amp
small form factor
use my harmony remote

Would love to be able to afford a blu ray drive/burner, if not then room to install later.

Thanks,

Tap

Voodu Child

-AMD Fusion mITX board ~€80
-Thermaltake Element Q ~€80
-ram, HDD, optical drive

Close enough to €200 depending on what bits you put in it. Toslink is getting harder to find nowadays.

I run OpenElec on my HTPC, it is a tiny custom-built OS for XBMC. Literally boots in 5 seconds and runs fine off USB drives or flash cards etc. However ATI HW acceleration is still a bit iffy on anything other than Windows. So it might be better to stick with Atom+Ion in that case, even though it is fairly old at this stage.

tap28

Thinking of this setup.

Current content:
ASRock E350M1, integrierte AMD E-350, Mini-ITX

Product Description: ASRock E350M1 - motherboard - mini ITX - AMD Fusion E-350 - AMD A50M
Product Type: Motherboard - mini ITX
Processor: AMD Fusion E-350
Verfügbarkeit: Art-Nr.: HV1130RMDE
87,71 €
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs


2GB DDR3 Crucial Value PC1333 CL9

Product Description: Crucial memory - 2 GB - DIMM 240-pin - DDR3
Storage Capacity: 2 GB
Upgrade Type: Generic
Verfügbarkeit: Art-Nr.: HV20MI05DE
9,28 €
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs


Compucase 8K01BS-SA12U, mini-ITX, 120Watt-Netzteil

Product Description: HEC Compucase 8K01 - desktop - mini ITX
Form Factor: Desktop
Dimensions (WxDxH): 26.8 cm x 31.8 cm x 7 cm
Verfügbarkeit: Art-Nr.: HV203MSIDE
39,77 €
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs


WD Caviar Blue 250GB SATA 3 6Gb/s

Product Description: WD Caviar Blue WD2500AAKX - hard drive - 250 GB - SATA-600
Type: Hard drive - internal
Form Factor: 3.5" x 1/3H
Verfügbarkeit: Art-Nr.: HV13W2BCDE
32,12 €
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs

168,88 €

Will it do the job?
What am I missing?

Thanks

Tap

Voodu Child

Looks fine.

Just be aware you're limiting yourself to slim optical drives in the future; they're a little more expensive, especially Bluray. But that's the case with most small-size chassis anyway.

tap28

Hi, would it be possible to put in a ssd instead of the one in that package?

Tap

Voodu Child

You'd need to have a look at the inside of the case to see if there's an actual 2.5" mounting point.

But even if there wasn't you could just shove the 2.5" drive loose wherever it fit, or tape it to the wall etc.

tap28

Hi,
Back again. I trying to compare a two built htpc's. One from amazon.de and the other from hardwareversand.de

Hardwareversand.de
My basket
HV13SGB5DE Seagate Barracuda Green 7200.12 500GB SATA 3 6GB/s
ready for dispatch (discontinued line) €33,87

HV203R09DE 3R Systems Design Gehäuse V20 MiniITX Black ohne Netzteil
ready for dispatch €22,74

HVZPCDE Rechner - Zusammenbau
ready for dispatch €20.00

HV20CO41DE 4GB Corsair Valueselect DDR3-1333 CL9
ready for dispatch €19,01

HV1130RMDE ASRock E350M1, integrierte AMD E-350, Mini-ITX
ready for dispatch €87,71

HV207BN5DE LG GH22NS50/70 bare schwarz
ready for dispatch €16,68

HVR350XDE Xilence Power 350 Watt
ready for dispatch €22,63

Cost €222.64
Delivery €30
Total €252.64

Amazon.de
http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B005UVQC24/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A28RX9DN6RSJHX
Cost €226.43
Delivery €25.00
Total €251.43

What do ye think?

Tap

tap28

Last night I went and ordered this set-up from hardwareversand.de

4GB-Kit DDR3 Crucial Value PC1333 CL9 €21,08
ASRock E350M1/USB3, integrierte AMD E-350, Mini-ITX €92,81
Chieftec BT-02B, 180W SFX, Mini-ITX €45,52
LG BH10LS30 Blu-Ray Brenner bulk €70,80
OCZ Vertex Plus 60GB SSD SATA 6,4cm (2,5") €58,74 €
Serial ATA Kabel DB-154242 0,3M, 1 Anschl.90° abgewinkelt €1.49

Can anyone recommend:
An IR receiver that will work with my harmony 885 and xbmc.
wireless key board and mouse
Copy of windows 7
a programme for copying blu rays to my nas

Thanks

Tap

Voodu Child

tap28 wrote: »

a programme for copying blu rays to my nas

I use MakeMKV, it rips the main video and audio streams(you can pick what audio streams, subtitles etc you want) and puts them in a MKV container. No encoding or anything, exact same quality just in a single MKV file.

Its in beta, each version works a couple of months then you have to upgrade to the next one. It'll probably be a paid app eventually but at the moment it's free and works fine with Bluray and DVD.

Obviously if that's too big for you, then you can go and re-encode it down with Handbrake or MeGUI or similar.

slave1

tap28 wrote: »

Copy of windows 7

software4students ~€45

BionicRasher

Voodu Child wrote: »

I run OpenElec on my HTPC, it is a tiny custom-built OS for XBMC. Literally boots in 5 seconds and runs fine off USB drives or flash cards etc.

Question on OpenELEC
it runs from a USB drive - yes?
Can I set it up to boot in to either OpenELEC or Windows depending on what I want to do with the PC? (PC is sometimes used by the family as our regular PC and we don't always want to go straight in to a Media Centre)

Thanks

Voodu Child

It runs from whatever you install it to. HDD, a USB thumbdrive, SDHC card...any bootable drive in your computer.

You can dual boot it with Windows. I havent done it myself, its one of those linux things with grub etc. There is instructions on the site.

If you've got Windows on your HTPC then it'd be easier just to run XBMC inside Windows.

theduffer

If you installed the Open Elec on a SD card, and you have windows on an internal HD, is it possible for Open Elec to play MKV's that are hosted inside the Windows OS? getting my first HTPC soon and swaying for OpenElec as the OS and windows when required to surf the net etc...

Carter P Fly

if you have your first boot device to be a USB key then it should boot to this if the key is in and normal windows when its not.

tuxy

Voodu Child wrote: »

You'd need to have a look at the inside of the case to see if there's an actual 2.5" mounting point.

But even if there wasn't you could just shove the 2.5" drive loose wherever it fit, or tape it to the wall etc.

SSD are available in 3.5" also

http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=50399&agid=1146

tap28

Just a quick follow up:

I built the HTPC (god bless youtube)
Connected it to my TV and amp
Connected it to my nas via cat5
Installed XBMC
Installed hp IR receiver, added htpc to my harmony remote.

Everything is working great could not be happier.

Total cost €340

ps does any one know of a good wireless slim keyboard and mouse that will work upto 3 meters from the HTPC?

slave1

I used a lot of keyboards over the years and the best (and current one) is a Targa (Lidl) with a small trackpad, they come up every year or so (usually around the end of the year) and cost about €40, mine works perfectly at 20feet and I use every day.

tap28

Thanks, will keep a look out for one.