home media help

THE_NIK

Hi thanks in advance for your help and suggestions. I am struggleing to find something that meets my needs and i do not fully understand the terminolgy and limitations of this tech, can someone please help me.



I wish to purchase a box that will plug into my TV and my sound system.

It needs to have scart and hdmi.

It will need to be able to play media from network and usb drives.

It needs to have a music player as I have a lot of music and I want it organise.

I need a remote to browse music and media

It would be great if it had I decent hard drive in it and would be even better if it had wireless LAN access so there is no leads going from my router to my TV

ideally this product will allow me to browse and download content from the internet and also watch streaming web content

THE_NIK

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meep

Hi there.

I'm sure others will chime in with examples of individual boxes that will do some or all of the above. However, I tend to favour using full pcs for such solutions as they are by far the most flexible and configurable.

As a starting point, check out mini pcs from zotac, designed especially for this kind of thing.

http://www.zotac.com/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=75&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=100167&lang=en

By the way, why the scart requirement if you also specify hdmi?

Peter

THE_NIK

i have an analogue tv at the moment. i will be upgrading after christmas but i still want the option for another room in the house.

THE_NIK

i dont mind building one. i don't know what spec equipment to buy. i saw this

http://colorcv.info/acer-aspire-revo-r3610-desktop-electronics_p4217.html?offer_id=B004HNKPWY

but i don't think it has room for expansion so scart would be out.

i will be using it for music as well. i have 5.1 but i am thinking of buying some high end stereo speakers instead. The room isn't designed well for surround.

if i bought a second hand pc like one of these added a wireless card.

http://www.adverts.ie/desktops/dell-optiplex-210l-1gb-2-66-ghz-with-usb-keyboard-usb-mouse/2312115
http://www.adverts.ie/desktops/hp-tower-desktop-2-4ghz-512mb-40-to-80gb-cd-xp-ready-to-go/1512787

and added this video card

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/nvidia/80006957/asus_geforce_engt610_sl_1gd3_l_1gb_pci_e/details.aspx

and this sound card

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/sound_cards/20066540/asus_xonar_dg_24_bits_96_khz/details.aspx

it would be a good job. what about noise would a pc be very noisy.

are any streaming applications good at web browsing.

THE_NIK

another thing could i pipe my sky box through this set-up. i was thinking i would do the job properly the first time and buy a Mini Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard with a Mouse Touchpad.

meep

you are embarking on an interesting and frustrating journey but one which will ultimately be rewarding.

I've been building HTPCs for about 10 years now and still don't have it right!

(check out my blog at mediaserver8.blogspot.ie for recent stuff I've been up to!)

Also, start reading this form and HTPC forums at avsforums.com, avforums.co.uk and I'm sure a myriad of other places as well.

You have correctly identified noise as a key adversary. I would never start with a bog standard machine such as those you link to - they are simply too noisy.

Noise comes from several principal areas;

1. Power Supply Unit
2. CPU & chipset Cooler
3. Graphics Card Cooler
4. Case Cooling (fans)
5. Hard Drives
6. Optical Drives

In the worst case scenario, all of the above have fast, nise air-cooling systems running at different speeds and generating noise at different levels and frequencies - essentially a mess.

You can mitigate or eliminate the above issues in a number of ways;

1. PSU Noise
Purchase a quiet PSU which will have large, slow turning fans or thermal controls. Alternatively, purchase a mini-pc with an external 'brick' power supply (like a laptop)

2. CPU Noise
Never use stock CPU fans but replace them with large/quiet/efficient fans. Use motherboard or add-on fan controllers to regulate fan speed according to temperature. Investigate water-cooling solutions many of which can eliminate fans altogether (and facilitate better performance through CPU overclocking)

3. Graphics Cards
Go for graphics cards with fanless heatsinks if possible. These are silent. If this is not an option, there are software utilities available that will help regulate video card fan speed. Underclocking your card to generate less heat is also an option.

4. Case Cooling
Install the largest diameter, quietest fans your case will support, ensure you have logical airflow (all fans directing air in the same direction). Install fan controllers or fan voltage regulators to slow done rotation speed.

5. Hard drives silencing
Install hard drives on noise-isolating rubber mounts. Choose quiet hard drives (I have a couple of seagate barracudas that sound like tractors - not good!). Chose solid state storage to eliminate hard drive noise altogether and improve performance!

6. Optical Drives
Choose dvd/blu-rays drives rated for quiet running. Don't use optical drives for playback and instead rip media to hard drive storage.


That's a quick & dirty summary and I'm sure others will have different or even conflicting advice. It's a bit like that!

Of course, the above doesn't come cheap! Have a look at http://quietpc.ie/ to get an idea of all the different components that are available , costs etc.

It's good to plan this stuff in advance and ask advice to avoid costly mistakes (see my current adverts listing for a ton of ex-htpc motherboards and stuff that I've bought, installed and decommissioned over the years. I dread to think how much money I've sunk into this!)

I'm still not convinced scart is something you should be considering as you'll need some kind of adapter and your resolution will be limited to SD. Does your TV have an s-video in? Even that would allow you find an old TV graphics card?

Good luck!

Peter

THE_NIK

i could remove the stock psu and replace with something like this XG MAGNUM. i don't plan to use an optical drive. The only reason i use one at the moment is to view content that i burnt from my mac.

Would the two cards i posted be suitable. i can see the fan is removable on the video card so i could probably get rid of that

If the psu was out of the case heat would be reduced significantly. would a good replacement fan be sufficient to cool the video card.

i plan to have my hard drives attached through network so big old dirty tractors would be ok.

thanks

degsie

I thought you needed to connect to scart? The graphics card you posted has DVI & VGA but no composite video, as far as I can tell.

THE_NIK

vga - scart adaptor