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Home Theatre PC Guide
Greg Ridder writes "For those of you who are interested in possibly putting together a Home Theatre or Media PC, I stumbled upon an excellent guide. It discusses basic hardware requirements, four software choices (BeyondTV, SageTV, MCE2005 and MythTV), controlling your cable or satellite set-top box and much more. Based on the research that I've done in the past, this is the most comprehensive guide that I've seen to date."
Here.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
our favorite windows based yet open source HTPC app, http://mediaportal.sf.net/
Get a Whirley Pop. They rock.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Build Your Own PVR and DVBn are also good resources if you are looking to build an HTPC
This seems awfully complicated to hook your PC into your computer. I have an ATI All in wonder video card that took about 5 mins to install, cost maybe 100 dollars more and has most of the functionality that this guy's setup has.
Top 10 Reasons To Procrastinate
10.
I'd build one for you for a cost plus arrangement. Email me and let me know what you would be interested in. littlejohn86 (at) gmail no spam dot com
If you have a Windows license sitting around somewhere, you should try Media Portal. It's terrifically plug and play, and although it's slightly (and only slightly) less well featured than MythTV, the ease of setup more than compensates for it.
There is a guide much like this already, and that has been around for some time and is still updated regularly that is Linux oriented (The Linux HTPC Howto). The information regarding how DD/DTS work and what soundcard to pick and how to get HDTV working quickly was very useful to me.
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You do realize she was talking about the shortcomings of a VCR had when she used that example. She used a dated example for dated tech.
You have one choice (under Linux, anyway). The PCTV card.
Everything else available in North America will be post-broadcast flag, and so will be crippled.
here
Here is my personal final thoughts on MythTV vs BeyondTV.
MythTV != Novice.
I could never get a season pass to work, never did record "quite right", never got the thing to run smooth, never got the parsing of the xml guides fully automated, Hardware problems with ATI AIW cards. Fix was available, but messy.
BeyondTV = Simply Works.
It worked out of the box, I could access it anywhere in the world via web and record at home, had "season pass", no messing with xml converters, scripts etc. It just works on my hardware (ATI9700 AIW)smooth and simple. I can stream out the shows all over my network and have never regretted purchasing it.
So? In the end I paid the $50.00 to get a TIVO like service on my PC via Snapstream's BeyondTV. It's not as flexible or customizable as MythTV, but for it's specific purpose it wins hands down.
Don't get me wrong, while the 4 weeks spent aggrivated with MythTV was worth it just for the fun, I'm just not enough of a Nerd to keep at it and I paid to have something that was reasonable priced, and worked.
Yo Grark
Canadian Bred with American Buttering
I'm working on CenterStage, and I think the parent is not as "Interesting" as the mods would have us believe. His media center itself would be "interesting", because we haven't implemented anything but the most basic of functions in CenterStage yet, and it's currently still in alpha 0.1. So unless you'd like to just be able to watch movies full-screen, which it can do, you might want to wait a while.
Help a college student
I also did a comparison, and since I am too goddam busy reviewing copy machines at the moment, I will just weigh in:
Best computer for the job: an intel with a cool-running CPU and fan. Dell 400SC's, if you can find them, are whisper quiet and perfect for the job.
Best card for the job: ATI or Nvidia, yada, yada. The TV card is what you care about. Hauppauge is the rage, and they just came out with a dual-tuner card (ostensibly only for MCE, but if you believe that I've got a Mac to sell you)
Best remote for the job: Snapstream's Firefly. Yeah, $50 is pricy, but, let's admit it: we're trying to make somethings as good as Tivo and this remote is the only one that does it. Remember that awesome Tivo IR blaster? Firefly is RF, baby, and you can edit XML to set up functions.
Best software for the job: BeyondTV. I tried Sage, Myth, even GB-PVR (don't get me started...it's good and free, but man is that shit finicky - release the SOURCE!!!). Anyway, BeyondTV is incredible, bullet-proof, supports two tuners out of the box, integrates with Firefly, and I got it for $50. Almost Tivo.
Best keyboard for the job: Definitely, definitely, the BTC 9019URF. It has a built-in joystick, handles, etc., and killer range.
There you have it!
A friend and I priced it out once.
It is VERY difficult to make a PC for less than $500. We were, of course, using Shuttles or Shuttle clones (Aopen XC Cubes, actually). Anything bigger does not fit in an entertainment center.
Case/mobo = $200
CPU = $100
RAM = $50
CD/DVD = $50
120gb hard drive = $100
Add another $150 for a PVR card and you've broken most budgets. Consumers won't pay $800 for a VCR.
We did offer to turn old PCs into VCRs for some friends. Basicly, they were upgrading and we took the old shit and dropped in a PVR and Linux. These went OK, but still took a LOT of tweaking.
On top of all that, MythTV is a bear ro set up. We are on an unlisted cable network unwilling to provide listings in XML format. It was impossible to make MythTV just record evert Thursday at 9pm. That's basic functionality in my book. Sorely lacking.
I've been assured that Myth works flawless on listed networks.
In any event, you're looking at $800~$1000 per MythTV box. No way to make a good model around that.
I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.
I recently built a new computer-based home theater system, and in researching my options I found that a hacked X-Box or a Mac mini both present superior solutions to anything officially in the "HTPC" market. (IMHO, YMMV, yeah yeah yeah.)
I chose to go with the Mac mini solution, and will be submitting a review of the pros and cons of going the route I went (warts and all) in the near future over at modmini.com
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
While I must admit that I'm new to the whole built-it-yourself PVR box scene, I started off by buying myself a stand alone TV card, just to see what kind of quality I'd get, and also because I couldn't find a standalone box that was open enough.
I chose the Nebula DigiTV card, and I have to say, I cannot recommend it enough. 110UKP gets you a PCI card, remote and a bundle of good software that covers pretty much everything - including letting your PC become a TV server on a network. The best bit about the card though... It's got a built in Freeview decoder.
Yup, the quality of the recordings is absolutely amazing - read cable quality - and the PVR software easy to use and if you don't have any special requirements it could be the only software you need.
All in all, incredibly chuffed - especially after some lacklustre forays into more mainstream TV cards a few years ago. Now all I have to do is build another PC to put it all in.
What makes this comment funny is not that it's funny, but that it was modded "insightful".
Made specially for DVRs. Maxtor makes them. This site sells them.
http://www.weaknees.com/
Actually I've seen pre-built mythtv boxes around for a while now...
Here are some examples...The pre-built ones that I've seen are a little too expensive for my taste. You can get a Tivo and a lifetime subscription as well as have a bunch of money left over for the price of some of the pre-built mythtv boxes. I built my own mythtv for the following reasons:
a) I wanted a PVR
b) I wanted to learn more about the inner workings of the linux Os.
c) For the sheer pleasure of saying that I built it myself.
Granted, it took me months before I had a stable box with all of the features that I wanted, but I learned A LOT. If you are only looking for reason a, then save yourself a bunch of time/headaches and buy a Tivo.
What are the best HDTV capture cards, for Over the Air or for backside-of-the-cable/satelite-box? The article only touches on this, but it will be of greater concern for the home enthusiast/hacker in the next two years.
"Best" depends on what you're using to watch TV. For MCE, the FusionHD or ATI HDTV Wonder work equally well (if you want QAM tuning of non-encrypted cable signals, you want a FusionHD). For "backside of the cable box" you may as well just do firewire capture - providing a box that supports this is an FCC requirement now; your cable provider has to give you one if you ask.
Keep in mind you have to also have an analog tuner for MCE, even if you don't use it. (Most people will want one, though, unless they want to be stuck with only 12 or 13 channels, some of which don't even broadcast all the time.)
If you're not using MCE, then the MyHD line of cards is probably best - they do hardware MPEG2 decoding (note I said decoding - unlike analog capture cards, all an HDTV card needs to do when capturing is stream the digital TV signal to the hard drive). They can be finnicky to set up, though, and you don't want to buy one if you have MCE because hardware decoding is not supported in MCE.
Well an Asus Pundit would work very well. it includes TV out. A microATX system can be used as well. There are many microATX boxes that are about the size of a Stereo Receiver.
Here is one specced out with a Pundit for $463. A Different one with MicroATX and an Athlon64 for $508. The Pundit is actually $10 more expensive but the other system has higher end features. Add $10 for a Serial IR receiver/Transmitter if you need that. Some TV capture cards have remotes that work in Linux and some don't. Cheaper than your estimates- about the same as a Tivo+DVDrecorder. If you build yourself.
If someone really wants me to build them a MythTV box, email me and we can work something out.
Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life
When I first started building my own back in '95 I always used a grounding strap. It's been 9 years since I've used one, I've build about three systems are year, and I've not had one problem.
I equate the grounding strap to be more of a lucky charm than utilitarian.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
My company at www.scronline.com builds the box for you. If you're close enough we will even bring it to your home, set it up, and show you the basics of how to use it. These are custom built boxes, and we do more than just these, but this seemed like a good time to plug my company. :)
Depending on the situation, we will use either linux or windows for the OS, but we do tend to lean towards windows for this particular application.
Get a heavy bottom pot. Add 2 tbsp oil (aids in heat transfer). Pour in enough kernels to cover bottom of pot. Crank heat to medium high. Now the important part...KEEP LID OFF AND STIR. Keep stirring the kernels and they will all more or less reach popping temperature at the same time. Once the first kernel pops put the lid on and shake. When the popping slows down take pot off the heat, add fat and salt to taste and enjoy. Do it this way and damn near every kernel will pop and none of the popcorn will be burnt.
None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
You can replace the mobo, case+ps, and video card with a slick-looking ASUS Pundit for the same price.
My setup is as follow:
1- P4-2.4ghz on Asus P4C800 Deluxe mobo
2- 4x 250gb Hard disk (2 on ata-100 and 2 on ata- 133. 3 of those drive are in a stripe set.
3- 2x Osprey-210 capture card
4- 1x Audigy-2 soundcard
I use VirtualDVR to schedule my show and use Virtualdub for capture. With this setup I can capture 2 show at the same time (each capture card use only about 16% of CPU each at 720x480 29.97 fps with 187kb/48khz sound compressed with Huffyuv).
With this setup I can capture in barely compress editable avi (I use Huffyuv for compression). I then cut out the publicity spot (cleanly since it's frame by frame editable)and then either convert them to divx or to dvd. With the disk space I have I can capture about +/- 20 hours of huffyuv compressed video.
I tried MythTV and BeyondTV but I wasn't satisfied with either. I wasn't impressed by the mpeg2 capture card out there and I tried quite a few before finding the Osprey-210. I even bought the Hauppauge PVR-350 and didn't like the quality of it's encoding.
Remember... A boomerang IS NOT the best way to deliver a bomb.
MythTV now has (of the last few months, I think) manual recording. I set it to record every Mon night on Lifetime for my wife.
Where have you been living?
Look at the Silverstone web site for example
realkiwi
Noise Matters! Especially in the lounge. And double-especially if you will be leaving it on 24x7 or watching DVDs or playing some gentle music.
Here's my recommendation (from experience folks - I have done this and been very happy with the results):
Option 1
A quiet PC built around a fanless VIA EPIA mobo, plus external power supply + quiet (and large) Samsung or seagate HDD and quiet Samsung DVD.
Option 2
A diskless, fanless PC booting from a flash card, plus a quiet optical drive. This is the MythTV front end. Then put a large, cheap PC elsewhere in the house. That is the server. Front end plays recordings and live TV delivered from the server.
I use option 1, and put it in an HTPC case so it looks just right beside the amp.
A measure of success is that the S.O asked me to get more disk space because we record so much stuff (kids programs mainly). I've just added another 400G :-). We went away for 2 weeks and came back to every episode of ER, CSI*, and The Magic School Bus you could ever want.
Honestly - you guys are all talking about putting big drives in a tower, or having P4's vs encoders, blah blah blah. When you finally get your system up and running you are going to have a loud hum, a whine, lots of clicks and occasional buzzes when watching tv or movies or listening to music.
Noise makes a difference. Design for noise first. As many people have pointed out, any old PC can be a myth box. Any old grunty PC can be a MCE box. Thats easy. To have one that you want to share your living room with? Thats another matter.
Here's a test - put your P4 home PC in your living room and then watch a DVD. Notice the noise? I sure did.
Best choice I made was designing around noise first, heat second (because of reducing noise) and then CPU power/memory/HDD size third. Trust me, you wont regret it.
So what can you do...