I built my HTPC a year ago from my old P4 rig.....its a poor man htpc with full capability.

as for the remote, i made the home brew IR receiver and using Girder software (very powerful remote solfware, can do anything that you can think of). actually if you invest in the hauppauge pvr150, then you use girder to control the ir receiver/blaster c/w pvr150, then you have the full function remote.

silverstone casing is very costly, at least to me . i have a custum htpc casing modified from tower casing. DIY lcd 40x4 for display.

i'm using Sagetv for frontend. a highly customisable PVR + Media center solfware . the easy wayout is to install windows XP MCE 2005 os and buy hauppauge 150MCE edition with come with MCE Remote and receiver.

using fx5200 gfx card(budget issue) via svideo to my 29 in TV. S/pdif out from my asus mobo to my yamaha receiver. DTS, AC3 or pcm depending on the source file.
I got few HD 720p and 1080i movies through BT (china) and it run smoothly on my 2.4 rig.... this rig cost me less than RM1600.....cool huh ?

ihave another HTPC (P3 rig, cost me less than RM300 as i bought all the parts in lelong) in my room as extender, runing sagetv client which is a client of the sagetv in my main rig via wifi. of course it can't play HD files with the P3.......

you may notice 1 thing is missing.... I WANT MY LCD TV!!!!! I'm eyeing on AMOI 37" LCD tv with native resolution 1920x1080 and it supports 1080p . you may ask "AMOI"??? yeah it's china brand but with its spec and the price of sub RM7K....can't beat it! any how the price tag is still far from my reach......

one thing for sure, there are not many htpc kakis around.........

1 word, OVERPRICE

but i heard that they (if not, techdos) got the EPG working for astro with MCE.... i wonder what's the net address to download the EPG......

How's your htpc project? mind to share your setup?

yeah heard of media portal as well but have not try though....where to download?

as i mentioned before, i use sagetv with hauppauge pvr150 have you tried before?. i tried before meedio but not to my liking...

about EPG, any idea?

Sage tv is quite fun to use as there are many customisations like special features, UI, prefered audio/video decoder and renderer. Much more flexible than MCE. Due to the facts that i'm still using CRT TV, i did not use the ffdshow to resize (upscale) to HDTV resolution.

as for the EPG, the problem is we have no programe source schedule (not sure if there is any), how to generate xmltv?

going through ur setup....... what's the diaplay u use? with HDTV Component, i assume your display does not have DVI or HDMI. aren't you need to rezise the video frames to have proper HDTV resolution to match your component out signal? I've no experience yet with HDTV out as i i'm still using CRT......

if your on board sound do not have s/pdif, then you could only hook to your denon by 6ch/8ch analogue in. have to rely on DTS, DD solfware decoder. to me i'm satisfy with my on board digital out, connected to my Yamaha to do the decoding. really envy moonguy's DTS/DD Encoder.....

not much info on the web site.....

sevendogz,

i think is good to keep this thread alive....

did anyone have done 1:1 pixel mapping via DVI to HDMI LCD TV??
I'm currently hunting for >= 37" LCD TV that can do so.....

it will be great for HTPC to go online....

I heard none of the LCD TV with 1366x768 can do this, 1920x1080 LCD should be able to but i've yet to try out. I've just bought DVI to HDMI cable and planning to try out at the electrical shop for my hunting adventure....

what is the minimum HW requirement to run ffdshow to resize to 1080i/p, NR adn some others PQ enhancement to have smooth playback without tearing/ frame drop??

my P4 2.4 with fx5200 sux.....

planning to get s939 MB with 6150 built in. anyone have experience int his type of setup?

here you go...

http://www.htpc-gear.com/shop/product_info...f6b63f1bd3ae08c

this is the nearest from here to buy online...... not all ATI card support though

no go with VGA?? do you mean that the VGA on your TV does not take 1920x1080?
no DVI on your TV i sppose...how about HDMI? you may try DVI to HDMI cable.

both HDMI and component wont show clear text on TV though unless your TV native resolution is 1280x720 or 1920x1080.

I read before in one of the HWM reporting that our local Techdos Media Center manage to get the astro EPG on their system. if this is true in MCE and i believe it could be available for 3rd patry PVR programes. if you find out please do let me know....

Well, what you need is just a remote IR receiver, gfx card or mobo with S- video (for crt TV) and a PC of course.... these are pretty much simple but the real pain is at the solfwares......

RM 1.5K machine can even run 1080i HD material already.
cheap cheap
sempron 2600+ less than 300
1 Gig Ram 300
mATX mobo with nvindia 6100 or 6150 gfx built in (c/w S-Video, DVI, Component ) less than 350
HDD 200 GB less than 300

all the above is about RM1.2K, balance 300 for other stuffs like low profile (since none of the pci/ pcie will be used) casing (dun expect nice casing though).......

not to forget, homebrew serial IR receiver for less than RM 30.

but i did not factor in all the solfwares cost...and i dun think you gonna spend a fortune on that.....

i hope it helps.

in MCE
1. u need the remote to fast forward or ctrl+f on key board to do so. mouse click does not work
2. next/ previous file in picture can be done with the arrow keys on keyboard.

it should work...... try to google for keyboard command for MCE functions.

time to upgrade

anyone insterested in this Silverstone LC-14M case???

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc14m.htm

we may start a MO to keep the price lo..... Robyncom sold before at 1.2K........drool

guys,

i'm thinking to set up another HTPC.

Considering Athlon 64 or AM2......... which one is the more sensible choice?

I've just bought this casing complete with 16x2 VFD and remote receiver and controller. But i don't reccomend this to MCE user...... bye bye silverstone!


http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?LT=e...M%20Media%20260

thanks dude....
A64 is kinda cheap at this moment........ what's the main advantage of AM2 besides DDR2 for HTPC point of view?

the case is still untouched as i do not have time.... got 2 kids at home and the mother too.....

1. bought it from Just PC @ Imbi. come bundle with Multimedia Value Pack- VFD & Remote. i didn't intentionally look for this case as i was dreaming for Silverstone or Zalman. just so happened to bump into this CM while waiting for my appointment @ BB area. kinda impulsive purchase since it's half of the Silverstone price and i'have read this casing sometime ago but couldn't find it.

2. the remote control is an IMON OEM. to work with MCE is not straight forward unless u wanna spand some time to program and some research.... not easy for those not into tweaking with some hair-pulling action.... might as well get a MCE remote/receiver.

3. the case come with PCIe and PCI (2 slots)risers as standard.

4. when you try to court a pretty gal and you know that she may potentially to be a noisy one, you wouldn't care taht much just to get hold of her........after you have "tried" her then you will start thinking whether you wanna live with it, or to make her quiet or to ditch her....LOL

5. Slot it into the PCI riser....kekekeke can even use 2 tuners....

yup, 16 x 2lines

paid RM590 for that. add a cheapo 3.5" card reader that fits the slot for RM35.

i have the s/pdif built in on my asus mobo connected to my yamaha receiver and hence i don't need sound card....

i'll leave 1 of the pci slot emty to increase the space between my pasive cooled gfx card and the hauppauge 150.

This post has been edited by ryansia: Jun 30 2006, 10:25 AM