Htpc

I want to build a HTPC and I would like to know what kind of hardware I will need to build it. I know I will need Windows XP: Media Center Edition. I presume I will need something along the lines of a TV card but I don't know the specifics. I would like to be able to do TiVo style pause and rewind if possible, but mainly recording TV programs, as well as managing dvd's and audio cd's. All suggestions are appreciated. Thanks for your help!

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Ok, no one answers you. I will. for one build idea, see my sig: Mini-HTPC or something similar to what I describe below, then see Captain Slugs Project Remora in the Project Logs, Excellent work!

My experience: I have built several and now take the easy route (too many TV's). I know mine is not done yet but it is operational at the time.

To max your capability, you will need a mobo and processor of at LEAST 1.8Ghz. You probably could get by with something less, but it is not recommended.
next things- minimum required hardware:
Any case will do, but most people want something attractive and blends with the furniture.
256Mb Ram, best is 512Mb or 1GB
DVD Rom
TV Card - WinTV-PVR-150MCE or WinTV-PVR-250MCE, either one is good, there are several at http://www.hauppage.com/Pages/prods_pvrs.html#MCE. As long as you get one with hardware encoding your are good as gold.(Edit: Newegg usually sells them Cheaper) nearly everything at Hauppage will work with any good Media front end you want to use
Video card - My preference is Nvidia video cards with TV-out and minimum 128Mb RAM. you dont have to have the biggest fanciest for TV out unless you have Hi-def, then you will need to change some hardware.
I have one set up that way but don't expect to use a monitor and TV unless the specs & drivers will allow. Most of the time you get one or the other
Last and probably most important. Storage. I use anything over 160GB for recording and storage. I Recommend is 250Mb.
a Really Good PSU, 480W or better, and an OS.
I use Windows 2000 on everything and for Television functionality, I have Snapstream (not a free software). there are many out there. Nearly all of them are listed with Hauppage with their Media Center Edition TV cards.

If you have any questions on this feel free to PM me, I may be a couple of hours to answer, but I am almost always around. (no kidding-like a Ninja Stealth Forum Freak)

Thanks for the response I will take a look at the references you provided. Any others who have input and suggestions feel free to add!

Well, yo don't really need to buy yet another copy of windows. The fact is that MS would love that but there are alternatives out there. I have been thinking of the same project for a while now (I need to buy a graphics card to combine with the other harware that I am saving from an old computer for the purpose). From lurking around here for a while, I found MythTV that looks like a project that I could probably handle.

http://www.mythtv.org/

My HTPC

XP-M 2500+
Abit NF7-S (sound storm has digital)
ATI AIW 9600XT w/ Remote Wonder 2
512mb of memory
250gb Maxtor drive
DVD/CDRW
PCI Wireless Networking card

Right now im using windows but thats only temporary, i will switch to linux when i finaly put it in my living room, i just like being able to work on my computer and watch TV at the same time too much Its easy when you have 24" WS to work with.

Yeah, with the right software, you can use regular WinXP or even Win2k. If you don't have an All-In-Wonder vid card, you'll need a TV tuner card. I have a cheap Leadtek TV2000XP.

My suggestion. Build a nomral setup. Nothing powerfull. Maybe a 1.2 ghz Athlon or higher, 256 megs of ram. Get a video card with TV out(recommend volari v3 as they are cheap and have the BEST TV out, only thing they're good for.) Get a large hardrive. 200 gigs. Count on about a gig an hour for encoded TV shows. And get a haupauge TV tuner card.

If you know something about linux install fedora or gentoo and start your compil-a-thon for mythTV. If you dont know Linux install Mandrake and add the normal reposirtories through Easy URPMI and also search for and Find Thac's repositories. And then URPMi and entire MythTV build.

Also look into mythTV. It's THE BEST PVR software around. It's a little more on the complicated side but it's free and ranked highest among anyone that is heavy into HTPC's. Best part is you dont need a great system to run it on.

Anyway if you want more info on this I can give you more or ask around. This is just a pointer in the right direction.

Beware though, if using mandrake with Thac's stuff his compiled binaries are sometimes buggy. I havnt heard anything bad about his MythTV build yet though.

MythTV is quite time consuming to setup. Here's what's recommended spec-wise

+ 1ghz (especially if you're playing back a wide variety of codecs. If you're setting up automatic file splitting and recompression you may want 1.5ghz or more)
+ 256mb ram
+ A Windows MCE compatible Hardware decoding capture card. Here's a list of what's garaunteed compatible with MCE 2k3, 2k4, and 2k5.
You WILL need a hardware MPEG2 decoding capture card in order to do time-shifting.

+ LOTS of hard drive space (200gb+)
+ Broadband connection for downloading guide data weekly
+ Video card or motherboard with TV-output (S-Video is best if your TV has inputs for it)
+ IR receiver/transmitter for external receiver control (if you have digital cable or satellite) This may be included with some tv capture cards, especially higher quality hauppauge cards.
+ Remote for PC (I personally prefer the X10 RF remote but you might get one with the TV capture care you buy)

If you want a good front-end but have no previous experience with linux and hate command-prompt work like I do I recommend Media Portal which runs on-top of Windows XP. Just make sure you read through the documentation wiki which outlines what you need to install before you start configuring Media Portal itself.

Media Portal is almost as feature-rich as MythTV but is much easier to setup. I found the xmlTV configuration the most annoying step. I may be writing a Media Portal tutorial sometime soon to highlight the problems I ran into.

A front-end isn't essential and you could just as easily program whatever remote you're using to control multiple programs for whatever you need to do. Hauppauge includes their own scheduling program which works just fine if you want something that takes no real work to setup. A front-end really only makes it easier to interface with just a remote.

I find it most convenient to not bother putting a CD-burner on the machine itself since it's just as fast to burn one from another machine over my network. But you may want some kind of optical drive for playback.


I'm still not sure why but I couldn't get BeyondTV to work at all. I may have to fiddle with it some more because I really want the showsqueeze feature. I was originally going to use a copy of Windows MCE 2003 that I have, but I hate the MCE remote and it's too bland compared to other options.

I havnt checked into media portal. I still swear by MythTV but that is jsut my opinion and again I havnt used media portal.

A tip for any system you may use. You can build a cheap IR reciever through your seriel port for about $10. If you use Linux you can use Lirc or if you use Windows Wlircs I believe it's called. You can use these two programs with ANY IR remote. So any remote control you have laying around the house not in use anymore will work. For windows use something like gerder? I think it's called with Wlirc to have the remote act like a keyboard. You can then map keyboard keys to your remote and bind those keyboard keys into whatever program you may want to use. If you use MythTV Lirc runs seamless with MythTV so it's not as big of a hassle compared to the rest of the install. But it's a great way to learn more and to save you money.

Media Portal gives you 3 or 4 different IR input/output control options as far as software and even has integrated setups for both MCE remotes. Some front-ends (like beyondTV and hauppauge scheduler) have their own IR input/output control. For your remote to control the HTPC it can be any serial input device you want. You're only limited to the number of serial ports on your machine (but you could add more with PCI cards or USB adapters so no biggy).

I failed at building an IR receiver :-| I don't see why I bothered trying when you can buy them on ebay for $15 or $20 shipped

Hey Captain slug, you have confused me to no end. No worries there, at this point, I don't even know what question I ought to be asking.

However, I thought about mythtv because I have been lurking for a while and that just seems to be popular here. However, if there is a way to do the same thing with an OS that I already own, that would be a big plus for me. Can you do this with win2K as well?

I am holding on to an old atholon 1.4 (in theory, but i don't really understand this whole PR thing) that I once had up to 1.7 Would that be enough for the project?

David Warner said:

Hey Captain slug, you have confused me to no end.

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Hooray! Feel free to ask for clarification where you need it.

David Warner said:

However, I thought about mythtv because I have been lurking for a while and that just seems to be popular here. However, if there is a way to do the same thing with an OS that I already own, that would be a big plus for me. Can you do this with win2K as well?

Click to expand...

MythTV is a real monster to configure. And Media Portal will only work with Windows XP SP1 or SP2. Both are completely free, and between the two I would have to say that Media Portal takes half as much time to setup as MythTV.

What operating systems do you have currently? If Windows 200 is the only operating system you have to work with now, your options will be limited to Snapstream BeyondTV, MythTV, or whatever comes with your tuner card.

I'm sure there are plenty of people that can help you setup MythTV. I wasn't brave enough to do it myself, and didn't have enough free time to learn it.

David Warner said:

I am holding on to an old atholon 1.4 (in theory, but i don't really understand this whole PR thing) that I once had up to 1.7 Would that be enough for the project?

Click to expand...

An athlon 1.4 should be fine. It might give you some problems with fast-forward performance but nothing major that would effect functionality.

Most important features for an HTPC
1. A capable hardware-decoding TV capture card will unload alot of stress from the processor.
2. LOTS of hard drive space
3. If you're not recording regular cable TV, you will need the correct Infrared input/output equipment.
4. 1ghz or faster processor. More speed just means you can have more bells-and-whistles going on at once and get smoother timeshifting (that just means fast-forward and rewind).
5. STABILITY. You're probably going to run this machine 24/7 so stability and effective cooling will be required.

If you need some key terms defined better I can help there as well.

As others have said, definitely stick with a Hauppauge card for capture. The PVR-150 is out now, which has the same chipset as the 250, but is much cheaper.

As for PVR software, I'm currently running Sage TV. I checked out BeyondTV and MythTV, but found that SageTV does all I'm looking for, and for a reasonable price. Easy to set up, too. You can download a trial version before you buy too.

X1g