Audio, Video & HTPC Status Thread

[jhanby]

Upcoming articles:

A writeup of My HTPC 3.0 (http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=595191) - LandShark - Busy ATM - No Firm ETA
Possible article from jstutman on new hardware
PMed Jon in regards to an article - is too busy atm - will contact when not busy

Focus areas:

Article Contributors (members who have submitted articles to you):

jhanby
kovboi
Joeteck

Forum Experts (people who you can rely on for fact checking):

Wicked Klown
LandShark

Forum Correspondents (members who help you stay up to date on forum activity)

Established writers (members who have sent you repeated content):

Published articles:

Case review: NMedia Red Wood HTPC 8000 - kovboi - Published 10/27/09 (http://www.overclockers.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4558:case-review-nmedia-red-wood-htpc-8000&catid=59:systemsacomponents&Itemid=4265)
Do I really need a HTPC ? - Joeteck (http://www.overclockers.com/do-i-really-need-a-home-theater-pc-htpc/)
Scythe Musashi Review - jhanby - A writeup of (http://www.overclockers.com/scythe-musashi-review/)this (http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=610932) thread
Lenovo Wireless Multimedia Remote with Keyboard Review - Big Mike (http://www.overclockers.com/lenovo-wireless-multimedia-remote-keyboard-review-2/)
Power Consumption – What is your footprint? Part 1 - ps2cho (http://www.overclockers.com/power-consumption-footprint-part-1/)

Pending articles submitted to editors:

[Neuromancer]

Look at garo'sg0dm@n's HTPC thread for some guys with a lot of information they might be willing to write up :) There are a couple of guys in there that really know their stuff :) (It is a long thread though)

(I assume it is okay to make suggestions to fellow CE's?)

[jhanby]

Look at garo'sg0dm@n's HTPC thread for some guys with a lot of information they might be willing to write up :) There are a couple of guys in there that really know their stuff :) (It is a long thread though)

(I assume it is okay to make suggestions to fellow CE's?)


Thanks for the suggestion :beer:

And I can't see why we can't make suggestions. After all this is going to be a team effort.

[I.M.O.G.]

Good work guys, helping eachother out gets us going in the right direction.

I'd love to see some HTPC stuff - be sure to update this thread when you find someone interested.

[jhanby]

Update : added a possible article by ps2cho

[I.M.O.G.]

Nice, thx!

[Joeteck]

Have a question... What designates a HTPC? what do you need it to do? Could you clarify your definition? Because I may have an interesting answer to this whole HTPC thing...

[I.M.O.G.]

Anything that is like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC

And anything thats appropriate to discuss under our HTPC subforum on the forums.

Hope that helps.

[Joeteck]

Anything that is like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC

And anything thats appropriate to discuss under our HTPC subforum on the forums.

Hope that helps.


Thats very interesting role... for a PC

However, I have found another (low cost way) to do the same thing without a computer.

Philips makes a DVD player (model number DVP-5990 and the DVP-5992 (http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/d/dvp5992_37/dvp5992_37_pss_aen.pdf)) that upconverts to 1080p via HDMI and has a USB port on the front of the device. It can read only FAT32 devices. The manual states it can only read thumb drives however, I have a 500 gig external hard drive connected to mine. This DVD plays WMV and Divx files as well as VOB files

I rip all my DVD's using DVD fab decrypter, then convert them to Divx using either Lath 1.5 or Pocket Divx to HD content. I keep the file size around 1gig or more, so the DVD quality stays. I can do direct audio stream so I can get DTS or Dolby digital to my 7.1 receiver. Its been working out very well, and I have over 500 movies in my collection thus far. It is nice to be able to watch or listen to music without taking out the CD or DVD to watch or listen to it...

[Neuromancer]

Joeteck. A media player is not a home theater PC.

They sell expansions that are not much larger than a harddrive that will let you playback SD video (do not know about HD), again not a HTPC.

A HTPC is not just a playback device, it is a recorder, a scheduler, a search engine, a cross coder (not limited to any particular format of media file), it can file share, surf the web, use 3rd party application for things like browsing hulu or Youtube with a remote control, can be hightech picture frame randomly displaying family pictures when not actively playing back video, or play photos and music at the same time. An HTPC can double as a gaming platform, can have a second "station" added to perform desk bound PC activities (word processing, intertubing, IM etc), fold/crunch, download and distribute. The list goes on and on.

The most important thing to consider is, the media player you recommend, you have a seperate PC doing all the work preparing playback files for this other device. With an HTPC you do not need that :) (Many people just want a video playback device and that is fine, it is not an HTPC though IMHO)

[Joeteck]

Joeteck. A media player is not a home theater PC.

They sell expansions that are not much larger than a harddrive that will let you playback SD video (do not know about HD), again not a HTPC.

A HTPC is not just a playback device, it is a recorder, a scheduler, a search engine, a cross coder (not limited to any particular format of media file), it can file share, surf the web, use 3rd party application for things like browsing hulu or Youtube with a remote control, can be hightech picture frame randomly displaying family pictures when not actively playing back video, or play photos and music at the same time. An HTPC can double as a gaming platform, can have a second "station" added to perform desk bound PC activities (word processing, intertubing, IM etc), fold/crunch, download and distribute. The list goes on and on.

The most important thing to consider is, the media player you recommend, you have a seperate PC doing all the work preparing playback files for this other device. With an HTPC you do not need that :) (Many people just want a video playback device and that is fine, it is not an HTPC though IMHO)

Oh, OK... I guess I mis-understood what a HTPC should do... I was under the impression that it does just one thing, home theater duties, like watching movies on the HD TV with DTS and or Dolby digital via your receiver. Not browsing the web and doing things your normal workstation should be doing... I'm assuming that having a HTPC, this would not be your only computer in the house, as it has been designed by yourself to do these tasks.. Most people today (like myself) have a DVR to record their shows, and an external DVD recorder to record the DVR shows onto. Having a HTPC to do recordings is like re-inventing the wheel. lol. It has already been done. I would not have my HTPC fold or download content. The HTPC should be the device that plays the content you got from other sources.... IMO... :beer:

EDIT: I guess everyone has a different definition of what they want their HTPC to do..

[I.M.O.G.]

Stuff that your doing which serves a similar purpose to an HTPC I'd also be interested in reading - the mainpage is going to reflect what the overclockers community is about, and what cool stuff overclockers are interested in... Not JUST getting their chips to run faster.

As for what embodies the idea of an HTPC, neur0mancer hit it right on.

[Neuromancer]

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=621345

Very nice write up. Would make a great FP article :)

[jhanby]

Thanks for the link :beer:

[jhanby]

UPDATE : Added article by kovboi entitled Case review: NMedia Red Wood HTPC 8000

[I.M.O.G.]

Good work, thanks for the updates.

[jhanby]

Update : submitted an article to IMOG.

[I.M.O.G.]

Received, thx.

[I.M.O.G.]

The HTPC piece is waiting for Joe to be published. Anything else going on?

[jhanby]

The HTPC piece is waiting for Joe to be published. Anything else going on?

Updates to include a writeup of LandShark's Epic My HTPC 3.0 (http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=595191)- LandShark is a bit busy atm, but will get around to doing it.

Have PMed ps2cho again.

[I.M.O.G.]

Have you contacted Jon? He's semi active here these days, but he's the guy behind thehtpc.net. I mentioned writing for the frontpage on occasion, not sure if he'd be interested.

[jhanby]

Have you contacted Jon? He's semi active here these days, but he's the guy behind thehtpc.net. I mentioned writing for the frontpage on occasion, not sure if he'd be interested.

Thanks for the tip !

I have PMed him and will see what he will say.

On another note, I have added another possible article on new HTPC hardware by jsutman.

[jhanby]

UPDATE : Article by kovboi has been published.

[I.M.O.G.]

I see you updated the first post yesterday, thanks for the update.

[jhanby]

UPDATE : Added article entitled Do I really need a HTPC ? by Joeteck. ETA 1st October.

[I.M.O.G.]

Great, thanks!

[I.M.O.G.]

Hey bud, could you update your first post?

We're still waiting for your HTPC article to be published, that should be in the waiting column. ;)

Anything else coming along?

[jhanby]

Ok i've updated the first post.

Sorry it took time, as it didn't go through me it kinda slipt my mind :P

And unfortunately not. It is much the same story as the sound section. Lots of PMs and a small amount of replies.

[I.M.O.G.]

No problem, keep sticking with it and things will come around. The sound section isn't exactly central to the site, so any articles we get out of it are a nice variation.

[Neuromancer]

Hey check out Blackstar's post in this thread (http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=624150).

Might hit him up for an article explaining the different resolutions, refresh rates and FPS of modern HDTV. :) I would like to read that :)

[jhanby]

thank you for the heads up

*note to self, need to think outside the box*

[Neuromancer]

LOL no need for that... wish I could think inside the box :)

*probably why I do not buy computer cases and think ATX format is ready for a radical update * :beer:

[jhanby]

UPDATE : added possible article by Blackstar, who will hopefully respond to PMs

[ratbuddy]

Hey check out Blackstar's post in this thread (http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=624150).

Might hit him up for an article explaining the different resolutions, refresh rates and FPS of modern HDTV. :) I would like to read that :)

You might want to find someone with a firmer grasp of the subject matter :beer:

[jhanby]

You might want to find someone with a firmer grasp of the subject matter :beer:

lets not get into this in this thread please.

If you do not think Blackstar has the right information, you can step forward if you like.

[I.M.O.G.]

How are things going bud, any updates on the status of pending articles?

Also, Joetecks article has been published, could you update your first post?

[jhanby]

How are things going bud, any updates on the status of pending articles?

Also, Joetecks article has been published, could you update your first post?

I've just PMed all the people about pending articles.

Yeh sure, sorry.

[I.M.O.G.]

No problem! Thanks!

[jhanby]

I have an article on Wordpress that has been submitted for a review.

it is called 'Building a HTPC' and is by the author jstutman.

[I.M.O.G.]

Excellent work, everything looks good. mdcomp, splat, hokie, or JoeC will progress it when they have time - looks like you did everything perfectly!

[I.M.O.G.]

Gonna have splat check in with you every so often along with the sound section, updated thread title. Let me know if you have any questions or need anything.

[splat]

subscribed. let me know if you need anything!

[splat]

any updates?

[jhanby]

any updates?

Apologies, I missed this.

There is a review coming up on the Scythe Musashi, which has been taken from a thread in the HTPC section of the forums.

Its up as a draft now and should be ready by the end of this week at the latest.

[splat]

cool, i look forward to checking it out

[jhanby]

Update: The Scythe Musashi review is now complete and has been submitted for review by an Editor.

[splat]

any word from jstutman on edits to his htpc article?

[jhanby]

any word from jstutman on edits to his htpc article?

Nope not at all.

I shall PM him and see what he says.

[ps2cho]

PM'd you jhanby.

[jhanby]

Update : ps2cho is writing an article on power consumption, which should be ready in the next few weeks.

[splat]

sounds good, thanks for the update

[jhanby]

Update : Big Mike is writing an article entitiled Lenovo Wireless Multimedia Remote with Keyboard Review based on the thread in the HTPC section.

Should be along soon.

[jhanby]

Update: Big Mike's article on the Lenovo Wirelsee Multimedia remote had been submitted for review.

[splat]

http://www.overclockers.com/lenovo-wireless-multimedia-remote-keyboard-review-2/ posted!

any other updates?

[jhanby]

http://www.overclockers.com/lenovo-wireless-multimedia-remote-keyboard-review-2/ posted!

any other updates?

Unfortunately not.

I will PM ps2cho to see how he's getting on with the power consumption article

[splat]

i'm actually in the process of setting up an old pc to use as an HTPC w/ XBMC linux. if i can get all the bugs worked out and find some time to do a write-up, i think it would be an interested htpc/linux read.

[jhanby]

i'm actually in the process of setting up an old pc to use as an HTPC w/ XBMC linux. if i can get all the bugs worked out and find some time to do a write-up, i think it would be an interested htpc/linux read.

Yeh that would be a very interesting read :)

[jhanby]

UPDATE : Part one of the power consumption article has been submitted for review.

[I.M.O.G.]

Thanks for the update.

Tried to put a boot in Ridenow's backside regarding an HTPC update he has planned. He doesn't post much with other life interests pulling him away, but I'll let you know if we can expect an article coming from him.

[jhanby]

Thanks for the update.

Tried to put a boot in Ridenow's backside regarding an HTPC update he has planned. He doesn't post much with other life interests pulling him away, but I'll let you know if we can expect an article coming from him.

that's great :)

Do you know what it's going to be on ?

[I.M.O.G.]

He has it planned to update an outdated HTPC to something more reasonable, circa 2008-2009, so it wouild be a piece on building a formidable HTPC at a very reasonable price point.

Of course, he hasn't gotten back to me about a wordpress account. I'll need to follow up with him and see if he can do it. I mentioned it in a post however, so hopefully he'll bite.

[splat]

just wrote a review of a cooler master heatsink/fan aimed at HTPC users. might be worth a look-see to spawn some ideas on future htpc articles.

[jhanby]

just wrote a review of a cooler master heatsink/fan aimed at HTPC users. might be worth a look-see to spawn some ideas on future htpc articles.

Sorry I somehow completely missed this post !

Is the review in the forums ?

[splat]

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=643485

[Big Mike]

I finally got and reviewed a Logitech DiNovo Mini, draft is posted at:
http://www.overclockers.com/dinovomini?preview=true

[Big Mike]

Working on a review of the Silverstone GD05B HTPC case, I have pictures from the build I did in it. Just need to write the text to go with it. Found it for only 90 bucks at frys so I jumped on it, if I can get more cases to look at later, great, if not oh well. Any update on the DiNovo Mini review?

[hokiealumnus]

Images were a bit messed up, but that's fixed. In the future when inserting images, make sure that "File URL" is where the link points, make sure you have a caption (which you did in every one; good job), then have the following checked: Open Using LightBox: "Yes", Alignment: "Center" and Size: "Medium".

Don't fret it, I can't think of many that got the somewhat less-than-intuitive stuff right on the first try. Just some stuff to remember for the future. :)

Will go through the text itself as soon as we have time. Sorry for the delay; we've all been slammed recently and were also all out of town this weekend. Thanks for the article!

[Big Mike]

My Ceton InfiniTV4 cablecard quad tuner arrived today, shall I write an article on it? I'm not sure it'll be all that technical, but I'm sure some people will enjoy looking at the thing and learning a little more about it.

[hokiealumnus]

Sure! It's not our normal fare, but branching out to other computer components won't hurt. Sounds interesting.

[I.M.O.G.]

Yes please, your articles are always good reads Mike.

[splat]

quad tuner? i'm certainly interested.

[jhanby]

My Ceton InfiniTV4 cablecard quad tuner arrived today, shall I write an article on it? I'm not sure it'll be all that technical, but I'm sure some people will enjoy looking at the thing and learning a little more about it.

Sounds like a good read !

@editors - sorry that I haven't been very active at all lately, been very busy with work :(

[Big Mike]

I just bought a Rii mini keyboard on ebay's deal of the day, so I'll probably add it to my lineup of HTPC controller reviews with the DiNovo Mini and Lenovo wireless keyboard. One of these days I need to finish writing up a review of the Ceton InfiniTV, after some teething issues it seems to be working excellent now. I might also be able to throw together like a "5 pieces of software that your HTPC shouldn't be without" type article, I can think of 4 right off the top of my head that are permanent fixtures on my HTPC.

[hokiealumnus]

All of those would be great pieces. Looking forward to them!

[mdcomp]

Big Mike, that will be great to go along with the review I'm working on. It's a Sapphire HTPC unit...I already linked to your other controller reviews within the article. Definitely looking forward to seeing your thoughts on these new ones.

Matt

[hokiealumnus]

Changed the title of this one to be more all-encompassing. This will house audio, video & HTPC statuses.