Recommendations/Suggestions for building HTPC

[somunny]

I'm leaning more and more towards building a home theater pc and am looking for input on components.  I don't really have a budget in mind but let's keep it as far under $1000 as possible.

It will be hooked up to a 62", 1080i DLP that has HDMI and VGA inputs (as well as the standard component).  I'm planning on running the sound through a 7.1 receiver (though I'm on using 5.1 of it).

Thanks!

[Crax]

Don't know if you have been here already, but pcalchemy has a large selection for HTPC stuff and generally seems to have good prices too

http://pcalchemy.com/

I'm no expert, but I do know that you need to buy certain cards depending on what you are hooking up to it(antenna/cable/satellite), so keep that in mind.  Also, do you know if you are going to use something like MythTV or were you going to do it windows based?

[somunny]

Nice site.  Thanks for the link.

I was planning on using Windows Media Center as my OS.

[lcddream]

I would do the research as to what is compatible and not compatible with MCE. Certain hardware won't work.

For instance, when I attempted to try out MCE on my HTPC, I found that I was unable to use my usbuirt(infrared receiver/transponder) with MCE.

Also, you might want to check out some of the other software solutions before you commit to MCE:

gbpvr - free
Mediaportal - free
SageTV - not free but It's what I settled on after many many hours of tinkering

each of the above are FAR more customizable than MCE, and have huge community support respectively.

[boykster]

AVS Forum is a great resource on HTPC's....

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=26

Be warned though, LOTS of information, and a lot of noise.  there are some good sticky threads with MCE info, hardware recommendations, etc.

[Goz]

It really depends on the content that you intend to play as to what sort of horsepower you will need.

HD WMV, H.264, ISO's images all take a bit more juice to get a good playback.

Of course you could blow that budget by just buying an HDDVD or Blueray drive.

[knave]

www.tomshardware.com Has a section on HTPC.  I've found the write-ups great and they usually cover some pretty cool cases and other components.

[Crax]

gbpvr - free
Mediaportal - free
SageTV - not free but It's what I settled on after many many hours of tinkering

I don't have a dedicated HTPC, but I do have a tv card in my regular pc I use for everything and I also use SageTV.  The default install isn't bad, but once you go to the forums and get it all setup with the many addons available, it's great.  I would recommed SageTV for a windows system as well.

I  also never did hear what you would be hooking up to your system.  Do you have a dish/satellite/antenna?  If you have satellite and depending on cable as well, you will most likely need to use an irblaster and hook your satellite reciever up to your HTPC.  Sage does a good job of getting them all working together.

[somunny]

Thanks for all the info.  Looks like I have quite a bit of research ahead of me. 

I have a question:

gbpvr - free
Mediaportal - free
SageTV - not free but It's what I settled on after many many hours of tinkering

Do these programs run on xp or are they standalone?

[lcddream]

they definitely run on xp, not sure about other os's.

the only problem with the two that are free, or any other free TV software is getting the channel listings. You used to be able to get them free from a company called Zap2it, but they recently discontinued this service.

With a program like sage you get the listings as part of the programs price.

If you do try sagetv(they offer a 15 or 30 day full trial), be sure to try out the plugin called SageMC. Sage just wouldn't be the same without this plugin.

[Goz]

Another option is running Microsoft Media Center 2005 which is pretty decent and the mods that can be applied are very cool.

I have enough spare parts laying around to build an HTPC or two including (Silverstone HTPC case, mobo, cpu, remote controls, wireless media center keyboards, etc...) When you start building let me know.

[somunny]

Thanks Goz, I will.  I'd love to check out that sutup of yours, btw.