 Re: HTPC Build In Progress
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,703
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,703 |
Never having a nice setup, its not so bad during contruction cause you're just excited... but taking down a working setup to improve it. Well I can only imagine how insane you must feel right now being without.
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Re: HTPC Build In Progress
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,039
connoisseur
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OP
connoisseur
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,039 |
Just finished for the day and its starting to get close, last of the rack mount pieces arrived so all components are in the racks and powered. Directv/tivo is working and two channel stereo for the Squeezbox. Need to order a bunch of cables from Blue Jeans tomorrow so the right side amps can be powered and the rest of the components connected up.
Will post a few pics in the next days, hope to have the Sony HD up in place tomorrow evening, but after almost three weeks of having the system down it will be nice when it is all finished. 
Last edited by Tharkun; 03/21/06 05:40 AM.
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Re: HTPC Build In Progress
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,039
connoisseur
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OP
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A couple of pics as of this morning, will be running a few more cables and hope to set the Sony unit in place this evening.
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Re: HTPC Build In Progress
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 3,301
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Dec 2005
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Dennis, looks great, can't wait to see the final product, but I figure your wishing the same thing by now
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
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Re: HTPC Build In Progress
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,039
connoisseur
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OP
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You have that right............running out of time since we have a house geust arriving Thursday and a b-day BBQ on Sunday for about 20. 
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Re: HTPC Build In Progress
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,039
connoisseur
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OP
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As usual this project has taken longer than expected................but this post is being made from the HTPC. The last of the hardware was installed last night, installed MCE 2005. Today I'll be re-installing it in the rack and connecting it into the system, hopeflully the new Mits arrives on Wednesday as promised so we can see how Olorin looks on it.
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Re: HTPC Build In Progress
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,703
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,703 |
Gratz!
Be sure to give us your input once you'd had a chance to really dig into the HTPC (obviously you may stumble across some questions too, love to help fellow MCE'rs).
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Re: HTPC Build In Progress
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,039
connoisseur
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OP
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Will do.....for the last few hours it has been busy tranfering 45 gigs of MP3 files, looks like it may take another 7 or 8 hours till finished. So thinking about taking the rest of the day off. LOL
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Re: HTPC Build In Progress
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 353
devotee
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devotee
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 353 |
I've started with a basic MCPC which is based on a Dell Power Edge Server (purchased for only US$350!) with a:
1) Motherboard / Case: mBTX Motherboards are the newest format and are very quite thanks to a massive CPU Heatsink and slow fan. I'd suggest the Intel D945GBO as a great value alternative as for US$150 it also has Raid 5 and S/PDIF. The case is a black mini tower format that is very quite and hids nicely behind my black EP500 / MT60.
2) Processor: Intel PentiumD280 Dual Core grunt came with the box!
3) Memory: 256MB Mem came with the box, have ordered 1Gb for $100 (expensive as the Dell server uses ECC memory). though I've had no probs playing everything with the std 256!
4) HDD: Got the 250GB SATAII drive and can add at least 3 more for around $100ea but would like HW RAID 5 (note: may use the following XP Hack for SW RAID 5 (http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/11/19/using_windowsxp_to_make_raid_5_happen/)
5) Control: I've spent another $20 for USB keyboard/mouse (and 5mtr cable) but am on the lookout for the Microsoft Infrared keyboard & receiver
6) Sound / Video: Spent $15 for secondhand S/PDIF soundcard (all the decoding is done by the Yami V2600) and $50 for a fanless Video card that supports S-Video/Component to connect to the Yami V2600 as I wait for the first of the new HDMI based cards to arrive!
7) Software: I just use XP as the OS and find I have been using both Media Player (mainly to Rip CD's) and Nero Home as the GUI (come bundled with Nero so for me the costs = $0). Also tried Media Portal and even considered using just Media Player (but would need to buy the DVD Decoder).
8) File Formats: I'm ripping all my CD's as "Lossless WMA". Yes they take 35MB not 5MB per song, but disk is cheap and to me the difference is very noticable on the Yami/Axiom setup. No point in have good equipment if you feed it crap. With the right S'W running in the background you can also just copy the DVD's across to the the HDD then rename the VIDEO_TS folder as the DVD Name - simple, easy and perfect quality.
It has all taken a bit of fiddling around and is not the most stable so I will reinstall the system once I've got it going how I like it.
Nathan
HT:M80,VP150,QS8,EP500 Outside:4xM3 Office:AudioBytes, Rumpus: M60,VP150,M22 Portable:2 x Airs
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Re: HTPC Build In Progress
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 16,441
shareholder in the making
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shareholder in the making
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 16,441 |
In reply to:
The case is a black mini tower format that is very quite and hids nicely behind my black EP500
I'd be a bit concerned about the proximity of hard drives to an unshielded subwoofer. Are they really as close as it sounds?
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