[jqp]

Just ordered these components for a new PC!

Will build it over Labor Day weekend! It comes in Saturday from Fed Ex and I will probably put it together right away as it looks to be a very wet weekend.

Antec SLK2650 w 350W
ASUS M2NPV-VM
Athlon 64 X2 4200+ AM2 socket
Mushkin 2x1 GB DDR2 800 RAM
Maxtor 250GB SATA 3GB
Lite-On LightScribe Super AllWrite DL DVD Burner SHM-165H6S
Windows Media Center 2005

less than $1000 including shipping!

I will probably add a HDTV card at some point, and other drives and maybe more RAM as they become dirt cheap

this motherboard has HDTV component out from the NVIDIA® GeForce™ 6150 GPU Northbridge

http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=101&l3=296&model=1138&modelmenu=1

What am I missing?

[JohninCR]

What am I missing?

A remote control.  My tech buddy and I got some el cheapo programmable remotes and
sensors that are easily converted to USB input.  He's been using his and loves it, so I
should have the details to bring that thread back to life.

On the subject of HDTV cards, are there any that enhance signals that aren't HDTV to
improve the picture quality of other inputs?

BTW, have fun with your new toy!

[meby]

I would skip the media center OS it sucks.

[jqp]

And what do you recommend for an HTPC OS?

[mjosef]

I too just received some parts with the intent to build a HTPC, however I settled on an Intel Duo Core 64bit based system. 350W power supply might barely cut it if you want to add HDTV and intensive video capabilities.
I hope to use  a Linux-based OS, Ubuntu.
An ATI All in One video card with remote capability might be an asset.
I am still researching all the technology thats involved with a PC based HT set up.
Actually I have already assembled everything, but the system did not post/boot. The power supply I ordered did not have the ATX secondary 12V 8-pin supply, just a 4-pin one...and the dang features of the PS claimed LGA775 support(the Intel socket). Newer motherboards apparantly have this newer p/s connection. Not sure if the AMD boards have the same. My current older AMD Athlon system used the ATX 4-pin 12V. connection.

[jqp]

I'm not sure this will end up as an HTPC but I did want to try it out. Actually it would be overkill with this fast memory and the cpu.

I have about decided that what I really want is a 46" LCD TV, then I can put anything from the PC on the TV.

I will use it for video processing for sure, so I will want to see the results on a TV, and I may use it as a PVR to some extent.

My fastest PC now is a dual PIII 1Ghz machine with 1GB Ram, so this will be a big improvement.

[satfrat]

Depending what you're planning on using your HTPC for, my first thought was that 250G is like a fart in a tropical storm. Myself, I'm only storing albums and just recently had to upgrade a 160G hard drive after only 1.5 years. Now if you're planning on any movies storage, I'd be taking that 250G HD back now and getting a Seagate 750G along with a backup hard drive of the same. It all depends on your storage needs but I know how surprised I was to go thru 160G so fast.

Robin

[jqp]

Definitely will need more storage going forward. The 250 GB is just to have a SATA drive in the system to start. It is one of the new SATA 3GB/sec drives. They are only $80 now and I figure I will add a few more over the next few months. (And I could probably get 500GB drives for that price soon! )

I have several 40 and 80GB EIDE drives laying around (some in removable cages), not to mention about 1.5 terabytes in my Pentium 2 and 3 boxes. I need to get some kind of external RAID box so that can take advantage of them, but this PC will support 2 I think.

[gitarretyp]

You may consider dumping your dvd player and getting a better video card for the computer. There was a test posted today in which a HTPC outperformed several high end players including the denon 3910 and marantz 9600. The test was done by a computer site, so the validity may be somewhat questionable, but it seems well done.

[satfrat]

You may consider dumping your dvd player and getting a better video card for the computer. There was a test posted today in which a HTPC outperformed several high end players including the denon 3910 and marantz 9600. The test was done by a computer site, so the validity may be somewhat questionable, but it seems well done.

Thanks a major fact! I personally use Theater Tec DVD 2.0 that's tied into my 2005 XP Windows Media Center and it's been ISF-calibrated. DVD movies thru my HTPC via component video cables to my Sony XBR are nothing short of spectacular. I let go both my CD player and DVD player in favor of my HTPC and my system was the better for it, moho.

[Thump553]

I would skip the media center OS it sucks.

I'm not sure why meby said that, but the computer I use for work (admittedly no media functions used other than listening to flac files) came with the media center OS.  It works fine and as I recall is a complete version of XP Home with the media center stuff added on.

Are doing this build to avoid the tradition Labor Day extended version of the honey-do list?  I hoping it rains hard enough here to limit my tasks to inside stuff.  Enjoy the build!

PS-you may want to take a look at the thread here about doing a build with a SATA drive for some tips.

[jqp]

 I personally use Theater Tec DVD 2.0 that's tied into my 2005 XP Windows Media Center and it's been ISF-calibrated. DVD movies thru my HTPC via component video cables to my Sony XBR are nothing short of spectacular. I let go both my CD player and DVD player in favor of my HTPC and my system was the better for it, moho.

Wow thats pretty drastic to let them both go. I cant imagine the PC could be that much better.

What video card do you have?

What kind of component is a Theater Tec DVD 2.0? How is it tied in to the PC? How was ISF done?

[jqp]

Are doing this build to avoid the tradition Labor Day extended version of the honey-do list?  I hoping it rains hard enough here to limit my tasks to inside stuff.  Enjoy the build!

PS-you may want to take a look at the thread here about doing a build with a SATA drive for some tips.

Several reasons I am doing this build myself:

1. Looked at a refurbished Dell and the possibility of making interest free payments with my Dell credit account. But I could never find exactly what I wanted after looking for months. I want a flexible case and they just don't have enough 51/4 bays and the PS are so proprietary, and also such power hogs on the high end.

2. I decided to go AMD 64 dual core with DDR2 800. Not a lot of options out there prebuilt with out paying megabucks.

3. The vendor could have built and tested this box for me but it would have taken at least another week. I wanted to have it over the labor day weekend so I could play with it.

4. I wanted to get to know the details of the AMD AM2 architecture which is required for DDR2 800. Also the nVidia Chipsets. And this motherboard has lots of great features for the $ - firewire, Gigabit LAN, HDTV out. Also I researched the case and powersupply and want to make sure it is set up the way I want. This machine only needs a 350W PS so it will save on electricity.

5. It was supposed to rain and flood and this was a fun project for Labor Day. No honey right now to make me do the list. But I am avoiding some things on my own list!

I will definitely check out the SATA link.

The machine is basically built now and the drive is formatting NTFS...

[satfrat]

I'm using a NVidia GeForce 6200 and I had my HTPC built by http://www.cellarcinemas.com/cgi-bin/store/index.html so I can't answer your application questions concerning ISF-calibrations or Theater Tec DVD 2. Descriptions that might help from CellarCinema's website:
***********************************************************************************************************************
"We professionally calibrate all of the video paths through the HTPC so you can be assured of videophile-grade performance. Normal PC video levels are NOT the same as video levels used in high-end video components that follow SMPTE, EIA, and HDMI standards. This is a huge distinction between an HTPC and a regular PC.
We perform HTPC video calibrations using an oscilloscope, reference test pattern generators, and other equipment we use as ISF-certified video calibrators. Our experience has shown that the calibration differs dramatically from HTPC to HTPC based on hardware, drivers, software differences, display connection type (e.g., DVI-D vs. YPrPb), and other variables. We calibrate each HTPC system individually to match your particular display device and connection method based on solid video engineering standards.
We calibrate MPEG decoding via VMR9, TheaterTek, MCE DVD Playback, TV/PVR and other video paths so that the video output from the HTPC-MCE is consistent and correct. We also set black and white levels to Studio RGB levels (digital 16 and 235 respectively). Our calibration also checks for proper color decoding (601/709), gamma, saturation, and hue.
We also include HDTV test patterns pre-loaded on your HTPC hard drive! Under a license granted byJoe Kane Productions to Cellar Cinemas and our HTPC customers, we are now including basic display setup test patterns from Digital Video Essentials Professional in 720p and 1080p VC-1 (WM9-HD) HDTV format. These patterns make it easy to quickly set your display's brightness/black level, contrast/white level, and picture positioning/overscan settings. Once your display has enough hours on it, then you will be ready for a full ISF display calibration from a trained professional with the appropriate calibration equipment."

"TheaterTek features state-of-the-art MPEG decoders from nVIDIA is a DVD player designed specifically for custom HTPCs. Dolby Digital and DTS audio supported via S/PDIF (no decoders unless you order the HTPC with analog audio). Unique features include PCFriendly suppression, movie bookmarking feature to allow jumping directly to the start of the movie skipping previews/ads/menus/warnings, automatic blanking, custom and automatic aspect ratio control, and automatic video card optimization. We highly customize this player with ffdshow-based video post-processing."
************************************************************************************************************************
Using TheaterTec, I'm able to configure any video format to fit my screen. Because my first love in audio is multichannel, I don't follow the same route of most 2 channel audiophiles. I use a VH Audio Pulsar cryoed digital cable w/ NextGen silver connecters plus a cryoed TweakGeek Bybee slipstream adapter w/NextGen silver connecters, that runs from my M-Audio Revolution 7 audio card to my Sunfire TG4 processor. I use DFX Audio Enhancer to improve the fidelity of my Windows Media downloads, http://www.fxsound.com/ .It was DFX that boosted the quality of my PC to surpass CD's,,,, in spades I might add. An old friend, Witchdoctor, turned me onto this addon and I've discarded CD's in favor of a backup hard drive for my library's security. Now days, I can compare CD's to cassettes,,,,, except I'm still burning CD-s for my car.  

Robin