2012-10-04, 01:32
I'm looking to build a 24/7 always on unit that can store and play my library of blu-ray movies but also allow me to send my two Cox DVR boxes back to the cable company. And do it without losing any functionality (I don't use on demand / ppv or HBO/Showtime etc.).
All hardware I own is latest technology. The TV in the living room is the Samsung 59" Smart TV plasma, the receiver is a new Harmon with HDMI inputs. My wireless router is the powerful Asus RT-N66U wireless N. The TV in my office is a new Panasonic LCD. You can see the specs of my 5.1GHz liquid cooled computer HERE.
My computer, LCD tv and router are in my office in the back of the house (50 feet away from living room TV, same floor).
I'm looking at the HDHomeRun Prime and cox cable card to be the tuner. Yeah I had a combined 4 tuners with the two cox DVR's but 3 from the Prime should be enough. I don't have kids and my girlfriend only watches TV when we watch together.
Here's the gist of what I'm trying to build in a HTPC:
#1. Has to be without any doubt strong enough to handle the highest quality mkv video/audio with files exceeding 16gb.
#2. I will not ever play games off this unit. I don't want to waste money building something for games, this rig will be strictly for home theater use.
#3. Fast load times and decent storage to hold the operating system, necessary video play/conversion utilities and room for something I'm probably not thinking of. Thinking the 128gb SSD is more than enough.
#4. Super quiet. Not liquid cooled quiet. But close to it. I'm willing to buy quality fans to replace stock ones for example. Would consider a passive-cooled GPU or on board graphics if it can handle the quality without any hiccups or loss.
#5. Size of the unit isn't as important as making sure it's quiet and cooled properly, but smaller obviously the better.
#6. Doesn't need any fancy drive, just something cheap to load drivers easily like a DVD drive. I own a Panasonic BDT210 already as part of my home theater and of course, the two BD drives in my main PC.
#7. Whether the video comes out of the mobo or a separate GPU, I prefer HDMI over mini-HDMI because I hear those ports can sometimes break.
#8. If it's better to have optical audio output outside of HDMI, then I'd rather do that since my existing home theater hardware can support it. If it's not noticeable, then I'd rather go for ease of use and just run straight HDMI to my receiver (I hear the receiver is often the best at decoding, correct me if I'm wrong).
#9. Support for 7.1 would be nice if it can be part of the build without driving the price up too much. I think I read somewhere that 7.1 was an issue with HDMI on some GPUs.
#10. Obviously what is recommended would have to fit (including upgraded/quieter fans). I don't mind taking a dremel tool to a corner of a fan's casing to squeeze it around a capacitor if it can be done effectively, but obviously easier if all the parts were compatible from a physical fit standpoint within the case.
#11. As far as external lights on the case, as cool as they may seem, they can become a distraction during a movie. I'd prefer to build an HTPC that is aesthetically pleasing when the lights are on, but mostly invisible when watching movies and the room is dark.
#12. Lastly, regarding 3D. I only have Avatar as it came free with the Panasonic BD player, but I'd imagine I'd get more 3D movies in the future. I'd want a graphics solution that can handle 3D BD with active 3D technology.
If going with a separate GPU instead of onboard, I'm generally loyal to nvidea over ati because of horror stories with ati drivers, but I can be convinced if there is a consensus on an overwhelming favorite.
Regarding software, I have Win7 professional or Win7 home I can install on the unit for free, which I'm hoping will suffice as I have no experience in any other OS.
As far as the DVR, here are the issues I need to make sure they can handle:
#1. Has to be as reliable as the DVR when it comes to recording shows, or pretty damn close to it. Both in recording on time and quality of picture over wifi to either TV.
#2. Has to have the ability to record extra time before and after the scheduled start/end times, in increments like 1 min, 5 min, 30 min, 1 hour, 2 hours, 5 hours, etc. Doesn't have to be exactly those choices, but you get the drift.
#3. Has to allow me to use a remote or wireless keyboard/track pad in the living room to control the TV's ability to watch live TV, record, play back shows or movies
#4. The TV in my office won't ever be on unless my computer next to it is on (I use a separate computer monitor), so I can use my computer to control the TV like a remote although ideally I would like to be able to use a remote similar to the one I use now from cox to control this TV in my office.
#5. I don't want to pull processing bandwidth away from my computer's video card just to watch live tv or recordings if I can avoid it.
The cox high speed internet (highest bandwidth service available) modem and the wireless router are in my office. I imagine due to the bandwidth issues of wireless streaming of 16+ GB mkv files, the HTPC will have to be next to the TV in the living room and wired to the receiver (I won't be watching those movies on my office TV). I understand the HDHomeRun Prime would sit in my office next to the cable modem and router.
The HTPC components must be strong enough to handle 24/7 always on operation. I would certainly be open to expanded capabilities like remote access and whatnot, but my primary goal is to build a whole-home solution that will allow me to finally eliminate my two Cox DVR's without losing any functionality. Again, I know I can't get two-way functions like on demand and whatnot using a cable card but I only have cox basic and expanded basic, so that's not going to be an issue.
I'm looking at the soon-to-be-released Trinity APU chip and a compatible mobo.
Here's a parts list I've been working on so far. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I hope this site is more active than others I've been to so far.
Component Manufacturer Model Description Amazon Price / Newegg Price
Case
??
Motherboard ASUS F2A85-V+PRO AMD A85X SATA 6.0 Gb-s 240-Pin DDR3 2400 Motherboard
Processor AMD A10-5800K Trinity APU 3.8Ghz 145.23
Memory??
Power Supply KingWin Stryker 500-Watt ATX 500 Fanless Power Supply STR-500 159.99 169.99
OS / Software Storage Samsung MZ-7PC128B/WW 830 Series 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) 104.95 119.99
DVR Storage??
HTPC Storage??
Fans??
Wireless NIC TP-Link 300Mbps Wireless N PCI Adapter TL-WN951N 27.99 27.99
Keyboard Logitech K400 Wireless Touch Keyboard with Built-In Multi-Touch Touchpad 34.07 34.99
The case thing has me for a loop. I can't seem to find a single case that has overwhelmingly positive reviews. Most cases have wildly mixed reviews.
All hardware I own is latest technology. The TV in the living room is the Samsung 59" Smart TV plasma, the receiver is a new Harmon with HDMI inputs. My wireless router is the powerful Asus RT-N66U wireless N. The TV in my office is a new Panasonic LCD. You can see the specs of my 5.1GHz liquid cooled computer HERE.
My computer, LCD tv and router are in my office in the back of the house (50 feet away from living room TV, same floor).
I'm looking at the HDHomeRun Prime and cox cable card to be the tuner. Yeah I had a combined 4 tuners with the two cox DVR's but 3 from the Prime should be enough. I don't have kids and my girlfriend only watches TV when we watch together.
Here's the gist of what I'm trying to build in a HTPC:
#1. Has to be without any doubt strong enough to handle the highest quality mkv video/audio with files exceeding 16gb.
#2. I will not ever play games off this unit. I don't want to waste money building something for games, this rig will be strictly for home theater use.
#3. Fast load times and decent storage to hold the operating system, necessary video play/conversion utilities and room for something I'm probably not thinking of. Thinking the 128gb SSD is more than enough.
#4. Super quiet. Not liquid cooled quiet. But close to it. I'm willing to buy quality fans to replace stock ones for example. Would consider a passive-cooled GPU or on board graphics if it can handle the quality without any hiccups or loss.
#5. Size of the unit isn't as important as making sure it's quiet and cooled properly, but smaller obviously the better.
#6. Doesn't need any fancy drive, just something cheap to load drivers easily like a DVD drive. I own a Panasonic BDT210 already as part of my home theater and of course, the two BD drives in my main PC.
#7. Whether the video comes out of the mobo or a separate GPU, I prefer HDMI over mini-HDMI because I hear those ports can sometimes break.
#8. If it's better to have optical audio output outside of HDMI, then I'd rather do that since my existing home theater hardware can support it. If it's not noticeable, then I'd rather go for ease of use and just run straight HDMI to my receiver (I hear the receiver is often the best at decoding, correct me if I'm wrong).
#9. Support for 7.1 would be nice if it can be part of the build without driving the price up too much. I think I read somewhere that 7.1 was an issue with HDMI on some GPUs.
#10. Obviously what is recommended would have to fit (including upgraded/quieter fans). I don't mind taking a dremel tool to a corner of a fan's casing to squeeze it around a capacitor if it can be done effectively, but obviously easier if all the parts were compatible from a physical fit standpoint within the case.
#11. As far as external lights on the case, as cool as they may seem, they can become a distraction during a movie. I'd prefer to build an HTPC that is aesthetically pleasing when the lights are on, but mostly invisible when watching movies and the room is dark.
#12. Lastly, regarding 3D. I only have Avatar as it came free with the Panasonic BD player, but I'd imagine I'd get more 3D movies in the future. I'd want a graphics solution that can handle 3D BD with active 3D technology.
If going with a separate GPU instead of onboard, I'm generally loyal to nvidea over ati because of horror stories with ati drivers, but I can be convinced if there is a consensus on an overwhelming favorite.
Regarding software, I have Win7 professional or Win7 home I can install on the unit for free, which I'm hoping will suffice as I have no experience in any other OS.
As far as the DVR, here are the issues I need to make sure they can handle:
#1. Has to be as reliable as the DVR when it comes to recording shows, or pretty damn close to it. Both in recording on time and quality of picture over wifi to either TV.
#2. Has to have the ability to record extra time before and after the scheduled start/end times, in increments like 1 min, 5 min, 30 min, 1 hour, 2 hours, 5 hours, etc. Doesn't have to be exactly those choices, but you get the drift.
#3. Has to allow me to use a remote or wireless keyboard/track pad in the living room to control the TV's ability to watch live TV, record, play back shows or movies
#4. The TV in my office won't ever be on unless my computer next to it is on (I use a separate computer monitor), so I can use my computer to control the TV like a remote although ideally I would like to be able to use a remote similar to the one I use now from cox to control this TV in my office.
#5. I don't want to pull processing bandwidth away from my computer's video card just to watch live tv or recordings if I can avoid it.
The cox high speed internet (highest bandwidth service available) modem and the wireless router are in my office. I imagine due to the bandwidth issues of wireless streaming of 16+ GB mkv files, the HTPC will have to be next to the TV in the living room and wired to the receiver (I won't be watching those movies on my office TV). I understand the HDHomeRun Prime would sit in my office next to the cable modem and router.
The HTPC components must be strong enough to handle 24/7 always on operation. I would certainly be open to expanded capabilities like remote access and whatnot, but my primary goal is to build a whole-home solution that will allow me to finally eliminate my two Cox DVR's without losing any functionality. Again, I know I can't get two-way functions like on demand and whatnot using a cable card but I only have cox basic and expanded basic, so that's not going to be an issue.
I'm looking at the soon-to-be-released Trinity APU chip and a compatible mobo.
Here's a parts list I've been working on so far. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I hope this site is more active than others I've been to so far.
Component Manufacturer Model Description Amazon Price / Newegg Price
Case
?? Motherboard ASUS F2A85-V+PRO AMD A85X SATA 6.0 Gb-s 240-Pin DDR3 2400 Motherboard
Processor AMD A10-5800K Trinity APU 3.8Ghz 145.23
Memory
?? Power Supply KingWin Stryker 500-Watt ATX 500 Fanless Power Supply STR-500 159.99 169.99
OS / Software Storage Samsung MZ-7PC128B/WW 830 Series 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) 104.95 119.99
DVR Storage
??HTPC Storage
??Fans
?? Wireless NIC TP-Link 300Mbps Wireless N PCI Adapter TL-WN951N 27.99 27.99
Keyboard Logitech K400 Wireless Touch Keyboard with Built-In Multi-Touch Touchpad 34.07 34.99
The case thing has me for a loop. I can't seem to find a single case that has overwhelmingly positive reviews. Most cases have wildly mixed reviews.
