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Building a HTPC is Easier than Ever
Posted by anand lalshimpi in Gamer PC | May. 19, 2009 8:00 AM
I built my first real HTPC in May of 2008. I’d built machines to play videos on a TV before, but this thing was designed to go in my home theater. It was quiet, could play HD content and generally worked pretty well.
I used an AMD 780G micro-ATX motherboard with an Athlon X2 4850e processor. The CPU wasn’t fast enough to decode Blu-ray discs but the 780G could do all of the video decoding on its graphics core, negating the need for a fast CPU. I paired the entire system up with a 385W Enermax Pro82+ power supply and connected it via HDMI to my receiver.
I don’t like the idea of swapping discs so I used AnyDVD HD to decrypt Blu-ray discs and tossed them on a large NAS I built on my network. I then used two applications: MyMovies and Sam Saffron’s Video Browser (now just called Video Browser for MCE) to manage content on the box. The end result was a pretty sweet interface for browsing movies under Vista Media Center:
The machine worked quite well but just this past month I had the opportunity to test something that was just as capable, but consumed far less power and was noticeably smaller.
I’ve talked about NVIDIA’s Ion platform before, it’s the combination of a CPU and NVIDIA’s GeForce 9300 chipset. The first incarnation of Ion uses Intel’s Atom processor and Zotac was the first manufacturer to release a mini-ITX motherboard based on this platform.
I reviewed Zotac’s Ion last week and was thoroughly impressed. The system just worked.
With minimal configuration (thanks to a better state of codecs and DXVA acceleration under Vista to begin with), I had a drop in replacement to my HTPC. Decoding Blu-rays wasn’t an issue, although admittedly the Media Browser interface was a bit sluggish compared to my regular box.
Power consumption is a meager 28W under load and the board/CPU/GPU are fine running without a fan (although a slow spinning case fan wouldn’t hurt to keep things cool.
I believe a HTPC is still the best way to get access to all of your content on a TV and with fairly modest (and affordable) PC hardware, it’s now even more possible.
Hi this is Moshe
Pleas look at my post.
Comments will be appreciated.
http://www.wepc.com/vote/view/dream/7362/William_Gibson_Cyberspace_Machine
I have thought about the Ion configuration when I read about it earlier on in the year. Though I am saddened to hear that the Ion is a bit sluggish on the menus.
Makes you wonder if one should bother if its going to be useless when something comes along that you want to do that the Ion just doesn't have enough juice for. There isn't much of an upgrade pah with it is there.
I guess it all comes down to the price point. If its cheaper that some other mATX+CPU+GPU combo then it might be worth it.
I've been trying a lot of combinations for getting my favorite video and music content into my computer then into my TV and home theater system. I've had great success with a combination of HDMI, surround sound cards and several amplifiers and balanced speakers. But I've always felt something lacking in the system. That can be summed up in one word -- control. Yes, I can keep my favorite video and music content on a server or hard drive but I also want something to manage my playlists and allow me to control my whole home theater including ambiance and lighting conditions from a touchscreen netbook in my bean bag across the room. A pretty expensive remote control you might say... but how many remote control units do you have that can update you on emails and manage your calls while watching the latest sfx blockbuster?