sam9s HTPC Project! powered by XBMC!!

Audiolab 6000A Integrated Amplifier
sam9s said:
...
But tell me more details, like what is your hardware and all, how are you gonna connect your HTPC ....etc etc ..... put some spice in to information and the thread man.... ...:D :D
Click to expand...

Sam, will try the steps and let you know the results.

Agreed, putting some pepper power...:)

HTPC Config:
AMD 64 X2 5200+
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2HP with HDMI out (ATI 3200)
2GB Transcend (will be adding one more 2GB stick)
~4TB HDD
HIS Radeon HD 5670 ICeQ Silent GPU

Emotiva UMC-1 AV Processor

Lenovo Wireless HTPC mini keyboard
Media Center Remote
10.2" Touchscreen Android Tablet for interface

LCD : Philips 47PFL9841/98
Projector : Optoma HD20 (under shipment) and OxPro HD (720P)

OS : Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

Will be going for a proper 3U HTPC cabinet soon.
 
venkatcr said:
Audio quality is defined more by hardware/drivers/filters than by a software such as TMT, PowerDVD or MPC. If you are decoding the codec within the PC, it is the quality of the sound card / drivers that will come into effect. If you are bit-streaming, the software has no control over the audio.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Yes right, in bitstreaming its all the job of AVR to give you quality output. But TMT5's internal audio decoder is not that great.
 
^^ Well I am using TMT to only play BD ISO so no internal audio decoders used ....... just the bit streaming stuff ....
 
cmsajith said:
Sam, will try the steps and let you know the results.

Agreed, putting some pepper power...:)

HTPC Config:
AMD 64 X2 5200+
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2HP with HDMI out (ATI 3200)
2GB Transcend (will be adding one more 2GB stick)
~4TB HDD
HIS Radeon HD 5670 ICeQ Silent GPU

Emotiva UMC-1 AV Processor

Lenovo Wireless HTPC mini keyboard
Media Center Remote
10.2" Touchscreen Android Tablet for interface

LCD : Philips 47PFL9841/98
Projector : Optoma HD20 (under shipment) and OxPro HD (720P)

OS : Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

Will be going for a proper 3U HTPC cabinet soon.
Click to expand...

Wow XBMC on a big screen with a projector, would look awesome ..... and android tablet to control your media library ...... you are in for a ride ...:-)
BTW which Lenovo HTPC mini keyboard you are using .... any links ..???
 
Bit late in this thread..Very nicely done Sam<";;"> congrats :clapping:. will follow the route someday.. As of now hanging with Media Players convenience..
 
venkatcr said:
This depends on a number of things. At the barest minimum,
Click to expand...

sam9s said:
well this is what I feel ........ Better the bitrate, or in other sense higher the quality
Click to expand...

Thank you friends for your detailed explanation from your vast experience you missed TVs part in video processing what is the role of tv in video processing it wont do any improvement and only display what ever fed to it ??? .One more thing I have heard blue ray players in the price tag of more than Rs.25000.What is your opinion between video processing of high priced blue ray player and HTPC (with decent GPU like 6570 and above).What is the role of high priced blue ray player,htpc,media player,receiver to improve average quality content (upscaling ) or play good quality content as it is without deteriorating quality.

Another aspect if we use media player as interface only I mean if we feed video & audio without any processing to decent receiver with Onkyo's Reon-HQV HD video scaling or something better than that then in this case media player is used as only browsing the content and feeding the receiver.Can we expect the best quality audio & video from this kind of configuration even from basic media player (like Asus o play mini)

I am wondering what is the role of media content,harware & software in enhancing our viewing experience.Few low quality (mp3 ) content but good song (composing,lyrics ),video (direction,screenplay,storyline ) gives good experience in low quality and high quality system ( the same applies to movies).Then how much importance we should give to these different factors(content ,hardware ,software ) can I assume quality of content (composing,recording,direction,screenplay ) is the most important thing (around 50% when we measure the whole thing as 100%).

What kind of improvement we are experiencing over time in audio department for example I recently bought onkyo hts 3400 what kind of audio improvement I am experiencing from this generation (2011) of receiver compared to the make of 2006 and old rather than having some additional ports (hdmi,optical ).What kind of improvements we can expect after 5 years (around 2015 and later) rather than some other new port (usb3,thunderbolt,HDBaseT ).

Last but not least what is the expected life of receiver,speakers.I hope sam wont mind posting several queries which are not directly related to his thread.I dont have other option because my doubts are related to htpc,blueray,tv,receiver,media player There is no single section to raise all these queries interlinked with each other.Even if I start new thread most propably it wont get proper attention from experts like sam,venkat So that forgive me to post my combined query in this thread.
 
Last edited:
OK. A noob question.

I have a 8 year old PC idle. This thread has inspired me to
use it as a HTPC.

From what I can recollect , the PC has the following hardware specs:

1) Intel Pentium 4, 2 GB RAM

2) Some ATI video card (used to be one of the best back in 2003). I know
it has provision for component video output. I installed this video card
for gaming purposes.

3) Dont recollect which audio card. Again used to be one of the best back in
2003. It has TosLink SP/DIF output.

4) The reason I mentioned 2 & 3 above is it requires drivers to be installed.

5) Lets say if I want to format my machine and install OpenELEC, I am not sure
if the video and audio cards would work. How will I be able to install the
drivers?.

6) Lets say if option 5 is not possible, I can format the PC, install XP,
install the audio/video drivers and install XMBC. Question is do I need any
additional software for playing video/audio?. Like for example, I read
references about PowerDVD etc.

Please help. Thank you.
 
Really nice setup and detailed pictures
Just a query - which version of XBMC are you using ? The interface looks a little blocky. I thought the latest was the Confluence interface, which seems more fluid

Also, how does one write a script to instruct XBMC to launch a specific application for a specific file ? Any web-based sources ?

And finally, if you are keeping BD ISOs, how BIG is your storage capacity :D ?
 
sivakuru said:
5) Lets say if I want to format my machine and install OpenELEC, I am not sure
if the video and audio cards would work. How will I be able to install the
drivers?.
Click to expand...

Most probably the openELEC distro would support your pc config. Just download the distro and try yourself.

sivakuru said:
6) Lets say if option 5 is not possible, I can format the PC, install XP,
install the audio/video drivers and install XMBC. Question is do I need any
additional software for playing video/audio?. Like for example, I read
references about PowerDVD etc.

Please help. Thank you.
Click to expand...

If you install the necessary drivers and codecs, any media player can be used to play your media files.
 
ValueBuyer said:
Thank you friends for your detailed explanation from your vast experience you missed TVs part in video processing what is the role of tv in video processing it wont do any improvement and only display what ever fed to it ??? .One more thing I have heard blue ray players in the price tag of more than Rs.25000.What is your opinion between video processing of high priced blue ray player and HTPC (with decent GPU like 6570 and above).What is the role of high priced blue ray player,htpc,media player,receiver to improve average quality content (upscaling ) or play good quality content as it is without deteriorating quality.
Click to expand...

TV does play a role in video processing but not as much as the player or source and the codes. Any how almost all current gen LCDs/LED are pretty good in their algo to scale any video, so you should not be worried about it.

About Bluray players I own a pana BD60 and yes I'd say playing BD discs on a player is always better than playing on my LG BD ROM. But then the difference is not so much that I disregard completely the HTPC way. More over its convenient to have your BDs ripped to ISO and browsed via library.
It all boils down to what you want. Rest assured there is not a huge difference in playing content via DB player and a DB ROM


I am wondering what is the role of media content,harware & software in enhancing our viewing experience.Few low quality (mp3 ) content but good song (composing,lyrics ),video (direction,screenplay,storyline ) gives good experience in low quality and high quality system ( the same applies to movies).Then how much importance we should give to these different factors(content ,hardware ,software ) can I assume quality of content (composing,recording,direction,screenplay ) is the most important thing (around 50% when we measure the whole thing as 100%).
Click to expand...

You are thinking too much, there is no limit as to what you can add in your media viewing experience. I have people who are equality satisfied by watching movies on their 14" Laptop with headphones and then there are people like me who want every ounce out of my movie passion. So I will have big display, a decent HT, and so all kind of automation and add all technicalities to my existing setup and still carve for more ( I am carving for a decent HT with projector system ....)

As I said boils down to what you are most passionate about and ofcourse what you can afford ATM. Depending on that you can have your own priority.

What kind of improvement we are experiencing over time in audio department for example I recently bought onkyo hts 3400 what kind of audio improvement I am experiencing from this generation (2011) of receiver compared to the make of 2006 and old rather than having some additional ports (hdmi,optical ).What kind of improvements we can expect after 5 years (around 2015 and later) rather than some other new port (usb3,thunderbolt,HDBaseT ).
Click to expand...

How can we foresee what future holds, just a couple of years back, nobody thought that 3D would gain so much popularity. Heck even just a year back 3D was just starting when I bought my LCD and within a year LCD is obsolute and every one now aims for a 3D LED. If you too much depend your purchase on future prospects you might end up buyinf nothing at the end. As I said stop thinks so much, just prioritize your interest, get your hardware and enjoy it.
 
sivakuru said:
OK. A noob question.

I have a 8 year old PC idle. This thread has inspired me to
use it as a HTPC.

From what I can recollect , the PC has the following hardware specs:

1) Intel Pentium 4, 2 GB RAM

2) Some ATI video card (used to be one of the best back in 2003). I know
it has provision for component video output. I installed this video card
for gaming purposes.

3) Dont recollect which audio card. Again used to be one of the best back in
2003. It has TosLink SP/DIF output.

4) The reason I mentioned 2 & 3 above is it requires drivers to be installed.

5) Lets say if I want to format my machine and install OpenELEC, I am not sure
if the video and audio cards would work. How will I be able to install the
drivers?.

6) Lets say if option 5 is not possible, I can format the PC, install XP,
install the audio/video drivers and install XMBC. Question is do I need any
additional software for playing video/audio?. Like for example, I read
references about PowerDVD etc.

Please help. Thank you.
Click to expand...

My hardware is not that OLD!! ......Just kidding :D .... You can definitely go building your HTPC with the mentioned hardware, but need few more classifications.

What would be your display and speaker system.
Is there an AVR somewhere in the picture.
Are you aiming for full 5.1 audio for just a decent 2.1
P4 had AGP if I remember correctly so using the display card for the audio out is out of question. So sound card is the only solution.
ou said your sound card as Toslink SPDIF, are you sure, Toslink is optical out which you usually do not find in those days sound cards. It might be Coaxil SPDIF. Anyway in both the cases you should be able to decode 5.1 DTS and DD. But your speaker system should have a similar port to accept connections ....

Also with the current hardware age I would suggest install XP and then XBMC. Experiment with it. If things appear to be working good for you else you have to go for a new/second hand hardware .....

grunthos said:
Really nice setup and detailed pictures
Just a query - which version of XBMC are you using ? The interface looks a little blocky. I thought the latest was the Confluence interface, which seems more fluid

Also, how does one write a script to instruct XBMC to launch a specific application for a specific file ? Any web-based sources ?

And finally, if you are keeping BD ISOs, how BIG is your storage capacity :D ?
Click to expand...

Confluence is just a skin which is the default when you load XBMC. The screen shots I have shown are with different skins.

I didnt write the script, its all available online, you just modify per your requirements. Its an XML file that you modify and put it in XBMC specific folder and then XBMC reacts per the script.

If you will build your HTPC I can guide you through the exact steps ......:)
I dont have all of my BDs in ISO, only 6,7. But yes I do have decent space. 1TB dedicated for HTPC and 5TB available via LAN.

My next project is gonna be to build a 8-10TB 24x7 NAS that would be connected to my HTPC
 
sam9s : congrats on the build.

i completely agree with you, i have a few media players like xtreamer in the house , but when i really want to enjoy the experience; i use my zotac mag.
infact the difference is amazing when it comes to high res high bandwidth content.

my players struggle with some iso's whereas xbmc breezes through!

thanks for the open elec link. will try this out ( i like the fact the zotac is supported OOB)
i have wireless issues with xbmc live. I however prefer the live version to windows and boot off a usb stick and boot into windows for regular pc stuff.

also, pretty much interested in the nas project you mentioned at the end. I would love to consolidate my drives and movies to a nas for storage archiving and streaming.
please keep me posted ( if you have already planned around the equipment)
 
babhishek said:
sam9s : congrats on the build.

i completely agree with you, i have a few media players like xtreamer in the house , but when i really want to enjoy the experience; i use my zotac mag.
infact the difference is amazing when it comes to high res high bandwidth content.

my players struggle with some iso's whereas xbmc breezes through!

thanks for the open elec link. will try this out ( i like the fact the zotac is supported OOB)
i have wireless issues with xbmc live. I however prefer the live version to windows and boot off a usb stick and boot into windows for regular pc stuff.

also, pretty much interested in the nas project you mentioned at the end. I would love to consolidate my drives and movies to a nas for storage archiving and streaming.
please keep me posted ( if you have already planned around the equipment)
Click to expand...

well even I was a bit inclined to go for openELEC, but as I mentioned earlier, I do use windows to spice my viewing experience, hence opted to go for XBMC for windows.

About NAS project... well research and development has started, I am looking for some cheap old hardware that I can buy for this project. Its gonna take some time. Will keep my fellow members updated here for sure ...:)
 
^^ BTW a bit off the topic .... Hardware bought for my NAS ........ RnD going for the OS part and configuring it for a 24x7 use .... :D
 
^^ I will prefer to start a new thread for it ....... patience .... :-) .
Just for the record, NAS hardware is even lesser deal than the HTPC hardware, so its gonna be a pretty low level stuff, just enough to run the HDDs ....
 
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