Theydon's Perpetual HTPC Build

50 pages are a lot to read plus a number of other threads, I'm daunted on where to start!

You've managed to get PowerDVD and TMT playing along nicely, apologies for asking, have alot to read and little time ATM, will have to read all eventually to get my HTPC running with all the candy of a Media Centre alot of people on these forums have going on but are both or either integrated into Media Centre, if so, how have you set them up?

Thanks.
 
How do you think I pay for all my AV kit? :rotfl:
 
50 pages are a lot to read plus a number of other threads, I'm daunted on where to start!

You've managed to get PowerDVD and TMT playing along nicely, apologies for asking, have alot to read and little time ATM, will have to read all eventually to get my HTPC running with all the candy of a Media Centre alot of people on these forums have going on but are both or either integrated into Media Centre, if so, how have you set them up?

Thanks.

Intergrated into Media Portal, using the StreamedMP skin, not Media Centre.
 
I've finally done it. Phew.

My basic build

Thanks to you and Daveybryce, I managed to put my stuff together.

I've also got MediaPortal running. It will never be as great as yours I think, but it makes me satisfied of my achiement.

Two questions please....

1.Do I need a Music plugin? If yes, then which one do I use? I'm of course using the StreamedMP skin. Do I need a different Music player integrated?

2. Same questions as in number 1, but for pictures.

Well, i guess it was 6 questions in total.

Thanks a million for all this.....I'm the envy of my buddies :thumbsup::clap::clap:
 
I think Vista Service Pack 2 has broken my sound as Windows sound and avi sound does not work and it only works on my mkvs. :confused:

Also, selecting a TV Show briefly flashes the show before it stops and returns to the menu once more.

The only thing I have done is SP2 and configure the Weather settings once more.

I am removing SP2 as we speak (or as I type)......

Still waiting on a proper release of 1.1, then I will update to the latest StreamedMP which includes Moving Pictures 1.0.

Also waiting on the new iMon software (the one after 7.6) which should be released soon.

10th Jan Update

Removed SP2, rebooted, still no joy. Found new drivers for the SoundMax software which did not work, but removing the sound drivers and rebooting caused Vista to find them again and re-install them.

Then everything worked properly again, including MP TV Series not quickly flashing an episode before returning to the menu once more.

Bloody SP2....

Looks like 7.8 Beta is out for the iMon software: iMON/iMEDIAN HD 7.80.1224 Beta Version (Dec. 29, 2009) - Soundgraph Forums
 
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2nd August 2010: Bascially forgot to add all the other build work I did to my PC in Janurary prior to getting the new 5870, so adding it for the sake of completism. :blush:

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PC Upgrade [Jan 10]

Prep Work

To start my prep work, I removed the graphics card and the middle bottom fan. The bottom middle fan from the case was removed as there just was not enough space even with a modular power supply to fit everything in. I am pretty sure that the fan was not even moving the moment I moved the case as the non modular cables and the tiny space probbaly stopped the fan from moving anyway.

With this fan removed, it opened up a lot of room, allowed me to thread cables through the other opening and I think make things that much more tidier as well as allowing some air to be pulled through from the PSU.

I then used a ton of cable ties to keep things as tidy as possible. The grey cables that connect the front panel to the motherboard are tied together and then tied up out of sight as much as possible.

I did not know at the time, but if you look where the SATA connections are, I actually pulled off one of the bloody connections on the board, leaving metal pins behind. What a ****tard! :oops:

[Its the missing red one above the 2 red on the leftmost row.]

2010_prep.jpg


New DVD

The new DVD goes in, nice and easy and with it the old IDE ribbon and molex power disappear as a thin black SATA and power are nicely cabled to make it work.

2010_dvd.jpg


Cable Ties FTW!

How many cable ties can you see here? :shock:

2010_cableties.jpg


Hard Drive

The hard drive goes into its caddy, held in place with the rubber grommets. I kept the drives in the bottom caddy rather than put the middle one back for the same reasons why I took it out in the first place - too close to the graphics card and now I had put a Noctua in to aid cooling.

2010_hd.jpg


Bloody Molex Connection

And here we have the only molex connection left in the case, which means I have to add in a molex connection to my PSU, adding another cable coming from the PSU and leading up through the case to be able to power the top fan.

I will be replacing that fan with a Noctua next month, as the noctua can simply plug directly into the board and be controlled by the BIOS - you can even see one of the spare fan controller pins I have on the board CHA_FAN 2 to the left of the molex.

You can see that I have popped the SATA connection back onto the motherboard and have my hard drive plugged in which thankfully all worked ok.

I have added another 30 or so cable ties to the picture here as you can see, and I also make another mistake - read on if you cant see from this pic....

2010_molex.jpg


Oops!

Yep, my excessive cable tying had resulted in my pulling one of the connections off - my PC would not boot despite there being power present, and thankfully it was simply due to the cable controlling all the front case switches and not the fact that I had pulled off part of the motherboard by mistake earlier. :oops:

2010_connectionbroke.jpg


All done!

All done, well, 95% done anyway. That red SATA cable is temporary as I am in the process of copying data from old drives to the new one, and next month I will be replacing the top fan with a Noctua and therefore not need the power cable from PSU to molex.

2010_done.jpg


Far happier with how my cabling has gone as well - look at this pic for a before and after shot to see just how much things have changed by spending £25 on a SATA DVD drive and a few hours cabling:

2010_meercat.jpg
 
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Interesting you mention SP2 for Vista. I myself have auto updates off and have read elsewhere that SP2 can mess up HTPC settings..

I am still on SP1 and everything works fine for now....

It still does bug me if i should get SP2.......because windows wants me to. If i still remain with SP1 what are the disadvantages?
 
PC Upgrade

Bought a new GPU, the ATI 5870, XFX AVP edition from Aria at a jolly nice £303 after waiting ages to buy one. Yes I know I bought it on the eve of NVidia's 4 series release, but circumstances required the purchase else Mrs Bois using my overtime to buy a Dishwasher. :devil:

It arrives today and my god is it massive. To compare using the Razor school of thumb that requires you to compare electrical goods with foodstuffs, this is a large box of Rice Krispies....

mar_card1.jpg


The beast unwraped...

mar_card2.jpg


Darth Maul likes the colour scheme, although through the force, he is sensing some deja-vu...

mar_card3.jpg


Compare the size to my already massive 8800GTS, which I used to say was approximately half the size of an Argos catalogue.

mar_card5.jpg


My case opened up and getting ready to insert the new card

mar_card_before.jpg


Inside closeup

mar_card4.jpg


And all done!

mar_card_after.jpg
 
Nice build Mr Bios. I didn't realise they were giving 5870's with packets of rice crispies now :rotfl:. Time to get fragging BFBC2 is calling.
 
It arrives today and my god is it massive. To compare using the Razor school of thumb that requires you to compare electrical goods with foodstuffs, this is a large box of Rice Krispies....

mar_card1.jpg

LMFAO.... :rotfl:

Crunchy Nut is the benchmark but Rice Krispies will do nicely. :D

Congrats on the upgrade mate. The 5870 is an excellent gaming card. :smashin:
 

Not sure what the :eek: 's are, but I will take it as a compliment. :smashin:

A recent Bios upgrade to try and fix my sound wiped my overclock, so I redid it again last night:

prime95s_468.jpg


8hrs of Prime95 overnight, my PC sounds the same as it did when I went to bed, and had not BSOD or caught fire, so all sorted. :D
 
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Just a little update to my HTPC. I added a 400Gb drive as a temp measure until I stuff a 1Tb/1.5Tb/2Tb drive into it, and gave it a massive dust bunny clean out and rearranged the mess of cables that are attached to my non modular PSU.

I also downloaded MediaPortal RC6, Streamed 1.2 and Soundgraph iMon 7.9 ready to update my Silver box during the couple of days off I have at the end of the week. :smashin:
 
I also downloaded MediaPortal RC6, Streamed 1.2 and Soundgraph iMon 7.9 ready to update my Silver box during the couple of days off I have at the end of the week. :smashin:
RC7 :eek: is probably going to be out by then (we found a bit of an issue with RC6... and CAMs, not that this is an issue in the UK really).

What are you running now? 1.1 RC or 1.0.2? For RC6 they enabled the version check for 1.1 final so you may have a little bit of tweaking to get skins and plugins working correctly

Also be careful which iMon stuff you use. IIRC you can't get MiniDisplay working anyway can you? Soundgraph basically gave MP a bit of a shifty one and said they would collaborate and then have put it off and off and off and off and.... I think this means some of their drivers don't work that well with MP

Warning for MediaPortal users !!! - Soundgraph Forums
 
1.0 RC2 - apparently its a upgrade from RC2 onwards rather than a full install.

Cheers for the heads up on SG - I am a bit gutted that they have dropped support as such, it would just kind of finish things off for me.
 
1.0 RC2 - apparently its a upgrade from RC2 onwards rather than a full install.
Did you mean 1.0 RC2 :rolleyes: no upgrade from there :devil:

Cheers for the heads up on SG - I am a bit gutted that they have dropped support as such, it would just kind of finish things off for me.
I don't use the IR as it irritated the hell out of me but with some really old drivers the LCD is working reasonably well in MP. I guess it is not that they are dropped support but more that soundgraph changed the way to interact with the card but won't tell anyone how it works now :thumbsdow

If you are only using the IR and not the LCD then it might not make any difference anyway
 
Soundgraph drivers seem to be bad all round, not just in MP. I reckon they're probably the worst and most unreliable driver I've ever come across. If it's working I wouldn't recommend installing a driver just because it's newer.

I've stuck with 7.6 for a while now for fear that they'll break something again and turned off the automatic updates. I keep meaning to go back through some old drivers I have saved to see if I can get a couple of things working again. :rolleyes:
 
Did you mean 1.0 RC2 :rolleyes: no upgrade from there :devil:

:facepalm: I meant 1.1.0 RC2

Soundgraph drivers seem to be bad all round, not just in MP. I reckon they're probably the worst and most unreliable driver I've ever come across. If it's working I wouldn't recommend installing a driver just because it's newer.

I've stuck with 7.6 for a while now for fear that they'll break something again and turned off the automatic updates. I keep meaning to go back through some old drivers I have saved to see if I can get a couple of things working again. :rolleyes:

Good point.....
 
Far happier with how my cabling has gone as well - look at this pic for a before and after shot to see just how much things have changed by spending £25 on a SATA DVD drive and a few hours cabling:

2010_meercat.jpg

I completely forgot to add in a load of work I did on my PC before I upgraded my card, so added that in, and just to say that I should be replacing my P180 with a Corsair 700D in September. :smashin:

YouTube - Corsair Obsidian 700D Video Review
 

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