Looking to build the perfect HTPC

[Spies]

So far in my shopping basket I have a low profile media case, 512mb ram, a panasonic slotload dvdrw and then I get to the bits I'm unsure of.

Which Epia motherboard would be able to handle decompression of mpeg2 video? I already have a PVR250, would it be better to sell it and get the 350 to use hardware decoding? And finally a 5400rpm 250gb HDD, recommendations?

I've not paid any attention to sage for a long while now, is there recording to DVD possible from within the UI?

[Humanzee]

Nice Case, I wouldn't buy a pvr-350. read my post here http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...ad.php?t=12509

Something I'm going to do after I get married is build a smaller quieter client HTPC case to put next to the tv. That way you can put all of your noisey hard drives and fans in the server machine and stick it in a back room or closet. You can argue all day long about who makes the quietest drives, but when you have 4 of them spinning at the same time it gets noisey and hot.

Then on the client you don't need all the extra room for those devices, Just a boot disk, an IR reciever and tv/audio out. I was even thinking of using a lap top hard drive to keep it extra quiet.

This would be easier to fit in such a small form factor, but it requires two machines. The server doesn't really need to be that much of a work horse since it will just be recording. And your pvr-250 does the encoding on a chip so it shouldn't tax your system.

[Spies]

I do intend to keep it in one box so to speak.

I just specced a system that would rival the Panasonic DMR-E500H for approx £200 less, it is as follows...

Low Profile Media Case
Panasonic UJ845B Slotload DVD-RW
512MB DDR400 DIMM - EPIA SP/M/MII/PD Compatible
Nehemiah EPIA M10000 LVDS Motherboard
300GB 7200rpm Western Digital Caviar
Hauppauge PVR250
Cheap 802.11b Dongle I have lying around

Have I forgotten anything? I can't seem to find any large capacity drives that run at 5400rpm, what's the reason for this? How good can you get the composite/s-video signal coming from the EPIA's onboard video? Are there any tools to tweak it?

[src666]

I wouldn't go with the Epia, myself. These things are at the absolute limit of their abilities when decoding video. Although that may be why you were thinking about the PVR-350.

My recommendation is to bite the bullet on footprint, and get a slightly bigger but vastly more capable system by trading up to a less crippled motherboard/CPU combination. It may not make much of a difference today, but the minute you try to step beyond the capabilites of an Epia (new media formats, etc.), you will regret having bought it.

[Spies]

The absolute maximum the STB can be is 9cm high, I don't think any full size form factor will work with that little space, it NEED's to be an EPIA really, no other option.

Not everyone wants odd looking boxes in their front room

All I want is something to rival the current gen of dvd recorders, when HDTV comes, then I'll probably upgrade the PVR card to a full encode/decode thing, CPU won't be used much.

[insomniac]

If you go for an EPIA, you will definately need a PVR350. Epias just dont have sufficient horsepower to make up a good HTPC without hardware tv out.

I.

[Spies]

But that now I've read how unstable the PVR350 is I don't particulary want one

I thought the Epia was fine with the PDVD codec?

How good can you get the TV-Out on Epia boards?

[Humanzee]

When HDTV comes? The 3.x beta supports HDTV now. Or are you talking about when it comes to your region.

9cm? are you going to stuff it into a teddy bear or model car like on that mini-itx.com site?

The other limitation of those small form factor cases and motherboards is their limitations on expansion slots, I didn't see any that could handle more than 2 pci cards. Most could support only one and that is taken up by your pvr-250. So if you want to switch to a better video or sound card you pretty much need to start over. I agree that they are pretty sweet and small but why are you so limited by size? There are many HTPC cases out there that arn't any bigger than your average home theater reciever.

To answer your earlier question about burning DVD's, yes, I think that you can burn archived shows to dvd through the user interface. I havn't done it myself, I think it depends on your stv and which plug-in's you are running, it might be coming in version 3. You might also need some thrid party burning software that can accept command line arguments from sage. I think thats how they did it anyway. Search the forums.

[insomniac]

I had an epia 9000. It was a terrible experience. 100% cpu at all times. Dont sneeze, or your video will get choppy.

If you do not want to go with a pvr350, I suggest that you look into mATX with a GF6600 for component video out.

Originally Posted by Spies

But that now I've read how unstable the PVR350 is I don't particulary want one

I thought the Epia was fine with the PDVD codec?

How good can you get the TV-Out on Epia boards?

[Spies]

One last try for Epia... Are there any reviews of the Epia SP Range? They have mpeg2 decoders, mpeg4 accelerators and a TV-Encoder chip (VIA VT1623 TV Encoder).

That low profile case will also take Micro-ATX, is this going to be sufficiant?

[insomniac]

definately, mATX is pretty much a ATX with less PCI slots. Plus you get a great onboard sound w/ spdif in/out.

Look around for soundstorm board. NF2 chipsets are more than sufficient, and also work great with PVR350's (in my experience).

you will have to ask around for unbiased opinions on the EPIA's. In my book, they are junk.

I.

Originally Posted by Spies

One last try for Epia... Are there any reviews of the Epia SP Range? They have mpeg2 decoders, mpeg4 accelerators and a TV-Encoder chip (VIA VT1623 TV Encoder).

That low profile case will also take Micro-ATX, is this going to be sufficiant?

[Spies]

Originally Posted by Humanzee

When HDTV comes? The 3.x beta supports HDTV now. Or are you talking about when it comes to your region.

When it comes to my region.

9cm? are you going to stuff it into a teddy bear or model car like on that mini-itx.com site?

No, just the case shown in the first post

[Humanzee]

check this thread at avsforum http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/archi.../t-511126.html

[Spies]

I've settled on a Matx Spec now..

Low Profile Media Case £55.08 - Scan
Pioneer DVR-K05 £66.98 - Scan
300GB WD Caviar £97.23 - OcUK
MSI K7N2GM2-ILSR £45.33 - Scan
XP2500-M £70.44 - OcUK
Akasa Low Profile £9.49 - Scan
512MB Crucial PC3200 £44.64 - Crucial

TOTAL £389.94

[Spies]

What would be better in terms of picture quality? Onboard GF4MX (On Socket A) or onboard ATI X300 (Socket 939).

Is the ATI X300 tweakable? Picture positions etc.

Oppinions please.

[src666]

Make sure your RAM isn't too tall. In smaller cases, it is sometimes necessary to by low profile RAM.

[Spies]

It looks like standard ram should fit no problems.

[bhyman1]

My Epia works great. Using the PowerDVD codec that takes advantage of the onboard MPEG-2 client. No choppiness poblems. They make for a nice client setup IMO.