HTPC
For a really spectacular looking HTPC, see something from Alienware. They have won a
truckload of industry accolades and don't look like your grandpa's PC. They have
recently been acquired by computer giant Dell. Alienware are now trying their hand in
the corporate world as well, so you may be able to have a really cool PC at the office
too!
For those who'd rather build their own, Look at this one.
The featured HTPC was built as a media server / HTPC combination.
Features include: Silverstar LaScala 01 all-aluminium case, Enermax quiet 425 watt PS,
2 x 160GB Western Digital IDE drives in a RAID 1 configuration for media storage with
redundancy, a 160GB Seagate Barracuda SATA drive as a boot/app/PVR drive, 8 in 1
media reader, gigabit Ethernet, 1GB of Mushkin Memory PC3200 DDR and an AMD
Athlon processor with a Zalman quiet cooler.
So far CPU temps a bit toasty, at about 55 deg C. The Western Digital drives are very
quiet. The Seagate Barracuda is a little noisier than hoped but performs flawlessly.
HD Tach reported speeds for the Seagate main boot / PVR drive are:
80.4 MB/sec burst, 12.4ms random access, average read 43.5 MB/sec, seq read speed
topping out at 60 MB/sec.
For the WD library RAID 1 array:73.6 MB/sec burst, 13.5ms random access, average
read 34.8 MB/sec, seq read speed going from 41- 27 MB/sec.
An ATI 9600 video card was used for its solid performance without a fan. A fan-less card
really helps keep things quiet, which is a good thing, because it's still not as quiet as you
would like. UPDATE: Replaced the chipset fan with a quieter, ball bearing fan. It made a
big difference. The card may be changed soon to a faster card with a heat pipe cooling
system. Audio is courtesy of a Creative Labs (Creative Sound Cards On sale) Sound
Blaster® Audigy® 2 ZS 7.1 HD sound card. The OS is currently MS XP PRO, but
Microsoft Media Center Edition 2005 will be evaluated soon. (It is still, as of very early
2008, too soon for Windows Vista)
Sound quality from the machine, with an SPDIF connection to a Bryston SP-1.7
preamp/processor and Adcom amplification, playing through Thiel Audio PowerPlane
inwall speakers with a Thiel subwoofer is pretty darned good (as you might expect).
Sound quality wasn't bad with a pair of PSB speakers being driven by the digital feed
from the Creative sound card being fed to a Krell D/A converter and then to a upper
end(?) Pioneer receiver.
A Crestron Windows Media eControl interface, using a Crestron 2 series processor and
TPS-2000 touch panel, worked very well. The system reconnects automatically, even
after a power outage. The only feature unavailable using Crestron's standard program
interface was the ability to alphabetically search for media as is available with the media
servers from stand alone server companies such as Audio ReQuest, Elan and Meda
Systems.
This rig is definitely not cutting edge for gaming performance but was designed for
occasional gaming with media serving and HTPC duties taking precedence.
truckload of industry accolades and don't look like your grandpa's PC. They have
recently been acquired by computer giant Dell. Alienware are now trying their hand in
the corporate world as well, so you may be able to have a really cool PC at the office
too!
For those who'd rather build their own, Look at this one.
The featured HTPC was built as a media server / HTPC combination.
Features include: Silverstar LaScala 01 all-aluminium case, Enermax quiet 425 watt PS,
2 x 160GB Western Digital IDE drives in a RAID 1 configuration for media storage with
redundancy, a 160GB Seagate Barracuda SATA drive as a boot/app/PVR drive, 8 in 1
media reader, gigabit Ethernet, 1GB of Mushkin Memory PC3200 DDR and an AMD
Athlon processor with a Zalman quiet cooler.
So far CPU temps a bit toasty, at about 55 deg C. The Western Digital drives are very
quiet. The Seagate Barracuda is a little noisier than hoped but performs flawlessly.
HD Tach reported speeds for the Seagate main boot / PVR drive are:
80.4 MB/sec burst, 12.4ms random access, average read 43.5 MB/sec, seq read speed
topping out at 60 MB/sec.
For the WD library RAID 1 array:73.6 MB/sec burst, 13.5ms random access, average
read 34.8 MB/sec, seq read speed going from 41- 27 MB/sec.
An ATI 9600 video card was used for its solid performance without a fan. A fan-less card
really helps keep things quiet, which is a good thing, because it's still not as quiet as you
would like. UPDATE: Replaced the chipset fan with a quieter, ball bearing fan. It made a
big difference. The card may be changed soon to a faster card with a heat pipe cooling
system. Audio is courtesy of a Creative Labs (Creative Sound Cards On sale) Sound
Blaster® Audigy® 2 ZS 7.1 HD sound card. The OS is currently MS XP PRO, but
Microsoft Media Center Edition 2005 will be evaluated soon. (It is still, as of very early
2008, too soon for Windows Vista)
Sound quality from the machine, with an SPDIF connection to a Bryston SP-1.7
preamp/processor and Adcom amplification, playing through Thiel Audio PowerPlane
inwall speakers with a Thiel subwoofer is pretty darned good (as you might expect).
Sound quality wasn't bad with a pair of PSB speakers being driven by the digital feed
from the Creative sound card being fed to a Krell D/A converter and then to a upper
end(?) Pioneer receiver.
A Crestron Windows Media eControl interface, using a Crestron 2 series processor and
TPS-2000 touch panel, worked very well. The system reconnects automatically, even
after a power outage. The only feature unavailable using Crestron's standard program
interface was the ability to alphabetically search for media as is available with the media
servers from stand alone server companies such as Audio ReQuest, Elan and Meda
Systems.
This rig is definitely not cutting edge for gaming performance but was designed for
occasional gaming with media serving and HTPC duties taking precedence.
Click Photos to Enlarge
Intel VIIV Technology
A much talked about change in the HTPC landscape in 2006 was the introduction of
Intel's VIIV technology platform. The VIIV platform is an integrated suite of technologies
to allow for advanced home entertainment PC functionality.
Click to see more on Intel VIIV.
Intel's VIIV technology platform. The VIIV platform is an integrated suite of technologies
to allow for advanced home entertainment PC functionality.
Click to see more on Intel VIIV.
One of the problems one faces when integrating an HTPC with a home theater system is
the lack of an HDMI connection. ATI has said its chips support the HDMI standard but
until recently there ware no video card manufacturers that offered the HDMI interface on
any of their cards. This may be changing as Sapphire shows its Radeon X1600Pro HDMI
card at the 2006 Cebit show. Now you can just plug your HTPC into your receiver's HDMI
input with your other HDMI sources. The card shipped in April.
the lack of an HDMI connection. ATI has said its chips support the HDMI standard but
until recently there ware no video card manufacturers that offered the HDMI interface on
any of their cards. This may be changing as Sapphire shows its Radeon X1600Pro HDMI
card at the 2006 Cebit show. Now you can just plug your HTPC into your receiver's HDMI
input with your other HDMI sources. The card shipped in April.
New HTPC Being Tested Running 1080p WMV-HD to Projector!
OLD NEWS ALERT: We're trying out a new HTPC running Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition 2005.
It's a AMD Athlon 64 3000 with a 250GB hard drive and 1G of PC-3200 RAM in dual channel mode. The
video card is an ATI X-700 with 256M. It still drops an occasional frame when watching WMV-HD DVDs in
1080p mode but has not yet been optimized at all. It's outputting to a D-ILA projector capable of
displaying 1080p onto a 45" x 80" screen. It looks pretty amazing, even with minimal tweaking. Some
adjustments to the video subsystem via Powerstrip and FFDShow should improve things even further. .
Update 1: This machine is now being used for a media server. It's working well in this new role.
Update 2- This now ex-HTPC is new the gaming platform for one of our staff member's young kids, a role
it's serving admirably. It will soon be running into a Sharp 46", 1080p LCD for some light duty HTPC work
as well.
It's a AMD Athlon 64 3000 with a 250GB hard drive and 1G of PC-3200 RAM in dual channel mode. The
video card is an ATI X-700 with 256M. It still drops an occasional frame when watching WMV-HD DVDs in
1080p mode but has not yet been optimized at all. It's outputting to a D-ILA projector capable of
displaying 1080p onto a 45" x 80" screen. It looks pretty amazing, even with minimal tweaking. Some
adjustments to the video subsystem via Powerstrip and FFDShow should improve things even further. .
Update 1: This machine is now being used for a media server. It's working well in this new role.
Update 2- This now ex-HTPC is new the gaming platform for one of our staff member's young kids, a role
it's serving admirably. It will soon be running into a Sharp 46", 1080p LCD for some light duty HTPC work
as well.
Great HTPC Books
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Home theater and Automation Guide
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Home theater and Automation Guide
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1 Touch Movie.com
Home Theater PCs
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Gaming or HTPC Speaker Systems
In many cases your HTPC or gaming system will be located in a smaller room, and not in the main
viewing area. In these cases, or for those applications where the main viewing area is a smaller room,
aesthetic and/or family concerns can dictate the use of a smaller speaker system. In many cases you'll
have to sacrifice sound quality with one of these mini sat systems, but advances in speaker technology
mean that this doesn't have to be the case. In addition, you don't have to spend a fortune to get truly
fantastic audio performance from a very small speaker in a small room.
Systems such as the Intimus 422 Harmony system from award winning (They won HDTV magazine's Top
Choice Award), factory direct speaker specialists Aperion Audio convincingly demonstrate that small
doesn't have to mean weak. Speaking of demonstrating, they'll let you try them out in your home, and if
you're not 100%satisfied, you'll get a full refund (They'll want the speakers back, though). They also
have 12 month no-interest financing for their speaker systems. That's a financially smart move to get
better sound.
viewing area. In these cases, or for those applications where the main viewing area is a smaller room,
aesthetic and/or family concerns can dictate the use of a smaller speaker system. In many cases you'll
have to sacrifice sound quality with one of these mini sat systems, but advances in speaker technology
mean that this doesn't have to be the case. In addition, you don't have to spend a fortune to get truly
fantastic audio performance from a very small speaker in a small room.
Systems such as the Intimus 422 Harmony system from award winning (They won HDTV magazine's Top
Choice Award), factory direct speaker specialists Aperion Audio convincingly demonstrate that small
doesn't have to mean weak. Speaking of demonstrating, they'll let you try them out in your home, and if
you're not 100%satisfied, you'll get a full refund (They'll want the speakers back, though). They also
have 12 month no-interest financing for their speaker systems. That's a financially smart move to get
better sound.