Seriously thinking about an HTPC

[SgtM]

What should I consider? I know I'll need HDMI out, and I want it to be small. Like roughly the size of a Wii small. I'll have a 1Tb drive in it for DVRing, but what about the OS and add ons? XBMC, MythTV, mythbuntu... So many choices. I'll probably stream content from netflix and hulu too. No idea on a budget, but under $500 (if possible) sounds about right.

[Oneslowz28]

What should I consider? I know I'll need HDMI out, and I want it to be small. Like roughly the size of a Wii small. I'll have a 1Tb drive in it for DVRing, but what about the OS and add ons? XBMC, MythTV, mythbuntu... So many choices. I'll probably stream content from netflix and hulu too. No idea on a budget, but under $500 (if possible) sounds about right.


I just built one for an article I am working on. I didn't want to release any details yet but let me list my hard ware for you.

Motherboard with onboard Radion HD4250 USB 3.0, SATA 6gb, and HDMI out - Gigabyte 880GMA-UD2H (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128445) $99.00
Processor - AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103903&Tpk=Athlon%202%20Regor%203.0ghz) $58.99
Ram - 4Gb OCZ AMD black edition (had it left over from a review) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227496&Tpk=OCZ%20AMD%20Black) $95.99
PSU - Thermaltake Toughpower XT 575W (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153125&Tpk=Toughpower%20XT%20575) $95.99
Keyboard / Remote - IOGear GKM516R (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823176018&cm_re=IOGear_keyboard-_-23-176-018-_-Product) $49.99 Or Enermax Aurora Micro Wireless (http://www.enermax.com/home.php?fn=eng/product_a1_1_1&lv0=3&lv1=12&no=53) Around $60 Both with built in mouse.
Blu-Ray Drive - Plextor PX-B320SA (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827249050&cm_re=B320SA-_-27-249-050-_-Product) $119.99 (left over from review)
HDD 1 - Western Digital Green 500Gb (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136358&cm_re=Western_Digital_Green_500-_-22-136-358-_-Product) $54.99
HDD 2 - Western Digital Blue 1TB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136534&cm_re=Western_Digital_Blue_1TB-_-22-136-534-_-Product) $69.99
Temp Case - Thermaltake Lanbox Lite (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133045&cm_re=Lanbox_lite-_-11-133-045-_-Product) $69.99
Future Case - Thermaltake DH202 (http://uk.thermaltake.eu/product_info.aspx?PARENT_CID=C_00001364&id=C_00001367&name=DH202&ovid=) with 7" touch screen. $450

I have not picked out a TV tuner card yet because I am in the middle of a transition from satellite to cable again and do not want to be stuck with a $100 card. A lot of my components were review items and thus were overkill.

My total before the case upgrade comes to $812.93 but by reducing the ram to 2Gb, lesser PSU, a single 1TB HDD,a $45 Blu-Ray drive, and a $35 Apevia HTPC case you could get the cost very close to $500

I am running Windows 7 32 bit, and only running XBMC and Power DVD (for blu-ray playback). If I were you, I would forget Mythbuntu, Mythtv, etc and just go with XBMC. The recent changes in the upcoming Dharma release really make XBMC a true HTPC client. They have left the Xbox coding behind and am focusing on PC hardware only now. There are a few of us here who run XBMC and can help you with any problems you might have.

[OvRiDe]

Honestly for your budget and size requirements you might just check out something like the Acer Revo with the ION chipset or Lenovo makes a similar system.

The Acer has the Atom D525 1.8Ghz Dual core (w/ HT)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883103297

and the Lenovo has the Acer D510 1.6 Dual core (w/ HT)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883108321

Unfortunately both only come with a 250GB HDD but the Lenovo has a pretty cool looking hand held remote/keyboard.

So 350 bucks for the System w/ Win7 .. add a $50-$60 USB Tuner and a sub $100 1TB External USB drive and your done, for around 500 bucks.

As for software.. I have tried them all at one time or another and I keep coming back to XBMC. I don't believe it will handle the DVR portion, but I have never looked into using it for that. Both systems come with Win 7 Home Premium that includes WMC that can handle the DVR functions.

[OvRiDe]

This got me thinking about some of the bare bones kits that Newegg carries.. here is another option.

Jetway Mini-TOP HBJC600C99-52W-BW Intel Atom D525 CPU NM10 Next-Generation NVIDIA ION with dedicated 512MB DDR3 Barebone (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856107072) $269.99
Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD10TPVT 1TB 5200 RPM 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136545) $119.99
Rendition by Crucial 2GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Laptop Memory Model RM25664AC800 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148233) $35.99
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-850 hybrid video recorder 1230 USB 2.0 Interface (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116035) $54.99

Subtotal: $480.96

This has the ION2 chipset and comes with a remote but doesn't include an OS.

[slaveofconvention]

I must admit, I was all happy and excited when I built my media center a couple of years back but to be honest, it gets pretty much ignored now. It sits upstairs in the bedroom (I have an xbox 250gb which I use as an extender in the lounge) but I don't really use it at all since the cable company gave me an HD PVR unit. I can see it getting repurposed at some point as the motherboard is capable of so much more lol. Course I'll have to replace it as the wife DOES use it every night to put on a go-to-sleep show...

[SXRguyinMA]

I was going to build one, but the wife and I don't watch enough TV to justify it. Red Comet was originally going to be an HTPC, but with my side business (http://willscyclerepair.webege.com/) picking up I want to use it in the garage for internet radio, looking up parts, procedures, time clock functions, etc

[SgtM]

Thanks for the links and advice everyone. I'm still considering this. Did someone say review items? Ahem!!!!!!

[NightrainSrt4]

If I've learned anything my last three years or so of tinkering with home file server/htpc, it's to keep them separate, and keep some sort of redundancy or backup of the server portion, preferably both.