programming and human factors
by Jeff Atwood
It's been almost three years since I built my home theater PC. I adore that little machine; it drives all of our family entertainment and serves as a general purpose home media server and streaming box. As I get older, I find that I'm no longer interested in having a home full of PCs whirring away. I only want one PC in my house on all the time, and I want it to be as efficient and versatile as possible.
My old low-power Athlon X2 based HTPC generally worked great, but still struggled with some occasional 1080p content. And when you have a toddler in the house, believe me, you need reliable 1080p playback. Only the finest in children's entertainment for my spawned process, I say!
When I recently had to transcode Megamind down to 720p to get it to play back without stuttering or pausing at times… I knew my current HTPC's days were numbered.
(Megamind is hilarious and highly recommended, by the way; it's far better than its Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes percentages would seem to indicate.)
Now that Intel has finally released their Sandy Bridge CPUs -- the first with integrated GPUs -- I was eager to revisit and rebuild. The low power Core i3-2100T is the one I had my eye on, with a miserly TDP of 35 watts. Combine that with a decent Mini-ITX motherboard and a few other essential parts, and you're good to go:
| CPU | Intel Core i3-2100T | $135 |
| Motherboard | ASRock H67M ITX | $100 |
| RAM | Corsair 4GB DDR3 | $45 |
| Case + PSU | Antec ISK 300-65 | $70 |
| HDD | 750GB 2.5" | $70 |
Now, I am fudging a bit here. This is just the basic level of hardware to get a functional home theater PC. I didn't actually buy a case, PSU, or even hard drive for that matter; I recycled many of my old existing parts, so my personal outlay was all of 300 bucks. I'm including the fuller part list as courtesy recommendations in case you're starting from scratch. You also might want to add a Blu-Ray drive, and perhaps a Windows 7 Home Premium license ($99) for its excellent 10-foot Windows Media Center interface.
The magical part here is the extreme level of hardware integration: the CPU has a GPU and memory controller on die, and the motherboard has optical digital out and HDMI out built in. It's delightfully simple to build and downright cheap. Just assemble it, install your OS of choice (sorry, Apple fans), then plug it into your receiver and television and boot it up.
My results? I'll just get right to the good part, but please bear in mind each step is about twice as powerful as the one before:
| 2005 | ~$1000 | 512 MB RAM, single core CPU | 80 watts idle |
| 2008 | ~$520 | 2 GB RAM, dual core CPU | 45 watts idle |
| 2011 | ~$420 | 4 GB RAM, dual core CPU + GPU | 22 watts idle |
I know I get way too excited about this stuff, but … holy crap, 22 tesla-lovin' watts at idle!
The kill-a-watt never lies. To be fair, it's more like 25 watts idle with torrents in the background. This little box is remarkably efficient; even when playing back a 1080p video it's not unusual to see CPU usage well under 50%, which equates to around 30-35 watts in practice. Under full, artificial multithreaded Prime95 load, it tops out at an absolute peak of 55 watts.
(Update: I ended up replacing my old Seasonic ECO 300 SFX power supply with a Pico PSU-90 plus 60 watt adapter kit. That got the idle power down from 22 watts to 17 watts, a solid savings of 22%. Recommended!)
This is a killer setup, but don't take my word for it. There is an excruciatingly in-depth review of essentially the same system at Missing Remote, with a particular eye toward home theater duties. Spoiler: they loved the hell out of it too. And it compromises almost nothing in performance, with a Windows Experience score of 5.1 -- that would be a solid 5.8 if you factored out desktop Aero performance.
(Also, in case you're wondering, I intentionally dropped the analog cable tuner. All modern cable is now digital, which means awkward DRM-ed up the wazoo CableCard systems. I've cancelled cable altogether; I'd rather take that $60+ per month and use it to support innovative companies who will deliver media through the internet, like Netflix, Hulu, etcetera. Or as I like to call it: the future, unless the media congolomerates with vaults full of cash manage to subvert net neutrality.)
When all is said and done, I have a new always-on, does-anything home theater box that is twice as fast as the one I built in 2008, while consuming less than half the power.
I've been a computer nerd since age 8, and I just turned 40. I should be jaded by computer hardware pornography by now, but I still find this progress amazing. At this rate, I can't wait to find out what my 2014 home theater PC will look like.
I should get one of those - I'd like to compare it to the power consumption of my TiVo.
Interesting post.
Slash A on March 28, 2011 3:04 AMI have a hacked Apple TV running XBMC. It is fast, incredibly easy to use, and runs everything I throw at it.
Alternatively, something like a Boxee box. Power consumption is 11w, while playing 1080p: http://forums.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=22177
Amazon is currently selling Boxee boxes for less than $200...
Andrew Ducker on March 28, 2011 3:24 AMI used to use HTPCs for my home cinema but I switched to a Western Digital TV HD Live and didn't regret it. :)
Its a small, fanless 12x4x10 cm box which plays almost everything HD (up to 1080p) including mkv, dvd .iso's, dvd directory structures from a USB HDD or over network (samba/windows share or UPnP server) while consuming ~10 watts when playing.
It has some trouble playing BluRay images or BDMV structures (the file format and codec are supported though) but thats what I have a BluRay player for.
It costs around 90 euros over here and I definitely recommend checking it out. :)
Almost forgot, its also hackable.
WDLXTV is a custom firmware project which exposes the underlying Linux.
The hardware specs here are silly. You can do 1080p easily with the following stack:
- Acer Aspire Revo 3600: quite old now, single core Atom, ION chipset (Nvidia 9400M): £130 used
- Some extra RAM if you like: £20
- Ubuntu: £0
- Boxee: £0
I've spent the time to build up off an Ubuntu Server install but you can easily just use the standard Ubuntu Desktop... And there you have it. For less than $200 you have a system that does audio over HDMI, full 1080p HD, is nigh on silent and comes with a bracket to mount it to the back of a screen.
It's not going to be as fast as your machine... But we're talking about a computer that is really only designed for one thing: media playback. For that the old Revo does fine. And if you want more power they do do a new version with an Atom D525 which is easily three times as powerful.
Note: if you try chucking Windows on this, it will work but it's half a minute longer to boot and playback can be hit and miss depending on what Windows decides it wants to do in the background. Ubuntu uber alles.
**This was a public service announcement from your friends at AskUbuntu.com**
Oli on March 28, 2011 3:38 AMcongrats on a new toy. But I'm also from an Atom camp. Latest ones are totally fanless and support 1080p and background fileserver plus torrents at the same time.
Pavels Romanovskis on March 28, 2011 4:39 AMMaybe there are other uses for this new HTPC than merely media playback? Otherwise it would seem there are cheaper and more efficient options out there.
I've got a Core2Duo PC under my telly sat inside a HTPC enclosure (which doesn't really mean much apart from the case being black and low power!).
The machine runs Ubuntu and XBMC, and also serves as my NAS, samba server, private web server and torrent machine (running torrentfluxb4rt).
I've not tested the machine's power consumption, but at night with everything switched off (apart from the server, fridge and assorted clocks, stuff on charge, etc) my entire house draws 0.3kW/h. Switching a light on causes a more noticeable increase than turning the server off.
before this my server used to be a Pentium 4 machine which alone drew 160W and gave out enough heat to warm a room!
The low power machines are good for specific uses, but if you have one computer left on permanently it tends to get used for everything to help justify its reason for being switched on.
James on March 28, 2011 4:59 AMI have a low power semprom processor downclocked at 1Ghz. All it needs to do 1080p is a fanless 30$ graphics card (an nvidia g220 actually). Of course it runs Ubuntu and xbmc. It was incredibly sluggy with Windows Vista/7 installed.
Anyway, I have to agree that it's awesome what 300 bucks can buy you right now.
Hecizq on March 28, 2011 5:05 AMI don't do media playback on my home server but then it's a 66 MHZ NAS I installed Debian on for media sharing, torrents, and home automation.
I recently set up a dual core atom bare bones mini PC for a friend and I think it's way more PC than she needs and plenty for a media server. It's a Zotac ZBox; it draws 15 W max and it's only fault is that it's not a fanless design œl(and her house is super dusty). Case and power supply and all for about $400, including a nice 500 GB Seagate Momentus XT hybrid SSD/HDD.
William Furr on March 28, 2011 5:34 AMSo, you're saying that SPCR saying:
''Just how slow of a processor can one use? Gradually underclocking the CPU, we found that the Blu Ray disc began to stutter at about 1.1Ghz, while audio glitches were detected in the WVC1 clip at 1.4Ghz'''
...is wrong? Are you sure you're using hardware acceleration at all?
Wouter. on March 28, 2011 5:40 AMWhile Atom/ION machines are extremely good, they do have a couple of major shortcomings for a HTPC, the first is that they don't have enough grunt to decode 1080i content, which if you're in the UK like me is a bit of a problem when all of the HD channels broadcast at 1080i.
The second issue is that ION based machines don't support bitstreaming of HD audio over HDMI, so when you playback a blu-ray disc, you'll only get the DTS core or Dolby Digital soundtrack, not the DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD one.
Bagal on March 28, 2011 6:15 AMI run a Zotac ION 330 for two HTPC boxes and I can decode 1080i/p like a hot knife through butter. They connect to a backend running MythTV with hd5500 OTA tuners and an HDPVR encoder for HD DirecTV. The same backend is also running Air Video for on the fly transcoding to iPad/iPhone. The IONs can switch between MythTV and XBMC at the flick of a remote. It's a lot of hacking to get to that point, but that part is more fun for me than watching TV. My kids love the results though.
Pashdown on March 28, 2011 7:04 AMNice! I'm finally using an AsRock Vision 3D Series i5 HTPC after using an AsRock ION 330, both rock solid products!
ChrisRichner on March 28, 2011 7:35 AMGreat Post!
I built an HTPC back in 2006...and yes, it's getting a little old (http://www.dcs-media.com/Archive/how-to-create-a-tivo-clone-DH)
I JUST bought this little gem from Newegg. I should be receiving it sometime this week (Granted, it doesn't have a TV Tuner card, but ehhh...)
Just saw it on Thursday/Friday for $149 ($189 with -$40 instant).
I'm hoping this may work as an HTPC as well. We'll see what I can conjure up with this. :-)
How does the new computer work for gaming? You seem to have a little extra power so it would probably be fun to see if some older games run(or well designed and efficient games like TF2 or L4D). Then you get a gaming "console" out of it too.
Walter Johnstone-Breen on March 28, 2011 8:19 AMI love the power usage of this motherboard/CPU combo. I wonder if I can get a similar board with 2 or more ethernet ports. Would make a killer home firewall/IPS device.
Jasonish on March 28, 2011 8:39 AMI've been thinking about setting up a home theater PC, and I now have a good guide to follow. Thanks.
Ajbobo on March 28, 2011 8:46 AM
I notice that motherboard has got VGA, DVI, and HDMI video ports. Can you use all three simultaneously to extend a Windows desktop to three monitors?
Zack Peterson on March 28, 2011 9:01 AM@Zack Peterson: Just two.
I have an older HTPC with an E something something 2 something ghz and I can notice a slow down with 1080p content while playing Blurays. Turning of media centre actually fixes that. I've ripped a few to MKVs and the 1080p ones don't work too well in VLC, but work alright played from within media centre. Which is weird as that never worked and all of a sudden it just did... no clue as to why, but I'll take that over using PotPlayer any day.
I'm wondering though, do you know if these processors have the same BS issues as the last i3s? Not being able to play framerates correctly? Mentioned in this thread, basically it's that movies play at 23.976 fps and the i3 GPU converts it to 24.000 fps as it cannot do 24p natively. This causes a (to me) very noticeable skip over and over and over.
MJ on March 28, 2011 10:17 AMGood post!
I'd add that HD Homerun (http://goo.gl/CQf7) is a great HTPC addition for Clear QAM cable: My kid gets to watch all the Mythbusters he wants, I get to watch PBS shows + CBC etc. It sends all video traffic across e'net in our house so any computer can use the tuners via drivers. Also, access to BBC iPlayer (via a UK tunnel, for now) adds some terrific content to the mix.
misha on March 28, 2011 11:36 AMI used to run a few low-powered PCs, though I used MythTV. Frankly, the networked aspect of it makes it just no comparison to Windows Media Center. WMC feels more like a PC that has a remote, while Mythtv feels like a set-top box that happens to use PC-type hardware.
I had a single Intel Atom Ion 330 system (the Asrock ION 330 -- which is a great little device), and a couple regular-sized PCs, one of which was my server. As I was starting to do a hardware refresh several months ago, I was pricing things out, and the cheapest I could build a single box was about the same as what you came up with, a bit over $300. That was going low-power, silent, and small.
I was comparing all of this to using SageTV, and specifically, their HD-300 boxes. For $150, you get a box that is absolutely tiny, has HDMI and a ton of outputs, ethernet, a remote, is COMPLETELY silent, and draws 8 watts. The appeal was too much, so I tried one out. After some getting used to the software (which is $70), I was sold. It's frankly the best media experience.
I ditched all but my server (which is really just a PC running Windows 7 and SageTV server), and have been running 3 HD300's for the last 4 months, and it's great. I have the same experience on every TV, I have access to all my downloaded TV and video, ripped movies, youtube, music, pictures, etc. For the PVR functions I have an analog tuner, an OTA digital tuner, and a ClearQAM cable tuner (Using an HDHomeRun - I highly recommend that device also), and again, from any HD300 you can watch any show.
It's easy to use, it's stable, and it's a heck of a lot less messing around than when I had 3 different incarnations of HTPC's to run mythtv frontends. From scratch, you're also looking at $450 for 3 HD300's, vs ~$1000 for PCs hardware, with potentially more in software licenses. Granted, you also need a server on top of the HD300's (mine is nothing special though, just a PC with several big hard drives which sits in my crawlspace and so I don't care how noisy it is).
gregmac on March 28, 2011 12:14 PMWhile it may be fun to do by hand, it seems like just using a console would do the job better and more cheaply. I play movies off my NAS all the time, and now that third party services are jumping on the consoles in droves, it's a no-brainer.
Given the number of people in my friends list that show up as playing "netflix" every night, I don't think I'm the only one.
Steven Burnap on March 28, 2011 1:09 PMSome of the Mini-PCs NewEgg has for sale look interesting as well. Many of them seem to made with this application in mind.
I'm especially interested in this one since I don't yet have a BluRay player...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856173007
Or you could do what I just did.
Get a Roku XD|S (which supports 1080p and has an AWESOME 10 foot interface) and build yourself very low power server which sits far away from the TV (and is my primary computer now in my office).
Add in a copy of Roksbox for local networking streaming and Handbrake and you're all set.
The best part about this set up is that iPhones, iPad, windows machines, xboxes, playstations, macs, etc -- anything that can do HTTP progressive download (or dlna using some of the linux software that does such) of an h.264 MP4 will play these files back.
So you can save your $99 windows license.
I was able to build the following (same processor though actually - the wattage is super low):
4 tb disk (2 x 2tb esata 3.0)
8 gb ram
dual core i3 3.2 gHz
case, power supply, dvd-rom and motherboard for about $400.
I paid €60 for a tiny, sitecom mediaplayer plugged into my network which has played everything I threw at it.
Do we still need HTPC's?
Carrandas on March 28, 2011 3:06 PMI *was* a big fan of HTPCs, built one off Jeff's last specs pretty much. I am also a big fan of Windows 7 as a desktop OS. However I have found it completely lacking as a HTPC OS to the point I want to throw the box out a high window. There is always *something* not quite working which makes it a real pain in a house of not technically literate partners, and kids. Not waking up from sleep, or waking up when you don't want it to. Waking up from sleep and not turning the display back on. Rebooting, and losing HDMI audio (possibly fixed in SP1).
Sadly I have settled on a Boxee box for video, which is working fantastically, and Apple TV for music mainly due to the remote app. After going through a lot of pain with many devices this is so far the one that is keeping me (and therefore the rest of the house) closest to sane.
Chris Mayer on March 28, 2011 5:25 PMI echo Chris Mayer. Run away from Windows.
I have basically the same HTPC as from Jeff's earlier post -- and Windows 7/Media Center is abysmal. I have taken two years of beatings from the rest of my house as a result: lockups, restarts, audio drops, no native Blu-Ray (forcing loading of TotalMedia Center to play BRs), etc. As I type I am awaiting a restart from another HDMI audio drop (this after Service Pack 1).
There is something at least weekly wrong with WMC, and this from a dedicated device only used for TV.
If another box had a suitable tuner card I would switch. Any options for that?
Johndavi on March 28, 2011 9:58 PMXBMC is by far the best media center software. Run it on a jailbroken iOS Apple TV2 (I know it is only 720p, but) and for AU#130 that's the cheapest media center with built in WiFi I have seen anywhere. The Down side is you have to stream your media from elsewhere - No Problem! these days your Linksys CISCO modem has a USB port for builtin uPNP filesharing over your N wireles network.
... or you can run xbmc on whatever you said.
Srjarmstrong on March 28, 2011 10:12 PMNice post! And I strongly agree with the Megamind comment. It's way better than Rotten Tomatoes gave it credit for.
TianaW on March 28, 2011 10:12 PMThe issue for me when it comes to HTPC's isn't the hardware but the software. I'm using Windows 7 enterprise x64 SP1. Media Center and Media Player are not designed for large collections. If you've ever used a media app/system like Kaleidescape you realize how lacking Media Center is.
Let's say you have about 20 TV series on your disc - all MKV files or AVI - cause let's face it those are the most common codecs. You have about 500 DVDs in your collection.
I say - let's go with comedy. I decide I'll go with a TV show. I decide I want Boston Legal, Season 2, Episode 3 (for whatever reason) - drilling down to a particular show - all of Boston Legal, then Drilling Down to all of season 2, then picking an episode is rediculous. The database structure for Media Center is way too flat.
Furthermore - MS can control what tags you can assign to AVI's or MKV's but they choose not to add fields for whatever reason. You can say - no that is the nature of an AVI - yet 3rd party software does let you assign more fields to that AVI. If 3rd party software can work around the fields assigned to an AVI - sure MS has the brains to figure a way to do the same? The choice is MS's.
N on March 28, 2011 11:45 PMIn 2014 your HTPC will be ARM-based, running Linux (although you probably won't notice or care), and use 5-10 watts of power. It won't double performance although that really doesn't matter for playing videos (all hardware accelerated).
Oh, and it'll probably cost you $100.
amaranth on March 29, 2011 12:00 AMThere is a misspelling.
congolomerates -> conglomerates
Huh? A computer from 2008 that can't play 1080p video?!
My flintstones machine from 2003 can do that, and it wasn't even top end when i bought it. Just make sure you have a graphics card(not integrated!) with shadermodel 2 and use a new release of VLC or mPlayer.
It might not be very silent or consume 22 watts but i'm still baffled over the fact that people struggle to run hd-video on new cpus when there has been a solution for ages.
Good thing the sandy bridge closes this gap to make it easier, cheaper, smaller and less power consuming to run graphics heavy applications and video.
urkburk on March 29, 2011 9:38 AMSo, where's the heat-sink? I would think that a CPU with integrated GPU would need a monster heat-sink. Was it not included in the picture of the motherboard you posted?
Jim Fell on March 29, 2011 11:06 AMMany people above have commented on how overpowered this box is for what you're trying to do. Ignoring the future-proofing built in (since you mentioned you've still been running a box from 2008 until now)... Can you tell us how well this box performs today under various loads? Can it download multiple torrents while transcoding a video AND playing back a 1080p stream?
Sparr Risher on March 29, 2011 5:10 PM@Jim - from what I've seen online, the T2100 uses the same generic HSF as other intel processors, which is downright amazing, if you ask me.
Slap on a beefier heatsink with proper ventilation (which, admittedly, is tough to do in a miniITX environment, and you'll have even less of a power draw, AND 0 dB!
Drooling... kind of wish my bonus came around this time of year instead.
Julian Lam on March 29, 2011 8:49 PMReally happy with my Boxee Box.
Spent 230$ on, 0 hours of hacking. It has a beautiful UI, remote & iOS app
Kvz on March 30, 2011 2:10 AMHope your build list works out. I just opted to build your HTPC rather than buy a boxeee box. I am hoping to use it as a boxee box plus do some lite gaming (using it for emulation rather than hooking up my extensive console collection).
Jeffery Yeary on March 30, 2011 1:41 PMWhether CableCard is DRM'd up the wazoo or not depends on your cable company.
Comcast is surprisingly good about letting you do whatever you want with the channels you pay for: Only premium channels get the "copy-once" flag set, which means you can still record them, but you can't do anything with them outside of WMC.
Everything else I've recorded off the CableCard, both basic and expanded-package channels, has been completely unprotected: I can automatically remove commercials, transcode for the iPhone, and burn them to DVD without problems.
From what I hear, Time-Warner flags everything that's not Clear-QAM, and FiOS is a crapshoot... YMMV.
Travis Parker on March 30, 2011 2:16 PMHow many watt-hours did it cost to construct this machine? Is it more watt-hour costly to run an old machine or buy a new lower-watt machine?
Dan F on March 30, 2011 2:37 PMI have a cheap-o, Acer Revo AR1600-U910H (~ $199), added 1GB of extra memory ($24), and loaded XBMC. Plays 1080p on my 62" DLP with such glory I hear angels sing every time I watch a movie (and it's not just the speakers hissing).
The trick is switching it to use hardware GPU acceleration vs. software.
John Simpson on March 30, 2011 3:43 PMLooking at the various solutions above, it seems that people are building these to play blurays, netflix, and torrents, but what about broadcast TV? I'd quite like a computer-based PVR. So far I've experimented with a PC with a DVB-T USB device (I'm in the UK), which works quite well with Windows Media Centre, but a lot of the open source solutions seem to ignore broadcast TV entirely.
I'm sure Jeff's solution + WMC + tuner would work very well, but are there cheaper alternatives? Hacked Humax devices?
Pjc50 on March 31, 2011 5:02 AMAll of this progress, and the best Bluetooth keyboard out there for HTPC use is the Logitech diNovo Mini, which still has connectivity issues ... Can anybody recommend something as nice, but is a champ at keeping its connection?
BTW Jeff, your 2014 home theater PC won't exist at all. It'll be built into your TV. TV operating systems are going to be a huge differentiator into the next decade. 1080p is obviously good enough for a long while. I have my doubts on 3D.
Nicholaus Shupe on March 31, 2011 11:33 AMThose are some pretty nice specs for a Home PC. I will definitely give it a shot I've got some spare parts and a home PC sounds like fun ;)
WPExplorer on March 31, 2011 11:38 AMhttp://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/04/revisiting-how-much-power-does-my-laptop-really-use.html
Your article "how much power does my laptop really use" at the link above got me thinking about your choice of the i3-2100T. Why not go with the i3-2100? It sounds like the only benefit of the "T" is that you could run a smaller power supply because the peak power loads would be guaranteed lower.
In practice, while idling, playing video, and doing many other HTPC tasks, both processors will use the same amount of power. (Search the internet for the people who have tested.) The benefit of the non-T version is that it might have extra capability during peak CPU loads to serve up another HD stream or recorded show to an extender or something. If you are worried about the fan spinning up and making noise or something because of the extra heat, you have the option of reducing the "maximum processor state" in your Windows 7 power options, which can keep the processor speed down. So, with the i3-2100, the only thing you lose is 5-10 bucks for a larger power supply. But you gain the ability to handle larger loads if necessary.
Shaun Currier on March 31, 2011 7:34 PMI used to really love Windows Media Center but it has failed to update over the last few years as technology has moved on. At this point we should have really cheap extenders that have the full functionality of media center desktop. Extenders in their current form are half baked at best.
Good to see so many people using XBMC its a great project and there is some very low power hardware available to run it now. Apple TV 2 being one of them although only at 720p hopefully Apple TV 3 will up this and it will be the perfect silent XBMC hardware.
Petebob796 on April 3, 2011 5:01 PMI've built myself a HTPC on top of a mobile CoreDuo CPU that I've taken from my laptop about 4 years ago, but never really used it, because Windows Media Center was awful (IMO). Had TViX box that showed me all 1080p content while HTPC was downloading torrents. Besides, 1080p couldn't be played on that old Intel video.
But I've tried XBMC a month ago and was amazed. Now, after 4 years I use HTPC as it was originally intended. The only thing I had to do was to upgrade my GPU to something that can handle 1080p with hardware acceleration. Apparently it's very cheap these days.
Silencers on April 4, 2011 9:57 AMHello jeff yesterday i read a post on SO blog about the database dump you provide in public. i am never used SQL before [i use MySQL] it. i spent my whole night on know how i can restore the database. i try with programmer exchange database but not found what's the i can use them for playing sql command with them. can you explain me the way i can restore them in my own sql server.
Thanks
Anirudha
I just make sure my tv has DLNA and boom...one linux server running MediaTomb + networked tv = streamed xvids!
Joe Marquardt on April 5, 2011 7:57 AM@Johndavi (and WMC/XBMC users)
Give MediaPortal (http://www.team-mediaportal.com/) a try. IMO it's the best of breed for media center applications.
jerhewet on April 9, 2011 7:21 AMIf you're in it for low power consumption, WD TV Live is the way to go. I just measured it with killawat-like device - 8 watts on stand by, 10-12 watts while playing 1080p Avatar over network.
Marko Vnučec on April 15, 2011 7:39 AMI just copied this build out to Rigsmith here: http://www.rigsmith.com/rigs/9-jeff-atwoods-home-theater-pc/, in case anyone wants to save it for later or further customize it.
I definitely might pick this up later - having your own awesome customizable HTPC is always a great thing. I thought about adding wireless keyboard/mouse, but was torn between that and an IR remote, or something similar.
tomlikestorock on April 19, 2011 10:53 AMHi Jeff,
Could you do a post or a comment on your software setup, and elaborate on your ecosystem as a whole? Does your HTCP point to a share drive? Do you use a tool like ReNamer to sort your files?
People recommend MediaBrowser for Windows Media Center. What happens when you have multiple televisions around the house? I have an Xbox connected to one, I guess this could be used as a content streamer as well.
Have you tried XBMC or alternatives?
Cheers.
Kaine on April 19, 2011 5:53 PM22 Watt is very impressive. I built an Intel Atom D525 based server at it uses 30 Watt idle (http://weblogs.asp.net/lichen/archive/2011/04/13/build-a-very-green-windows-server.aspx). core i3-2100T is a more powerful CPU than Atom D525.
Li Chen on April 27, 2011 8:12 AMExciting stuff, I'll probably get my first HTPC using this same setup. A couple of things to note for other enthusiasts.
- The DH67CF motherboard had a bug which has been fixed in DH67CFB3 [ http://www.anandtech.com/show/4143/the-source-of-intels-cougar-point-sata-bug ]
- The H67 motherboard has a CIR input header (receiver) which allows you to attach an infrared remote to it. It's better than a USB-based infrared receiver because it allows you to turn the computer on/off/standby directly from the remote.
- The H67 motherboard has a CIR output header (transmitter or emitter). I have been unable to find any devices for this (though USB based IR trasmitters exist). This would allow you the HTPC to automatically power on your projector/amplifier/television/air-conditioner and so forth and even adjust their settings. But I haven't found much here... not sure why hobbyists haven't done more here. Any clue?
- The 65W PSU is great for lower power consumption (and also because the adapter is external which means the heat from the supply stays outside the box). However, it might be advisable to get the 150W if you intend to add other devices requiring more power. However, I am not sure if the 150W is needed if you just want to add a slim DVD drive and not much else.
aleemb on April 27, 2011 2:49 PMScrew hooking your HTPC directly up to the TV. When you go that route you have to worry about getting exotic motherboards, good video cards, a super small cases, super quiet fans (or no fans), etc.
I stopped doing that and shoved the HTPC, the NAS, the set top box, and the rest of that mess in the closest. All the TV's get hooked up via SageTV's HD200/300 which are purpose built devices for streaming video off the SageTV server in the closet.
Thus I get a far less flakey system, I get the ability to add multiple tuners, I get the ability to add lots of disk (the lady can chew through a terabyte like you would not believe), and I don't have to have a computer in my living room.
All and all, it just isn't worth building an HTPC that actually serves the video to the TV. Let the HTPC do the recording. leave the playback to media extenders like the HD300.
My $0.02
Cory King on April 30, 2011 9:16 AMJust an FYI, the blu-ray drive you link is a full-size internal blu-ray drive, which (from what I can tell from the specs) the case doesn't have room for- You need a "slim" drive instead.
callingshotgun on May 16, 2011 9:14 AMI hope you don't mind me completely copying your setup.
I've been thinking about building an HTPC for a few months now, and have finally started researching it.
By sheer coincidence, I got pointed to this blog while reading up on some completely unrelated stuff and couldn't believe my luck.
Thanks for posting these specs. It really helps me get a feel for the low-power area of computing.
But yeah, I will be shamelessly ripping off your rig. Kthnx.
Sounds like its time to build a new system.. -rc helicopter
www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawnculvkZcLGLXw2Q2AMzxZj8y-BRkQN50k on June 3, 2011 1:44 PMDo you have any experience using Sick Beard or Coucpotato with your home theater pc? Give them a shot. Nice build btw.
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me.yahoo.com/a/a2mdec9504Sp6P6DfPndEI1klUZZGzYym5cC on July 10, 2011 11:48 PMFYI in you are thinking about using the ITX Jeff spec's here (or about 80% of other ITX motherboards for that matter), I have discovered through painful experience that most ITX MBs don't support a PCIe x1 card (even though the PCIe spec says they should).
This ASRock H67M ITX MB has very spotty support for x1 PCIe cards (it would only boot the OS with 1 of the 4 cards I tried and then Win7 couldn't see the card). This can be a real problem for a HTPC as every internal tuner card that I know of uses a PCIe x1 interface and this MB has an x16 interface.
I called ASRock and talked to their tech support. The guy was baffled that someone might want to use anything other than a x16 video card in the PCIe slot. I was equally baffled because I figure why would anyone buy a motherboard w/onboard video if they just wanted to replace it with a video card.
I found a Zotac board (H67-ITX) that, while it didn't support x1 PCIe cards out of the box, when I flashed their 6/14/2011 BIOS update, it now supports my tuner card.
So, my advice is to call the manufacturer's support line before ordering a motherboard and ask them about their level of support for x1 PCIe cards if the board has an x16 slot. Then, when you get it, test-boot with as many different PCIe cards as you can find while you've still got the opportunity to return the board.
Phredtalkpointcom on July 13, 2011 12:45 PMWhile Atom/ION machines are extremely good, they do have a couple of major shortcomings for a HTPC, the first is that they don't have enough grunt to decode 1080i content, which if you're in the UK like me is a bit of a problem when all of the HD channels broadcast at 1080i.
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Jesus Castillo on July 19, 2011 12:42 PMgreat website i liked your work. This ASRock H67M ITX MB has very spotty support for x1 PCIe cards (it would only boot the OS with 1 of the 4 cards I tried and then Win7 couldn't see the card). This can be a real problem for a HTPC as every internal tuner card that I know of uses a PCIe x1 interface and this MB has an x16 interface.
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It's pretty awesome to see the PicoPSU being used for serious tasks, since so much video decoding can be done via GPU now. My next big project is going to be finding the most powerful video card I can fit into 80 or 120 W (the other PicoPSU options) since I like to lightly game as well. I'll probably give up quad-core and go back to dual, I've never used my HT/Game PC for serious encoding and that would actually give me more headroom for my main tasks.
Man, I wish there was a way to flag all this comment spam above.
Silverback Networks on July 31, 2011 5:25 PMGreat, my advice is to call the manufacturer's support line before ordering a motherboard and ask them about their level of support for x1 PCIe cards if the board has an x16 slot. Then, when you get it, test-boot with as many different PCIe cards as you can find while you've still got the opportunity to return the board.
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If, like me, you're following the advice in this article, please take into account callingshotgun's comment on May 16, 2011 9:14 AM :
Just an FYI, the blu-ray drive you link is a full-size internal blu-ray drive, which (from what I can tell from the specs) the case doesn't have room for- You need a "slim" drive instead.
Jean-Marie Porchet on September 21, 2011 1:18 AMI love the idea of low power computing, but am wondering how low the wattage could be kept on a htpc/gaming box. Only really need to be able to play Diablo 3, but i've got a feeling Blizzard's trend for low specs isn't going to continue with this game. I'm dying to get rid of my gaming consoles and multiple computers, replacing it all with the one system in the living room. My 1st gen ps3 alone runs at over 200w playing blu-rays.
Robert Billard on December 15, 2011 11:20 AMJust an FYI, the blu-ray drive you link is a full-size internal blu-ray drive, which (from what I can tell from the specs) the case doesn't have room for- You need a "slim" drive instead.
chuycastillo9 on January 20, 2012 12:50 PMWhy would you go for an Intel system? AMD now has a better solution... AMD Fusion. The new APU's from AMD are way more poweful and ironicly enough, cheaper as well.
Whay I would recommend:
a mITX with an AMD Fusion A4 or A6 processor and about 4-8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz Ram...
Something silimar to a Alienware X51, but at a way better value. Alienware is trash :)
With this system you have a lot more performance, and even the possibility to play games on your HTPC...
Xenoware is a young company that sells game pc's and game computers, they also build fully customised projects if you ask them trough the contact form.
Tomas Forceville on February 18, 2012 7:13 AMThe comments to this entry are closed.
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