Checkout my HTPC powered by XBMC!!!

[sam9s]

Hello friends welcome to Sam's HTPC thread....

Well after 2 weeks of research and development and another week to successfully deploy it, finally completed building MY HTPC,

Following is my story and complete built

To begin with one might ask with Media players all over the place giving an out of the box experience and I; already owning one, what was the need to go for an HTPC??

Well following are the 3 main reason for the same .... ofcourse there were many other small factors as well, but the following remains the main.

1. My POHD does not support HD audio and I was not willing to spent another 10-12K to get a new Media Player just for this drawback (reason in the 3rd point)

2. YAMJ, every single media player I have seen (except TViX maybe) has a pathetic YAMJ, along with a crap interface ..... yes even extremer or new POHD2, all lack a polish quality media interface and yes, much needed elite YAMJ

3. Last but not the least, since I upgraded my PC and assembled a new one, I had my old hardware at hand, so decided to use it as my HTPC. All I added was a case and a mid level GPU

(details discussed later in the post.)

Now I had a very specific objective for the my HTPC, as to how it needs to be configured and how it should behave, which was very much in the lines of an actual media player. Few of the points that I had in mind for my HTPC ....

1. It should definitely have the feel of a media player, no windows feel at all, should boot directly in to my Media Center. Though the base would ofcourse be windows (one can opt for linux as well) but I opted to go
for windows .....

2. Boot time as fast as possible (just like media player), will upgraded to SSD later.

3. Quality YAMJ and polished look and feel...... with the entire interface drooling with quality. (This was one of my main reason to ditch media player along with HD audio support)

4. Support for HD audio. (DTA MA and DD THD streaming)

5. Remote for HTPC just like a conventional Media Player

Now that we have a small introduction before moving further I would like to show you the final product, so that you may have an idea what lies ahead.

For the Media Player I decided to choose the awesome front end media center from Xbox called XBMC or Xbox Media Center. There are loads of other media center applications as well like for example "Windows Media Center", "Media Portal", "Media Browser" etc etc and
every media center has its own pros and cones, but XBMC with its cones was the most polished looking media center with max number of TPA plugins and themes .....

Following is the video that shows the complete bootup of the HTPC in to XBMC and explorers the few main functions of the same.

If the end product is liked and there is enough interest in the thread, I will share more details as to how I configured XBMC to behave like how I wanted to.
The video is in two parts since youtube does not allow to load a video which is more then 15 minutes. Plus the quality is bit poor, I recoded the video in 720p but the entire size landed to be pretty huge, around 5GB, so I had to compress it and lessen the resolution to 640x480 to get it under 500MB .....so bare with me on the quality of the video. But it would given you a fair bit of an idea as to how XBMC looks and feel.

Part 1

YouTube - ‪XBMC Demo part 1.mp4‬‏



Part 2

YouTube - ‪XBMC Demo Part 2.mp4‬‏




To begin with the hardware .....

Remember HTPC is not big deal, you dont need a powerhouse of a hardware to actually get the max out of your HTPC, not even 3D, with my current config I could have used it as my 3D HTPC as well if I had the 3D display .....

The config (remember its the old hardware I used.)

1. Intel C2D E6300@3.2 Ghz
2. ASUS P5B Delux mobo
3. 4GB DDR2 RAM
5. nVidia Zotac GT440 GPU (This is New)
6. Silverstone LC10-E HTPC cabinet (This is new as well)

Point to note is that I chose to go nVidia way this time for multimedia needs. If you do some research you will come to know that though ATI leads the GPU segment with their HD series, when it comes to A/V playback capabilities nVidia is said to be better. Specially with CORE AVC codecs used with their popular CUDA technology. Plus there are some rare bugs with video playbacks with ATI that pushed me to go for nVidia for my HTPC. GT4XX series is the best known for A/V playback with full support for HD Bitstreaming and 3D playback.

For case ... well Silverstone LC-10 was the cheapest HTPC case from Silverstone, and I did not want to go for any conventional case. Though there was few from Thermalake that I really liked.

Apart from it I used ....

1. Logitech wifi keyboard combo
2. ANDROID XBMC remote
3. ANDROID TMT5 remote

The applications used ...

1. Xbox Media center XBMC
2. Total Media Theater 5

One can use Power DVD or MPC-HC (with ffdshow)as well

3. Media Center Master

Following are the pictures of my hardware and XBMC. The skin I have used in the below snaps are "Transperancy!" and "MediaStream Redux". Have shared loads of snaps so bare with me ...

First my hardware ....















Now my XBMC Pics ....






































Suggestions, Questions are welcome ......

Regards
Sammy

[Sarath]

Nice. Looking at this makes me feel like getting one. I never knew HTPCs were this awesome (I think you made this one so).

Anyways congrats. Have fun with this beauty.

Also note your youtube videos are not working. I dont know myself how to correct them but I know something needs to be added to the link. (like =va or something I dont know)

[sam9s]

^^ mmm I thought the problem was at my end only ...... anyhow I did provide the actual youtube link as well, if in case the video was not visible ..... use that.

MODS ::: What do I need to do to get the you tube videos, apart from adding the [youtube] tags to the link which I already did ....??

[ico]

Nice HTPC.

MODS ::: What do I need to do to get the you tube videos, apart from adding the [youtube] tags to the link which I already did ....??

actually you don't have to include the full URL. It has to be like this: [ youtube ]zchueyzx281z[ /youtube ]

I've fixed it for you.

[MatchBoxx]

Sweet!!!

[thetechfreak]

Nice HTPC

Nice setup and vids and pics man.

[jsjs]

How do you make your pc boot directly into XBMC

[sam9s]

^^ By either changing the Shell or using the MMC to change the user interface ...

[saswat23]

Really very nice HTPC. But how much did the Cabby and GPU cost you..??

[jsjs]

^^ By either changing the Shell or using the MMC to change the user interface ...

please explain the process or give a link

[Skud]

Congrats sammy. How much that cabby costs? And where did you buy it?

[ico]

^^ I think PrimeABGB keeps Silvertsone HTPC cabinets.

[Skud]

Even Lynx have some. But are they actually available in stock?

[ico]

^^ I had suggested Silvertsone SG02B to a poster who had created a thread for a similar HTPC 3 months ago. He got it from PrimeABGB.

[Skud]

Then its nice. I may get one next year. Hope availability won't be an issue at time too.

[sam9s]

please explain the process or give a link

Process is simple if you have win 7 ultimate or Professional as only those support MMC. The process is as follows ..

Log in as administrator.
Open the start menu, and type in the search box: mmc <ENTER>.
Choose File -> Add/Remove Snap-in....
Select Group Policy Object Editor and hit Add.
In the wizard that pops up, hit Browse..., go to tab Users, select your user account and hit OK.
Make sure that the checkbox in the wizard is Unchecked, and hit Finish.
Hit OK in the Add/Remove Snap-ins window.
In the User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System folder, open Custom User Interface.
Select Enabled and enter the full path (including XBMC.exe and any switches that you may use) in the Interface file name textbox.
Hit OK and reboot your system. It should now log in and start XBMC automatically without loading the explorer

Congrats sammy. How much that cabby costs? And where did you buy it?

GPU was around 4K, cand case was 6800 something, as ICO said I ordered it from PrimeABGB ...

[Sarath]

You have a huge collection of movies?

How much did all that cost you?

[sam9s]

^^ Yes I do have a pretty decent collection around 150 or so HD 720p movies, around 100 DVD rips, 20 Bluray Discs, 6,7 Bluray ISOs ...

Well as I mentioned that I have used my old hardware to converet it to HTPC, so cannot provide an exact price, but the GPU was around 4K and case was 6800. Rest hardware current price should not be more than 10K at the max ...

[criztle]

well i m new to this ...so how can i use xbmc on my 55inch samsung led tv

[Sarath]

How much for all the movies?

I have refrained from buying movies locally due to the censor board deleting overtly sexual or violent content. Getting stuff from UK and such is a pain so I have never watched Engish movies on my PC.

I wanted to know where you get your collection from. Needless to say you seem to be a big movie buff.

[jsjs]

^i think he downloads them. Great man, real movie buff.

[sam9s]

How much for all the movies?

I have refrained from buying movies locally due to the censor board deleting overtly sexual or violent content. Getting stuff from UK and such is a pain so I have never watched Engish movies on my PC.

I wanted to know where you get your collection from. Needless to say you seem to be a big movie buff.

Well as jsjs said most of them are downloaded, (aint we all download ..) but my Bluray discs and ISO are my original buy. I am not sure why getting from UK is pain for you. 90% of my discs are bought from Amazon.uk. Nominal shiping charge and every single one of it has reached at my residence with 95% of them reaching within 3 days ... best of all even with all the shipping charges the discs still land much cheaper than what we have here in India, plus top notch quality and no censor intervention .....

And yes I am a big movie buff, ask anyone from the "Must watch movies recomended by Digitians" thread ...

well i m new to this ...so how can i use xbmc on my 55inch samsung led tv

To start its pretty easy, download the windows version from HERE. make sure that all your movies are renamed to "name of the movie.<<extension>>" eg terminator.mkv.Each movie should have its own folder. (All movis in one folder would not work) and each folder is also name exactly like the movie is named. Like for example folder for terminator.mkv would be named as terminator.

Thats it install XBMC, go to movies/video, and under add source point XBMC to the path of your movie folders. Make sure you have internet connected. XBMC will scan the content and for 90% of the movies will downlload the cover, fanart and information.

[Sarath]

^^^Oh I meant getting them from there was out of reach for me. I have region locked PS3. But I think UK ones should work and I know no one from there. Didnt know about the online stuff. Will try.

BTW which Dell monitor do you have?

[sam9s]

^^^Oh I meant getting them from there was out of reach for me. I have region locked PS3. But I think UK ones should work and I know no one from there. Didnt know about the online stuff. Will try.

BTW which Dell monitor do you have?

Get online man I have always bought BD online, much better option. About the monitor I have DELL Ultra-sharp U2311H IPS Panel.
But my Mediacenter HTPC is connected to my LG 47" 1080p display ...

[criztle]

thx will try it

[arescool]

thnx for giving me this awesome idea dude ...
next thing on my wishlist ... my own HTPC

[macho84]

Hi i have a question you made htpc for main is audio ie HD audio. Do you have a home theater with A/V receiver. if so post the spec and model

i have media player which play dts but as you said hd ma not sure the optical can out it only the HDMI have the enough bandwidth . if i have HDMI AUDIO out then i should probably need a A/V receiver to process it and fire via external speakers directly connected to it.

Hope i will also set one in near future.

Good setup.

[sam9s]

thnx for giving me this awesome idea dude ...
next thing on my wishlist ... my own HTPC

^^ Most welcome friend ... , start gathering your stuff, You wont regret building one .....

Hi i have a question you made htpc for main is audio ie HD audio. Do you have a home theater with A/V receiver. if so post the spec and model

i have media player which play dts but as you said hd ma not sure the optical can out it only the HDMI have the enough bandwidth . if i have HDMI AUDIO out then i should probably need a A/V receiver to process it and fire via external speakers directly connected to it.

Hope i will also set one in near future.

Good setup.

Yes I do have a Home Theater. Full details for the same can be read in my review at the following thread ...

My Micro HT Setup Review “Onkyo 6200 HTiB, LG LH70 47 LCD, Panasonic BD60 BRp”

optical cannot do HD Audio. HDMI will, and yes you need to have an A/V receiver to process the HD audio which the HTPC would bitstream ....

[Vyom]

Wow... honestly speaking, the kind of setup you have, I would be the most Jealous person on the earth from you right now!

Congo for the new hardware! And enjoy the Movies!...
Maybe someday I could join you, with a tub of popcorn!!

[sam9s]

^^ ...hehe ... and I thrive for even more, just waiting for my flat to get complete, then you will see my true Sam Home Entertainment Theater, dedicated room for it. Planning and design is what I currently am doing for it ..... My dream Project ...