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2/29/2012 2:02:09 PM

you guys will be happy to know all speakers are mounted and I put my TV Tuner card back in my PC. I'm really impressed with the quality of sound for the money I spent (considering the total I spent would buy a sound card). The only way you can say mine isn't a HTPC is because the size and the GTX 480 with cooler + Corsair HX 750W

Also there is a recliner in the room to validate the HTPC status, haha.




[Edited on February 29, 2012 at 4:00 PM. Reason : _]

2/29/2012 4:00:35 PM

You still need a big tv hooked up to it.

2/29/2012 4:03:12 PM

-200-300ish is respectable for small form budget.

-I really don't care for full keyboard - i got around fine with a xbox controller for a few years on my old xbox.

2/29/2012 8:17:45 PM

Quote :

"Go wired and just build a small form factor i3 HTPC. What's your budget for the actual HTPC? "

i built an i3 htpc for xbmc. i thought the i3 platform would be good because of the integrated video on the intel chipset (Intel HD Graphics 2000/3000). However, the intel video chipset does not play well with xbmc and other open source stuff. ppl on xbmc forum recommend nvidia or agp (search for the certain chipsets/cards they recommend)

2/29/2012 9:32:06 PM

if you only have 200-300...

buy a boxee box...and a NAS and put movies on that...and build as you can.

2/29/2012 9:49:57 PM

Quote :

"nvidia or agp"

wha?

[Edited on February 29, 2012 at 10:24 PM. Reason : ]

2/29/2012 10:24:07 PM

s/agp/ati/

3/1/2012 8:49:57 AM

Yeah I went ahead and picked up an ATI 6570 with my i3 for the htpc. My buddy uses an older i3 with the integrated video and he says it works fine with XBMC but I didn't want to risk it.

3/1/2012 8:58:50 AM

Almost done, I just need to prep and paint the center channel stand and bend the rears support so they angle downward slightly. Then I need to wrap my speaker cable in a white sleeve and clean my room up

3/6/2012 3:32:56 PM

your so gonna get flamed for posting those pics.

3/6/2012 3:44:24 PM

^ is right.

You seriously hung your speakers like that?

3/6/2012 4:12:50 PM

Hanging the rears like that makes them extremely adjustable and easy to take down. Sorry I couldn't afford to buy pre-made speaker mounts...

Obviously if I'm running a 6 yr old Onkyo Receiver, the upgraded audio was on a budget.

People can flame all they want, I'm just showing how far along I am.

3/6/2012 6:19:41 PM

just showing how far along you are. which isn't very

3/6/2012 6:23:25 PM

the aesthetics might be lacking, but the quality/performance is awesome for the money spent. I plan to paint the rear speaker mounts along with the center stand the same color as the walls.

[Edited on March 6, 2012 at 6:48 PM. Reason : _]

3/6/2012 6:47:29 PM

^The aesthetics are that it looks like you live in a pig sty. Cleaning your shit up doesn't cost a dime

3/6/2012 6:54:46 PM

i bought an hdhomerun prime and got a cablecard from timewarner. then they realized i also needed a tuning adapter so they got me one of those and everythings setup and working great. i can use windows media center to do all the great watching and recording stuff and all the channels work.


soooo...... turns out quite a few channels are protected by copyonce. this basically means only cable card approved players (windows media center is the only one i know of) can decrypt and playback the stream. since wmc uses directshow and all, is there any way to use the same filters and decoders that wmc uses in another application? im guessing the decryption probably happens within the impenetrable depths of wmc so its probably not possible, but i figured i'd ask anyways.

wmc is cool and all, but i would really like to stream my hockey out to my iphone when im on the go.

[Edited on March 6, 2012 at 9:52 PM. Reason : ,]

3/6/2012 9:51:55 PM

what the fuck? why do you want to use the product you paid for in the way that you so choose? who the fuck do you think you are?

3/6/2012 10:24:53 PM

^^ Just get Orb http://www.orb.com/

I used it with WMC for the entire time I owned an iPhone and it worked perfectly for both live tv streaming as well as watching DVR content.

3/7/2012 1:13:29 AM

thanks. i'll check that out.

3/7/2012 9:19:44 AM

Hey guys, I would love some advice. I love my htpc running xbmc but I have not got my remote working as well as I would like. I have basic commands but lack any advanced ones such as page up or info. I have a harmony 650 remote and some ir reliever I bought off of ebay (ill check the model number when I get home). Do I need to get another ir receiver to fix this or just customize the keymap.xml?

4/11/2012 6:21:50 PM

Canceled my TWC today ($118/month ) and ordered an AR3700

Pumped

4/25/2012 9:53:31 PM

^Congrats on cutting free, but prepare to be underwhelmed by the Atom processor.

4/26/2012 12:01:32 AM

^ $340 for that piece of shit? Hell, a cheap ass desktop would have beat the shit out of it.

4/26/2012 12:49:45 AM

A cheap ass desktop would have been much larger, louder and hotter, too (and not much cheaper). Form factor was a more important consideration than performance here. As long as it runs XBMC and can stream MLB.tv without a hitch, I'm happy; and I've seen this box do both flawlessly.

4/26/2012 8:41:27 AM

Quote :

"prepare to be underwhelmed by the Atom processor"

yup. i had a small form factor PC with an atom processor that I used in my bedroom for a while, but it constantly choked on hulu (which i don't really even use anymore now) and occasionally had problems with netflix.

gg on dropping cable. i cut mine off i think 2 or maybe 3 years ago now and haven't looked back since. netflix ftw


[Edited on April 26, 2012 at 10:48 AM. Reason : .]

4/26/2012 10:35:46 AM

Same. No cable woohoo!

4/26/2012 10:41:48 AM

I wish I could but the only thing I watch on tv anymore is sports and I dont want to have to deal with trying to find shitty and spotty feeds constantly

4/26/2012 11:00:21 AM

for 2 years, i've been able to find every single game i want to watch online. usually firstrowsports, occasionally cbssports or theacc.com/live or justin.tv. more often than not it's pretty decent quality too.

definitely easier, better quality to go paid if you watch a ton of sports, but for me it just wasn't worth the cost

[Edited on April 26, 2012 at 11:07 AM. Reason : .]

4/26/2012 11:06:38 AM

Yeah don't really watch any sports and when I do all the main events (NCAA/Superbowl/etc) are all on local networks which you get free OTA or via cable if you have TWC.

4/26/2012 11:13:43 AM

If you need an OTA tuner, here's a very well reviewed dual-tuner that sits on your network so any computer/HTPC can use it:

SiliconDust HDHomeRun Dual High Definition Digital Television Tuner HDHR3-US
http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=23459

Typically ~$100 ... on Woot today as new (not refurb) for $75 with shipping. I picked one up, been meaning to get one of these.



[Edited on May 8, 2012 at 9:04 AM. Reason : .]

5/8/2012 9:03:47 AM

^I love my HDHomerun Prime (Cablecard) tuner. And have always heard good things about HDHomerun products previously.

5/8/2012 2:39:39 PM

Well holy shit

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/partners/amazon

Amazon Instant Video available on Xbox 360. That's pretty much the slam dunk for content. Netflix, Amazon, Crackle, ePix, Hulu, HBO, Dailymotion, Comcast, Verizon, Youtube, Vevo, and even CinemaNow.

5/29/2012 2:48:04 PM

All your streaming media in one place, in ten places.

[Edited on May 29, 2012 at 3:58 PM. Reason : Made easy with our slow, clunky UI]

5/29/2012 3:57:48 PM

^Amen to the slow clunky UI. Fucking kills me switching to between apps how slow they fucking load and the complete inability to have "background" processes at all.

5/29/2012 4:03:58 PM

Anyone notice how bad the input lag on TVs is? Like when using a remote/mouse/controller with an HTPC/console/etc? I assume this is due to the image processor in the TV+Receiver (passes HDMI). I guess I'm just used to using a nice monitor on a computer but whenever I use any input device with any device hooked up to a TV it's always extremely laggy.

-actually scratch that. There really shouldn't be an image processor in a receiver because it's video pass through and just switches the HDMI signals around. Maybe HDTVs in general just have bad input lag.

[Edited on May 29, 2012 at 4:20 PM. Reason : s]

5/29/2012 4:17:42 PM

The original part of my post wasn't an indictment of XBL, but how fractured and annoying streaming sites are. XBL could definitely do some UI things to make that less painful, though.

5/29/2012 4:47:34 PM

^^That's IR more than anything else. If you use an RF device, there's no appreciable lag.

5/29/2012 4:55:58 PM

Quote :

"^^That's IR more than anything else. If you use an RF device, there's no appreciable lag."

Oh good point. My Logitech remote is RF but it still goes through an IR blaster to get to the computer. Wonder if there's a way around that. Is there such a thing as a USB RF receiver? To use with an RF remote?

5/29/2012 5:03:39 PM

Pretty much so all the original WMC remotes were RF with USB dongles. I probably have 3-4 of them in my box-o-old computer junk.

[Edited on May 29, 2012 at 5:26 PM. Reason : Dont know if you can program a harmony to talk to one though. Don't see why it wouldn't be possible.]

5/29/2012 5:22:50 PM

Did not know that. I just took an IR USB dongle from a cheap WMC remote and used that with my Logitech remote.

I guess if I got a hold an RF USB dongle it should work with the Logitech. That would decrease the delay.

5/29/2012 5:36:21 PM

Quote :

"Pretty much so all the original WMC remotes were RF with USB dongles."

Nope, they all use(d) IR, and there's a published spec for it.

Logitech RF remotes will ONLY talk to their extender VIA RF. The way you have it configured is as good as it's going to get with a Logitech device. No RF dongle will work.

5/29/2012 6:59:50 PM

Hmm. I remember having the exact opposite problem as neodata. I had a normal iR Logitech remote and all I could find was RF remotes. This was pre-mce, btw. I know I'm not making it up, I just went and found one. Definitely not IR.

5/29/2012 7:06:52 PM

Quote :

"Nope, they all use(d) IR, and there's a published spec for it."

Ok so the new-ish ones are RF as well:

http://www.amazon.com/Keyspan-ER-V2-Remote-Windows-Vista/dp/B000S69336

Quote :

"Logitech RF remotes will ONLY talk to their extender VIA RF. The way you have it configured is as good as it's going to get with a Logitech device. No RF dongle will work."

I don't know about this. You don't even need to use an extender if all your devices are RF (IE an RF light switch or curtain will work with my RF remote without any additional extenders/devices)

But I'm having trouble finding a newer RF USB dongle and even if newer ones would work with my remote (Harmony 900).

Wouldn't it make sense if you can use an RF WMC remote that you could use a Logitech RF remote with the RF WMC dongle?

[Edited on May 29, 2012 at 7:11 PM. Reason : s]

5/29/2012 7:08:45 PM

^Well shit on me, that's awesome.

Yep I am completely wrong. And from the Logitech side, it's my understanding that the "Learning" feature only works for IR, not RF. So not sure how you'd get that to work.

Definitely give it a go with a cheap WMC remote rf adapter, and let us know what happens. I'd love to go this route too.

5/29/2012 7:35:38 PM

I think it makes perfect sense that it's possible. But I wouldn't bet a dollar against 10 that it would actually work.

5/29/2012 7:35:55 PM

I can buy a $30 RF light dimmer that will work with my Logitech 900 but not an RF dongle for a PC?! Crazyness. Will do more research later. My lunch googling didn't return any results but maybe.

5/29/2012 8:53:34 PM

If a movie's filmed in 24 I want to display it in 24 and if I'm watching a show at 30 I want it to display at 30.

Currently if my HDTV is set to 60hz and XBMC mimics the display then when I'm watching a 24p movie I get dropped frames and it's also refreshing faster than was intended for the film (still refreshing at 60hz). When I switch the refresh rate of the HDTV in windows to 24 every works perfectly but when I play TV or use Windows it's only refreshing at 24hz which isn't ideal.

Is there no way to get XBMC to sync the monitor with whatever's playing? The only option I see is to sync XBMC with the refresh rate of the monitor which is the opposite of what I want.

-also I've been reading about the "23.976Hz" Intel issue and how integrated Intel HD video still can't reproduce correct 23.976Hz (does it at 24p which results in an added frame/stutter every 40 seconds).

Most discreet GPUS can handle 23.976Hz now a days but my question still remains how do you get it to dynamically switch when you're watching TV versus a movie versus using the OS.

Some reading material:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2198726

[Edited on June 6, 2012 at 9:36 AM. Reason : s]

6/6/2012 9:09:14 AM

Why not just run your display @ 120hz? Then you don't have to worry about pulldown or material switching. Even mid-range tv's are 120hz or higher these days.

6/6/2012 5:23:47 PM

Ok been doing lots of research.

Now I'm running into 23.976 issues and apparently XBMC Eden (11.0) doesn't sync audio/video with DTS at 24p.

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=127006

Trying to get close to 23.976 with my 6570:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4380/discrete-htpc-gpus-shootout/5

Quote :

"Why not just run your display @ 120hz? Then you don't have to worry about pulldown or material switching. Even mid-range tv's are 120hz or higher these days."

I'm still fuzzy on all that. Doesn't that mean you're duplicating frames 5 times? Doesn't that give you the smooth "motion" effect so many video enthusiasts frown upon? Don't you just want the display to match what the film was shot in?

Also I didn't think HDTVs do 120hz. They still only accept 60hz input. Any TVs that advertise "120hz" or "240hz" still only accept a 60hz signal. I think the exception to this is 3D Bluray where it somehow sends 120hz to the TV.

Now some computer monitors (advertised as 3D) CAN accept 120hz via dual-link DVI. My 3D Asus does 120hz via DVI. Gaming at 120hz is niceeee.

I think my options are to try some of the nightly builds of XBMC or maybe try 50hz (almost doubling 24hz). Because right now all my DTS files are out of sync.

6/7/2012 10:16:31 AM