Home Theater PCs... whos got one? - GoFuckYourself.com

96ukssob · 11-18-2010, 01:12 PM

Finally going to pull the trigger on building/buying a home theater PC. Mainly, I'd like to be able to stream content and movies from one location.

My BluRay player that I had in the master bedroom died this week and I'm not to fork out another $200+ on one. Rather, Id like to put that money to making a PC and keep all the blurays (in image format) on the PC.

A big seller for me is also to pull content from sites like Hulu as there are a ton of great shows I'd like to watch.

Anyone have one or built one? If you have, let me know or hit me up and I'll toss you some $$ for your time... as I fear building a computer blind will only burn down my house

DamianJ · 11-18-2010, 01:22 PM

boxee

8char

Quagmire · 11-18-2010, 01:28 PM

Antec case/fans/PS, typical dual core processor, 4 gigs of ram, 1GB Radeon HD 5770, dual 1TB drives mirrored as a basic backup, BR-ROM drive for watching discs, and I have a SATA2 hot-swap dock for spare drives with media on them.

Don't cheap out on the case or the drives. nothing worse than the whining of fans and drives while you're trying to watch a movie.

Karupted Charles · 11-18-2010, 01:38 PM

Mac mini and problem solved. I have 3 hooked up to Tv's.

DamianJ · 11-18-2010, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karupted Charles

Mac mini and problem solved. I have 3 hooked up to Tv's.

Plex? Boxee? Front Row?

96ukssob · 11-18-2010, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DamianJ

boxee

8char

inability to understand the concept FAIL

you can't burn content to a boxee, plus it does not allow you to put in cable cards

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quagmire

Antec case/fans/PS, typical dual core processor, 4 gigs of ram, 1GB Radeon HD 5770, dual 1TB drives mirrored as a basic backup, BR-ROM drive for watching discs, and I have a SATA2 hot-swap dock for spare drives with media on them.

Don't cheap out on the case or the drives. nothing worse than the whining of fans and drives while you're trying to watch a movie.

Its going into a AV rack in my basement, so there is already a pretty large amount of fans running to keep my equipment, especially receiver cool. I'm thinking probably 4TB or more of HDD space, and 500GB to backup core files... if I loose a drive full of movies, then i just have to sit there for a few hours and reburn them to the drive.

My main thing is being able to display content from the PC to other TVs in the house. The main output (hdmi) will go into my receiver which will go into my main tv in the family room. The rest will be streamed via cat6 cables ran through the house into a media box.

Any idea on the cost?

S P A N N O W · 11-18-2010, 02:07 PM

Hitting you up now...

candyflip · 11-18-2010, 02:42 PM

I have one. Mine is the Dell Zino HD and it's the best $300 or so I've ever spent for a computer.

Elli · 11-18-2010, 03:44 PM

Picked one up off Cragslist prebuilt (and loaded with 80 chinese movies) for $200 three years ago. Lian Li case, good little AMD system inside. Works brilliiantly for Netflix and browsing in the living room. Also serves audio to the amp beautifully through winamp or iTunes or whichever. We love that little thing.

Just read your next post: we don't have a cable capture card in ours. It's just for audio and movies and the interweb. Sorry can't help you more. THere are some really good forums out there on just this topic, tho.

Boozer · 11-18-2010, 04:02 PM

if by "cable card" you mean a tv tuner card go with the hauppauge hd pvr. It has component input/usb output to computer, allowing you to record up to 1080i.

I absolutely love mine

AaronM · 11-18-2010, 06:00 PM

I built one about 3 years ago. Still runs solid.

I don't watch much TV so no cable here. We get everything from the networks directly, Netflix, or Hulu.

fatfoo · 11-18-2010, 06:23 PM

I don't have one. They are expensive.

Chris · 11-18-2010, 06:40 PM

i have just a random dell pc in my living room that i use to stream media
nothing fancy

96ukssob · 01-14-2011, 09:45 AM

Tried out a few options and going to have to go the route of building a HTPC, but really have no clue how

I bought 2 media centers, one from WD that was ok and another from Dlink that could stream 1080p without loss... bullshit, it sounded like crap and was always having problems. This was recommended by someone at BestBuy over the WD.

Dont get me wrong, they are great if you are not concerned about losing audio and some video quality, but I spent a ton on my AV equipment and don't want to go from uncompressed HD sound to 5.1 compressed.

Anyway, the biggest thing I will need is a video card that outputs both sound and video via HDMI, and does not compress or anything other than transmit raw data into my receiver; my receiver will take care of the rest. Otherwise, I'd like a way to be able to plug in a media player (like the WD one) to my other TVs in bedrooms and pull movies from there, which I don't care about losing some quality.

My main point of building this is to be able to stream web content as well store my movie (BluRay and DVD) content. Its a pain in the ass to be running all over the house looking for where I placed movies at.

Anyone build one or bought one for a recommendation?

Quote:

Originally Posted by AaronM

I built one about 3 years ago. Still runs solid.

I don't watch much TV so no cable here. We get everything from the networks directly, Netflix, or Hulu.

Thats one main thing I'm trying to do with it. I thought I could stream things like ABC player and Hulu from my iPad but nope... There are a lot of good shows on there I want to watch.

iwantchixx · 01-14-2011, 11:00 AM

Passing HD-Audio through the HDMI is going to be the biggest challenge. Definitely not typical best-buy off the shelf stuff

iwantchixx · 01-14-2011, 11:05 AM

You'll have to pass it through analogue outputs and play with the bluray decoder settings

djroof · 01-14-2011, 11:09 AM

not me

Ramster · 01-14-2011, 11:25 AM

I have a theatre room. Hi-def projector, bluray player and high definition satellite receiver for sports and tv shows. These pics are when I first set it up before fully decorating the walls.

Super Bowl Party last year:

Elli · 01-14-2011, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iwantchixx

Passing HD-Audio through the HDMI is going to be the biggest challenge. Definitely not typical best-buy off the shelf stuff

We have SPDIF optical out for the audio, pass the video through HDMI. Is that what you're referring to?

11-18-2010, 01:12 PM	#1
96ukssob So Fucking Banananananas Industry Role: Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: If I was in your ass you'd know it Posts: 12,991	Home Theater PCs... whos got one? Finally going to pull the trigger on building/buying a home theater PC. Mainly, I'd like to be able to stream content and movies from one location. My BluRay player that I had in the master bedroom died this week and I'm not to fork out another $200+ on one. Rather, Id like to put that money to making a PC and keep all the blurays (in image format) on the PC. A big seller for me is also to pull content from sites like Hulu as there are a ton of great shows I'd like to watch. Anyone have one or built one? If you have, let me know or hit me up and I'll toss you some $$ for your time... as I fear building a computer blind will only burn down my house __________________ Email: Clicky on Me

11-18-2010, 01:28 PM	#3
Quagmire Confirmed User Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Stinkin' up your bathroom Posts: 6,490	Antec case/fans/PS, typical dual core processor, 4 gigs of ram, 1GB Radeon HD 5770, dual 1TB drives mirrored as a basic backup, BR-ROM drive for watching discs, and I have a SATA2 hot-swap dock for spare drives with media on them. Don't cheap out on the case or the drives. nothing worse than the whining of fans and drives while you're trying to watch a movie. __________________

11-18-2010, 01:38 PM	#4
Karupted Charles Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: MI Posts: 1,662	Mac mini and problem solved. I have 3 hooked up to Tv's. __________________ TPF 2010 "They are eating our sausages!"

11-18-2010, 02:07 PM	#7
S P A N N O W Everywhere You Wanna Be! Industry Role: Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: NorCal Posts: 11,941	Hitting you up now... __________________ Ambush

11-18-2010, 02:42 PM	#8
candyflip Carpe Visio Industry Role: Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: New York Posts: 43,064	I have one. Mine is the Dell Zino HD and it's the best $300 or so I've ever spent for a computer. __________________ Spend you some brain. Email Me

11-18-2010, 01:22 PM	#2
DamianJ Too lazy to set a custom title Industry Role: Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: A magical land Posts: 15,808	boxee 8char

11-18-2010, 03:44 PM	#9
Elli Reach for those stars! Industry Role: Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 17,991	Picked one up off Cragslist prebuilt (and loaded with 80 chinese movies) for $200 three years ago. Lian Li case, good little AMD system inside. Works brilliiantly for Netflix and browsing in the living room. Also serves audio to the amp beautifully through winamp or iTunes or whichever. We love that little thing. Just read your next post: we don't have a cable capture card in ours. It's just for audio and movies and the interweb. Sorry can't help you more. THere are some really good forums out there on just this topic, tho. __________________ email: [email protected] Last edited by Elli; 11-18-2010 at 03:45 PM..

11-18-2010, 04:02 PM	#10
Boozer So Fucking Banned Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 3,134	if by "cable card" you mean a tv tuner card go with the hauppauge hd pvr. It has component input/usb output to computer, allowing you to record up to 1080i. I absolutely love mine

11-18-2010, 06:00 PM	#11
AaronM Too lazy to set a custom title Industry Role: Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: ┌∩┐ ◣_◢ ┌∩┐ Posts: 46,909	I built one about 3 years ago. Still runs solid. I don't watch much TV so no cable here. We get everything from the networks directly, Netflix, or Hulu.

11-18-2010, 06:23 PM	#12
fatfoo ICQ:649699063 Industry Role: Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 27,763	I don't have one. They are expensive. __________________ Send me an email: [email protected]

11-18-2010, 06:40 PM	#13
Chris Too lazy to set a custom title Industry Role: Join Date: May 2003 Location: icq: 71462500 Skype: Jupzchris Posts: 27,880	i have just a random dell pc in my living room that i use to stream media nothing fancy __________________ [email protected]

01-14-2011, 11:00 AM	#15
iwantchixx Too lazy to set a custom title Industry Role: Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: The Boonies Posts: 12,860	Passing HD-Audio through the HDMI is going to be the biggest challenge. Definitely not typical best-buy off the shelf stuff

01-14-2011, 11:05 AM	#16
iwantchixx Too lazy to set a custom title Industry Role: Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: The Boonies Posts: 12,860	You'll have to pass it through analogue outputs and play with the bluray decoder settings

01-14-2011, 11:09 AM	#17
djroof JuicyDevils.gr Owner Industry Role: Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Greece Posts: 25,405	not me

01-14-2011, 11:25 AM	#18
Ramster Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Ottawa, Canada Posts: 1,447	I have a theatre room. Hi-def projector, bluray player and high definition satellite receiver for sports and tv shows. These pics are when I first set it up before fully decorating the walls. Super Bowl Party last year: __________________ Fcuk Cash - Backroom Casting Couch, ExCoGi, BlackAmbush DarkReach Cash - Top Pornstars & Sites Skype: robmurray999 Email: rob-at-paysitemanagers.com