CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

samcguire · Joined: 28 Nov 2006 Posts: 7

My wife wants my HTPC to reposition it for other (her) uses. So far, I have enjoyed a very high WAF and would like to keep it that way. With newer hardware available, it may be time to give in (gracefully) and build me a new one.

The HTPC is used only for a front end to feed my NEC 6 PGXtra. All ripping, encoding, file storage, etc. is performed by other machines on my wired gigabyte network and delivered to the HTPC. Over ninety % of the content is ripped VCR & DVD. I tend to use Gigabyte motherboards & Nvidia video cards (not a requirement) and send the audio to a receiver for decoding (toslink). Software is Powerstrip and XBMC.

This is a dedicated HT, so it doesn't need to "blend in" with the decor or be in a mini case. Desktop would be fine.

I would appreciate your suggestions on hardware/software for a new front end.

samcguire

akajester · Joined: 09 Jul 2008 Posts: 934 Location: Wisconsin

I built my new htpc earlier this year. It's a gigabyte ma770 motherboard with amd quad core processor, 4gb of ram, ati 4350 graphics card and some 1.5tb hard drives. I recently added a bluray drive. I put this in an old desktop case I had laying around. I also upgraded the power supply to a 680watt for more sata power. I'm running windows 7 on it (previously xp) and it's been rock solid. I would highly recommend using Media Portal as the front end. http://www.team-mediaportal.com/ Be prepared to fall into the rabbit hole! Smile

All my media (dvd's, cd's, blurays) is ripped into mkv files and played off this machine.

I was also using ac3filter to output audio over spdif using the on board audio and it sounded good. I heard from others here that analog outs are way better. I ordered some premium 1/4" to rca adapters from monoprice and doing analog 8 channel audio using the realtek onboard audio and it sounds awesome! it definitely seems more rich than the spdif.

I hope this helps you out!