HTPC - Pulling the plug on cable TV

[Modded Matt]

I am sick of this ridiculous bill. I have always had my internet with Cox communications. for some reason everywhere I lived, I plug the TV in and get about 70 channels of basic analogue cable programing. (all your basics tbs, tnt. bet, mtv, etc.) Then all the rates changed, and the cable just went out one day. (this went on for a few years.) I dont watch much tv, as im on the pc and xbox most of my free time but I like to have the news and sound on like when Im chillin, cleaning or going to sleep. I called and had the cable turned back on around the first of the year, they gave me the same 70 channels (digital now) a dvr and HBO. The bill was an additional 35$. This made my bill like 105$ when combined with my internet. well its been 6 months and the new bill is $155.00. Whats more depressing is that the hbo is only free for another three months and the bill is going up another 16$. Thats just not working for me.

I have decided to ditch the cable and stream all my media. I already have access to alot via netflix and hulu plus. But I want new shows like the walking dead and falling skies. So I will need web based access to these programs. and so begins my quest for the HTPC.

Built alot of things in my life, a computer was never one of them. Ive replaced parts, upgraded, reprogrammed and all that good stuff, but never built a new one. So any pointers will be noted. There will be stupid things I will forget or over look, so if im doing something that dont make since or if im not seeing a upcoming issue with something, please let me know.

The main equipment I am working with is my living room set up, although I would like to be able to stream to my bed room, but that can come later, unless its necessary to plan for that now.
TV: 55' Visio Full LED back lit 1080P 240 HRZ with sound bar. (about 1.5 years old)5 HDMI, VGA, DVI, USB, both digital/analogue tuners.
Sterio: Visio 5.1 surround home theater with DVD. (kinda cheap but works)
others: xbox, jtag, ps3.

So I have access to most items I want in one form or another, just need to bring them together. This being said, things like a blue ray player are not detrimental, but would be nice, then I can sell the ps3. The main thing i am looking for is better organisation and direction, that you find with cable programing, so I will focus on software like mediaportal, xbmc, or boxee, but that can come later lets build the system.

ok, so please give suggestions on each category:

Case:
black, silver trim possibly, should look like a high end stereo.

Mother Board:
I guess the processor chosen will affect the mobo used. But it needs to be low power and silent.

Processor:
Is Pentium I5/7 needed? I hear alot of people using amd for this type of build. I dont plan to do much other than the media center. maybe skype. 

Memory:
lots, and fast

Storage:
flexible, can be upgraded later, again used for media storage only

Software:
windows 7 possibly a lenux dual install.


Thoughts?

[whitetop]

why no one replayed i don't know

ok if you want silent you mite think about fanless stuff but try for a motherboard with onboard graphics card or a nice fanless card.

1tb hdd would be ok no need for a 7200rpm since slower ones still do the job.

if its just media go for a intel i3 2120

anything 1333mhz ram will do since its not for higher stuff

motherboard should be picked around from the stuff you want.

the new amd's are nothing new its just a re design of the old cpus and alot slower than intel stuff.

[snowcolt17]

i wouldnt also get a ssd... just saying.

look at lian li, antec, and other sites at their cases

[hyper999]

Might not be powerful enough for you but you might want to have a look at Raspberry Pi XMBC

[snowcolt17]

i wanted to do a carpc build with the rasperberry pi! nothing huge, just small. but idk how it would work :p

[COREGAMER]

yup get an i3 2100 or 2120 with an h61 or h67 chipset mobo,A cheap but quality power supply like the antec earthwatts or corsair cx430 or similar.Lastly since you will be watching at 1080p I would recommend getting a GPU like the HD 5450(20$) as intel's HD2000 or HD3000 won't do 1080p smoothly.

Also since RAM is cheap get some 8gb corsair or g.skill. Even 4gb would do though if you are on a budget.

As for the HDD.If I were you I would look for one lying around the house.Maybe in a laptop or pull one out of the PS3 because as of now HDD prices are inflated like hell and there's no point paying 2.5x the normal amount.In a few months the prices will become more reasonable.

NOTE: You can also build a shuttle PC. A shuttle PC is a small form factor computer but still packs a punch.Cases look like stereos too!


You could also go for an AMD build but that will consume more power!

[snowcolt17]

yup get an i3 2100 or 2120 with an h61 or h67 chipset mobo,A cheap but quality power supply like the antec earthwatts or corsair cx430 or similar.Lastly since you will be watching at 1080p I would recommend getting a GPU like the HD 5450(20$) as intel's HD2000 or HD3000 won't do 1080p smoothly.

Also since RAM is cheap get some 8gb corsair or g.skill. Even 4gb would do though if you are on a budget.

As for the HDD.If I were you I would look for one lying around the house.Maybe in a laptop or pull one out of the PS3 because as of now HDD prices are inflated like hell and there's no point paying 2.5x the normal amount.In a few months the prices will become more reasonable.

NOTE: You can also build a shuttle PC. A shuttle PC is a small form factor computer but still packs a punch.Cases look like stereos too!


You could also go for an AMD build but that will consume more power!

i have the readon hd5450 paid 20 for it. its a nice gpu.

^ is correct though. that will be a low cost build and do fine

[COREGAMER]

Also if you wanna go even stronger in terms of graphics performance at the same time you might want to consider an A8 3870k APU and pair it with a nice FM1  motherboard.

The APU comes with Radeon 6550D so thats a plus.

A good mobo along with the APU would cost about $180(you could go even cheaper by getting a cheaper mobo or even an A6 APU and that would then cost something like 150)

If you go with this build it would probably cost you around $350-$400 and would be cheaper than the intel since you wouldn't need a dedicated GPU either.



EDIT: Just Calculated the cost using an a6 APU together with all the other parts and it comes to $330 bucks!

[robin1989]

take a look at some of the back episodes of tekzilla on revision3. maybe consider a ceton card

[Modded Matt]

so currently I am looking at this APU

AMD A8-3870K Unlocked Llano 3.0GHz Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 6550D AD3870WNGXBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819106001&Tpk=a8-3870k

and this motherboard:
Gigabyte A75M-UD2H AMD Socket FM1 for AMD Llano CPU, HDMI, Dual Graphic Micro ATX Motherboard
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-A75M-UD2H-Socket-Graphic-Motherboard/dp/B0057TG6AW


Ram:
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-240-Pin-platforms-CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9/dp/B004CRSM52

[Sammy]

I just recently built one of these for myself, For My case i found this and Love it! its not really what you said, but here it is incase you want to check it out.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811204039&Tpk=Wood

[Modded Matt]

Ok, so after a few days of obsessing over this, I have backed out of building my HTPC. I have realized that due to my infinate human need to want more, I am incapable of building this unit. The best I could hope for would be an all in one pc. Which using the specs above for the three main components, I feel we have put together ad list for the backbone of a great computer for about $550.00 (this would be a total cost to function properly, ie small hdd, low end cd/dvd writer) but this is just hardware, then you will need a nice software package to run with it.

I have decided that you get what you pay for and the cable programing content that I was looking for is just something that I am going to have to give up with the bill. So this means as long as I spend less that $60 per month on the apps such as netflix, hulu, amazon, etc I will have more control over what I watch effectively sticking it to my cable provider.

I found that for my need of programmed scheduled shows and news, a small indoor/outdoor antenna will pick up about 10 local channels in stunning hd. and with the next size up doubling its range I should be able to get a few more channels as well.

Of course there will still be a few things that slip through the cracks I will need web access to my tv for. For this I have two options. I can connect my laptop to the tv through vga and a speaker plug. or I can look into a service such as the "smart box, boxee, or google tv/internet tv.

I bought a smart box by samsung today, while it has a full web browser, the slow clunky UI was very disappointing. Then the on screen mouse takes for ever to spell a web address. (5 mins to get to AM) needless to say it was returned. I am now very interested in the google tv/bluray player.

[Icyhaze]

Sucks you dont want to do it anymore :P i was about to list some stuff, also you said you might want ot use it in another rooms, they make HDMI extenders via CAT5 cables. so you could run it to another room without audio/video loss. and snowcolt, PM me if you want to do more with the car build im a Auto audio/video/and security installer, its relatively simple