# HTPC interface



## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Thought some of you guys/gals would like to see some screen shots from my HTPC. These are from my test machine, with just a few movies and a couple series rips.

*Movies:*










*Television:*











The software I'm running is called mediaportal, the plugins are _Moving Pictures_, _My TV Series_. The skin is _StreamedMP_.

It's truelly awesome being able to watch any movie or TV show in your collection with a simple click of a couple buttons.

:smile:


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## violation (Aug 20, 2006)

Looks awesome!

I recently gave my HTPC to my brother since I pretty much stopped watching TV and rarely watch movies, but I remember trying MediaPortal... it was much better than Windows Media Center, the customization is killer. 

I think I went through every media center application available at the time... SageTV, MythTV, etc. and MediaPortal was still my favorite. I've heard Boxee is pretty cool too but I've never tried it.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Great little HTPC box. I picked one of these up to test for family members.

http://www.asrock.com/nettop/overview.asp?Model=ION 330

Plays everything I throw at it including blu-ray rips. Runs the above interface well.

Anyone looking for a cheap, small, quiet HTPC, it's the way to go.


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## Guest (Oct 19, 2009)

I just setup mediaportal on an old dual CPU machine I acquired and HOLY COW. Is it ever slick. Near zero configuration on my part to get it working. I suspect the install was made easier because I'm not using a TV Tuner card -- this is strictly for playback. Still, it was harder to get Windows installed on the machine than it was to get this thing going.

Jeff: I installed those two plugins as well but haven't really given them much attention yet. I'm just enjoying being able to browse my media from the big screen. :smile:


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

Those screen shots look great. I'm just using my XBOX360 with a portable drive. Works fine afaik. Never heard of these HTPC's. Jeff, where did you buy yours and what was the $$$.


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

I have absolutely no idea WTF you guys are talking about! 

TG


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

iaresee said:


> I just setup mediaportal on an old dual CPU machine I acquired and HOLY COW. Is it ever slick. Near zero configuration on my part to get it working. I suspect the install was made easier because I'm not using a TV Tuner card -- this is strictly for playback. Still, it was harder to get Windows installed on the machine than it was to get this thing going.
> 
> Jeff: I installed those two plugins as well but haven't really given them much attention yet. I'm just enjoying being able to browse my media from the big screen. :smile:


Those 2 plugins along with the StreamedMP skin are what makes it look so pretty. They download art for movies, back drops and Season art for the TV series etc etc.

http://code.google.com/p/streamedmp/

Make sure to grap the 0.8 version, 0.9 is beta for the next version of media portal.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Stratin2traynor said:


> Those screen shots look great. I'm just using my XBOX360 with a portable drive. Works fine afaik. Never heard of these HTPC's. Jeff, where did you buy yours and what was the $$$.


I don't buy, I build. I'm replacing parts in it, constantly.

Recently put a ATI 5750 graphics card in it in preperation of bitstreaming the HD audio from Blu-Rays and such.


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## Guest (Oct 22, 2009)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> Those 2 plugins along with the StreamedMP skin are what makes it look so pretty. They download art for movies, back drops and Season art for the TV series etc etc.
> 
> http://code.google.com/p/streamedmp/
> 
> Make sure to grap the 0.8 version, 0.9 is beta for the next version of media portal.


Sweet. Thanks man. I got the two plugins configured and they really are something else. That TV Series organizer in particular is excellent. I dig how it just recognized the tuner card and worked.

I'll try that skin out now...


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

I run the TViX 7000 in the theatre room, and a portable WDTV elsewhere. I dont use disks anymore, everything is now on a bunch of hardrives. If only movie companies would go full into downloading, prices would be cheaper (well maybe not Sony Pictures) and there would be no need for all that useless packaging..............


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Accept2 said:


> I run the TViX 7000 in the theatre room, and a portable WDTV elsewhere. I dont use disks anymore, everything is now on a bunch of hardrives. If only movie companies would go full into downloading, prices would be cheaper (well maybe not Sony Pictures) and there would be no need for all that useless packaging..............


Unfortunately we have big brother preventing us from getting decent download limits without throttling, so it just wouldn't work for us Canadians. At least not at this time.

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/NEWS/RELEASES/2009/r091021.htm


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> Unfortunately we have big brother preventing us from getting decent download limits without throttling, so it just wouldn't work for us Canadians. At least not at this time.
> 
> http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/NEWS/RELEASES/2009/r091021.htm


Yeah, I can't stand the low speeds. I pay $80/mth for top-notch internet, but I only see my maximum speeds in the middle of the night. It's not the end of the world, as I've adjusted my internet usage habits accordingly, but the fact that I've had to do that is irritating as it is.

The other issue I have is that I occasionally use the internet for legitimate reasons, such as sending large audio files to other musicians that I'm working on projects with. It's a huge pain in the neck when a 40mb .wav file takes half an hour to go through, nevermind large Sonar project files. It's not like every person who uses a lot of bandwidth is necessarily pirating, and I don't think I'm taking up more than my fair share of usage if I'm paying a premium for it.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

hollowbody said:


> Yeah, I can't stand the low speeds. I pay $80/mth for top-notch internet, but I only see my maximum speeds in the middle of the night. It's not the end of the world, as I've adjusted my internet usage habits accordingly, but the fact that I've had to do that is irritating as it is.
> 
> The other issue I have is that I occasionally use the internet for legitimate reasons, such as sending large audio files to other musicians that I'm working on projects with. It's a huge pain in the neck when a 40mb .wav file takes half an hour to go through, nevermind large Sonar project files. It's not like every person who uses a lot of bandwidth is necessarily pirating, and I don't think I'm taking up more than my fair share of usage if I'm paying a premium for it.


Yes we really get the shaft compared to Europe and even the US when it comes to speed, especially upload speed.

I've seen some people in Europe paying $50 for 40 up and 40 down. It costs us $65 for 25 down and 1 up, absolutely ridiculous.


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

Every once in a while I can get 1.5MB/second on download, which is relatively fast compared to most times, and that is sad. Sometimes I connect to a private server, and it seems to be able to get into the 10s very easily. Obviously we are being duped by these assholes..........


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## Guest (Oct 22, 2009)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> Yes we really get the shaft compared to Europe and even the US when it comes to speed, especially upload speed.
> 
> I've seen some people in Europe paying $50 for 40 up and 40 down. It costs us $65 for 25 down and 1 up, absolutely ridiculous.


Soon. Bell is testing FiOS in Toronto now: http://entertainment.bell.ca/ -- I tried to order that here but Toronto only for the time being. I ended up staying with Rogers. Tek Savvy speeds were abysmal and I couldn't keep a VPN connection open to work. Drives me nuts that they throttle encrypted traffic. My traffic is encrypted because it's work -- I don't want you to see it Mr. Bell and Mr. Rogers. Arrrrgh.

Jeff, what resolution are you running (in H x V pixels) in that screen cap in your OP? I tried StreamingMP last night but it's missing all the information that's in your shots: no series cover photos, none of that stuff on the top of the screen. But if I switch to BlueMP I see all that stuff. Weird. I think it's the crummy graphics card I have - it'll only let me run at 1024 x 768. Need to pick up that ATi card!


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

iaresee said:


> Soon. Bell is testing FiOS in Toronto now: http://entertainment.bell.ca/ -- I tried to order that here but Toronto only for the time being. I ended up staying with Rogers. Tek Savvy speeds were abysmal and I couldn't keep a VPN connection open to work. Drives me nuts that they throttle encrypted traffic. My traffic is encrypted because it's work -- I don't want you to see it Mr. Bell and Mr. Rogers. Arrrrgh.
> 
> Jeff, what resolution are you running (in H x V pixels) in that screen cap in your OP? I tried StreamingMP last night but it's missing all the information that's in your shots: no series cover photos, none of that stuff on the top of the screen. But if I switch to BlueMP I see all that stuff. Weird. I think it's the crummy graphics card I have - it'll only let me run at 1024 x 768. Need to pick up that ATi card!


Yah, StreamedMP is a 16x9 skin, 720p to be exact, I run 1080p everywhere and it stretches perfectly.

You'll have to run a 4x3 skin like Blue until you upgrade your card.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

iaresee said:


> Need to pick up that ATi card!


Make sure your power supply is up to snuff.


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## Guest (Oct 23, 2009)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> Make sure your power supply is up to snuff.


Yea, just checking this thing out. This Dell Precision 670 workstation I'm using can't handle that bad boy. I've got PCI Express (8x and 16x) slots available but with a max power draw of 150W according to the Dell support site. I'm thinking I might have to go with something like this.

Any recommendations?


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

iaresee said:


> Yea, just checking this thing out. This Dell Precision 670 workstation I'm using can't handle that bad boy. I've got PCI Express (8x and 16x) slots available but with a max power draw of 150W according to the Dell support site. I'm thinking I might have to go with something like this.
> 
> Any recommendations?


Can you upgrade the PSU? Is it a standard PSU? A good one can be had for $70-80.


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

traynor_garnet said:


> i have absolutely no idea wtf you guys are talking about!
> 
> tg


+1 ....................................


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## Guest (Oct 23, 2009)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> Can you upgrade the PSU? Is it a standard PSU? A good one can be had for $70-80.


The PSU is 650 W. My concern is the line on the second page in this PDF document from Dell. It says:


> *Graphics:* Support for ISV-certified PCI Express graphics cards up to 150 watts and with up to 512MB graphics memory including: nVIDIA® Quadro® FX 4500; nVIDIA Quadro FX 3450; Quadro FX 1400; ATI™ FireGL™ V3100; nVIDIA Quadro NVS 280; All graphics cards support dual monitor configurationsGraphics


There's a Quadro 1400 in the one I have...pretty low tech, but nice 2D which is all we need when we're developing CAD tools and designing chips at work (it was a work machine).

That "up to 150 watts" makes me think that killer new ATi card would melt it down. Or does that card have a separate power connector that ties straight to the PSU?


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

No you are plenty fine with 650W. I only run a 600W in my HTPC and it's overkill since the 5750 only needs a 450.

Not sure what the heck they are talking about in that pdf document, hardly any video card manufactured in the last 5+ years draws less than 300W.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

iaresee said:


> Or does that card have a separate power connector that ties straight to the PSU?


Oh I see now, they don't want more that 150W draw through the board.

Yes, you'll need to plug in a dedicated PCI-X lane (6 pin) from the power supply, directly into the card.


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## Guest (Oct 23, 2009)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> Oh I see now, they don't want more that 150W draw through the board.
> 
> Yes, you'll need to plug in a dedicated PCI-X lane (6 pin) from the power supply, directly into the card.


Sweet. That's the bit I wasn't certain about. Yea, Dell doesn't want more than 150W drawn off the power rails on the PCI-X connector. A separate power cable from the PSU is a-okay though.

Awesome!


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Man, video card have come a long way. I've never had any experience with cards that draw power direct from the PSU.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

hollowbody said:


> Man, video card have come a long way. I've never had any experience with cards that draw power direct from the PSU.


I have a Nvidia 275 GTX in my main PC, it actually requires 2 lines from the PSU. The new lower end ATI I recommended to Ian only requires one. I imagine their top of the line 5870 requires 2.


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