HTPC pictures (1 Viewer)

[Shenobi]

Hi all,

Just thought I'd post some pictures of my HTPC setup. It's running an Athlon XP 2100 inside a Shuttle case. OS is RedHat 9 Linux, HTPC application is MythTV.

http://manghani.no-ip.org:8080/~sshen/TV/Display1.jpg

http://manghani.no-ip.org:8080/~sshen/TV/Display2.jpg

http://manghani.no-ip.org:8080/~sshen/TV/Display3.jpg

 

[JeremyFr]

where do you get that application?? that looks pretty sweet.

 

[Joe Hsu]

Nice setup Shenobi, gotta love the Shuttles...and great to see someone here running/using Myth, I can't wait to build my mini-HTPC and do the same.

 

[Kris McLaughlin]

Sweet setup, and I see you're all ready to watch Iron Chef... nice!

 

[John*Jones]

That is a sweet looking setup. I have one of those shuttle cases and absolutely love it...although it's my server not an HTPC.

 

[Nate Wh]

Great setup.. i'll post up some pix of mine when the new FP comes in

 

[Scott L]

Lookin smooth! How quiet is that Shuttle case?

 

[Shenobi]

Thanks for the feedback fellas. Just some quick info on the setup.

I'm really happy with the HTPC so far. MythTV is a PVR application built for Linux. It integrates program guide information, recording, tuning, etc. It also has additional modules for MP3/CD/Video playback as well as an Image viewer and weather module. It's very easy to add new modules on your own. For instance, I've got a Web module which launches a browser for web surfing and a DVD/VCD module which launches mplayer for DVD playback. I've tried some Windows products but they all pale in comparison to the MythTV application. Hopefully, they'll get there over time, but I have yet to find anything that comes close. Alot of people use myHTPC for Windows boxes, but there's not enough integration yet for me. SageTV looks promising, but you have to pay. MythTV does everything it can do and more and is free.

You can go to http://www.mythtv.org for more information.

While it takes a bit of time to get the thing working, it's well worth it. Recording quality has been very nice and it does a good job at keeping file sizes reasonable. The audio comes out of the HTPC to the mini-receiver and video is hooked up to the Samsung DLP set via VGA connector. I haven't bothered to buy a DVI capable card yet. I originally thought I might, but after seeing how good DVDs look even with VGA connection, I'll probably keep the DVI port open for some other component.

The HTPC is running RedHat 9. I originally did some testing on debian distros but they didn't detect hardware as well. RedHat has worked out well for me, but I've also heard many recommendations for Mandrake. One of the cool features of Myth is that the backend and frontend are separated. Many people use one computer in another room as their backend server and multiple frontend clients in other rooms to access their database & stored programs. Another nice features is being able to schedule recordings remotely. I can login to the box from work and use the web interface to schedule programs at home. There's plenty of documentation at the MythTV website on all the modules. Linux is great once you get used to it - EXTREMELY stable and uses very little memory which means more space for applications & stored videos. I highly suggest taking a look at MythTV. It takes a bit of time and patience to setup, but it's worth it. Go with a well documented Linux distribution (like Mandrake) and you just follow the steps on their website.

I use a wireless IR mouse & keyboard. No need to install LIRC for infrared control since the Universal Learning Remote can be programmed with the keyboard IR strokes for total command of the system.

Here are my components (as I stated above everything was less than $400 and no subscription fees!):

Hardware:
Shuttle SK41G case
AMD Athlon 2100 XP CPU
256 MB PC2100 DDRAM
Onboard Video (Savage 8)
Onboard Audio (VIA8235)
Onboard LAN
KWorld KW-TV878FM tuner
120GB ATA100 HDD
16x DVD-ROM drive
Chicony Wireless IR Keyboard + Mouse

Software:
Linux - FREE!
MythTV - FREE!
MPlayer - FREE!
LAME - FREE!
XMLTV- FREE!
MySQL - FREE!
etc...


Ok, I've finished my sales routine.

I got the Shuttle because of the size and form factor. I had no desire to put a tower up on that shelf. So far, it's worked well and heat hasn't been an issue. My only gripe is the sound level. The Shuttle heat fans are dynamic but they aren't very quiet so when the CPU load is high you can definitely hear the fan. I might put a resistor in there or something to reduce the noise. If I were to do it again, I might consider going with a quieter case in a similar form factor. I got that one in particular mainly because of a great deal + rebate.

 

[Tekara]

in my shuttle I just replaced the stock fans and the noise levels reduced dramatically.take a look around, especially at forums.sudhian.com for way to reduce noise.

the biggest offender is the PSU fan (though the 80mm is in need of replacement as well), a simple replacement of that 40mm fan will cut the noise by quite a bit. if you are willing to do more extensive mods, you can cut away the metal grates in front of the fans and that reduces noise by a fair amount as well (less air resistance for the fan).

anyway, glad to see so many shuttle users out there, we just may have that computer revolution yet!

having fun,
Rob

 

[Shenobi]

Rob.M.G.

Thanks for the tip - I'll look into that.

- Shenobi

 

[Matt Pasant]

I have a shuttle as well, and I am currently using the onboard 32 mb video card, but are there other recommendations out there.

I dont want to spend $300, and I dont have DVI yet. I truly wish there was a way to do component video off of it.

Any thoughts?

 

[Chris Hovanic]

Shenobi wery nice HTPC

Matt Pasant check these links: (not sure of the cost of these)
http://www.averm.co.uk/products/comptv.html

http://www.videowarriorstraining.com...28_tvelite.htm

http://www.aitech.com/wc_plus-details.htm

 

[Tekara]

well, it's at least cheaper than 300$
http://store.yahoo.com/dss4u/rcavhvgatoco.html

since it shows such items exist, you can always see if a generic ones around.