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Noob with questions

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  • Media Center
  • Cable
  • Components
  • Computers
Last response: in Components
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April 25, 2013 7:46:54 AM

Hello,

I'm looking at building a Media Center computer that will be able to use a CableCard to eliminate the cable TV boxes. Likewise, I want to rip all of my DVDs to the box, to be able to watch them through WMC. I'd also like to load PlayOn to be able to pull Internet TV. I want to see if I like it first and see if it's worth it to eliminate cable altogether (but I'm going in assuming I'm keeping cable). Lastly, I'd like to be able to stream video to the remaining 2 TVs in the house as well with this box.

I understand I will need the following:

*Case
*PSU
*CPU/Motherboard
*TV Tuner Card
*RAM
*MAYBE a BluRay player
*HDD
*Cooling for components

I also understand PlayOn needs some horsepower to run good, so I'm not sure what components I should be looking at to ensure I have enough power.

Likewise, would integrated graphics suffice, or should I look at Discrete?

More about : noob questions

April 25, 2013 7:52:04 AM

This is the tuner ya want, especially if ya have multiple boxes in ya house

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Case / PSU - Corsair 500R w/ TX650 - Combo Price = $189.99 - $40 MIR's - $10 off w/ promo code EMCXSVR23, ends 5/1 for PSU and - $20 off w/ promo code TECH4LESS10, ends 4/29 for case = $119.99 for both (incredible price).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...

MoBo / CPU - ASUS P8Z77-V LK w/ i5-3570K w/ Intel HD Graphics 4000 - Combo Price = $299.98 - $15 MIR = $284.98 (prolly don't need that powerful a CPU but great price from $55 combo discount and MIR gives you option of making it gaming box, even with CF or SLI.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...

This is the tuner ya want, especially if ya have multiple boxes in ya house - $199.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

RAM - Corsair 2 x 4GB low profile, low voltage Vengeance - $70.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Optical - The Asus Blue Ray player is $59.99; the Blue Ray writer is exact same price after $5 promo and 410 MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
+ $5 off w/ promo code EMCXSVT47, ends 4/29

Hard Drive - How much room ya want and how much ya wanna spend ? If it's me, Im using the Momentus for OS and games, and the WD Black 4TB for media storage.

750 GB ($140) - Momentus XT is the fastest being a hybrid SSD / HD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

2 TB ($90) - Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB (2 year warranty)
Extra savings w/ promo code EMCYTZT3335, ends 4/25 (amount savings not specified)

2 TB ($160) - Western Digital WD Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA (5 year warranty)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

4TB ($190) - Seagate Desktop HDD.15 ST4000DM000 4TB 64MB (2 year warranty)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

4TB ($300) - Western Digital WD Black WD4001FAEX 4TB 7200 RPM 64MB (5 year warranty)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

If ya not overclocking, I wouldn't worry about it. If ya decide to do any gaming, case has plenty of cooling even with the TV Tuner card. If ya do go that way, sometime down the road, you can add later.

Discreet GFX - If ya decide ya need this, a good option would be the 650 Ti Boost.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I'd pay the $5 more for the Asus for two reasons:

1. Better and quieter cooler
2. If ya need tech support the GFX support guy can't get away blaming the MoBo or optical as they Asus too :) 


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April 25, 2013 8:19:43 AM

I made the switch from Time Warner Cable's boxes to a SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime. It was a little bumpy getting started, but once it is up and running - I am saving $60 per month of box fees.

The first thing you need to do - contact your cable company and make sure that a "TiVo box with cable card" will work on their digital TV. If you mention cable card tuner - they won't understand....You might need a switched digital video adapter if they are using the technology (they have to provide this for free).

Second - decide how many stations you want to watch/record at the same time. Here are a few options:
1) Ceton PCI card - Pros - 4 tuners, internal card. Great for recording/watching up to 4 channels at the same time on one PC and/or Media Extenders (recommend XBox 360 or Ceton Echo). Cons: If you share with other computers (not extenders) you have to dedicate the tuner to that PC. It also kicks up the heat inside the box.
2) Ceton USB tuner - same pros as the first choice - but drops one con - the heat inside the box.
3) SiliconDust HDHomerun Prime - Pros - 3 tuners, network connectivity - you can watch/record 3 channels at the same time on any PC and/or media extender. Cons: Network bandwidth is reduced by using this device. If you have 1GB ethernet - not a problem - 100MB could be an issue with 3 streams active.
4) Happauge USB tuner - Pros: 2 tuner device (basically 1/2 the Ceton USB tuner - but half the price).

With multiple streams you need to look at designing the system with 1 processor core and 1GB RAM per stream. So if you are using the Ceton devices, and watch/record up to 4 channels - I would recommend a quad core processor with a minimum of 4GB RAM. I am currently running a dual-core pentium with 4GB RAM and 3 channels are not a problem, but does put a load on the CPU.

Storage - recommend an OS Drive (small HDD or SSD), and a large storage drive (recommend WD Black drives 1TB-3TB). You want a performance drive for the storage drive, because every time you tune a station, you are essentially "recording", and the WD Black drives give you the performance to watch/record up to 4 HD channels without issues.

The Case/Power supply will depend upon how you want to place things. I have my HTPC connected to the big screen. It is fairly quiet, but the case isn't very pleasing to the eye. You can get a long HDMI cable to connect it.

I run a GeForce 210 Silent for my primary HTPC, it is both quiet (no fan) and streams video great. I have also used the HD4000 graphics from my PC without issue. HD video isn't that demanding and the Intel/AMD built in video works great.

If I were building from scratch - this is what I would recommend:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/SXJS

You can cut a few corners on the build - but this would be a "top of the line HTPC".
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April 25, 2013 8:32:14 AM

wow...thanks for all the help! This is going to cost me a little more than I expected, however, as mentioned, I can cut some corners for the time being and add on later. Likewise, it should last me a few years as well.

One additional question....I am not crazy about Windows 8, however, Windows 7 is on the clock now and mainstream support ends in a little under 3 years. Would you recommend going with Win7 regardless, or biting the bullet and moving to Win8, doing some mods and making it LIKE Win7? I know there will be a few more dollars cost to going that route from an OS perspective (since WMC is built-in to Win7 and not in Win8). On the other hand, going to Win7 now will allow me to jump Win8 and upgrade to whatever comes after. Dilemma, dilemma....
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