First time (budget) HTPC

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crandell84

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Oct 13, 2014
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Hey everyone (prepare yourself for a lot of text!),
I have searched around and figured this may be the best place to find some (well solicited) advice on an HTPC build. I have been toying with the idea of cutting cable for about 1.5-2 years now, and am inching closer and closer with our monthly bills going up all the time. Before I write out my list of items, I wanted to give a clear idea of what I am wanting.
We have two TVs; one in the living room and one in the bedroom. I imagine the easiest way is to build an HTPC for each TV, with a central drive to store downloaded movies/TV shows. If so, what is the best way of doing this? I have heard about NAS setups, but unsure if this is worth the extra money or not. We don't watch a whole lot of downloaded media, so using an external hard drive is not that much of a nuisance, although having a main drive to download to would make things a little easier.
The other thing I am needing is the ability to record OTA TV. My TVs have ATSC tuners built-in, however I am assuming in order to record OTA TV, you need to send the feed to the computer first, and then to the TV.
I hope you guys are able to answer these questions, and steer me in the right direction. As I said, this is a whole new venture for me, and there seems to be an overwhelming amount of information out there. I appreciate any advice/help you can provide!

I did see that there is a formal way on how to ask for advice on a new build, so here I have included that below.

Approximate Purchase Date: Relatively soon (by mid-November if prices are right)

Budget Range:$500-$600 (per HTPC, if possible)

System Usage from Most to Least Important:Watching OTA tv, NHL Gamecenter, Netflix

Parts Not Required: N/A

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Whichever is cheapest

Country: Canada

Parts Preferences: Doesn't matter to me

Overclocking: Not sure how to do this or if I would need to

SLI or Crossfire: No (I believe this is for multiple displays)

Monitor Resolution:720p and 1080i

Additional Comments:

Thanks everyone!
 
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I used the hybrid drive in mine because it includes a small 8 gig SSD that will hold all the frequently used programs . Faster than a standard disk , cheaper than an SSD but not as fast

If you are using any of the integrated systems then you need to check the mb has the correct connectors

The board in my build earlier has vga/DVI/HDMI and display Port . Use whatever your TV has . Some older TV's might work better with DVI or VGA
[EDIT : issues like ronintexas screen flicker ]
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bsod1

bsod1

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A6-6400K 3.9GHz Dual-Core Processor ($65.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($69.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($46.26 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Crucial MX100 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($76.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.95 @ Vuugo)
Case: Silverstone ML03B HTPC Case ($60.53 @ DirectCanada)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($64.99 @ Canada Computers)
Total: $559.69
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-13 22:57 EDT-0400
 
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ronintexas

ronintexas

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I cut the cord a few years ago....well, kind of.....here is what I did. I build the HTPC in the bedroom - using a AMD A10-5800K Trinity Quad-Core 3.8GHz with 8GB of RAM. I am using a Silicon Dust HRHomeRun Prime (3 tuners). This gives me the ability to watch/record 3 channels at any given time using Windows Media Center. You can also watch a 2-3 recorded shows while 3 are recording. The CPU handles everything well. I am using a WD Black 2TB hard drive. The GPU is an ASUS GT-210 Silent.

The reason it is in the bedroom - the TV there is 720P, and it doesn't suffer from the 29/59 issue with cable TV. In the living room, I am using an XBOX 360 as a media center extender (you can have up to 5).

I am really happy with the setup - I save about $50 per month off the cable bill - I have no cable boxes.

Your setup would be slightly different - you need the OTA tuners (they come in 2-Tuner packages) - unless you plan on recording more than 2 stations at once, you only need 1 tuner.

Here is a sample build: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/ronintexas/saved/pG3WGX

You would need tuners: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815345015

You can get as many tuners as you want.....

For the antenna - the mohu leaf is about the best out there.... http://www.frys.com/product/8072384?source=google&gclid=CjwKEAjw8O2hBRDKur2lseLW6C8SJAC-r1J3MM1hvaJAXsofTe3TGxRMykDAI-mvqukTdnQDlDOMgxoC9ATw_wcB
 
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Outlander_04

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I would hve one of the two as a data store instead of a separate NAS . If they're both on the same network it should be simple enough to share files

I do not live in the US , but in my country for HD digital TV I used

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nncByc
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nncByc/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($54.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-HD3 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($63.70 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill ECO Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($77.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Silverstone GD05B-USB3.0 (Black) HTPC Case ($102.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 360W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($62.99 @ Mwave)
Total: $412.64
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-13 22:51 EDT-0400

Added to that was an Avermedia dual channel tv tuner .
Hauppauge with an FM radio tuner would have been a better choice , but I already had the card

I use the graphics built in to the pentium . The drivers suck and it would not recognize my older 1366 x 768 tv without some manual tweaking , but its perfectly OK for tv and video playback . Havent tried a blu-ray though . No need with that tv

I also used a Noctua low profile cooler
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhl12
with the top fan removed so it fit the case . Case fans were modded by dropping the voltage to 7 volts .
Its inaudible from more than a foot away

There are other similar cheaper cases . And if you check out the GD07 and GD08 you have capacity for a full ATX board and a bunch of hard drives
The GD05 can handle 3
 
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ronintexas

ronintexas

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Something to remember - if you are building for possible use with a cable card - if you want "DVR-style menus", Windows Media Center is the only option. It comes with Windows 7, for Windows 8 - you have to buy the Pro Version and then pay for the WMC download ($5.00 I believe). Windows 10 - the preview doesn't have it included....it may be a sign of things to come (or not come).

There are other alternatives out there - the best place to get information about the alternatives is: http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/

Something else to note - Windows Vista/7/8/10 doesn't support BluRay natively.....if you want to watch BluRay - you will have to purchase software to watch them on a Windows box.
 
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crandell84

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Oct 13, 2014
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Thanks for the info. I will definitely look into it.
I have a question about the HDHomeRun system. Are you able to record OTA with just the HDHomeRun, or would I still need a tuner card on the HTPC?
I forgot to mention that I don't need an optical drive either.
Also, is it possible to just swap out a SSD for a HDD?
Thanks for the replies so far!
 
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ronintexas

ronintexas

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The HDHomeRun is a network based tuner. Any PC on the network can use it. With the mohu leaf, you can watch/record up to 2 OTA channels at one time on the HTPC/Extenders. WMC will support up to 64 tuners with tunersalad installed.

You can utilize a SSD - but other than Windows booting in 5-10 seconds vs. 30 seconds - you won't gain much from it. HD recording can eat up a SSD rather quickly....2TB may be overkill for most people....I have never gone above 20% utilization - have about 100 1-hour episodes in SD and often have up to 50-60 HD 1-hour episodes recorded....I do a lot of "binge watching"....
 
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Outlander_04

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http://open-media-community.com/2013/12/24/play-blu-ray-on-windows-media-player/

simple enough to play blu-ray with WMP
 
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crandell84

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Oct 13, 2014
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Alright, note about the SSD vs. HDD. Guess I will go with what is cheaper.
Now, this may be a stupid question, but how do I connect the HTPC to my TV? I would prefer HDMI if possible, however would that require an updated graphics card?
 
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ronintexas

ronintexas

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HDMI should be fine. Do some reading on the 29/59 issue on HDTV's....if you have a 1080p TV, I know with cable TV it gave me holy hell with screen flicker (it is switching between 29 FPS and 59FPS - common problem with compressed video)....my XBOX doesn't have the issue....The Green Button has a lot of info in it.

I use HDMI on both my TV's.
 
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Outlander_04

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Nov 18, 2008
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I used the hybrid drive in mine because it includes a small 8 gig SSD that will hold all the frequently used programs . Faster than a standard disk , cheaper than an SSD but not as fast

If you are using any of the integrated systems then you need to check the mb has the correct connectors

The board in my build earlier has vga/DVI/HDMI and display Port . Use whatever your TV has . Some older TV's might work better with DVI or VGA
[EDIT : issues like ronintexas screen flicker ]
 
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ronintexas

ronintexas

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This is new to me - thank you for the link! Arcsoft Total Theater was the only solution for a long time (it was $99), and I purchased a BluRay player for less.....I don't buy that many BluRay discs.....
 
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