How to build a HTPC

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More and more people today are attracted to this object that promises wonders in the living room there is anyone who wants to enjoy the perfect source for your HD DVD movies and high resolution big screen (projector or LCD / Plasma TV), using it as simple player or as advanced video processor - for him to feed all the video sources as possible, thus saving on the purchase of expensive and affluent video processor / scalar dedicated. Or there is anyone who wants to simply making the nerve center of the room, the Media Center, which play movies, DVDs, CDs, MP3s, surf the Internet, play games, record TV programs, supported by the presence of a TV card of various kinds.

There are several materials used in HTPC enclosures. Cases of metal (steel) and plastic these boxes are not necessarily the most attractive but they have a good value for money. The casing with brushed aluminum front panel can enjoy a beautiful facade, design, adapted to a Home Theater environment for a competitive price. Finally, there are boxes made entirely of brushed aluminum. In addition to a sophisticated design and high-end equipment that dissipates heat, which reduces noise. Regarding the colors, the standards are Black (Black) or Silver (Silver). The choice is based solely on user preferences and the environment in which the Media Center will be built. Boxes of Gold (Gold) may exist, but exceptionally well and more recently acrylic boxes or many colors can then be presented. Several shapes and sizes of boxes are available.

The most common is a horizontal box (or Desktop), which generally corresponds to a size Hi-Fi with a frontage of about 40cm which is adapted to furniture like home theater. There are also very thin and compact boxes to make microphones Media Center or, conversely, the most imposing in order to integrate multiple components or even certain forms of cubic or vertical. At this level all depends on your wishes, your space and choice. If you are looking for a discrete box that will fit in a confined space like a bedroom or kitchen while providing basic functionality, then the boxes called nano with their light weight, a compact size motherboard (Mini ITX) are probably fine.

These boxes can have all the features that Media Center can offer i.e. watch TV, videos, listening to music, surfing the internet by their small size, they are easy to integrate or to conceal. However, their small size creates some limitations especially in terms of the evolution of features. Usually these boxes will allow you to add a single optional component (expansion card). Moreover, these boxes are not suitable for gaming and storage capacity is more limited. In some cases we also note the presence of smaller fans spin faster causing further noise nuisance. These enclosures are suitable for basic use but remain limited in their evolution.

If you want to buy a box HTPC compact yet allows even make a change in functionality, size boxes Mini motherboard supports a Micro ATX are right for you. These boxes receive favors from users because they are most suitable for common uses of a Media Center and is often located on a pin money very interesting. These boxes will accommodate versatile storage spaces (disks) and significant expansion cards, TV tuner, sound card, etc. Wi-Fi card to meet most needs and uses.

If you plan to equip you or assembling a highly scalable media center by including the most powerful components, the most impressive HTPC enclosures in general, supporting a format motherboard ATX may be the best option. These boxes allow high enough to accommodate many components of large sizes. Some notable that these boxes generally welcome a dedicated video card that you may elect to choose a very powerful then access via the Media Center in the latest video games. These boxes allow, by the volume available to insert the most powerful components while receiving power dissipation and ventilation while maintaining significant noise pollution.

Most boxes come with a remote control for ease of use. You can choose to have a simple box with a clean face with no screen, but there are boxes with LCD or VFD (multimedia design and hi-fi) which allows for ease of reading, and lets you know for example the song title music that passes without seeking in the Media Center.

Some boxes include a touch screen allowing optimization of the use. No need to turn every time TV, you can navigate your media center directly through the touch screen of the box. This first function is to display information but also a function of interaction. The majority of the front casing connectors offer current use i.e. USB, Firewire and Audio / Video or Multi Card Reader. These connectors can be seen on conventional boxes or hidden behind a flap on the higher-end boxes. Some boxes are equipped with scanners more or less concealed by level range. For ease of access, navigation buttons (play, pause, volume) are integrated into the facade and the models of boxes.

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Beginning :

Although the HTPC is not just a PC, requires much greater attention than this rectangular shape which is the study or bedroom. First of all would be better if he looked right to a component hi-fi, or at least a DVD player. After that the problems begin. You know the mess that is a PC? You want me to do the same noise in the living room. I think not so here’s one of the most great need for a HTPC is represented by its quietness this needs to be combined with other needs, namely that of proper ventilation and adequate cooling of components interior; a component that is cooled properly will 'lives more' long, besides being intrinsically more 'stable (very characteristic of gold in an HTPC).

Often a lack of a cooling component will mean 'simply it’s not working. We then try to have a silent HTPC, with proper ventilation, and possibly the most 'stable as possible. In words it certainly is. When the CPUs are used effectively minimizing the difference is not 'so then' such a shame that when the CPU is put under load consumption and - consequently - the need 'to dissipate the heat generated will grow considerably.

Options you have while buying a HTPC

Playing a TV via a TV tuner card. Depending on the situation in your region and country, it can be analog, digital, DVB, or hybrid. Perhaps with support for HDTV, and even with the card reader CAM software for playback of protected channels.

• Plays DVD, WMV, DivX, MP3 and other popular audio and video.
• Record TV shows.
• Record DVD.
• Sound 7.1.
• Ports S-Video and if necessary, component output HDTV.

Software Requirement

Media Center power :

If there is anything that defines a Media Center is the software used to enjoy all the multimedia content. And here there are so many options that just thinking about it makes me dizzy. After spending literally weeks researching I have been scratching the surface and see what applications might be more appropriate for my purposes, but it is clear that there were three clear choices and of principle.

1. Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
2. MediaPortal
3. MythTV

The special edition of Windows XP operating system is the basis of a huge number of HTPCs mounted across the planet, and not in vain has become the de facto standard when setting up a Media Center. In fact this system is only one XP 'makeup' in which are installed a number of additional components that allow use all the features that makes the application Windows Media Center.

Theoretically MCE2005 cannot be achieved as a normal operating system, and the purpose of Microsoft was that it OEMs include in equipment specifically designed for this task, but the fact is that if reduces a bit you will realize that there are illegal copies on P2P networks to which many users have accessed. It is not my case - I know that some had thought - because thanks to PC Actual MSDN subscription and I have a legal version, but the reality is there. The discharge of these 'packs' occupies about 950 Mbytes and includes everything needed to install Windows XP MCE2005, a longer process than usual because it includes many additional components that must be added when you finish the initial setup.

Once installation is complete - something that usually takes about two hours - and you can start Media Center in Castilian, and theoretically start configuring all services that comes by default. Music, pictures, videos and especially television have direct access to the main menu, and a major section on 'Settings' from which to establish all the parameters of the application. Precisely in that configuration is where we must configure our TV card. Note: Media Center does not support DVB-S capture, so forget about watching TV to satellite via Media Center. In reality this is not entirely true, but to achieve that purpose, a series of additional components which I will speak later. Therefore, remember that from the outset MCE2005 is designed for analogue TV and DTT.

What is possible is connect four tuners (2 analog and 2 digital), but this option is more oriented to the U.S. market, where several rules share the television spectrum. In Spain for example we can see the analogue channels and DTT at a time, but this does not make much sense since DTT and includes most of the analog channels, or at least the most important. Yes, with this option you could record one channel while you see a digital analog and vice versa. Configure the card is not at all difficult, although it may capture some of your specific drivers needed to work with Media Center - the case with USB keys Hybrid Pro Stick from Pinnacle, for example - but overall the implementation of the cards is not complicated. Once implemented, the options for viewing in 4:3 and 16:9 are very good, because MCE2005 has several modes of Zoom (clicking the right mouse button the display shows those options) and secure a They will fit perfectly the image to your televisions or projectors.

One of the most powerful of these is the Media Center to record any channel on the hard disk of the computer, something that also provides access to the famous time shifting to see the programs as we please, with the breaks we need, and as if always see each other live. Admittedly MCE2005 works great for this type of work, but there is a fundamental problem: the recording format is DVR-MS, which is just a file with video compression MPEG-2 which also includes some additional information. The trouble with this format - he owns, which is already a problem in itself - is that we cannot see the recorded programs on another PC.

With these solutions you can get more out of your recordings, they can also be programmed so if you use the EPG - which would make everything much more comfortable - as if choosing channel programs in hand, date and time of recording. There are other plugins that help control power with greater capacity and even do this remotely - and is especially noteworthy called WebGuide , which is a small wonder that works on both XP MCE2005 as in Vista MCE. In fact, just the appearance of the news that it is free, which prevented its widespread use.

Playback of video content other than television or DVDs is an important part of any Media Center, and is more than likely that many of ye are thinking of playing DivX, XviD, SVCDs and many other formats that flood the P2P networks . In MCE2005 it is possible to play these files - if the necessary codec’s diagnosis, which is usually no needed to mention - but there are also serious limitations. For example, it is possible to implement the fast forward or rewind the video, and all you can do is to jump from 30 to 30 seconds to advance or rewind the video, which is to be pressing the button on the remote or keypad key repeatedly. A true support undoubtedly reduces the efficiency of the system. Some say it is fixed in part with this little program called Media Control Plugin , but I have not come to prove it.

Besides, there are problems with videos that have two audio streams, as MCE2005 reproduces the same time, but there are programs that theoretically let you select which one you want to hear - but that in particular seems to cause problems - although I do not I have tried, and the subtitle support is also something weird going on what I have experienced. One of the greatest virtues of MCE2005 is to accept all types of plugins that increase its functionality. There are dozens and dozens of them, and thanks to this little program - which can go under 'My Programs', although many give you the option of placing them in the main options menu - make MCE2005 versatility is increased.

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Hardware Requirement

CPU Case or Media Box

This is probably the most critical component for the other options because of the box we choose will largely depend on the rest of the components. There are boxes for all tastes, and although theoretically you can use a conventional box, a good HTPC should be based on a specially designed box for this purpose. The computers can take up very little room - as is called Barebones and those PCs brands such as Shuttle, but I neither felt for my purpose - nor be so bulky with a conventional PC. The difference in the case of HTPC cases is that their designs and features let conceal so that one appliance more look of the room, not a conventional PC.

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In this as in other cases the choice is immense, but it is clear that there are several manufacturers that stand out for their experience in this field: Silverstone is probably one of the best known, but other manufacturers like Zalman , Thermaltake , Lian Li , and some that are gaining popularity as OrigenAE or NMedia . In my case I chose a LC16BMR Silverstone (belonging to the series LC16M), a case compatible with standard ATX and offers a perfect distribution of components for my needs. Furthermore, this case includes VFD / IR, i.e. a display with a built-in infrared sensor to display various types of information and also to control the PC remotely with the included remote, something I talk later. The image is silver color box, though I chose the black color model.

CPU :

You can 'see how a 3000 + with 90nm core AMD has a consumption of about 100W less than its Intel equivalent, which means about 90% more' (and sorry it is short). Someone may now object that the new stepping of Intel has actually reduced consumption and therefore the heat: it 's true, but not enough to bring the two platforms. If you then plan to make a Smithfield dual core CPU in a cabinet top 6cm know that you will encounter insurmountable difficulties of 'coexistence in the silence with internal cooling. If your target is 'a simple Media Center unpretentious, seriously consider an AMD Sempron Socke
t 754 it costs very little, but has more computing power' than sufficient for most of the operations to perform to your HTPC.
If you plan to play him a lot of work with ffdshow deinterlacing and rescaling - in addition to the processing of HDTV or high resolution - go to an AMD Athlon 64 socket 939 or an Intel Pentium 4 Socket T 775, a 3GHz or 3,000 +, will 'more' than enough for whatever purpose you want to spend your HTPC. Obviously climbing power and frequency (3,200, 3,500, etc ...) you end up with a greater reserve of power for any image processing very heavy and requires every future.

CPU Fans and Heatsink

1. One of the components research is important for the silence of our HTPC and' the CPU heatsink fan attached. Any heatsink fan Boxed bundled with the CPU, both AMD and Intel will go avoided.
2. Scythe Ninja : Suitable for all CPUs, pity that I am not a HTPC cabinet high enough to accommodate its magnificence 15cm. Andra coupled with a 12cm fan, to choose the section of fans.
3. Thermalright XP-120 : Suitable for all CPUs, will go coupled with a 12cm fan with open corners, possible difficulty fitting in combination with passive heatsinks SVGA particularly bulky adapter for Socket 775 CPU goes 'sold separately, for some MB type the Gigabyte Socket 754/939 requires a metal backplate.
4. Thermalright SI-120 : Suitable for all CPUs, will go 'coupled with a 12cm fan, and the version most 'high of XP-120, designed to leave more' room under the radiator, possible difficulties' mounting combined with passive heatsinks SVGA particularly bulky. Same demands of XP-120.
5. Thermalright XP-90C : Suitable for all CPUs, efficiency very similar if not higher all'XP-120, but as entirely copper weighs considerably more ', is coupled to a 9cm fan, that being of smaller diameter has potentially less efficient airflow / noise. Same demands of XP-120.
6. Zalman CNPS-9500 : Suitable for all CPUs, its height of 12.5 cm may create difficulties' for inclusion in the cabinet is not full height, 5cm from the center also needs CPU side edge of the MB. The fan supplied is not 'maximum flow efficiency as a ratio to noise, and it' difficult to replace.
7. LS Cable SHS-X500 : Suitable for all CPUs, the more I mention 'for the sake of signing, it is almost impossible to find outside of Asia / Oceania. High efficiency low height and low price, comes with a 9cm fan that is delivering energy to a lower voltage than normal and becomes very quiet.

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Motherboard and RAM

The options for motherboard will depend on the type of box that you have chosen. I mentioned that my needs - a scalable system - choose a discarded box of small format, so really any conventional motherboard ATX serve our purpose. Or rather, anyone who meets our requirements. Here we depend on the processor that we have chosen, and as I have opted for Intel Core 2 Duo (Socket 775) had to find a specific alternative. Here I am afraid that I did not realize any search for a simple reason: I had a board that gave me at work, so I do not complicate their lives to save a little of the final cost. The board is also not bad at all: an MSI 975X Platinum PowerUp Edition .

The board itself is a marvel, especially because it offers only two PCI slots. This limits future expansion completely, so if you can choose - I did not want to go further - I'd recommend betting on a board with more PCI slots and a bunch of USB 2.0 ports. If, moreover, you have integrated WiFi connectivity - something that is rare among manufacturers of motherboards, and that I burst - all the better, because being connected to the Internet is vital in these teams.

Form Factor motherboard should not exceed MicroATX, but it's not a problem: the variety of these cards on the market is very large. In addition, the board should have integrated graphics, because the only free slot will take a TV tuner card. In general, there is substantial only one question: AMD or Intel? We decided to choose a mobile Pentium M processor from Intel. It allocates very little heat that we need.

To build on hand were DDR-Modules from Infineon, TwinMOS, and Take-MS. I took a 160-GB Serial ATA hard drive from Hitachi. To start enough. At its heart's content with ease a few hours of recording television broadcasts. And if they pinch the same DivX. The Corpus Hiper can install any 3.5 "drive, even with IDE-interface. With optical drive is different. Due to the small size necessary to buy a slim-model. Such optical drives used in laptops and consoles - in the same PlayStation 2.

Graphic Card

The graphics card market has benefited from the efforts of AMD / ATI and NVIDIA for hardware support for video decoding tasks. Technologies Avivo , AMD and PureVideo NVIDIA are the exponents of this effort, as both focus on improving the decoding of the video compression codec’s and image quality, although its ultimate impact on the outcome remains unclear: many users do not just appreciate the advantages of both offers, and not AMD and NVIDIA seem very willing to clarify beyond the advertising aspect that accompanies these cards. There are several comparisons of these technologies a more recent Tom's Hardware - trying to offer an explanation of their advantages.
In addition to these technologies, for me there were two factors that were fundamental to the choice of graphics card for my HTPC. On the one hand, to have passive cooling - zero noise - and secondly, to arrange an HDMI output.

The latter is not too important because the signal HDMI combines video and audio, graphics currently provide only the video. It is true that the sound card can redirect its output to the graph for the HDMI port does work completely, but the solution is not optimal, and many claim that the binomial DVI-S/PDIF meets the needs of any but not if you connect your PC directly without a receiver adapter A / V, as was my case. It is also true that the new cards from ATI HD2000 family offer that option, but in my case ATI was not an option when I bought the card because at that time the Linux drivers for these cards were pitiful.

As I said, the HDMI output is very useful if like me you want to connect the PC to the receiver A / V, and although in the end I chose not to connect the sound card with the graphics, I think having this output remains a excellent choice, especially considering that the HDMI standard is succeeding in the whole market and all sorts of devices - including projectors and flat screen LCD / Plasma.

Sound card

A HTPC is by definition a multimedia computer, so I Forget the sound integrated into the motherboard conventional: even if it has some technology support for surround sound (Dolby Digital 5.1 is the most widespread) it is best to invest some more money for specialized sound card. Cards Creative X-Fi is clearly an attractive option, but after digging through many forums I found an option that many people like more : Auzentech X-plosion offers Dolby Digital Live and DTS Digital Up to 7-channel Surround. The card has more things than a conventional user may need - as I do - but that gives me room to get more out in the future.

The fact is that the sound card not only brings surround sound quality, but also some audio chips that can offer high fidelity theoretically even used to use this equipment as hi-fi systems in which to enjoy music in stereo. After all, your HTPC will not only see movies but to hear audio as if he had a computer CD player, high-quality, well, obviously your MP3s and music compressed with other codec’s, either with or without loss.

Hard Drives

There is a serious problem with the current hard disks: noise. Although there are methods to minimize this paragraph, the ideal in a HTPC is to have devices with the highest possible capacity and also generate the least noise and vibration as possible. And if there is famous for offering discs both, these are the Samsung SpinPoint, and I chose to buy two units of 500 GB HD501LJ.I have two identical hard drives is far less to implement any RAID configuration, something that I said that I think is not useful for an HTPC. The idea is to have a plump disc movies (in these alternative formats that we love), music and photos, while the other serves as an auxiliary storage device, especially in the field of recorded TV programs. More on this later.

DVD drive

It is obvious that among the things that you will do in this HTPC is the DVD-Video, so the inclusion of a DVD rewriter is mandatory. Here you should enter into the consideration of new BD and HD DVD drives, but for now I do not aspire to play those formats on my HTPC - which also would require a chart with support HDCP , and it is not my case - so if someone wants to comment is invited. As I mentioned, playback of movies on DVD is one of the jewels of any HTPC, so we need a reliable unit. I opted for a Pioneer DVR-112D which among other things was the front in black, but it also offers excellent possibilities when it comes to drawing as a rewritable DVD, with firmware’s 'free' stand-off and a remarkable recording media.

As a side note, I must add that one of the things that HTPC users typically do to minimize potential noise caused by these units is to set the reading speed of the unit. For this there are applications like Nero Drive Speed, which allows just 'stop' that speed reading, as when playing DVDs is not necessary that the transfer rates are soaring.

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Power Supply

Again raw silence: do not want our power supply is continuously puffing, so it is best to opt for a model that offers enough power - if possible, with some margin so that you always have to spare - and that is also what quiet as possible. As in other sections here there are plenty of options from manufacturers like be quiet, Seasonic, Antec and many more, but I bet a bequiet StraightPower of 550W with which I am impressed: no sound. Zero.

This is facilitated by the fact that in reality this HTPC is not intended to be a beast of the calculation, but has only what is necessary for its operation: the graph does not consume too much, or the processor either, so that these two components - real gluttons in other PCs - allowing the power to relax and can work without noise.

TV Cards

What sense does a HTPC without a good TV card? Precisely the Media Center are designed so that we can control from the PC all television broadcasts, so that we can see or record them as we wish. And we also congratulate in this field, because the card offers television in our country are really spacious.

Typically many users bet on internal PCI card with a DTT tuner or even be a hybrid capture analog tuner and a digital terrestrial television. This offers a great range of possibilities until it reaches the analog switch 2010, but the truth, taking TDT, who wants analog TV? Here I had set for life because they have one pair of USB capture already using on my desktop computer. On the one hand, AVerTV DVB-T USB 2.0, and the other a Pinnacle PCTV Hybrid Pro Stick. Although Pinnacle was more modern and it works great on XP and Vista, there were two problems with it: not the pillaged MediaPortal or Linux, so I ended up working with the AVerTV, older but that solves these problems instantly.

But it is not just the thing: if you know my blog will know that I'm trying to take advantage of these devices - my guides Digital + in Ubuntu with Kaffeine and MythTV prove it - so apply that knowledge to my HTPC was mandatory. So in addition to the external video capture I installed a Freeview DVB-S PCI card, the Pinnacle PCTV Sat CI, which is longer than Perry Mason but works like a charm. The image is not exactly this model - I have no good pictures of the actual card, but you can get an idea of the look it has.

These two cards I offer all the current possibilities in terms of viewing channels - except for the presence of tenders as Imagenio, which I have no access, nor do I have - but also create problems when it comes to make the most, something to talk about later as well, although I can forward something: few applications allow you to watch TV from two sources / capture different in the same interface. That is, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (in MediaPortal same thing happens) is very complicated to have all channels from Digital + and DTT directly available, and in fact I have not been able to watch TV satellite under this software. So I have to see it through other applications - ProgDVB, MyTheater - but that imposes other problems that also speak.

Connectivity

Internet connectivity is an almost obligatory feature of these systems, because thanks to the connectivity you can share content with other computers on your home but you can access all electronic program guides (EPGs) with which to control television broadcasts in any time. And at all times the ability to surf from the lounge, which avoids having to be going all the way from one computer to another to solve possible doubts and problems. The connectivity can be wired if you have got a router in the living room that connect to a conventional network cable your HTPC, but if that is not your case - as happens to me - will need a way of connecting wirelessly (if not you have on-board WiFi connectivity, which would solve this potential problem.)

Here you can access some options, how to connect the HTPC to an access point, but the simplest is undoubtedly buy a USB key with 802.11g connectivity forget the problem. It's what I did in my case, and although there are several offers on the market ended up opting for purchasing a key SCM model SMCWUSB-G EU that allows access to WiFi home network automatically and it also runs smoothly on Linux through the use of ndiswrapper to solve the issue of drivers.

Remote control

We arrived at one of the key points of any HTPC setup. As much as you say, you control a PC with a remote control is still far from what is currently done with other tool and in the PC world there is a critical problem: every manufacturer follows its own path, so that no There is a unified standard for access control applications and many of them through the remote control is difficult to configure.

The way forward seems to always mark it as Microsoft, as its Media Center operating systems (either version of XP to be sold through OEMs or Vista, which comes standard on some issues) are associated with a kind of standard 'informal' of how to operate the controls in Windows. But as always happens: the manufacturers are going about their business but always trying to get along with Microsoft, so that its controls can work well with these Media Center Edition, but certainly not with other applications.

What solutions are there? You can choose other remotes. Logitech is the king of the market - in my opinion - with Harmony, a versatile universal remotes are really exceptional configurability, but some people are finally more complex to manage than the traditional leadership. I was in my hands an old H655 (the forerunner of H659 ) I tried to program in MediaCenter to use it and MediaPortal, and got past just that: in the end I finished getting the same, but the experience of others has not been as regular.

Wireless keyboard with trackball

The truth is that after all, an HTPC is just a PC with some makeup, so that to abandon the keyboard and mouse would not make much sense. Since the idea is to have it in the living room, is where the wireless mouse and keyboard discharge their responsibilities more efficiently, but instead of them separately, the ideal is to combine the keyboard and mouse in one, something that many manufacturers offer thanks to those keyboards with integrated trackball. There are a lot of models on the market as those offered by Microsoft or BTC.

The keyboard is connected by radio with a USB receiver connected to your computer, and features a pair of rechargeable batteries, something we do connect the keyboard to the PC via a USB-miniUSB cable. Believe me, you have this type of keyboard makes a lot of things, you can think of no swing the lead with this. Furthermore, this for example is fully compatible with Linux.

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TV

Obviously we need a good TV to enjoy our HTPC in its entirety, and here I'm afraid I can help too because I consider myself far from an expert. However, if I can venture to give some clues. You to pick the TV to connect to your HTPC must have at least support HD Ready that is it possible to see films in high definition 720p video output. There are plenty of standards available, so I suggest you read an article or a glossary to understand the terms quickly, but the gist is that the TV supports 720p at least. Furthermore, since you are going to use the TV in PC mode from time to time - for example, to navigate - is also useful to have a good resolution in that mode.

In essence what this will mean is that ideally include at least the TV HDMI and VGA inputs in addition to traditional scart, antenna or composite video. Here, as always, the more the better, but always look for balance - by the economic issue, of course - so you can focus on some good deals that are in the world of LCDs that currently exist and do nothing but go down, to the delight of buyers. I chose a Samsung 32-inch LE32B - cannot remember the exact model - which has the entries of which I speak and looks fantastic, although I had a problem with 720 modes when connected to the Xbox 360.

Sound System

To build a good home theater is ideal to invest in this paragraph, which is important if you want to enjoy the sound. But in my case I had to cut the budget somewhere and opted for a home theater system HT-DDW890 Sony comprising an A / V receiver (model 890-something) and a speaker system 6.1 subwoofer, one center, two front and three rear. Probably this is the section in which most weakens my home theater system, but the truth is I'm not an audiophile - I would even say I'm rather hard of hearing - and I cannot see much difference between a 'decent' and other good.

Another key factor in choosing my sound system was the presence in the A / V receiver with two outputs and an HDMI input, which allows me to connect the PC through A / V receiver as both the projector TV , and redistribute these entries at my leisure. Otherwise, I'm really happy with the system, but of course, in this case I have very modest needs in the future may be growing.

Cables

A thorny issue that will have many more problems with the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor, or the opinion of your partner), and that what he is hiding the cables as well as possible so that the room continues to be cute. Do not be deceived: there will be wires everywhere, because you have to connect all PC peripherals, PC to A / V receiver and the TV, the receiver A / V to all the speakers and projector, etc, etc. Among the cables I needed all the stresses on connecting the A / V receiver to the projector, which is at a distance of about three meters and a half straight. But of course, to hide the cable must go back to wall (fortunately there is a molding that helped us get it) and this distance increased to 8 feet. The solution: buy a U.S. cable HDMI to HDMI 35 feet (11 meters) that came out as 50% cheaper than it would cost here.

In addition to this you have to ensure you connect the PC sound card to the receiver A / V using an optical cable, and in my case the graphics and HDMI cable came with a meter and a half I used to connect to A / V receiver The big secret to hide the cables has been, at least in our case (pee!) The use of gutters (in the Carrefour and Leroy Merlin are of all types) that have an adhesive side that sticks to the wall and enclose the cable and attach it without the effect of 'decorative' is as bad as leaving them caught with small clamps, nails, and similar mechanisms.

Conclusion

Basically, a HTPC is a computer adapted for the media center of our living room. Since we can access photos, videos, TV, music and other content. The main screen of this computer will be our TV or projector. Similarly, the audio connection will be our own room, can simply passing through the television speakers or through an A / V to create surround sound. Although this equipment can be used with a typical desktop interface of a computer "normal", it is best to use a specific SW to facilitate navigation through our media and can be managed comfortably from the sofa just as we would with TV, a console or DVD player or. To do this, we highly recommend that our HTPC can handle almost 100% with a command and leave the keyboard / mouse setup for specific topics and web browsing.

Besides, being a team assembled in the hall and prepared to see multimedia content that might be interesting for the whole family, should be easy to use for people without computer knowledge. Nor can it be a noisy or extrication equipment in excess in our lounge or be a very strong team and with much consumption and not so much raw power needed to perform their functions properly. An HTPC can give us more or less services according to the SW and HW to be installed, but to get an idea, we will cite the main things we have or do with a HTPC.

I fear that while Media Center is the clear reference in the HTPC world has too many limitations as to become my preferred system. If the EPG working properly and easily possible to control the emissions of the DVB-S card would solve two of its major problems, but also those related to reproduction in other formats and add their own proprietary formats and many points against .

However, I have to emphasize that in many cases some of these problems can be smoothed with various techniques. There are ways to access alternative EPGs in the magnificent KubycSystem have some tutorials about that, unfortunately, are obsolete and a lot of plugins that make the experience with MCE is very good. And the show a few websites specially dedicated to this system, among which I would highlight.