Media Centre

[CSP]

Xbox 360 does not support .mkv files, so 720p & 1080p is out of the pictures

Xbox 360 does not support .flac Audio, So high quality Audio is out of the picture,

Then you don't know how to configure a decent transcoder...

[HoZy]

Why the hell would I want to transcode on the fly an stream from a PC?

Seems as tho, You have found the harder way, I whack them on the Media center,

AN THEY JUST WORK

[50LTRv8]

The price different for a media centre, to an Xbox 360 (or other, i just use xbox because an arcade is like $99 or some shit) that does more.
My point was, i can link as many computers, to as many xboxes as my lan ports allow (currently have a 4 port router and a 9 port switch)....

My computer can watch/record digital tv, and my other TV can watch it (and watch whatever i record off of my PC) (and that card costs like $60).
I already had an xbox for gaming, and i already had a PC, so total cost to me was $69 and a lan cable

Thats fine for you, but my kids don't want to watch digital tv on my computer monitor. I created this setup 5 years ago, i don't have digital TV on the TV itself so at the time Mediaportal was the way to go. It allows much more flexability for my setup than anything else. As Hozy has noted MKV is a no go on 360, The PC can play any format you can throw at it. As for cost, well 5 years for a pc is pretty good going. It is only an AMD Athlon CPU with a 7600 GT video card so the specs arn't that high.

[CSP]

anything can be transcoded though... it's not hard. I stream mkv fine!

[STEALTHY™]

Xbox 360 does not support .mkv files, so 720p & 1080p is out of the pictures

Xbox 360 does not support .flac Audio, So high quality Audio is out of the picture,

I dont download anything in .mkv or .flak tho?
Anything in those formats i've been given from mates is converted, and not a problem

Like i said, size was the winner for me. You said you could buy 3 boxes and then have all 6TB networked, but thats THREE lots of buying the media centre, plus the 2TB harddrive. When i can just throw that harddrive in my tower and watch it all that way.

I'm all for doing things an easier way, but i'm still not convinced your way is anything but a hinderence

[STEALTHY™]

Thats fine for you, but my kids don't want to watch digital tv on my computer monitor. I created this setup 5 years ago, i don't have digital TV on the TV itself so at the time Mediaportal was the way to go. It allows much more flexability for my setup than anything else. As Hozy has noted MKV is a no go on 360, The PC can play any format you can throw at it. As for cost, well 5 years for a pc is pretty good going. It is only an AMD Athlon CPU with a 7600 GT video card so the specs arn't that high.

Guess we're after different things then. I'd assume Jesterarts doesn't watch the same shows your kids do, but we'll wait and see what he thinks of the suggestions here
The only time i ever watch FTA tv is for the V8s, everything else is downloaded and watched without ad's.

[SMIT]

have you seen smovie.tv ?

[50LTRv8]

Guess we're after different things then.

Thats pretty much what I have been saying from the start

[CSP]

The only time i ever watch FTA tv is for the V8s

And what a waste of time that is. Talk about boring!!!

[STEALTHY™]

Thats pretty much what I have been saying from the start

But its Jesterarts thread, not yours If you were looking at a new setup wouldn't you rather ALL the options?

[50LTRv8]

But its Jesterarts thread, not yours If you were looking at a new setup wouldn't you rather ALL the options?

In that case, I would go with Hozy's suggestion, simply because I need divx/mp3 playback as well as the ability to recored HDTV in the one unit. The reason I would go that over CSP's suggestion is only because it seems easier to upgrade the drive size.

[STEALTHY™]

In that case, I would go with Hozy's suggestion

No probs Jester.

Close thread mods

[Pub247]

Me I built a HTPC. Cost me about a 1000 all up.
Building a HTPC does anyoneelse have one?


Its got everything you need for home theatre and soo much more than some other setups are got the biggest advantage compared to other products is the fact its a 2nd PC so when the missus is using one i can be on the other. Also XBMC is best looking frontend software and its full hd. I also have an xbox and access to everything on both pc via lan. Space in my HTPC for 14TB off storage. Blu-ray player HDTV recorder (dual tuner) full HDCP compliant and all that crap Sure it costs twice as much as hozy option but does everything it does and more and looks and works a lot better
The biggest downside i found with this is power consumption as it turns out you end basically having 2 pc's on all the time

Now im considering consolidating all my storage in a nas (or 2 as i already got 1) and getting a SSD for the HTPC to speed things up a bit opinions???

[STEALTHY™]

The biggest downside i found with this is power consumption as it turns out you end basically having 2 pc's on all the time

Do they really use that much tho? I thought about getting a power monitor just to see how much it really uses, but wasn't sure if i 'actualy' wanted to now (if its bad lol)

I'm getting an SSD for my OS, but i can justify $1499 for every 640gb of storage for my media aswell.

[Pub247]

stealthy i think it only use so much power as it has (4 xTB) hdd and gets left on all day even when no one using it. I mean its not like it uses massive amounts of power i'd say maybe an extra $20 or 30 per bill. Really its not much of a downside but with my last few power bills being huge im looking to cut back wherever i can it all adds up.

As i was saying with the nas is they use less power and doesnt mean i have to have both pcs on to access everything. So i move all my media onto a NAS then buy like an 80gig SSD and just have the operating system and other software needed to run the HTPC on it. THen just buy The Cheaper SATA for Storage

Oh and another advantage with NAS is i can setup Bittorrent and leave it on all night instead of pc and save even more power as i can turn both pc's off

[STEALTHY™]

Ohk makes sense. I've built my PC basically as a storage computer, and its on 24/7. In fact i havn't turned my old PC on at all (except when upgrading the new PC). I thought about building a dedicated NAS, but i wanted a better computer anyway (its like 3 years old now) so i have the best of both worlds now

[Jesterarts]

I think I like the TVIX 6640n that Hozy mentioned.

Seems the easiest solution and covers all requirements I have.

I'm not overly keen on anything that involces a xbox 360 or a playstation as I'll never use them for games, etc.

I'm not huge on the idea with having a PC with the stuff on it and having that wirelessly shared either as I'll need to leave that machine on OR have to turn it on each time I want to watch something. Too much effort and I'm quite lazy.

Thanks for the input guys.

[HoZy]

Hey jesterarts,

Great choice bud,

I'd suggest this link
TViX S1 Dual Tuner (New Version Of Mine, Slim Model)
Dvico TViX S1 Duo PVR [AETDVITVIS1DUO] - $329.00 : PC Case Gear
WD Green 2tb
Western Digital Green 2TB WD20EARS [WD20EARS] - $105.00 : PC Case Gear

More than likely the cheapest you'll find them around.

Cheers
MaT

[STEALTHY™]

Haha <3 PCCG.