Hardware Home Theatre PC Buyer's Guide - Q1 2009

Is that certain models? Because when I looked there was no mention of that. If it does come with one, then ignore the PSU choice

No, the 4850e can't do 1080p high bitrate mkv. I've tried, it needs a bit of overclocking to get it smooth. My benchmark is my own Sunshine 1080p rip that makes 2.5GHz stutter in some scenes, but overclocked, it's fine. The advantage of that is that the Gigabyte mobo will store BIOS profiles so you can restart it and flick back and forth to only use it when you need it. It's not "on the fly" convenient, but it is an option rather than running a high power CPU all day everyday pissing away leccy.

 

The GeForce 9300 is a piece of arse chipset on Intel CPUs - the DDR2 dividers dont work and the PCI prefetch is disabled killing performance. The only advantage it has is dual digital output support.

It's an option if you want it, but I'd opt for G45 and ClearVideo with it's excellent HQV performance anyday for a HTPC.

 

I *think* it's digital only and it's either DVI or HDMI - not both. That's a chipset limitation. I could be wrong though. Only the latest GeForce 9300 from Nvidia supports dual digital outputs, or the Intel G45 might with an extra TDMS..

 

Seems to me the guide is only for network/HD playback, not at all for tv recording and such, noting the missing tv card Floppy/DTV and other options.

Nowadays it is not a good idea to build a expensive PC based HTPC to play content from network to your livingroom pc. A way better and probably cheaper option is to get a NMT (Networked Media Tank) player. Smart little (15x15cm max) devices that can run almost anything (including HD) from the network. Take a look around the mediaplayer club website for some pretty nifty devices.

however, if you want to record tv input, browse te web, play some "mame" games, zap tv channels, then a HTPC seems to be a good idea until you walk to the 2 meters thick brick wall thats is your cable network provider. Most TV cable providers use the DVB-C standard (with a twist that is). You need some CI module (like the Floppy/DTV or other DBV-C card) then you need a the 'right' CAM and then pray the providers card will work in it. this part alone will cost you around 400 euro.

Then there is DVB-T, setting this up on a windows bases machine need some software hacking for MCE. Also because the 'free to air' channels can be counted one one hand so you need a card reader for the providers card also, another ci/cam setup is required and some hope.

I had a HTPC and it was a bitch to get it to work and to setup, way to expensive to connect to digital tv. Then last year i saw the light. Ditched the HTPC placed a a small and fast NMT, streamed all the movies/series from other pc, and watch normal tv through the settopbox from the Digital cable provider. Total cost 300 euro...

I have the HDX900, there is a newer version available here

Never looked back.

 

I've been looking at building a HTPC/Entry level Gaming unit for a while, with most questions answered. my initial thoughts was almost identical to the MIniATX build, but with just the one question the Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H.

Has anyone tried the Hybrid CrossFire option to a 3450 (or the likes, around £30 these days) on the any of the 780 Boards, and is there any real performance to this.

I think a this could be a possible review here, Hybrid SLI/CrossFire to single GPU cards.

But great article.

 

Welcome Puzzu!

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2008/08/15/asus-crosshair-ii-formula/11

You can get kind of an idea from that - the 780a has the same IGP as the GeForce 8200 and the Gigabyte board is a 780G one.

 

also bindi dont forget if you did not want to restart your computer you can run AMD Overdrive, create a profile and store it and just run it whenever you want to OC for games (or in your case videos) and its much quicker than going into the bios every time

i do it on a simmilar board as your htpc (GA ma78gpm-ds2h combined with a 5400+) whenever im gaming i have a profile saved on overdrive that i run which boosts me up to 3.1ghz and runs my memory at around DDR 900 speeds then when im done gaming i just turn it back to my defult profile

 

Nice idea!

 

Thanks, nice info. I'm not planing to OC so, which AMD would be up to the task of 1080p mkv files playback? Including those not being accelerated by the GPU...

 

I had to read through it twice to catch it

 

Unsure, but the price link (listed as the cheapest one too) included it.

http://www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?389461

 

Sorry about the double post, but I went back and looked at all the one's available through the BT site and they were all listed with a PSU included. Look at it this way, you shave $47.99 off that final price by dropping the PSU from the shopping list. Can't complain about that!

 

True, but having not seen or heard the PSU, some people might like alternatives if it does turn out to be loud

 

Question on the GA-MA78GM-S2H Bindi.

Does it do audio and HDCP on the HDMI connector?

 

the antec fusion used to include a PSU but no remote. now it's the other way around, which explains the confusion.

a word of warning on the fusion -
the black version comes with an imon LCD (not VFD). this is, pretty much, the most useless piece of crap i have ever come across. the contrast on it is so poor, that you have to be dead on to see anything. take a step back and sit on your sofa and it just turns into an illuminated blue panel.
the silver version comes with a VFD, and should be decent.

to add to that, the imon IR drivers are flakey at best - i ran into no end of problems. i ended up buying an MS IR receiver and remote combo off ebay for £15, and unplugging all the imon hardware. works much better.

it's a shame because the design of the case is very nice, i admit, but honestly compared to antec's non media-oriented chassis, the NSK 2480 (http://www.antec.com/uk/productDetails.php?ProdID=00281), you're getting a stealthed drive and a volume knob which, if you unplug the imon like i have, you can't even use. the NSK 2480 is a lot cheaper and comes with a passable PSU too, but it doesn't come in black. so unless you either really, really want a black case, stealthed drive, or absolutely must have the imon vfd and IR receiver and are willing to put up with all the problems it throws up, consider the 2480.


PS - i'd also like to add that the bloo ring of light around the fusion's power button is very pretty (i think it might be white on the silver version) - but REALLY, REALLY BRIGHT. i ended up ripping the front panel off and coating the LEDs in some black ink to darken them. it's much nicer now, and way less distracting.

 

hi great review i went straight out today and bought all the bits to build the Preferred Build 2: Affordable Micro ATX, unfortunately when i connected my samsung 1tb the system hangs at verifying dmi pool data. did you have to manually set any f the bios settings?

 

Change it to boot the CD first and install windows / ubuntu?

 

Funny, I ended up doing exactly the same thing in my Silverstone HTPC case. The iMon software was appallingly bad - I'm not happy about sacrificing the VFD (if I knew I was going to have that much trouble I'd have bought the case without the IR/VFD) but the Microsoft IR receiver/remote has so far worked very well... and hasn't made Vista 64 BSOD, either.

I might end up ripping the VFD/IR bit out, if I can do it "easily", and replacing it with just a same-size VFD that I can control using some decent software.

 

I think the HTPC and the gaming machine are best as independent items - that way the size and noise from the HTPC can be kept right down. One vital trick I'm using to save card slots is an excellent external, networked TV tuner. This can recieve 2 simultaneous channels of Digital Freeview, and attaches to any point on the (Ethernet) network. It's called HDHomeRun, just released in the UK - cost £ 159.

 

Not really - some people want quiet, some people want the full beans.

Also - your post is technically sort of spam given your username and site link to the product mentioned in your post, but it's a benefit to the discussion so you're welcome to stay

Bio - yes it does, but it's not full HD quality.

Barry - did you get it fixed?