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HTPC Recommend me a media PC

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Guest-44432, 24 Jun 2011.

  1. Guest-44432

    Guest-44432 Guest

    I haven't been into media PC's before, But I'm getting fed up with SKY and their SKY boxes.

    What I want is to connect my Satellite dish up to this PC to watch and record Live TV and have HD channels, like I do with SKY. Also be able to playback BLU RAY at 1080p,so a decent Blu ray drive is needed.

    I have a budget of £1000, but can go over if necessary.

    I have a spare copy of Win 7 profession 64bit to go into this PC.

    So I will need everything, from a fancy case, to HDD, to PSU etc.. (Click on My TV setup in my sig, for a case that will suit this setup.)
    To be included in this price, I will need a good and easy to use remote for this.

    Also any software that I may need.

    Cheers,

    Simon.
     
  2. Paul2011

    Paul2011 Minimodder

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    Hi simon, may i suggest this case

    link to website | link to price

    now i know its expensive but i believe that would best suit/fit in with your existing setup under your rather monsterous tv. I know its a big chunk of cash but i think its definatly worth it since its got all the space you could need for hdd's, gfx etc.

    Sorry i cant be more help but ive only built a htpc to play back dvd's/.mkv's.

    Anyway best of luck with the build.

    oh and ive just realised the size of that case may make it a no-go (height = 225mm)
     
    Last edited: 24 Jun 2011
  3. dancingbear84

    dancingbear84 error 404

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    I may be wrong but I think that since sky use an encrypted signal you have to have their boxes. Unless you cancelled your subscription and ran dressage through it.
    I looked into this before but hit brick walls and gave up. If you find a way I'd love to know as my sky+ box is on the Fritz again...
     
  4. 13eightyfour

    13eightyfour Formerly Titanium Angel

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    I think the OP is looking to hook up a freesat tuner to the existing dish, and scrapping SKY totally.

    I did a similar thing, still have the hauppage tuner somewhere worked great, i had some issues with Atis drivers and the HD channels for some reason though.

    Maybe they're not an issue anymore, but at the time it was a known issue. If i was going to rebuild it which i do plan on doing soon, id probably look at an MITX i3 system using a phillips prestigo remote, a friend has one and its awesome.

    I used Win 7 MC with the media browser plugin, it takes some time to get everything looking how you want but well worth it imo.
     
  5. bajdec

    bajdec What's a Dremel?

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    Hey guys. I'd like to build a HTPC. I've already have HDD and DDR2 ram. So, i'd likme to buy somethink cheaper (for now) because I have old TV which doesn't have VGA or HDMI, but SVideo (cinch) and scart. I just ordered this converter: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/vga-to-cvbs-s-video-pc-to-tv-video-converter-adapter-65726. Resolution won't be bigger than 1024 * 800 (or similar), but I'd like to buy something what I can upgrade later (CPU). I'm looking for 1 core AMD Sempron 2.7 Ghz and cheap motherboard.

    I'd like to hear your opinion.

    Sorry for my bad english, I'm 15 yrs old and from Slovenia :D
     
  6. Jehla

    Jehla Minimodder

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    Personally I'd say MWC is the way forward, well once you get some plug ins going. Since your budget is somewhat overkill you may want to splash out on a mCubed passively cooled case. I'm running a 1st gen i3 530 and it is more than enough for blue ray while doing live file conversion for streaming etc.

    I'd suggest you use a micoPSU though, my HTPC lives in a bedroom and if it's recording something at night you will know about it.

    Here are the addons that I'm running atm.

    Media center studio
    Rather than being a plug in like the other programs I'll list this allows you to manage how windows media centre looks. Plug ins can quickly start to replicate functionality and make the make the menu look more like a list of things you have installed. Media center studio will let you place icons in appropriate menus and strip out unwanted elements.

    Media Browser
    This can be used as a program to handle all your media, or you can insert individual folders via Media center studio for a simpler menu.

    Macro tube
    Macro tube has a wide selection of video services such as youtube and daily motion.

    Nevermiss.tv
    A very nice program which pulls in all of the British catch up services into one place. My only criticism is that it takes a little while sometimes for programs to show up on it.

    RSS news & casts
    This reads your RSS feed from internet explore and packages it up in a nice WMC friendly front end, I use this for my pod casts.

    Kylo
    For those times that nevermiss.tv has not updated or you just want to check a website Kylo is there. This is a internet browser designed to integrate with windows media centre and be used from across the room.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: 25 Jun 2011
  7. Guest-44432

    Guest-44432 Guest

    Thanks for the help guys!

    I will be only wanting free sat, as I have had enough of Sky, and yet I'm not home enough to benefit me paying £70+ a month for something I don't watch.

    What is a good tuner card to connect up my satellite too? I have 2 feeds so I would like to use them both.

    HTPC case, I was looking at this, but does it take a full size PSU?


    Cheers,

    Simon.
     
  8. blueviper11

    blueviper11 What's a Dremel?

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    Antec Fusion Remote Silver - HTPC - Media Centre
     
  9. samkiller42

    samkiller42 For i AM Cheesecake!!

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