Comments for Hong's Cave

Comment on Cheap Low-Power HTPC / HD-DVR Design #5 by Hong

Hong — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:07:18 +0000

@T.Pepper

For me, besides the fact that there is no slot for the expansion card, the case included in that combo is $20 more expensive than Apex MI-008.

Also, you might be able to find cheaper components than what’s included in that combo. Also, you might want different size hard disk or RAM, etc…

So, for me, that combo doesn’t seem to be worth it. I really liked their previous IONITX-F-E + memory combo, but that one is gone.

Comment on Cheap Low-Power HTPC / HD-DVR Design #5 by T. Pepper

T. Pepper — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 02:24:54 +0000

I’ve greatly appreciated your work Hong, and thank you for your comments Roman. I’ve noticed Newegg is running a promotion that is basically a barebones kit with this motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.311567 The case that is included with the combo may be useless though. It doesn’t have a cutout for a PCIe card although studying the images makes me wonder if the low-profile piece that comes with the Duet tuner could be made to work with this case. If it does, then add tuner, OS, and remote and you should be up and running.

Comment on Cheap Low-Power HTPC / HD-DVR Design #5 by Roman Royer

Roman Royer — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:49:32 +0000

I put together my setup this weekend and works perfectly as a DVR for OTA HD TV and a DVD player. Here’s what I used:
Case: Apex MI-008
Motherboard: Zotac IONITX-F-E
Memory: 2 GB Crucial DDR2-800
Tuner: AVerTVHD Duet
HDD: 500GB Western Digital Caviar Green
OS: Windows 7 Home Basic 64-bit
Remote: Anyware GP-IR01BK
DVD Drive: Sony Optiarc DVD

It took me about 2 hours to put it all together, get Windows 7 installed and start recording OTA HDTV. I was impressed that there were 64-bit drivers for all components and Windows 7 detected everything and downloaded and installed all the drivers automatically (via Windows Update). I am using the HDMI output and the optical SPDIF Output (I had to go into Control Panel->Devices to set the SPDIF Output at the default). I have also streamed some Netflix with this and it worked perfectly.

Thanks for pulling together this list of components, Hong!
- Roman

Comment on Cheap Low-Power HTPC / HD-DVR Design #4 by Roman Royer

Roman Royer — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:27:46 +0000

@ALEX
Check out this review of the Apex MI-008 Case on Silent PC Review – they give it a good review:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/apex-mi008

Comment on Cheap Low-Power HTPC / HD-DVR Design #5 by Roman Royer

Roman Royer — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:51:41 +0000

FYI – I’m building an almost identical setup (same mobo/case/capture card/remote/OS). Should have all the parts for Christmas. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Comment on Cheap Low-Power HTPC / HD-DVR Design #4 by Hong

Hong — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:11:42 +0000

@ALEX

I haven’t built the system yet, so I don’t know for sure, but the CPU (Atom 330) is a dual-core with hyperthreading. So, on the task manager, you will see four CPU graphs. Also, the I/O bandwidth required for 3 HD streams doesn’t seem to be that much (20Mbps x 3 = 60Mbps). So, I am sure it will be capable.

I suppose it should be quite. I was thinking of putting a low RPM 120mm fan if things got too warm…

Comment on Cheap Low-Power HTPC / HD-DVR Design #4 by ALEX

ALEX — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:12:00 +0000

Thanks for great info. Is this system capable of multi tasking? For instance dual DVR and HD playback simultaneously? Also, how quite is it?

Comment on Cheap Low-Power HTPC / HD-DVR Design #3 by Hong

Hong — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:23:01 +0000

@Terry

Sure HDMI is the way to go, but that for me means that I have to upgrade my TV at least and the preprocessor possibly. I don’t think I can do that for now since my “CFO” won’t approve it. :p

Comment on Cheap Low-Power HTPC / HD-DVR Design #4 by Hong

Hong — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:20:31 +0000

@Roman

Thanks for the information Zotac IONITX-F-E. I didn’t know about that. I only need 1x PCI-e for the dual tuner and “G” is cheaper than “F”. However, “F” provides an easy networking solution. I may have to do #5… :p

Actually, I started with BDA123’s setup. I saw it at AVSForum.com though.

Comment on Cheap Low-Power HTPC / HD-DVR Design #4 by Roman Royer

Roman Royer — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:59:33 +0000

Doesn’t the Zotac IONITX-G-E only have a 1x PCI-e slot? The Zotac IONITX-F-E has a 16x PCI-e slot…
Thanks for this great info – I’m looking at building a very similar system myself. I look forward to your updates!
FYI – Here’s some info I found on a similar setup by user “BDA123″ :
http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=54457
(Search for “HD HTPC #1″)

- Roman