HTPC box

Still waiting for the parts but got forward by selecting a box for the project. I seriously thought about a DIY box but lack of free time didn’t support it, so ready box it is.

The requirements are quite clear
- should fit with other AV stuff (42cm wide, max height about 18cm)
- as silent as possible…
- enough room

Read some reviews and browsed thru the selection of several dealers, however in the end the selection was easy enough.

Ended up ordering a Silverstone LC17B-C as it fulfilled the requirements, being a light overkill with the expansion possibilities (6 3.5″ HDD bays and 2 5.25″ bays).

HTPC (It’s been a while)

No excuses but it has been quite busy time.. anyway the TV arrived in few more days so they didn’t make the 3-5 (work)days but about 7 not too bad.

Now as the ‘output device’ is in order the feeding side needs some attention so I decided to build a HTPC with MythTV. So first targets..
- able to do 1080p
- preferably no separate graphics card
- gig E
- plenty of storage
- DVDRW
- DVB-T tuner(s) (one for start, two later)
- DVB-S tuner possibility (I have dish)
- as quiet as possible
- looks nice (as family approval is needed)

As few of my fellow workmates have such setups already I was recommended to get a Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H motherboard, the thing is that it’s not available anymore so had to change plans somewhat.

Current plan (as ordered)
MB: ASUS P5E-VM HDMI (small, plenty of features, decent graphics with HDMI on board)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 (2.66Mhz 6MB L2)
MEM: 2GB DDR2 800
DISK: SATA II 500GB
DVDRW: SATA 20x
Power: Nexus NX-9003 SFB (Silent)
keyb: Ione Scorpius P20 (nice little wireless keyb+stick combo)
DVB-T tuner:”Artec T-14 based” (Have this one already, so let’s try that first)

Let’s see when things arrive, delivery times range from few days up to over 4 weeks… most component dealers sell what they don’t have.

PIXmania

I was brave and ordered a new TV from pixmania.com and didn’t think too much so took the “standard delivery” with the PNL (Pan Nordic Logistics). Let’s see how it goes… Anyway the price was good over 200€ less than best offers in Finland.

Seemingly fast processing on PM side order on 27th Dec and I got a tracking the next day, however that doesn’t tell a lot as the state is still just “Registered”. Ie the goods might still not be picked up by the transport company. Did a few searches and others have reported the PNL tracking to be between lame and awful, ’scan’ might get into tracking system days late…

If something good have to be found, Wii component cable from play.com will probably arrive first

I have some past experience with PIXmania also, I even got refunded once without too much trouble.