I've already posted the file/media server so here is the media center PC/media player that's going in my family room. To be totally honest I've had a media center PC before but gave up on the concept because the tech and need just wasn't there and the WDTV live just did almost everything better and easier. Times have since changed and the tech is better and with 24bit audio I have a need.
First up the design goals:
- Near instant start up.
- Snappy response.
- Acceptable interface.
- Online content
- BD rip playback in full 1080P with full lossless audio support.
- Low power drain
Hardware build list:
- Sapphire Pure Fusion E350 motherboard/CPU combo. I chose this for it's fantastic feature set including ALC892 audio, Bluetooth, and the overall design. I like this board a lot.
- 2x4GB SODIMM DDR3 1333 that I had laying around from my notebook's RAM upgrade.
- 60GB Vertex 2 SSD as the boot drive. It caught a sale ($85).
- 500GB 2.5" WD Green A/V drive. I chose this because of it's near silance and the fact that they are designed to run 24/7 for years. All swap and temp files will live here.
- Silverstone SDP08 3.5" to 2 X 2.5"-Inch dual drive converter.
- Thermaltake ITX HTPC case. Attractive, nice layout, well built, and no bright lights.
I did not want the noise of an optical drive so none was installed.
Software List:
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
- Boxee for the online content.
- Media Monkey 3 for audio.
- PowerDVD 11 Ultra for video.
My first impression was amazing boot times. Roughly 30 seconds from power on to ready to rock. Application launch times are near instantaneous. On the other hand even at 1080P@60hz the video is very washed out, grainy, and has a tiny bit of stutter, sort of like watching TV from outside through a screen door on a bright day. Not at all usable as is but I'll keep experimenting and maybe I can dial that out. In the meantime I'll keep using my other devices for video playback. PowerDVD also refuses to recognize my DLNA servers, but my biggest complaint is the interface. It's a huge advertisement for various videos that have nothing to do with your collection.
Boxee is still the best looking beta that I've ever seen. Sure it still needs a bit of work but I love the instant access to my favorite video podcasts. I'm addicted to Revision 3 and TWIT and for me this alone is worth the build cost. It's also playing multichannel flacs but I'm not sure if it still down-samples to 16 bit. There seem to be mixed reports that Boxee sill down-samples HD and multichannel flacs and others that say it doesn't but nothing concrete on Boxee's site. Boxee seems to take pride in not giving any detailed information or specs. Anyway I like it.
Media Monkey 3 is as always plain but reliably plays most audio formats including 24bit flacs. So far the only one that stumped it is multichannel FLAC but that should change with the next version.
I'm only one day into using this device so I still need time (weeks) to get everything dialed in.
Stock Photo Courtesy Amazon.
