Building an HTPC for video storage?

[Drako]

Has anyone done this? Is it legal? I have a rather large DVD collection and I'd like to encode them all and eliminate the disks from the equation. I'm pretty skilled with computers (I've built my own for 10 years now) and I have a nice HT, but this will be my first foray into merging the two. Any suggestions for an HTPC newb?

 

[avaserfi]

I haven't done it before, but I do know a common complaint is that HTPCs are generally loud and that can be annoying. As to it being legal well technically it is illegal to break the code on a DVD so it wouldn't be but in reality that is one stupid law if you own it.

 

[OttoMatic]

I use PowerDVD for video playback. You should be able to find dvd reader software with a Google search.

 

[jinjuku]

I am running an HTPC.

There are a ton of things you can do to run quiet:

1: Run with and AMD X2 BE processor. Most efficient and lowest thermal footprint out there.

2: Get the Sapphire Radeon 2400: Its ~$70 and is passively cooled and has hardware acceleration for h.264 and I believe VC1 codecs. This offloads all the work from the CPU

3: Get a quiet PSU from the likes of NEXUS

4: Get a CPU heatsink that can run fanless like the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme

5. Use a Samsung HD. They are about as quiet as you will get

6: If you are going to run with fans, modify them to run off of the 5V rail instead of the default 12V they are wired for.

Hope this helps.

J

 

[the grunt]

I built my HTPC a few months ago and found these links helpful:

For general HD HTPC hardware recommendations:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=710828

For quite hardware:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/

If you’re building a Windows machine stick with XP for now you can always upgrade to Vista later. It’s still having driver issues especially with Nvidia cards.

I also wanted it for storage so I got a big case Thermaltake Armor w/25cm fan. It has 10 drive bays and is quite as a mouse, however it’s a full tower and won’t fit in most AV cabinets.

Many companies offer trial versions of their copying software so you can try a few out to see which you like best. I went with 1click DVD Copy as on my machine it was about 7% faster than others I tried. With lots to copy that time added up.

To speed up copying and save disk space get copying software that allows you to rip only the movie and audio track(s) you want.

If you want a nice interface get some movie managing software like MeD’s Movie Manager, My Movie 2 or something similar.

Just a few thoughts.

 

[jinjuku]

Some sites to check out:

www.thegreenbutton.com

www.endpcnoise.com

Sapphire HD 2400 Pro It's $59

I know the other poster is waiving you away from Vista, I personally wouldn't worry about it. I have been running Vista Home Premium with no problems.

First off, you should go w/ an ATI card for your HTPC. Hands down ATI has always led when it comes to display quality for DVD playback. Going with ATI kills two birds: one is compatibility with Vista, and second is the best DVD up-conversion out there.

Research implementing ASIO for by passing Microsofts' Kmixer.

 

[mr-ben]

Technically, in order to copy the contents of your DVD onto your computer, you need to remove the encryption, and this process makes the whole thing illegal. No one will come after you, but since you asked if it was illegal, I figured I'd let you know that it is See the Digital Millenium Copyright Act for more information.

 

[renegade87]

I am running an HTPC.

There are a ton of things you can do to run quiet:

1: Run with and AMD X2 BE processor. Most efficient and lowest thermal footprint out there.

2: Get the Sapphire Radeon 2400: Its ~$70 and is passively cooled and has hardware acceleration for h.264 and I believe VC1 codecs. This offloads all the work from the CPU

3: Get a quiet PSU from the likes of NEXUS

4: Get a CPU heatsink that can run fanless like the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme

5. Use a Samsung HD. They are about as quiet as you will get

6: If you are going to run with fans, modify them to run off of the 5V rail instead of the default 12V they are wired for.

Hope this helps.

J

jinjuku has given some good advice here. You can't go wrong with any Thermalright product.

I wouldn't necessarilly agree with the choice of a Nexus PSU. If you want a quiet, stabil and reliable power supply you definitely want to look at a Seasonic model. Whether it's one of the new S12 Energy Plus models or a modular M12 model. Seasonic is also building PSU's for some of the biggest names in the buisness (PC Power & Cooling Silencer Series, Antec Earthwatts Series). I've owned several Seasonic PSU's.

As far as Hard Drives go, I've only had limited experience with Samsung drives so I won't criticize jinjuku's recommendation. My personal preference is Western Digital. But I'm more performance oriented that perhaps your average HTPC builder might be. At any rate check out the StorageReview.com Drive Performance Resource Center http://www.storagereview.com/Testbed4Compare.sr for drive comparisions.

Also, for great general info on HTPC's check out SilentPCReview.com http://www.silentpcreview.com/index.php

 

[gus6464]

If you want a good video card for hd formats I recommend the new nvidia 8600 cards as they had built in hardware decoders for hd formats. Here is a good one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130085

And as far as power supplies I recommend enermax noisetaker
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194009

For cpu right now intel offers the best bang for the buck over amd in terms of performance for dollar.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115013

As far as cases go silverstone makes come very nice htpc cases. Here is one that is fairly cheap and what I like about it the most is that it can fit mATX, ATX, and extended ATX motherboards.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1565/cst-253/SilverStone_Lascala_SST-LC13_Media_Center_HTPC_Case_-_Black.html?tl=c10s25b7&id=qj3XMfAi

Motherboard: Gygabyte 965P S3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128017

Ram 2gb DDR2 800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098

Hard drive I like western digital, I have owned maxtor, samsung, and seagate in the past and they have all died after a while. Whereas I have 2 6 year old WDs on an athlon xp pc still going strong.
400GB WD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136076

 

[jinjuku]

Here we go....

1st: ATI STILL leads the Image Quality benchmarks and a $60 Radeon 2400 is all you will need. It does in hardware H.264 and VC1. It does a better job than the NVIDIA solutions. Sorry to those who don't like that tidbit, but it is what it is. Check anandtech.com and tomshardware.com for reviews and commentary on the matter.

2nd: The AMD X2 BE-2350 Brisbane is $99 and will be more than enough. To put this in perspective, I have an Intel C2 DUO 6420 for my HTPC, I wish the AMD X2 BE had been around when I put together my system. I would have gotten it instead. Still went with a Radeon vs. Nvidia.

3rd: Samsung is going to be your quietest option. I have NOTHING against Hitachi/WD/Seagate/Maxtor. Samsung is going to be your quietest and coolest running drive. I have HD's from all manufactures going 4-6 years strong.

The recommendations for PSU's have been spot on, everything from Nexus, to Antec, to Silverstone etc...

Please, go to Anandtech.com and do some reading.

 

[gus6464]

Here we go....

1st: ATI STILL leads the Image Quality benchmarks and a $60 Radeon 2400 is all you will need. It does in hardware H.264 and VC1. It does a better job than the NVIDIA solutions. Sorry to those who don't like that tidbit, but it is what it is. Check anandtech.com and tomshardware.com for reviews and commentary on the matter.

2nd: The AMD X2 BE-2350 Brisbane is $99 and will be more than enough. To put this in perspective, I have an Intel C2 DUO 6420 for my HTPC, I wish the AMD X2 BE had been around when I put together my system. I would have gotten it instead. Still went with a Radeon vs. Nvidia.

3rd: Samsung is going to be your quietest option. I have NOTHING against Hitachi/WD/Seagate/Maxtor. Samsung is going to be your quietest and coolest running drive. I have HD's from all manufactures going 4-6 years strong.

The recommendations for PSU's have been spot on, everything from Nexus, to Antec, to Silverstone etc...

Please, go to Anandtech.com and do some reading.

This article says otherwise
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3047&p=1

This is the most up to date article on the latest hd cards and while the radeon uses less cpu power the nvidia 8600 offers better video quality.

To quote anand
"AMD's UVD does beat out NVIDIA's VP2 in both H.264 and VC-1 decode performance. However, it isn't really enough to make a tangible difference in the viewing of movies. Performance is important, and UVD performance is certainly impressive. But we still have to favor the 8600 for its superior image quality."

 

[jinjuku]

Your right. Last time I had read up on AVIVO vs PureVideo for HD benchmarks, AVIVO was ahead in most categories, but the over all conclusion is they both had a ways to go.

 

[gus6464]

Your right. Last time I had read up on AVIVO vs PureVideo for HD benchmarks, AVIVO was ahead in most categories, but the over all conclusion is they both had a ways to go.

Yeah the new 8600 isn't that old. It has only been out on the street for i'd say maybe 5 months. UVD is great in terms of offloading cpu power but now they have fallen behind in video quality which is something ATI has always excelled in over Nvidia.