Dell HTPC?

[kuykendall]

Hi, I didn't see any other threads quite like this one, so I started a new one. My wife and I are saving up for our first HD tv (Samsung Ln40a750 $799) and we would like to buy an HTPC. I could probably build one from scratch, but I was looking at Dell's desktop page and found that I could get a Dell inspiron 537 with Blue ray drive, HDMI video card, 4gb mem, and 500 gb hard drive, and Hauppauge HVR1250 hybrid TV Tuner for just under $700. This is with the "Intel dual-core E5200 (2MB L2, 2.5GHz, 800FSB)". Would this be alright as a DVR and media PC? I had hoped to use the Windows media capability to stream media to my Xbox 360. I know that the small form factor will probably make it difficult to upgrade later, but I'm really not to worried about that. I plan on having right below the tv so the smallness is a plus. Also I noticed that the Samsung TV were looking at (Ln40a750) is greatly reduced in price, but I don't see any bad reviews. Is there something I'm missing. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Kuykendall

[bobv13]

By today's standards it does not take a very powerful PC to act as a HTPC. Nothing on the Dell PC you describe is sate of art either. The only two upgrades I see are the Blue Ray optical drive and the tuner card. All together I estimate their value close to $200, that said and it seems a fair value.

I'm not familiar with the xbox's ability to act in a manner as you describe. Yes I know they can be setup to stream media from your home network or even access sites such as netflix and youtube. But can the xbox control your tv tuner on your pc.... I don't know. I have been under the impression that the xbox only selects prerecorded shows saved by the PC's media center and therefore the xbox does not act as a true PVR. If you put your HTPC along side your HDTV then you could access it like a PVR because you would be accessing your HTPC directly through your remote.

Someone please comment if I'm wrong.

[kuykendall]

Thanks for that point. I know that the Xbox and windows media center interface, but I don't know if I can access PVR functionality through the XBOX. Does any one use a set up like this, and if so are they able to set up shows for recording through the xbox?

[ghelyar]

I stopped using Windows Media Center long before I bought a 360 so I can't really comment on how well it works to schedule programmes. Windows Media Center itself does have a fantastic interface for it though and remote controls such as these (http://www.remotecontrol.philips.com/index.cfm?id=1336) work very well. Avoid the remote controls you get with the tuner cards though, they tend to be a bit naff and only work in the Hauppauge WinTV software or whatever they come with.

HTPCs need to be pretty much silent. If you built it yourself, keep this in mind. I find it very hard to get a case that cools as well as a Dell case and is still as quiet. All of my machines are built myself and I find that the case fans are the vast majority of the noise. A two slot graphics card cooler will cool much better than a passive one and still be pretty much silent but single slot coolers are very noisy. You also don't want fans spinning up and down as this is more distracting than them just being at full speed the entire time. Buying a fan controller would be a good idea (most will handle 3 or 4 fans). Yate Loons are incredibly good fans and come in 3 RPM ranges, L M and H. The L fans should be good for a HTPC because their minimum RPM is very low (most fans just wouldn't spin at all at those speeds). D12SL-12 is a good example. They are also generally quite cheap because they OEM to far more expensive brands.

Graphics power is not really an issue for a HTPC. I used an integrated GeForce 8200 on a microATX motherboard for years.

For the Tuner, I love the Hauppauge NOVA-T-500 and so does everyone else it seems, as it is one of the most popular ones out there and works on multiple operating systems. It's a dual tuner DVB-T card. The newer ones have two coaxial belling-lee connectors so you can use multiple sources or just plug one in and use both tuners on 1 cable. There are also DVB-S and DVB-C tuners for satellite and cable respectively, but they tend to be more expensive, as do HD tuners. Remember that Windows Media Center will only let you have 4 SD tuners or 2 HD tuners (a dual tuner counts as 2).

If you do go for that Dell, the only thing I have to say is that you will want more than 500GB of hard drive space. You can get 1 to 1.5 TB hard drives quite cheap now but remember that it may be difficult to spread your recordings over multiple drives. Windows Media Center may allow you to choose the destination directory (I really don't remember) but even if it does, it won't let you easily add more directories if you buy more drives later.



Also remember that you can get both long HDMI and USB cables so you don't even have to have the HTPC in the same room as the TV. You can just run a HDMI cable to the TV and a USB extension cable to the remote.