Download pdf - Sample Buyers Guide HTPC 11-10

Buyer’s Guide to Building a Home Theater PC

October–November 2011

by Renethx @AVS Forum

Contents

Introduction 4Organization of the Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Classification of HTPC Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1. Form Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42. Performance and Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53. CPU-Chipset-GPU Manufacturers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Component Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6CPU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Chipset and Motherboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Graphics and Sound Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

My Pick of HTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Peripheral Components and OS 11Input Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

MCE Remote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Universal Remote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Keyboard and Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12So what do you need? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Optical Disc Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13BD Writer/Reader / DVD Writer/Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13BD Writer/Reader / DVD Writer—Slim Type, Tray Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

TV Tuner Card for ATSC/Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Digital+Analog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Digital Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Digital Cable Tuner Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14HD Video Capturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Sound Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Analog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16S/PDIF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

OS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Mini-ITX System 19General Consideration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Price Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Feature Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Mini-ITX Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Budget System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Intel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23AMD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Low-End System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Intel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24AMD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Mid-Range System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Intel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26AMD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Mid-Range Gaming System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Intel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

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AMD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28High-End Gaming System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Intel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

MicroATX System 31General Consideration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Price Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Feature Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31MicroATX Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Budget System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Intel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36AMD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36



High-End System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Intel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40AMD (AM3+) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Premium System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Intel (LGA 1155) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Intel (LGA 2011) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43AMD (AM3+) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

ATX System 45General Consideration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Price Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Feature Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45ATX Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48



High-End System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Intel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53AMD (AM3+) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Premium System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Intel (LGA 1155) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Intel (LGA 2011) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55AMD (AM3+) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

DAS (Direct Attached Storage) 584/5/8-Bay SATA to eSATA Port Multiplier Enclosure with a SATA 6Gb/s RAID Host Adapter . . . . 584/5-Bay SATA to eSATA/USB 3.0 Hardware RAID Enclosure with or without a SATA 6Gb/s Host

Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598-Bay SATA/SAS to Mini-SAS Enclosure with a SAS 6Gb/s RAID Host Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

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Other DAS Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Workstation 62General Consideration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Intel (LGA 1155) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Intel (LGA 1155—Xeon) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Intel (LGA 2011) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Media Storage Server 66General Consideration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Purpose of a Media Storage Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Component Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Feature Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Server I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Basic design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6912-Bay Tower Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7015-Bay Tower Server 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7115-Bay Tower Server with Hot Swap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7215-Bay Tower Server 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7315-Bay Rackmount Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Server II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Basic design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7520-Bay Tower Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7720-Bay Tower Server with Hot Swap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7920-Bay Rackmount Server with Hot Swap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7924-Bay Rackmount Server with Hot Swap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

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Introduction

Organization of the Contents

Here is a brief summary of the contents.

• Introduction: This section includes a brief summary of HTPC systems and hardware components.• Peripheral Components and OS: I collected common hardware components used in each system here.

OS (Windows only) is also mentioned.• Recommended HTPC systems: This longest part is classified into several categories as stated below for

convenience.• DAS (Direct Attached Storage): If you need more storage space, a quick solution is here.• Workstation: A system for (serious) video editing tasks.• Server: HD video files occupy lots of storage spaces. So you may need a dedicated media storage server.

Classification of HTPC Systems

HTPC systems here are classified into several categories for convenience, according to the following threecriteria.

1. Form Factor

A form factor specifies the physical dimensions of a system. Basically it is the motherboard form factor thatdefines the overall size of a system. There are dozens of standardized form factors. Among them we will beconcerned with the following three most popular form factors.

• Mini-ITX: 170mm x 170mm (6.7′′ x 6.7′′)• MicroATX: 244mm x 244mm (9.6′′ x 9.6′′)• ATX: 305mm x 244mm (12′′ x 9.6′′)

Because of the size, Mini-ITX provides the least expandability (0 or 1 expansion slot), usually 2 memory slotsand CPU support is often limited by the cooling performance of a small Mini-ITX system. MicroATX supportsup to 4 expansion slots, while ATX supports up to 7 expansion slots. Usually a Mini-ITX/microATX moth-erboard supports an integrated graphics so that you may not need a discrete graphic card. An ATX case canusually hold more storage drives than an microATX case, and a microATX case can hold more storage drivesthan an Mini-ITX case.

Here is a physical comparison of actual Mini-ITX motherboard/case, microATX motherboard/case and ATXmotherboard/case, along with an AV receiver.

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Figure 1: Mini-ITX, microATX and ATX motherboard/case from left to right, AV receiver (ONKYO TX-NA708)in the bottom.

Figure 2: Motherboard, case and case size in the above figure.Form Factor Motherboard Case Case Size: W x H x D mm

Mini-ITX ASRock Z68M-ITX HT Antec ISK 310-150 222 x 96 x 328MicroATX ASRock Z68 Pro3-M top SilverStone GD06 440 x 150 x 340ATX ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 SilverStone LC20 430 x 170 x 430

You may wonder why the width of the microATX case is almost the same as that of the ATX case. The reasonis simple: the PSU is usually laid flat in a microATX case, while it is laid vertically in an ATX case. As aconsequence, a microATX case is usually shorter in height than an ATX case.

2. Performance and Cost

Typical tasks done by a HTPC are

• Playing back (or watching) media contents including:– Non-streamed media such as DVD movies, Blu-ray Disc movies, CDs.– Streamed media such as TV and radio (terrestrial, satellite, cable, Internet).– Media files stored locally.

• Creating media files from various sources, non-streaming or streaming (usually called “ripping” or“recording”), and storing them for later use.• Editing, including re-encoding, media files.

Hardware components that are important for each task is:

• Playing back video: This includes decoding and various post-processing tasks (deinterlacing, resam-pling, color space conversion etc.). GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is the most important component.The current GPUs integrated in Intel or AMD processors are very good. Some people may prefer a goodmid-range discrete GPU. A high-end card is good for better gaming experience of course, but it does notimprove video playback performance.

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• Ripping: The speed of ripping DVD/BD discs is mostly limited by the read speed of the optical discdrive used.• Recording: HDTV contents are already encoded in either MPEG-2 or H.264. A TV tuner demodulates

TV signals to MPEG-2 or H.264 video streams, which are then stored in HDD. Any decent system can dothat easily. Recording multiple programs simultaneously is usually no problem because the write speedof HDD is far larger than the necessary bandwidth to write multiple compressed video streams.• Editing and re-encoding video (except for simple cut and join): This is one of the most CPU-intensive

tasks. A good quad-core (or more) processor is recommended. A trend is that GPU (stream processors)offloads CPU, and several video editing applications already support it (keywords: GPGPU, OpenCL,Microsoft DirectCompute, NVIDIA CUDA, AMD APP).

In general better performance means more cost.

Performance and cost is the secondary category of the list.

3. CPU-Chipset-GPU Manufacturers

CPU, chipset (in motherboard; controlling various I/O devices and connecting them to CPU/memory) andGPU are the three main hardware components of a system. Intel and AMD are the main suppliers of CPU forPC. Intel and AMD are producing chipsets for its own CPUs. Intel (integrated GPU only), AMD and NVIDIAare the top three GPU manufacturers.

CPU/chipset/GPU manufacturers is the third category of the list.

Component Selection

A HTPC is a PC. Hence it consists of the following core components:

• Processor, a.k.a. CPU (Central Processing Unit): The brain of the PC. Actual computation (possiblyexcept for graphics processing) takes place here.• CPU Cooler: A cooling device for CPU.• Motherboard: A large PCB (Print Circuit Board) physically and electrically connecting CPU, memory

and various I/O (input/output) devices via chipset (an IC containing I/O controllers, soldered on themotherboard).• Memory, a.k.a. RAM (Random Access Memory): Short-term storage used by CPU.• Graphics Card, a.k.a. GPU (Graphics Processing Unit): A device rendering video output to a display.

In HTPC, this also decodes and processes videos. This is either integrated in the processor (iGPU, inte-grated GPU) or available as an expansion card (dGPU, discrete GPU).• HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or SSD (Solid State Drive): Long-term storage for the operating system, ap-

plications and data.• PSU (Power Supply Unit): A unit converting AC to DC and supplying DC currents for the other internal

components.• Case: An enclosure that houses the above components (and more).

from top left to bottom right in the figure.

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Figure 3: Core Components of PC

In addition, you may need several peripheral components such as keyboard/mouse and an optical disc drive.Peripherals are explained in the next section.

CPU

The current line up of Intel and AMD processors are

• Intel Sandy Bridge (SNB) processor. This includes Celeron G500 Series, Pentium G600/G800 Series,and Second Generation Core i3/i5/i7 Processors. All of them have integrated graphics, called Intel HDGraphics (2000/3000). LGA 1155 socket.• Intel Sandy Bridge-E (SNB-E) processor. This includes Core i7-3960X and Core i7-3930K. An ultra high-

end version of the Sandy Bridge processor with a different chipset and a different socket, called LGA2011, without integrated GPU.• AMD A-Series Processor (Llano). AMD K10 processor and Radeon HD 6000 Series graphics in a single

die, called APU (Accelerated Processing Unit). Socket FM1.• AMD FX-Series Processor (Zambezi). This is based on the brand new Bulldozer modules. Graphics is

not integrated. Socket AM3+.

My recommendations are

• Below $100: Intel Celeron G530 or Pentium G620 is a cheap, but very powerful dual-core processor.AMD A4-3300 and A6-3500 APU support Blu-ray 3D, the latter of which is powerful enough to convert2D to 3D.• $100 to $150: Intel Core i3-2105/2125 with Intel HD Graphics 3000 (dual-core, quad-thread, 12 EUs) if

you are going to use integrated graphics. Intel Core i3-2100/2120/2130 (dual-core, quad-thread, 6 EUs)if you are going to use a discrete graphics. AMD A6-3650 APU (quad-core, 320 graphics cores) is also agood choice. Its graphics is roughly twice more powerful than Intel’s, good for light gaming.• Over $150: Intel Core i5 and i7 (quad-core, quad or octa-thread) are excellent general purpose processors.

AMD FX-Series quad-module, octa-core processor is also an excellent choice. If you want a workstation-class processor, select Core i7-3930K or Core i7-3960X.

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Chipset and Motherboard

Intel produces chipsets for its own chips and AMD for its own chips. ASUS, ASRock, GIGABYTE and MSI arethe top four motherboard manufacturers and their motherboards are in general very reliable. The performanceof a motherboard is mostly determined by the chipset and there is little difference between the manufacturers.So the main selection factor is the features of the motherboard, e.g. the number of PCI Express slots, SATA 3,USB 3.0, IEEE 1394.

Memory

Capacity, frequency, timings: 2 x 2GB memory modules, 4GB in total, is enough for video playback. 2 x4GB or more may be a good choice for other tasks such as video editing. DDR3-1333 or DDR3-1600 is a goodchoice for low-end systems. DDR3-2133 for mid-range and high-end systems. CAS latency (CL) and timingsmay affect some memory-intensive applications, but in general you can ignore them safely.

Brand: Basically the brand does not matter in performance as the standards are established by JEDEC rig-orously. It’s not like Intel vs. AMD in CPU. Reliability and overclockability may vary from brand to brand,however.

Graphics and Sound Devices

The graphics processor integrated in Intel/AMD processors is good enough for video playback. AMD andNVIDIA are manufacturing discrete graphics cards and they are recommended if you are not satisfied withintegrated ones. My recommendations are

• AMD Radeon HD 6570 DDR3-1800 is an excellent graphics card for every kind of video playback tasks.Select HD 6670 GDDR5 for stabler operation.• NVIDIA GeForce GT 430 DDR3-1600 is another excellent choice. Select GT 440 GDDR5 or GTS 450

GDDR5 or GTX 550 Ti GDDR5 for stabler operation.

All of these graphics cards, integrated or discrete, include HD audio controller: audio signals are interleavedin TMDS signals, which are transmitted over HDMI. All of the latest graphics cards support multichannelLPCM (up to 8 channel, 24 bit, 192 kHz), DVD compressed audio formats (Dolby Digital and DTS), as wellas Blu-ray Disc/HD DVD compressed audio formats (Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD MasterAudio and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio). Older cards may not support some of them. Here is a summaryof supported audio formats.

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Peripheral Components and OS

A HTPC needs peripheral components (input devices, optical drive, TV tuner etc.) to be functional besidesthe core components (CPU, motherboard, memory, graphics card, HDD, PSU and case). The following is aquick list of recommended peripheral components and OS. In the subsequent sections, I will give only corecomponents.

Input Device

MCE Remote

A MCE remote is a (usually IR) remote control and a receiver to be attached to the HTPC (internally or ex-ternally via USB) that controls Windows Media Center and other front ends/media players at a distant place.Some HTPC cases and TV tuner cards come with a MCE remote. If not, you can buy one.

• GP-IR01BK Windows Vista MCE Remote Control External IR Receiver and Remote, $24, or GP-IR02BKWindows Vista MCE 2 Channel Remote Control External IR Receiver and Remote, $24.• Antec Multimedia Station Basic Internal IR Receiver and Remote, $22. The same as SoundGraph iMON

Inside.• ASRock Smart Remote Internal CIR Receiver and Remote, $25. This works with most ASRock mother-

boards.

A normal MCE remote supports only waking up the system from sleep. SoundGraph iMON Inside/VFD/LCD(also integrated in some HTPC cases such as Antec Fusion Remote) and ASRock Smart Remote support pow-ering on the system.

Figure 6: MCE Remote

Universal Remote

If you want to control all entertainment equipments at your home theater room, a universal remote is a must.Your HTPC needs to have an IR receiver (so you first need to have a MCE remote).

• Logitech Harmony One Advanced Universal Remote, $160.• Logitech Harmony 700 (A stripped version of Harmony One: up to 6 devices, non-touch screen), $90.

11

• Logitech Harmony 650 (A stripped version of Harmony One: up to 5 devices, non-touch screen), $52.• Logitech Harmony 300i (A stripped version of Harmony One: up to 4 devices, no screen, no backlit),

$29.• Logitech Harmony 900 (Harmony One + RF capabilities), $249.• Logitech Harmony 1100 (3.5′′ touch screen; RF capabilities), $260.


Figure 7: Universal Remote

Keyboard and Mouse

• Rii Mini Wireless Keyboard with Touchpad RT-MWK01, $31.• Rii Mini i6 Wireless Keyboard and Remote, $43.• Logitech Wireless Touch Keyboard K400, $39.• IOGEAR GKM561R 2.4 GHz Multimedia Keyboard with Laser Trackball and Scroll Wheel, $36.• Logitech diNovo Mini, $109.• Logitech diNovo Edge, $100.


Figure 8: Keyboard and Mouse

There are plenty of other options. Please read forum threads like these:

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• AVS Forum: Why is there still no optimal HTPC keyboard? (September 2011–)• AVS Forum: Best Keyboard and Mouse/Trackball - Whatcha got??? (January 2010–)• AVS Forum: Can anyone recommend a wireless keyboard with built in mouse for htpc? (September

2004–)

So what do you need?

So what do you need (besides a keyboard and a mouse when installing OS/software)? There is no simpleanswer.

• If you just want to control a front end remotely, a cheap MCE remote may be enough. But you still needto a keyboard/mouse, for example, to surf the web.• Logitech Harmony is good to control lots of CE devices as well as HTPC. But you still need to a key-

board/mouse, for example, to surf the web.• Rii Mini i6 Wireless Keyboard and Remote could be an all-in-one solution: a full keyboard and a touch-

pad on one side, a remote on the other side (a lot to be improved, however).

Optical Disc Drive

BD Writer/Reader / DVD Writer/Reader

• LITE-ON iHBS112 BD Writer / DVD Reader (BD-ROM DL: 8x), $100.• Pioneer BDR-206 BD Writer / DVD Writer (BD-ROM DL: 8x), $95.• LG WH12LS30 BD Writer / DVD Writer with LightScribe (BD-ROM DL: 8x), $80.• Samsung SH-B123L BD Reader / DVD Writer with LightScribe (BD-ROM DL: 8x), $52.• LG UH12LS28 BD Reader / DVD Writer with LightScribe (BD-ROM DL: 8x), $60.

BD Writer/Reader / DVD Writer—Slim Type, Tray Load

• Panasonic UJ-240 Slim Type BD Writer / DVD Writer (BD-ROM: 6x), $95.• LG CT21N Slim Type BD Reader / DVD Writer (BD-ROM DL: 6x), $90.

TV Tuner Card for ATSC/Cable

Digital+Analog

• AVerMedia AVerTV Combo G2 PCIe x1 Card, low-profile (White Box or Media Center Upgrade Kit),$88. A dual tuner, one for analog cable, one for ATSC/clear digital cable).• Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 PCIe x1 Card, low-profile (White Box or MC Kit), $96. A dual hybrid

tuner. Each tuner individually acts as analog cable or ATSC/clear digital cable.

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http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1361247



Figure 9: TV Tuner—Digital+Analog

Digital Only

• AVerMedia AVerTVHD Duet PCIe x1 Card, low-profile (White Box), $70. A dual digital tuner.• Silicondust HDHomeRun HDHR3-US Dual ATSC/QAM Digital TV Tuner Networked Device, $99.

Figure 10: TV Tuner—Digital Only

Digital Cable Tuner Card

• Ceton InfiniTV 4 PCIe Digital Cable Quad-Tuner PCIe x1 Card, low-profile, $269.• Ceton InfiniTV 4 USB Digital Cable Quad-Tuner USB Device, $269.• Silicondust HDHomeRun Prime Digital Cable Triple-Tuner Networked Device, $230.• Hauppauge WinTV-DCR-2650 Digital Cable Dual-Tuner USB Device, $120.

Figure 11: Digital Cable Tuner Card

These cards enable any PC running Windows 7 Media Center on your local network to watch or record up tofour (Ceton; the max number of CableCARD tuners Windows 7 allows)/three (Silicondust)/two (Hauppauge)live cable channels at once, including premium channels. You just need:

• Digital cable subscription from a US cable provider• Multi-Stream CableCARD (M-Card) available from your cable provider

A limitation on recordings is:

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• A content marked as Copy Freely has no DRM in your recording. It is basically the same as clear QAMcontents once decrypted by the M-Card.• A content marked as Copy Once can be watched only on the PC where it was recorded and Media

Center Extenders like the Xbox 360.

It is up to each cable provider which content is marked as Copy Freely/Copy Once.

References

• Ceton InfiniTV 4 PCIe: Product information page• Ceton InfiniTV 4 USB: Product information page• HDHomeRun PRIME: Product information page• Hauppauge WinTV-DCR-2650: Product information page• AVS Forum: Latest Ceton InfiniTV 4 Info Thread• Windows Experts Community Forums: Ceton MOCUR Q&A- FAQ in First Post - Please Read• AVS Forum: HDHomeRun Prime Owners Thread• The Green Button: CableCARD Providers & Their Encryption / SDV Status

HD Video Capturing

• Hauppauge HD PVR model 01212 USB Device, $180.• Hauppauge Colossus PCIe x1 Device, $135.

Figure 12: HD Video Capturing

HD PVR captures HD video contents, encrypted or unencrypted, via component video (i.e. analog) from acable or satellite TV set top box in H.264 video with DD or AAC audio. Recordings are naturally DRM-free.You can watch/record one channel at a time with a HD PVR unit and a STB. You will need multiple HD PVRunits and multiple STBs to watch/record multiple channels simultaneously.

Colossus is similar to HD PVR, but it is a PCIe x1 card and supports unencrypted digital video up to 1080i viaHDMI.

Sound Card

If you are going to use an AV receiver, you are unlikely to use a discrete sound card because necessary hard-ware for HD digital audio is provided by either the motherboard’s onboard audio codec or the HDMI ona graphics card (read Introduction: Component Selection: Graphics and Sound Devices). Here are someexceptions.

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http://cetoncorp.com/products/infinitv-4-pcie/

http://cetoncorp.com/products/infinitv-4-usb/

http://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun/prime/

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_dcr2650.html


http://experts.windows.com/frms/windows_entertainment_and_connected_home/f/115/t/78488.aspx


http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=65

Analog

Some people prefer an analog sound card + amplifier to an AV receiver. A typical reason is that you spentmore than $1,000 on an AV receiver with multichannel audio in several years ago, but it lacks HDMI support;instead of spending another $1,000 on a new AV receiver, you many want to go with an analog sound card +amplifier of the existing AV receiver. Or you are a music lover and may want to use a good analog sound cardfor music.

7.1 Sound Card

• HT|OMEGA eCLARO 7.1 PCI Express x1 Sound Card, $185.

Note that if you use an AACS-compliant BD software player such as CyberLink PowerDVD and ArcSoft To-talMedia Theatre, HD audio will be downsampled with these cards. Using another player with an appropriateaudio decoder is a workaround. For example, please read this post.

Stereo Sound Card

• ASUS Xonar Essence STX Stereo PCI Express x1 Sound Card, $169.


Figure 13: Analog Sound Card

S/PDIF

If you want to use S/PDIF out and your motherboard has only an internal S/PDIF connector, then you canbuild your own coaxial S/PDIF bracket for external connection. Buy

• RCA COMPOSITE VIDEO—PANEL F TO 1X3 F, $6.30

from FRONTX and attach it to an empty PCI bracket by drilling a hole.

Figure 14: S/PDIF Bracket

If you want to use S/PDIF out, but your motherboard does not have an internal/external SPDIF connector,here cheap S/PDIF solutions:

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http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=19370583#post19370583

http://www.frontx.com/pro/p1062_030.html

http://www.frontx.com/store/order_pb.html

• Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II USB Sound Card (S/PDIF and stereo analog), $23.• DIAMOND XtremeSound XS71DDL 7.1/24 bit PCI Card with Dolby Digital Live, $26.

Figure 15: S/PDIF Sound Card

Unlike analog sound cards, any cheap S/PDIF sound card is enough for this purpose. Its only role is transmitthe Dolby Digital/DTS compressed audio format over S/PDIF.

OS

Microsoft Windows is the dominating OS in HTPC for good reasons. The latest Windows is recommended.

• Windows 7, Home Premium or higher, 32-bit or 64-bit, Retail or OEM or TechNet/MSDN Subscrip-tion.

Figure 16: TechNet Subscription

Remarks

• Windows 7 Editions: Home Premium is enough for normal HTPC tasks. 7 Home Premium supportsfull-system backup and restore unlike Vista Home Premium. You can find comparison of Windows 7editions in this Microsoft web page and Wikipedia.

• 32 bit vs. 64 bit: I recommend Windows 32-bit at this time unless you are going to use more than 4GBmemory and/or you are going to boot from a 3TB HDD (with a proper motherboard). All video playbackapplications are still 32-bit so that using 64-bit OS for them is not only pointless but sometimes may giveinconvenience.

• TechNet Subscription: You may want to subscribe TechNet Standard, $199 per year, or TechNet Pro-fessional, $349 per year, if you want to install Windows (including Windows Home Server), MicrosoftOffice, and/or other Microsoft applications on several (non-productive) machines. The license is valid

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http://content.windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/compare-editions

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/default.aspx

indefinitely. You can activate a product with the supplied product key even after your subscription ex-pires, up to 10 times per product key. You can obtain 2 retail keys for each product in Standard and 5retail keys for each product in Professional, so that 2 x 10 = 20 times or 5 x 10 = 50 times activation is al-lowed in several machines for each product. Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate arecounted as different products, but the 32-bit version and the 64-bit version of each edition are countedas the same product. You can’t download products or obtain product keys after the expiration of yoursubscription, of course.

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Mini-ITX System

General Consideration

Mini-ITX form factor has become popular because of its small footprint. However there are a couple of limi-tations. It supports at most one expansion slot. So if you decide to add a discrete graphics card, for example,you can’t use an internal TV tuner card. A Mini-ITX case is usually very small, hence there is often a spacelimitation for the CPU cooler, storage drives and PSU. In many cases you can use only a slim-type optical driveand/or a 2.5′′ SSD/HDD, that are often expensive. If you agree with these limitations, a Mini-ITX system canbe not only a good HTPC but also a gaming machine or a video encoding machine by placing a powerfuldiscrete graphics card and/or CPU.

Price Range

I will give a budget system, a low-end system, a mid-range system, a mid-range gaming system and a high-endgaming system, for each of Intel and AMD platform.

Feature Comparison

Legend

• In general– ©: Supported.– 4: Partially supported.– ×: Not supported.

• 2D Video by DXVA/EVR: 2D video playback in the standard DXVA/EVR framework, where

Figure 18: Video FormatsOrigin Format Output to renderer Outut to display

SD film film 480i60 480p24 (by IVTC) 1080p24 (by upscaling)SD video video 480i60 480p60 (by deinterlacing) 1080p60 (by upscaling)HD film film 1080p24 / 1080i60 1080p24 (by IVTC) 1080p24HD i video video 1080i60 1080p60 (by deinterlacing) 1080p60HD p video video 1080p60 1080p60 1080p60

© indicates that the playback is perfectly smooth. ©∗ indicates that the playback is smooth when somepost-processors are disabled. × indicates that the playback is not smooth.• 2D Video by ffdshow/madVR (HQ): 2D video playback by ffdshow Video Decoder with yadif deinter-

lacer and madVR video renderer with high quality settings. © indicates that the playback is perfectlysmooth. × indicates that the playback is not smooth.• 3D Video

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Figure 17: Mini-ITX Systems Feature Comparison

Intel AMD FT1 Intel AMD FM1 Intel AMD FM1Cel G530 E-350 Pen G620 A6-3500 i3-2105 A6-3650

H67 A50M H67 A75 Z68 A75Intel HD G HD 6310 Intel HD G HD 6410D Intel HD G 3k HD 6530D HD 6850 GTX 460 HD 6850 GTX 460 HD 6950 GTX 560 Ti

$305 $278 $352 $382 $492 $437 $713 $723 $626 $636 $1,127 $1,099SD film ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

SD video ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

HD film ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

HD i video ○ ○* ○ ○

* ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

HD p video ○ × ○ ○* ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

SD film ○ - ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

SD video × - × ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

HD film ○ - ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

HD i video × - × ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

HD p video × - × × ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

MVC ○ × ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

MVC (CPU) △ × △ △ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

2D→3D (CPU) △ × △ △ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Frame Packing × × × ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

SBS(H)/TAB/CB ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

720p 120Hz AFS × × × × × ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

2Ch PCM/DD/DTS ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Multi Ch LPCM ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

THD/DD+/DTS-HD ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

SATA 2.0 / 3.0 1 / 2 0 / 4 2 / 2 0 / 4 2 / 2 0 / 4 2 / 2 2 / 2 0 / 4 0 / 4 2 / 2 2 / 2eSATA 2.0 / 3.0 1 / 0 0 / 1 1 / 0 0 / 1 1 / 0 0 / 1 1 / 0 1 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 1 1 / 0 1 / 0USB 3.0 e / i × × 2 / 0 4 / 0 2 / 0 4 / 0 2 / 0 2 / 0 4 / 0 4 / 0 2 / 0 2 / 0IEEE 1394 × × × × × × × × × × × ×

Analog Audio 7.1 7.1 7.1 7.1 7.1 7.1 7.1 7.1 7.1 7.1 7.1 7.1Optical or Coax × ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

3DMark06 2702 2252 2951 5380 4205 5900 19188 19738 14376 14339 26766 265333DMark 11 - P300 - P750 - P800 P4005 P4250 P3210 P3180 P5072 P5008Frame per Sec. 10.08 fps 3.18 fps 11.01 fps 10.61 fps 16.67 fps 18.17 fps 18.28 fps 18.28 fps 18.03 fps 18.03 fps 28.49 fps 28.49 fpsPower per Frame 4.73 J/f 12.04 J/f 4.42 J/f 7.03 J/f 4.21 J/f 5.55 J/f 4.61 J/f 4.78 J/f 8.01 J/f 8.38 J/f 3.90 J/f 4.08 J/fIdle 21 W 15 W 21 W 20 W 25 W 23 W 37 W 40 W 38 W 44 W 38 W 42 WVideo Playback 1 28 W 27 W 28 W 29 W 29 W 35 W 43 W 45 W 53 W 59 W 44 W 48 WVideo Playback 2 34 W - 34 W 48 W 38 W 57 W 47 W 50 W 90 W 96 W 48 W 52 WCPU Load 38 W 28 W 40 W 67 W 57 W 96 W 70 W 73 W 132 W 138 W 96 W 101 WGPU Load 31 W 35 W 33 W 62 W 45 W 73 W 141 W 169 W 199 W 216 W 194 W 203 WCPU+GPU Load 47 W 37 W 51 W 89 W 79 W 140 W 163 W 191 W 268 W 284 W 240 W 248 W

Z68

Gaming

Z68 A75

High-End Gaming

Core i3-2130Intel Intel

Core i5-2500KAMD FM1

Athlon II X4 631

Mid-Range GamingBudget Low-End Mid-Range

Price

DC PowerConsumption

HDMI Audio

3D Video

Video Encoding

MB Features

2D Video byDXVA/EVR

2D Video byffdshow/madVR (HQ)

ChipsetGPU

Price RangePlatformCPU

– MVC: Hardware acceleration of decoding MPEG-4 MVC (the Blu-ray 3D video codec).– MVC (CPU): Decoding MPEG-4 MVC by CPU.4means that BR 3D is playable, but the CPU usage

is very high (66% to 99%).– 2D→3D (CPU): Conversion of 2D video to 3D by CPU. Converting 2D SD video is easy, but con-

verting 2D HD video is CPU-intensive.– Frame Packing: One of the primary 3D video format structures by HDMI 1.4a, used for full-quality

3D movie playback.– SBS(H)/TAB/CB: Side-by-Side (Half), Top-and-Bottom, and Checkerboard 3D formats respectively.

The first two are primary 3D video format structures by HDMI 1.4a, used for broadcast contents.Side-by-Side (Half) is also used by some Blu-ray 3D. The last format is used by DLP 3D HDTVsfrom Mitsubishi and Samsung.

– 720p 120Hz AFS: 720p 120Hz Alternate-Frame Sequencing 3D video format, used by several 720pDLP 3D projectors such as Acer H5360.

• HDMI Audio: This indicates supported audio formats over HDMI from the GPU.– 2Ch PCM/DD/DTS: Support for stereo LPCM, Dolby Digital and DTS.– Multi Ch LPCM: Support for multichannel (5.1 and 7.1) LPCM.– THD/DD+/DTS-HD: Support for Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD Master Au-

dio/High Resolution Audio.

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• MB Features: Features found in the motherboard.– SATA 2.0 / 3.0: The number of SATA 2.0 (3Gb/s) / SATA 3.0 (6Gb/s) internal connectors respec-

tively.– eSATA 2.0 / 3.0: The number of eSATA 2.0 (3Gb/s) / eSATA 3.0 (6Gb/s) connectors respectively.– USB 3.0 e / i: The number of USB 3.0 external / internal connectors respectively.– IEEE 1394: Support for IEEE 1394 (aka FireWire).– Analog Audio: The supported number of channels of analog audio from the audio codec of the

motherboard.– Optical or Coax: This indicates the existence of an S/PDIF connector (optical or coaxial) on the rear

panel of the motherboard.• Gaming

– 3DMark06: The score of 3DMark06 Basic.– 3DMark 11: The score of 3DMark 11 Performance preset.

• Video Encoding– Frame per Sec.: x264 HD Benchmark 4.0 Render Speed (Pass 2).– Power per Frame: The AC power draw of the total system to encode a frame in the above bench-

mark. The value depends on PSU’s efficiency, which depends on various factors. So take it as arough estimate.

• DC Power Consumption: The DC power draw of the total system excluding PSU. The AC power drawfrom the wall is (DC power draw)/(Efficiency of the PSU).

– Idle: At idle.– Video Playback 1: At playing back a 1080p24 content stored locally by DXVA/EVR.– Video Playback 2: At playing back a 1080p24 content stored locally by ffdshow/madVR.– CPU Load: At Prime95 (Small FFTs).– GPU Load: At FurMark (BURN-IN test).– CPU+GPU Load: At Prime95 (Small FFTs) and FurMark (BURN-IN test) simultaneously.

Mini-ITX Cases

There are several nice Mini-ITX cases. For example,

Cases with No Optical Drive Bay and No Expansion Slot

• Antec ISK-100, 2 x 2.5′′, W70 x H248 x D212 mm (3.7L), 90W PSU, $75.• Mini-Box.com M350, 2 x 2.5′′, W192 x H62 x D210 mm (2.5L), $40, with Mini-Box.com picoPSU-120 +

102W Adapter Power Kit, $55.

from left to right in the figure.

Figure 19: Mini-ITX Cases

21

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=520

Cases with Optical Drive Bay but No Expansion Slot

• IN WIN BQ656, 1 x 2.5′′/1 x 5.25′′ slim, W76 x H225 x D193 mm (3.3L), 80W PSU, $50.• IN WIN BQ660, 1 x 2.5′′/1 x 5.25′′ slim, W76 x H225 x D193 mm (3.3L), 80W PSU (not available in US).• Lian Li PC-Q09F, 1 x 2.5′′/1 x 5.25′′ slim, W265 x H124 x D200 mm (6.6L), 150W PSU, $90.

from left to right in the figure.

Figure 20: Mini-ITX Cases with Optical Drive Bay

Cases with Optical Drive Bay and Expansion Slot (LP = low profile, FH = full height)

• Antec ISK 300-150, 2 x 2.5′′/1 x 5.25′′ slim/1 x LP slot, W222 x H96 x D328 mm (7.0L), 150W PSU, $71.• Antec ISK 310-150, 2 x 2.5′′/1 x 5.25′′ slim/1 x LP slot, W222 x H96 x D328 mm (7.0L), 150W PSU, $71.• Apex MI-008, 2 x 3.5′′/1 x 5.25′′/1 x FH slot, W220 x H129 x D300 mm (8.5L), 250W PSU, $40, with a

low-profile cooler with height less than 40 mm (to avoid the interference with the PSU fan), for example,GELID Slim Silence i-Plus, $26 (for a LGA 775/1156/1155 processor) or GELID Slim Silence AM2, $19(for an AM3 processor).• Rosewill RC-CIX-01, 1 x 3.5′′/1 x 5.25′′/1 x FH slot, W200 x H166 x D303 mm (10.1L), 150W PSU, $40.• SilverStone Sugo SG05-450 SST-SG05BB-450 Mini-ITX/Mini-DTX, 1 x 2.5′′/1 x 3.5′′/1 x 5.25′′ slim/2 x

FH slot, W222 x H176 x D276 mm (10.8L), 450W PSU, $120.• SilverStone Sugo SG07 SST-SG07B Mini-ITX/Mini-DTX, 2 x 2.5′′/1 x 3.5′′/1 x 5.25′′ slim/2 x FH slot,

W222 x H190 x D350 mm (14.8L), 600W PSU, $200.


Figure 21: Mini-ITX Cases with Optical Drive Bay and Expansion Slot

I will use Antec ISK-100 in the budget system, Antec ISK 310-150 in the low-end and mid-range systems,SilverStone Sugo SG05-450 in the mid-range gaming systems, and SilverStone Sugo SG07 in the high-end

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