new xpc based pvr/htpc

leejsmith · 01-17-2004, 06:43 AM

thought i would share my week spent buidling this pvr/htpc.

it's based on the shuttle xpc sb51g which is the older intel845g chipset

i had a p41.7 and 256mb corsair xms 3500 which is way ott for this as the cpu is only 400fsb so the only ram settings in the bios is 266

but when i decide to upgrade my main rig the 2.53 that is running at 3.3 will replace the 1.7 and stay at 2.53.

i added the following

another 256mb of the corsair 3500
120gb samsung low noise hdd
ati radeon 9600se with no fan just heat sink cooling
wintv pvr 250
black samsung dvdrom

this is what it looks like after i made a custom front to replace the plain one.

the front is acrylic with a thin plastic sheet to hide the chassis. i scanned this sheet and using a flood fill in paintshop gave it a gradiant fill from black at the top to match the dvdrom to silver at the bottom. also added some dvd / dts dolby logos too.

leejsmith · 01-17-2004, 07:05 AM

the software i am using is called sagetv and is very good value for money

http://www.freytechnologies.com/index.html

it can import xml tvlisting files for a program guide in the us this is provided by sagetv direct but in the uk i have to use a program called xmltv to grab listings from ananova and then import them with a provided plugin.

all this can be controlled from the wintv pvr250 remote.

i also have powerdvd for dvd playback and will give dts output to the spdif.

the only thing i am waiting for is a IR tranceiver to change the channles on the sat box for me.

after installing everything out of the box it would just reset the pc everytimg i showed any sort of tv / mpeg but starting fresh with all the lastest drivers from the net solved that problem.

the satge tv is very easy to setup depending on your capture source. i used the rf out from my sat box and i had to go through all 120 channles to find the correct one.

using the p41.7 and recording at mpeg2 12mbit/s the cpu is never above 30% so the systems stays at low fan speeds all the time.

hope this help anyone looking at pvr/htpc

Lee

01-17-2004, 06:43 AM	#1
leejsmith Cooling Savant Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: notts uk Posts: 408	new xpc based pvr/htpc thought i would share my week spent buidling this pvr/htpc. it's based on the shuttle xpc sb51g which is the older intel845g chipset i had a p41.7 and 256mb corsair xms 3500 which is way ott for this as the cpu is only 400fsb so the only ram settings in the bios is 266 but when i decide to upgrade my main rig the 2.53 that is running at 3.3 will replace the 1.7 and stay at 2.53. i added the following another 256mb of the corsair 3500 120gb samsung low noise hdd ati radeon 9600se with no fan just heat sink cooling wintv pvr 250 black samsung dvdrom this is what it looks like after i made a custom front to replace the plain one. the front is acrylic with a thin plastic sheet to hide the chassis. i scanned this sheet and using a flood fill in paintshop gave it a gradiant fill from black at the top to match the dvdrom to silver at the bottom. also added some dvd / dts dolby logos too. __________________ Folding , Folding , Folding !

01-17-2004, 07:05 AM	#2
leejsmith Cooling Savant Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: notts uk Posts: 408	the software i am using is called sagetv and is very good value for money http://www.freytechnologies.com/index.html it can import xml tvlisting files for a program guide in the us this is provided by sagetv direct but in the uk i have to use a program called xmltv to grab listings from ananova and then import them with a provided plugin. all this can be controlled from the wintv pvr250 remote. i also have powerdvd for dvd playback and will give dts output to the spdif. the only thing i am waiting for is a IR tranceiver to change the channles on the sat box for me. after installing everything out of the box it would just reset the pc everytimg i showed any sort of tv / mpeg but starting fresh with all the lastest drivers from the net solved that problem. the satge tv is very easy to setup depending on your capture source. i used the rf out from my sat box and i had to go through all 120 channles to find the correct one. using the p41.7 and recording at mpeg2 12mbit/s the cpu is never above 30% so the systems stays at low fan speeds all the time. hope this help anyone looking at pvr/htpc Lee __________________ Folding , Folding , Folding !

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