What most existing users will notice is the new skin, “Confluence”; the skin takes advantage of the new features in the skinning engine and has given XBMC a much needed facelift. XMBC now not only works better but also looks better from a standard installation. Installing a new skin is also easier than before as most skins are now much more complete and stable on the released version. Before this release a lot of the best looking skins took advantage of changes to the skinning engine that was not available in the previous major release. This meant that users had to download and install various different versions of XBMC from SVN repositories depending on which skin you wanted to use which could be both daunting and a lot of effort even for tech savvy users.

Some of the features of the XBMC 9.11 Camelot release were:

• New default skin “Confluence”
• Significant improvements to the skinning framework
• Improved support for multiple monitors
• Database performance improvements (SQLite)
• Added ability to scrape and scan TV Shows into the video library by air-date via TheTVDB.com
• Support for High Definition, Surround Sound, and Subtitle Flagging and Filtering in Video Library
• Support for more file extensions and speed improvements to RAW image loading
• As well as several playback, library and scraper improvements…

See the full XBMC 9.11 Release notes

The XBMC 9.11 release took a major step towards making XBMC more accessible to average users and not just geeks and dedicated enthusiasts.

The next level – XBMC 10.05

While the dust from the XBMC 9.11 Camelot release is still settling the next major release is already well under way. The upcoming release 10.05 boasts several potentially game changing features that could completely change the way a lot of people use XBMC and make it an even more complete media centre software solution.

Here are some of the great features to look forward to in the XBMC 10.05 release scheduled for a mid-May release.

Unified PVR-frontend

Probably one of the most requested features for XBMC is PVR support. Started over two years ago the feature has been on many an XBMC users wishlist for some time now.

What does PVR mean? PVR is short for Personal Video Recorder, basically it will allow you to use XBMC as an interface for a number of different PVR applications and seamlessly integrate recording and playback functionality with the rest of your media. XBMC will provide the interface whilst the PVR software runs in the background or even across a local network.

What does this mean for you? If you have a TV tuner card it will allow you to have full control of live TV, record TV shows, access  electronic program guides and teletext all from within XBMC, no longer will you have to switch between different modes, programs or interfaces to be able to enjoy both TV and stored media. TV is going to be sexier than ever and you can scrap that TiVo or at least hold off on buying one till you’ve tried XBMC.

PVR Support is planned for:

• HTS Tvheadend
• VDR (Streamdev)
• MythTV
• MediaPortal TVserver

New add-ons browser GUI and API

Up until now using add-ons and plug-ins with XBMC has been quite a tedious and often too technical for the average user. The new user interface will allow users to browse, find, install and manage third-party add-ons from within the XBMC interface.  This is a major step for XMBC towards more mainstream use and a huge improvement in general usability.

In-development preview of XBMC Plugin Manager

The new add-ons API will allow add-ons to be written in any programming language paving the way for the creation of even more add-ons which can only be a good thing.

Additional improvements to the GUI and Skining Framework

The 9.11 release brought the skinning framework a huge leap forward, the improvements in 10.05 aren’t as comprehensive but will nevertheless please quite a few. For users this primarily involves improved mouse support and control support for sliders and scroll bars as well as click handling to support long or short clicks.

Scraper improvements

The automatic scraping and collecting of meta-data for your media library was one of the things that impressed me most about XMBC when I first started using it. The next release will improve upon this even further.

Support for scraping movie trailers from both IMBb and TheMovieDB.org.

Certain skins for XBMC have support for displaying movie trailers in addition to the synopsis and movie information.  Previously trailers had to be added manually to the relevant directory in your media archive or through the use of add-ons.  This new feature will no doubt save considerable time collecting movie trailers for your media by automating the process almost completely. We’ll likely start seeing support for movie trailers in more skins as well.

There will also be a host of improvements to and support for new international scrapers for languages other than English.

Playback and performance improvements

10.05 brings a host of playback improvements including improved Blu-ray support, several improvements to both audio and video codec support as well as better support for subtitles. There’s also added support for Broadcom Cystal HD PCIe hardware accellerated video encoders to which allows smooth playback even on lower end systems. There are also several performance improvements to SQL database queries in the library.

Read the details and follow the progress of the XBMC 10.05 release here

XBMC Media Center an Open Source Media Center Application

If you like your media then chances are you’ve run into a few different media players from Winamp to iTunes, Windows Media Player, VLC and Windows Media Center. XBMC media center is much more than just a media player it’s what you want a media center application to be. It’s free and it’s only getting better as more and more features are added to it with further development progressing rapidly.

I only discovered XBMC about a year ago when I was looking for an application to help me organise my digital media in an easy way and play it through a nice looking interface. I was getting fed up with having to resort to USB sticks to play a few files on a TV or DVD player with support for a limited amount of codecs and being forced to use interfaces that looked like they were designed by baboons. I was certain that there had to be something better out there. Armed with little more than a desire to find a better interface I started my search.  After a little while I came across something called the Aeon Project which immediately caught my attention. The interface was beyond anything I had seen before and I knew that this was what I had been looking for.

After XBMC initially opened my eyes to what was possible I spent months researching and testing various media center software packages and I have yet to find anything to rival XBMC Media Center. At the moment there’s not much that comes close, at least not on Windows.

So what exactly is XBMC Media Center?

It all started in 2003 when a group of programmers created an application to allow people to use their Xbox as a media center to play movies and other media, known at the time as Xbox Media Center. Over time XBMC grew far beyond its roots and is now a fully fledged cross platform open source software media player and entertainment hub for digital media. It’s completely free to use and has a very active community with loads of different skins available to suit any taste.

• You can run XBMC on virtually any platform: Linux, Windows,  OSX as well as the original Xbox (however not on Xbox 360 and with the recent firmware upgrade you’ll no longer be able to install Linux on a PS3 either)
• XBMC can play pretty much any file format you can throw at it..
• Customisable UI with loads of different skins to choose from and I have yet to find any interfaces to rival those available for XBMC.
• XBMC also has built in support for a huge number of scrapers from IMDb, theMovieDb, TheTVDb, TV.com to various language specific sites for more obscure media.
• Did I mention it’s free?  Not even an annoying ad in sight.

Automatically download posters, fantart and relevant meta-data

Support for multiple scrapers basically means that XBMC will scan any folders or files you add to your XBMC library, look at the file names and automatically find posters, fanart, synopsis, full official titles or episode names and more from various online sources like IMBd and TheTVDb. If you have a substantial media collection it will probably take a little while to scan and download all the media but it will be oh so pretty when it’s done.

The results of the scan and scraping will depend on how well your media is organised and named, but even with an unorganised collection the results are very impressive.

User interface – XBMC skins

The UI for XBMC is incredibly customisable and in addition to the provided skins there are several awesome skins available to suit your own taste or even if you just want some variation from time to time. Some of my favourite skins available for XMBC are:

Aeon or ShowMix

ShowMix is a further development of the original Aeon skin with a lot of additional features merged in from various other mods of the Aeon skin. It is probably one of the most customisable and feature packed Aeon based skin available. It almost has too many features and can sometimes feel a bit heavy and cluttered if with all the various layout options available. It will definitely have a layout option to please almost anybody and it looks awesome at 1080p.

Alaska

Initially started by the guy behind Aeon this skin focuses on a lighter based layout rather than the majority of darker based themese. It also tries to stay lightweight and quick.

Confluence

This is the new default skin for the new version of XBMC and is a huge improvement on the old default skin. It’s simple and stylish and has all the core features you need.

Using your iPhone as a remote with the XBMC iPhone app

If you have an iPhone or an iPod touch you can download an app that lets you control XBMC via your iPhone/iPod. There are a handful of XBMC remote apps available including a few free ones that simply lets you navigate the menus like a regular remote control by clicking up down etc. on your iPhone. I prefer the XBMC Remote by Collect3 mobile. It costs US$3.99 or AU$4.99 but is by far the best and most complete XBMC app available. The cool thing about it is that it allows you to browse through your XBMC library on your iPhone and even check out all the cover art and synopsis info over WiFi without even seeing the TV. This allows you to quickly find what you want to see and play it without having to navigate through the XBMC menus on your TV.

Alternatives to XBMC

As great as XBMC is it may not be for everyone. It can be quite technical and fiddly to get everything working exactly the way you want and all options and customisation can be quite daunting to non-technical users. Some people may not even want all the differnet skins and options and prefer something working straight out of the box with minimal hassle (I have to admit I have felt that way myself several times when trying to get certain things working a specific way with XBMC). Some very good alternatives to XBMC are Plex and Boxee, both of which were developed from the XBMC source code.

Plex Media Center for OS X

Even though you can use XBMC on a Mac a good alternative for OS X users is Plex. Plex is an independent fork of the XBMC source code with some additional features added specifically for Mac. You’ll need an Intel based Mac running Leopard or Snow Leopard to run Plex. Some of the main goals of Plex is to make it much more accessible to the non-expert users and eventually make it feel like a native OS X app.

Plex has seen several big improvements with the release of Plex Media Server and currently working on a complete rewrite of the local files library. Going from using the XBMC Library code the Plex team decided to do a complete re-write to do everything the XBMC library was capable of and more. The new library system is de-coupled from the media center and is served out via an HTTP/XML from the Plex Media Server. It’s also more flexible, open, unified, robust and user friendly than the old library. One feature I was particularly intrigued by was the ability to create additional sections like “Documentaries” or “Anime” rather than being limited to Movies and TV-Shows. Hopefully this and some of the other cool Plex features will also make their way into XBMC at some stage.

If I were to use dedicated Mac Mini with NAS attached I would definitely give Plex a try as it might outshine XMBC on the Mac. I might have to try out a Mac emulator or VMWare to try out the new version of Plex when it’s ready.

Boxee

Boxee is another fork of the original XBMC source code and is now pretty much entirely re-written adding additional features for social interaction and sharing information between friends. Boxee also lets you interact with an impressive number of online services like Hulu or Pandora from within Boxee to provides you with even more ways to enjoy and discover media. Like XBMC Boxee will also scan and organise your media, find the relevant meta-data and cover art or posters.

If you live outside of the US however a lot of these services won’t work unless you route your internet connection via a proxy server to appear like you’re in the US.

Boxee shares a very large part of the feature set with XBMC but also boasts a significant arsenal of its own. Boxee is particularly strong when it comes to social interaction and sharing information on shows across a number of different social networks. It includes recommedations from both friends as well as “featured” media to allow you to discover more intersting or just random stuff. One feature I found particularly useful was the “add to queue” ability that allows you to queue up the media you want to watch. At the time of writing Boxee is still in Beta and I’m sure there will be further improvements and perhaps new features even after the full released. One feature that is not yet available in Beta is the ability to manually correct shows or movies that have been incorrectly identified by the automatic scan.

Since receiving an injection of venture capital the development of Boxee has really heated up. It’s much more stable, easier to use and a number of rather unique and clever features. There’s now even a dedicated hardware Boxee Box available produced by D-Link. Overall Boxee is quite a bit easier to install and get working for the average user. The installation is very straightforward with a basic settings option when you first start Boxee. There’s alos an introduction video explaining the basics and additional video tutorials available.

The trade-off is that you have less control over the look and feel and stuck with the default user interface (for now). In my opinion the Boxee interface is not as slick, cool and sophisticated as the ones you can get with XBMC, however it is definitely functional and perhaps more family friendly with bigger text and rounded corners. If I had the option of using a skin similar to Aeon, MediaStream or even Alaska with Boxee I would consider swapping to Boxeee.

Summary

Well boys and girls, there you have it…you should now know the basics for building your own HTPC. I’ve started saving for mine and am aiming to have it up and running in May sometime after my birthday. Hey, I’ve waited this long, I’m sure I can wait a few months longer. In the meantime I’m getting my media collection organised.

HTPC remote control

Logitech Harmony One

At the very minimum you’ll want a simple remote for your HTPC. Some HTPC cases come with and IR receiver and a simple remote. These tend to serve their purpose quite well and for general purpose needs you should be able to get by. If your case doesn’t have a receiver or remote then you can buy relatively cheap Windows remotes for $30-50 which come with a receiver and are quite easy to setup. Most of them are optimised to be used with Windows Media Center so you’ll have to live with the green Windows button and risk accidentally starting Windows Media Center unless you spend some time
re-mapping the keys.

If you’ve got a Mac then you also have the option of using the Apple Remote.

If you want to splash out a bit you can look at the Logitech Harmony One Universal remote control which can replace pretty much every other remote that you have. Personally I have yet to be able to justify the high price tag to myself so it’s on the wish list for the foreseeable future.

If you plan on getting a good wireless keyboard and you’re happy to have that floating around your couch all the time then you’ll probably be able to survive without a remote.

iPhone or iPod Touch

If you have an iPod Touch or an iPhone there are some awesome apps that allows you to turn it into a remote control for your HTPC and does it much more elegantly than a standard remote control.

XBMC Remote iPhone app by collect3 mobile

At the time of writing this is the best XBMC remote app available, it not only allows direct control like a standard remote but also allows you to browse through your XBMC library on your iPhone like you
would songs on your iPod including access to poster artwork and meta-data.

Apple iTunes remote iPhone app

This is an app made by Apple and allows your iPhone or iPod touch to act as a remote control for your iTunes library. It gives you access to your full iTunes library just as if you were browsing musing on your iPod. You can also play, pause, fast forward and control the volume of the computer running iTunes. It’s a free app by Apple and works on both PC and Mac. It is extremely easy to setup and you’ll be up and running in less than five minutes. It’s great for parties where you can control music from your phone and let other people select songs without the need for people to access the computer.

Plex remote for the iPhone

If you’ve got a Mac and are planning on running Plex there’s an app for that too.

Wireless Keyboard

Most of the time you’ll get away with just using a remote for controlling an HTPC but there are times when a keyboard is needed. You might just want to browse the net on your TV, play a game or just install or run a few applications in which case you’ll want a wireless keyboard attached to your HTPC.

When it comes to wireless keyboards it mostly comes down to aethetics again, since this thing is going to be in your living room you don’t want an ugly square or god forbid beige keyboard floating about. The price varies significantly from less than $50 to more than $300. Generally speaking the more expensive keyboards tend to look better and generally have a better build quality, perhaps some more features and if you’re lucky improved battery life.

Things to consider when choosing a wireless keyboard

• Overall looks – since this will be in your living room, make sure it fits in and isn’t too heavy or ugly. This is of course a subjective matter and some people won’t really care what it looks like.
• Bluetooth – try to get a keyboard with Bluetooth support as the distances in the living room are going to be greater than at your desk.
• Touchpad – if possible get a keyboard with a touchpad or some other way of controlling the mouse, this allows you to do everything with the keyboard and elimiantes the need for a mouse. Trying to find a surface to use the mouse on in the couch can be very annoying.
• Media controls – A lot of wireless keyboards come with additional buttons and controls specifically aimed at media, like volume control, play, pause, fast forward etc. for an HTPC keyboard these controls are extremely handy.
• Battery life – This is not as important for an HTPC keyboard as it is for a desktop one as you’ll be using it less frequently but nevertheless it’s nice to have. Just don’t pay too much more for it.
• Noise – Avoid getting a keyboard with loud tapping sounds when you use it. Not all manufacturers list info on this so if you can test out some keyboards at your local computer store before you buy.

Logitech DiNovo Mini

I’ve got my eyes on the Logitech DiNovo Mini Bluetooth keyboard. I was a bit hestitant at first due to it’s small size but after some consideration I came to the conclusion that I didn’t really want a full sized keyboard the size of a small laptop floating around on the couch. The DiNovo is the size of a big remote control and would allow me to do all the tasks I’d need to on an HTPC without getting in the way when I don’t need it. The side mouse panel eliminates the need for a mouse, at least for the vast majority of tasks I’d need to perform on an HTPC. It’s also handy to double as a pseudo game controller when playing games. Time will tell if I can effectively play games on the DiNovo Mini but if I can’t then there’s always the option of having a secondary full sized wireless keyboard that is only used for gaming.

If you want a full sized wireless keyboard there’s a wide range available but the Logitech DiNovo Edge
is in my opinion one of the most aesthetically pleasing ones. It is also one of the more expesive ones on the market.

Logitech DiNovo Edge

NAS – Networked attached storage

If your HTPC doesn’t have a lot of storage capacity or room to expand with more hard-drives chances are you’ll want to expand your storage capacity farily soon. A NAS is a great way of doing this, they come in a variety of different shapes sizes and price tags. A NAS or Network Attached Storage is basically a box with one or more hard-drives a very basic embedded OS and a network connection that allows it to act as a file server. Most NAS units aimed at consumers have room for 2-4 drives and cost around $300-800. If you want to go all out you could get a 4, 6 or 8 drive NAS noromally aimed at small businesses. The more advanced NAS units not only have more drive slots but often support hot-swappable drives or at the very least an easy way for you to add or replace drives. The cool thing about these NAS units is that you can choose the hard-drives that you want yourself. If there are only 2 drive bays then you don’t have to settle for the embedded 2x1TB drives but instead install 2×1.5TB or even 2x2TB for twice the storage from the same box. You can also buy a diskless NAS and a single HD then gradually expand it with additional drives as you need more space.

QNAP TS-809 Pro NAS

If you’re on a budget then a portable USB hard-drive or three hooked up to your HTPC will also do the trick.

Summary

There are plenty of options for controlling your HTPC and alot of it comes down to personal preference. If you’ve got an iPhone then you can might choose to skip getting a remote and just have a Wireless keyboard as a backup. You might want to get rid of all your existing remotes and get on Universal remote to rule them all including your new HTPC. I could go on talking about additional peripherals and sound systems but that’s whole different bag of chips and beyond the scope of this article. Hopefully you’ll have some ideas of what’s possible and what’s available.

• Do you plan to play full HD 1080p content?
• Do you plan to play games?
• Do you plan to record TV programmes?

You don’t need the hardware of a revved up gaming computer just to watch HD content but if you plan on playing some newer games then you’ll probably want to invest a bit more in components. For slower systens there is now an ideal (and cheap) hardware solution to provide smoother 1080p playback even on slower machines, it’s called Broadcom Crystal HD. Check out the Broadcom website for more details.

HTPC Processor / CPU

The type of processor you choose will dictate what type of motherboard you’ll need to get so decide on a CPU first. If you plan on doing a lot of encoding or transcoding then you’ll probably want a decent CPU. If you’re planning on playing some games then you should also go for something slightly more powerful. I’ve narrowed my options down to the Intel Core i5 CPUs which offer the benefits of the Nehalem architecture and offer very good value for performance. More specifically the Intel Core i5 750, 2.66GHz, Quad Core, Socket LGA1156.

The Intel Core i5 750 is overkill for just a standard HTPC, however since I want to be able to play some games as well as do some encoding to get the rest of my DVD collection to disk it should suit my purposes well.

HTPC Motherboard

Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3

As mentioned above your options for motherboards will be dependent on your choice of processor and what socket that CPU uses. Since I’ve opted for the Intel Core i5 750 I’ll have to go for a Socket LGA1156 motherboard and the options are plenty. For my purposes I want to be able to expand to eventually use all six drive bays so I want to make sure the motherboard has 6 SATA connections for the hard drives and ideally an extra one for the optical drive so at least 7 in total. Other than that my only requirement is at least one PCIe x16 slot and 2 extra PCIe slots and a good number of USB ports which pretty much every motherboard comes with anyway.

If you’re on a bit of a budget you can consider a motherboard with build in graphics and HDMI + sound output, like the Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H. The motherboard will be a bit more expensive but you’ll save by not having to buy a graphics card. Most likely I’ll settle on something like the Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3, LGA1156, Dual DDR3-2200, Intel P55, 8x SATA or similar.

HTPC Memory / RAM

OCZ DDR3 RAM 2x2GB

When it comes to memory 4GB should be enough, it comes as standard with most machines these days and costs next to nothing. Don’t get the cheapest RAM available though but don’t get the most expensive either. Somewhere in the middle price wise is usually a good buy and you really can’t go wrong these days as most memory come matched pairs. Just make sure you get RAM that fits your motherboard. For the Intel P55 chipset motherboards (Socket LGA1156) it will be DD3 RAM.

HTPC Graphics Card

You may not neccessarily need a graphics card for your HTPC, and even if you do you may opt to get a very cheap card purely for the HDMI output.

The key things you should consider when buying a graphics card for your HTPC are:

• It should have HDMI output with integrated sound
• It should be as silent as possible, ideally look for a card with a fanless cooling solution
• If it supports any hardware decoding improve playback and off-load the CPU that’s great (look for MPEG-2, MP4 and H.264 decoding is ideal)
• If it supports any kind of hardware encoding to provide real-time encoding or transcoding of mediia that’s even better

PowerColor HD5750 SCS3

I’m considering either the ATI Radeon HD 5750 or HD 5770, which are overkill for a regular HTPC but since I want to play games either of these cards will keep me more than happy. The Radeon HD 5750 is also available in a fanless version from both PowerColor (PowerColor SCS3 HD5750) and Club 3D (Club 3D HD5750 Noiseless Edition). A cheaper alternative is the ATI Radeon HD 4300 series, these still support HDMI out and as with the HD 5750 includes the ATI Avivo HD Video and Display Platform and 2nd generation Unified Video Decoder (UVD 2). This not only improves video playback in terms of quality but it also enables hardware decode acceleration of H.264, VC-1 and MPEG-2 which will off-load CPU usage.

HTPC Storage / Hard Drives

Lots of storage is arguably the most important part of any HTPC system if you’re planning on having easy access to your media collection from disk or if you want ot record a significant amount of TV shows. These days hard drives come in Terabytes and are very affordable. At the time of writing the 1TB and 1.5TB drives are probably the best value for money but 2TB drives will soon come down in price as well.

I’m aiming for two 1.5TB Western Digital Caviar Green SATA2 drives to start off with. Once they run full I’ll probably add on an extra two drives and by that stage the 2TB drives may have come down in price. For extra piece of mind you can always buy 4 drives and set them up in a RAID configuration for some added security but you’ll be using up your drive bays and limiting the total storage you’ll fit in your case. But I guess it’s a small price to pay to keep your data safe if a drive dies

HTPC Network / Wireless

802.11n USB Dongle

Pretty much every motherboard these days comes with at least one ethernet port so if you’ve got your router close to your HTPC then I’d suggest connecting it with a network cable to the router and use the router’s wirelss network if it supports it. If not then you might want to get yourself a wireless adapter for your HTPC, a USB dongle will do just fine. Get at least an 802.11n speed dongle if you plan on copying large files or streaming media across the network. If you don’t already have one you’ll also need a wireless router to connect to other computers on your network and if you want to connect your HTPC to the Internet (why wouldn’t you).

HTPC TV tuner card

If you want to be able to use your HTPC as a PVR and record TV shows from the TV then you’ll need to get yourself a TV tuner card. Look for a card with some or all of the following features.

• Dual digital tuners (and dual analog if you need it).
  • Dual digital tuners allows for recording while watching another show
• Support for H.264 and/or MPEG-2/4 hardware encoder
  • This will give you the ability HD TV programs in HDD in AVCHD format in realtime
  • Read the technical specifications carefully though, some manufacturers advertise realtime hardware encoding but only at very low resolutions

Summary

Choose your components based on your budget and their intended purpose. Unless you’ve got an unlimited budget stick to components that are able to do the job well for the foreseeable future and if possible avoid the very latest and greatest as it’s most likely overkill and you will pay a high premium for them. Also keep in mind that faster components will often draw more power, generate more heat and more importantly generate more noise which is not what you want in your lounge room.

Don’t buy the cheapest of the cheap either, make sure the components you buy are up to the task you need them to perform. The cool thing about building your own HTPC is that you get to pick and choose which components you want and you won’t have to buy any hardware that you won’t need.

]]> http://lifeonlars.com/personal-interests/xbmc-htpc/building-an-htpc-part-2-components-and-hardware/feed/ 0 http://lifeonlars.com/personal-interests/xbmc-htpc/building-a-home-theatre-pc-htpc/ http://lifeonlars.com/personal-interests/xbmc-htpc/building-a-home-theatre-pc-htpc/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:00:42 +0000 larfa http://www.lifeonlars.com/?p=146 Over the past decade computers have slowly but surely crept their way into the living rooms of more than just uber geeks. I’ve wanted to build a dedicated HTPC for ages but I’ve never felt the timing was quite right, until now. Full HD TV’s are dirt cheap, the computer hardware required to run and store 1080p is cheaper and more readily available than ever. Recent graphic cards that have HDMI output supporting 7.1 surround sound means that you can easily assemble an HTPC with a single cable connecting to the TV. Hard drives cheap and big enough to support even the most ambitious media collections. My childhood dream of having access to a massive media archive at my fingertips is almost a reality; no more having to search for that elusive DVD missing from it’s cover to watch something

Building your own HTPC is not that different from putting together a regular computer, but there are some things you should keep in mind.

• Aesthetics; the computer case will be a part of your living room so you want it to look pretty and blend in. Luckily there are now a ton of different dedicated HTPC computer cases available both for full ATX and micro ATX motherboards.
• Ability to playback HD content; make sure your hardware is able to cope with playing what you want especially if you’re planning on watching a lot of 1080p.
• Noise level; computers can be noisy, fans, powersupply and harddrives all add to the noise output. Make sure you get low noise or silent components if you can. Sound proofing in the case would also help.
• Connectivity to the TV; make sure your motherboard or graphic card has HDMI support ideally with integrated 7.1 sound if you want a single cable solution.
• Remote control and/or wireless keyboard; the options for remotes and wireless keyboard are huge, it depends highly on your budget and needs. Look for a keyboard with Bluetooth support and ensure that the remote is compatible with your operating system.
• Media Centre software; to manage and playback your media. Windows Media Centre works…sort of. If you want something better and cooler though you should look at XBMC instead. The really cool thing is that it’s completely free.

Aesthetics: Making sure your HTPC looks cool

The first thing you’ll want to do when starting to plan your HTPC is to choose a suitable HTPC computer case. The last thing you want in your living room is a big ugly computer case that won’t fit into the TV unit. Apart from defining the overall looks of your HTPC the choice of case also directly impacts the type of motherboard you can fit and the number of drives you can add so it’s worth having a bit of a ponder about what to get.

For my own HTPC I have certain requirements that narrows down my options for cases.

• It needs to look cool! This is of course a given for most of us but looks are also a subjective thing and not everybody likes the same thing.
• It needs to support multiple drive bays be able to gradually expand with more hard drives for extra storage without having resort to using a NAS any time soon
• It needs to support a full ATX motherboard
• It can’t be too big and should fit comfotably into the TV unit

Silverstone LC16 HTPC ATX case

At the top of my list at the moment is the Silverstone LC16 Black ATX HTPC case. It’s not the slickest looking case out there, but it’s still pretty cool and the main selling point for me was the internal layout and six 3.5″ drive bays. It also has a built in 52-in-1 card reader, IR receiver and comes with a remote control. It’s quite readily available at a lot of online retailers which is more than I can say for some of the other cases I considered. There might be other cases coming out soon to surpass this but for now it’s my pick of the litter. If you don’t like black then don’t worry, it comes in silver as well.

Noise level: sound proofing your HTPC

The main sources of noise from a computer are typically from fans and hard drives. When it comes to hard drives you have mainly two options adding sound dampening around the drives and/or inside the case as well as adding drive rail dampeners. Adding padding around the drives will result in the drives running hotter though so personally I’d go for the drive rail dampeners instead. These are basically washers or wool felt depener cushions that fit pretty much all standard screw sizes. The good thing, it costs virtually nothing. A pack of 16 will set you back less than $10.

Zalman Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler

Fans are the biggest contributing factor to noise in your case. Typically you’re looking at fan noise from:

• Power supply fans: Make sure you buy a silent PSU, it may cost a bit extra but it’ll be worth it.
• CPU fan(s): Get rid of your stock cooler and get a silent CPU cooler with a better heatsink. If you’ve got cash to splash then consider a water cooling system if you can fit it in your HTPC case.
  • I need something suitable for the Intel Core i5 (Socket 1156) so I’ll probably go for something like the “Zalman CNPS8700 NT CPU Cooler, Pure Copper Base, 2-Ball Bearing, Multi Socket, Ultra Quiet 110mm”
• Graphics card fans: Look for cards with silent cooling, they won’t be completely silent but much quieter than the stock and even better try to get a card using a completely fanless cooling solution.
• Additional case fans: If possible limit these to the bare minimum and get higher quality fans that produce less noise and less vibration.

Summary

On the inside an HTPC is not that different from a regular PC. On the outside the case makes all the difference but when it comes to looks and overall aesthetics for cases that is a very subjective matter best left up to the individual. When buying an HTPC case consider what your requirements are with regards to size, storage capacity and looks. You’ll want something that will fit into the TV unit or wherever you have plans for putting it. Something that matches the other media components and TV and doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb would also be preferable to most people. Be very aware of potential noise factors when choosing components and aim to keep everything as silent as possible. You don’t want to be constantly listening to a faint, or not so faint, humming sound in your living room.