24 replies to this topic

[bannockburn1314]

Hi all , greetings fae Scotland.1st off great site huge resource of information.

Now for the some backstory , in these times of austerity i'm looking to cut back on outgoing finances and i can no longer justify the cost of sky.
So i'm looking to build my own alternative and go down the xmbc route in the hope that the htpc will soon pay for itself.

As i mentioned previously great site with loadsa cool builds and googles provides tons of information on htpc builds but unfortunatly alot of that info is over my head which leads me to you guys.I'm not only new to the htpc scene but until 4 years ago i had never owned a pc , however i'm proud to say the 1st pc i owned was built by my own hands.So i have moderate experience in this department.I know from when i built the pc that the 1st big hurdle is compatibility and i can use your help here but before i even get to choosing hardware i 1st have to work out what i need.Hope you guys can help me here.So with all that waffle out of the way here's my situation.

WHAT I HAVE - a 15 year old gigantic tv which is on the blink and will soon be replaced with a 40 inch lcd with built in freeview
- also have a uk sky hd box that will be given to my sister leaving me with a sat dish and twin cable coming into my house can i use this?


WHAT I WANT - a htpc running xmbc that will allow me to watch one channel while recording another

- low energy consumption

- SSD for main OS to make things snappy and avoid lag in menus etc

I've done lodsa googling , reading , window shopping and tons of youtube vids and was all set to start the ball rolling and buy a 2tb wd green for storage but then i read an few forum posts where guys were saying that there were issues with HD video capture and green drives , is this true?.
So this is why im here so i dont make any noob mistakes.

Basically i don't know what i need yes a case , mobo , cpu etc but when it comes to the recording etc i'm clueless.
Budget wise like everyone i'm looking to spend as little as possible , from what i've read this probably means going with amd rather than intel.I wont be gaming just doing everything a sky box would do and i'll probably sell my laptop and use htpc for emails and browsing.

Thanks to all that have taken time out to read this and contribute with there suggestions and expertise.
Look forward to reading your replies

[ikon]

First, welcome to the forums.
Second, sorry to hear about your financial woes.
Third, I would get WD Red drivess instead of Greens. Just slightly more cost, but they're built for 24x7 use. Your only issue will getting hold of them as they're in short supply.
Fourth, you haven't really said what your entertainment source is to be. Are you looking to still use Sky TV, but without their box? If not, where will your TV programming come from? I think you need to describe how the HTPC is to be used rather than what hardware to buy at this point.

[bannockburn1314]

woo hoo my 1st reply and from a legend no less.

Thanks for the quick response ikon and the warm welcome , apologies for not being clear in my 1st post.

OK my sky box will be given to my sister which will leave me with a sky dish and the twin tuner cable , i was wondering if these could be utilised with a htpc to allow me to watch one channel while recording another? i will of course cancel my sky subscription so only the free to air programs will be available.

Ok still not being clear i will use my htpc running xbmc what i would like to do is be able to watch something on 1 channel while recording another.I plan to use plugins like icefilm etc can i record these?
also want if possible the ability to pause and rewind live tv.

Hope that helps

im away to check out those WD red drives.

[jmwills]

I'm not sure if XBMC has the ability to record and watch separate shows. What type of tuner is being used?

[bannockburn1314]

I'm not sure if XBMC has the ability to record and watch separate shows. What type of tuner is being used?

Thanks for replying jmwills , the questions you put forward are the questions i need answered as i dont have the knowledge to answer them yet.

[bannockburn1314]

I would get WD Red drivess instead of Greens. Just slightly more cost, but they're built for 24x7 use. Your only issue will getting hold of them as they're in short supply.

I was aware of the WD green/blue/blacks but had never come across the reds before so thanks for the heads up ikon.I've managed to source a 2tb for a £99 gbp and i reckon this could be my storage sorted.
Is it true that the wd greens should be avoided in terms of hd video capture? and is anyone aware of issues with the wd reds in a htpc?

[ikon]

Some people in the forums like the Greens, but I, and some others, have found them to be less reliable than other WD drives. I've stopped buying them altogether. Glad to hear you were able to source some. The Reds are brand new, so that may be why you haven't heard of them. They are designed for NAS and other continuous duty applications, so they should be great for an HTPC.

As far as your tuning is concerned, I'm not sure how you could use the dish. I suspect you will need a regular UHF antenna, plus a tuner of some kind (either an internal card or external box). This could add several hundred pounds to your total.

[bannockburn1314]

Ok further to jmwills post i'll repost my wishes and hope that you can advise me how to go about this if it's possible.

NEEDS - an htpc that has low energy consumption

- quiet system

- the ability to watch , pause , rewind and record live tv

- hopefully the ability to watch 1 channel while recording another

- is it possible to record something on xbmc such as icefilms etc while viewing another channel?

If the above is possible how do i go about ? what hardware do i need? already decided main OS be it win7 or linux will be on a ssd and it's looking like WD red for my storage , i'll figure out the mobo once i know how many pci slots etc i need.
Got a feeling this will be a long thread please bare with me and excuse my noobness but don't mistake it for laziness , i have done many many hours , days , weeks of research but it usually throws up more questions than answers for me.

[bannockburn1314]

As far as your tuning is concerned, I'm not sure how you could use the dish. I suspect you will need a regular UHF antenna, plus a tuner of some kind (either an internal card or external box). This could add several hundred pounds to your total.

so something like this is no good for me ?

http://www.maplin.co...rtsatonpc_rfmod

as suggested here in option 2

http://www.radioandt...itetvonapc.html

[jmwills]

Core i3 (Ivy Bridge) and yes Intel, ASUS, Gigabyte Mini ITX MOBo......look at my Signature line for the HTPC's - not saying mine are perfect but they certianly suit the purpose. I think I had around $500 in the system total.

[ikon]

so something like this is no good for me ?

http://www.maplin.co...rtsatonpc_rfmod

as suggested here in option 2

http://www.radioandt...itetvonapc.html

Those could help but, remember, as far as I know you would need a programming subscription to use the dish, so you wouldn't be getting rid of your Sky TV contract. I don't know of any way to use a sat dish to get over-the-air broadcasts. However, a UHF antenna should be able to receive the over-the-air stuff.

[no-control]

Let me first say I have no idea how sky works. Here in the states we use an antenna to pull over the air broadcasts. From there its piped into a tuner (either internal or external).
for the hardware this is the minimum spec I would use.

G520
H77
4GB RAM
2 HDD 1 for OS & Programs / 1 for local content storage like recorded TV shows.
Case
400w PSU
Tuner (OTA/CableCard)
DVD/BD ODD is optional.

I just recently upgraded mine it works great. And heres the original HTPC.

Next is the choice to use XBMC. Can I ask why? Better yet can I ask why NOT windows media center?

I use windows media center, with just a few plug ins. Its works flawlessly when I don't mess with it.

[bannockburn1314]

Those could help but, remember, as far as I know you would need a programming subscription to use the dish, so you wouldn't be getting rid of your Sky TV contract. I don't know of any way to use a sat dish to get over-the-air broadcasts. However, a UHF antenna should be able to receive the over-the-air stuff.

Did a bit of checking and it seems that my existing sky dish and twin leads can be used with this here and this can be done without any subscription card.

Question so this tuner allows me to pull in free to air on my htpc and record/pause and rewind etc , would i have the same functions within xbmc?
Meaning with this card or similar could i record something in xbmc?

[bannockburn1314]

Next is the choice to use XBMC. Can I ask why? Better yet can I ask why NOT windows media center?

I use windows media center, with just a few plug ins. Its works flawlessly when I don't mess with it.

To be honest i have no idea whats out there.

I basically realised sky had to go and googled alternatives to sky and XBMC was what came up most in the results.
I originally was thinking about going with a jailbroken apple tv but then realised i wouldn't be able to use this to record anything.

So thats how i got to htpc running xbmc , i basically chose xbmc because a lot of things like icefilms etc and things you dont need a subscription for.
I'm guessing your not a fan of xbmc ?

i believe i have the option to use win7 media center with xbox as a plugin but that requires buying a copy of windows and my budget is limited

[gcoupe]

Did a bit of checking and it seems that my existing sky dish and twin leads can be used with this here and this can be done without any subscription card.

Question so this tuner allows me to pull in free to air on my htpc and record/pause and rewind etc , would i have the same functions within xbmc?
Meaning with this card or similar could i record something in xbmc?

Er, but this Hauppauge card requires Microsoft Windows - as far as I know, there are no Linux drivers for it? You mentioned elsewhere that your budget was limited and didn't want to buy a copy of Windows.

[ikon]

Well, I am certainly learning some new things. I had no idea there are free-to-air satellite programs. It surprises me really. I think it's great, but who pays to have a satellite put into orbit and then makes (some) of the programming free? It seems counter-intuitive. I guess advertising must cover the costs?

I also think you need to invest more time into finding out what free-to-air stuff you are likely to be able to receive. Before investing in any hardware, find out what content is available to you, then base your hardware around that.

[gcoupe]

Well, I am certainly learning some new things. I had no idea there are free-to-air satellite programs. It surprises me really. I think it's great, but who pays to have a satellite put into orbit and then makes (some) of the programming free? It seems counter-intuitive. I guess advertising must cover the costs?

Ah, you see, there is life outside the good old US of A after all...

[ikon]

Ah, you see, there is life outside the good old US of A after all...

How well I know that..... I'm Canadian

[gcoupe]

How well I know that..... I'm Canadian

Touché!

[ImTheTypeOfGuy]

Ah, you see, there is life outside the good old US of A after all...

How well I know that..... I'm Canadian

Are you telling us there are places other than the US? I have never heard of them.