The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group
Build Your Own Home Theatre PC
 Jo Cantiaca ©		  


Of all my tech projects, our Home Theatre PC is, hands-down, the one which is most appreciated by the family. Watching our television shows when convenient, a one- click jukebox, and YouTube videos on our big-screen TV What's not to love?

Building your own HTPC is not a project to be undertaken lightly. But if you have the time and patience to do some research and planning upfront, you should be able to get yourself a fully functioning media centre for a fraction of what they cost in the shops.

Choose Your Software

First decide which software you want to use for your Media Centre, as different applications have different hardware requirements. First of all, list out what you want to do with your HTPC.

For me, the essentials were:
  • Record, schedule and watch free-to-air television
  • Browse and play music and videos such as MP3 and AVI files
  • Play DVDs from disc or image file
  • A decent "10-foot interface", usable from the couch
  • Easily browse the Internet, view a MS Word document, etc.
When selecting software, ask yourself whether you're happy to spend some time tweaking and maintaining the software? Will any other users be tolerant of downtime, or a system that sometimes doesn't work as expected? If the answer to either of these is no, be cautious of freeware options. The old Windows XP Media Centre Edition (MCE) has had a cut and polish and is now available as Vista Media Center (VMC), integrated with Vista Home Premium and Ultimate.

I found MCE very easy to set up. The user experience in XP was smart and slick - under VMC, it's simply gorgeous. The large userbase and active online support forums are a valuable source of how-to information.

One drawback is limited native support for different video and music filetypes. There are also limitations around using analog and digital tuners together, which may affect PayTV viewers with a set top box.

GBPVR

GBPVR is an excellent freeware alternative for Windows-based PCs. It is written and maintained by a single developer, who offers support through the vibrant user forum. I found GBPVR setup was not as straightforward as MCE, and it required more ongoing tweaking. The product's wiki and forum were a great source of information, including tips on compatible hardware, setup and community-built plugins.

MediaPortal

MediaPortal is free, open source and touted as highly flexible. Unfortunately, my attempts to get it working ended in frustration. I would guess that the developers' recent attempts to smooth the installation process have not been sufficient to attract many new users. Pity.

Other Software

Other popular products include BeyondTV, SageTV (proprietary PVR software I MythTV and Freevo (both [ intlx-based); you might want to investigate the capabilities of these alternative products.

The Electronic Program Guide or EPG is the central nervous system of most media centre software. To populate the guide with TV schedule over the Internet, I first tried out a few free, high-maintenance solutions. I now have a paid subscription to IceTV and, though you may baulk at paying for information that's freely avalable, their service is certainly hassle-free and offers additional benefits.

If you want to burn recorded shows to DVD, you will also want decent DVD software which can handle the video conversion, such as Nero.

Choose Hardware

Think carefully about all the hardware you are going to need before you buy anything. Spend time reading and searching the sites and user forums I've suggested below.

Base Unit

You may prefer to build a PC from scratch, but my approach was to find a quiet, small and smart-looking computer to serve as my starting point. If buying secondhand, find an outlet where you can fire up the computer to see and hear it in operation. I found an ex-lease Dell Optiplex GX240, which runs almost silently so long as I keep the dust
out of it.

Consider the slots available for expansion cards; the available PCI, PCI Express and AGP slots may impact your choice.  Watch out for smaller units with low-profile PCI slots; not all cards will fit in these.

If you have a home network, an alternative solution to this challenge is to put the PC in a back room, and in the living room use an 'extender' such as the Hauppauge Media MVP or X-Box 360.

Tuner or Capture Card?

To watch and record free-to-air channels, you'll want a digital (DVB-T) card so that you can access Freeview channels. Though analog TV is on the way out, ou might need to use an analog tuner card if your digital signal or antenna are not up to scratch (you may want to get them checked out by a specialist). Our HTPC uses a Hauppauge PVR-150 analog tuner, which came with a remote control.

Set-top boxes for PayTV channels (e.g. Foxtel, Optus) can often be connected to a capture card. The output from these boxes is usually an analog connection so you will probably require an analog tuner card.

Selecting a capture card is not straightforward; it's easy to waste your dollars if you don't understand the different technologies involved. Do your research on cards compatible with your chosen software and PC, and appropriate to your television sources.

Most media centre software allows you to work with multiple tuners or dual tuners (two tuners in one) so you can record different channels simultaneously, or watch one while recording others. If you want to do this with Windows Media Center, do your homework as there are limitations.

Video Card

If you want to use a television set which doesn't have a PC video input (DVI, HDMI or VGA), you'll need a video card with an appropriate connector: Component, S-Video, or composite, in order of preference. To avoid extra noise, look for passively cooled card - one which doesn't have a fan. Make sure the card is of the correct format for your system (AGP vs PCI-Express)

Other Essential Hardware Components are:

  • a DVD burner
  • a sizable, quiet hard drive or two,
  • a remote control (and receiver) compatible with your chosen software
You may also want a wireless keyboard with trackball (I have one from Globlink) and audio lead to connect your PC's 3 5mm line- out to your amplifier.

Be sure to do your research using the for-finis and resources below before you buy your chosen components. Then prepare the workbench, roll up your sleeves and get teddy to enjoy a few days tinkering!

More Information

Windows Media Center:  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-media-center/
MediaPortal:  http://www.team-mediaportal.com/
GBPVR:  http://www.gbpvr.com
Forum for WMC users in Australia:  http://www.xpmediacenter.com.au
Build Your Own PVR:  http://www.byopvr.com/IceTV:  http://www.icetv.com.au
Hints on building a Silent PC:  http://www.silentpcreview.com

Reprinted from the June 2009 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
 

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