Htpc

P3rv3rt B3ar · 11-12-2005, 01:15 PM

Ok, this question hasnt got to do much with girder but i couldnt find better place to post. Besides my newfound interest about CarPCs ive been home theater fan 10 years now... ever since got my first projector (damn that resolution sucked!). Regardles of the fact that im finishing masters in comp science, I never get into too much into HTPC. Well surely i did some PC HT integration had classic H+ running the show... but never something which could be called HTPC. (well atleast in my opinion... but i also disagree with definition of ht... if u ask me theres no ht with tv. period.) But now i see that computer covers have developed into point where u can actually but it into equibment rack and call it HTPC. I wanna jump in. I wanna build coolest HTPC on northern hemisphere.

Now my problem is i wanna find mp3car of HTPC world, to get me going. I mean best source for HTPC, forum dedicated purely for it. I wanna hear where u guys meet. Ok i tried something called HTPCnews but ****ers there wouldnt let me join. I guess this is somekind of secret society of people ****full of themshelves. I even tried another callsign, i thought mayby they think my handle is not for class they uphold. but no use... they dont let bear in. ****ers! So please help me, what is best place in www to discuss things HTPC?

turbocad6 · 11-12-2005, 02:24 PM

how is it that they won't let you in? is it a public forum? that's just too funny.... I have a htpc set up & I'm running media center ed. on it... I don't really feel a need to find a forum for this as it's pretty basic & straight foward... there aren't anywhere near the amount of challenges there as a car install presents, I wouldn't expect to find a forum anything like mp3car for htpc really

I would expect there to be several smaller boards or discussion threads on other smaller boards, but I wouldn't expect there to be any support or sharing & supporting like here...I never looked.. you may have to approach it in segments.... audio, ht boards & computer boards... good luck in your quest for knowledge.... & if they don't want the bear then ****em'

rebelleader · 11-12-2005, 03:43 PM

Check out www.hardforum.com

There is a Section devoted entirely to HTPCs

P3rv3rt B3ar · 11-12-2005, 04:15 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by turbocad6

how is it that they won't let you in? is it a public forum? that's just too funny.... I have a htpc set up & I'm running media center ed. on it... I don't really feel a need to find a forum for this as it's pretty basic & straight foward... there aren't anywhere near the amount of challenges there as a car install presents, I wouldn't expect to find a forum anything like mp3car for htpc really

I would expect there to be several smaller boards or discussion threads on other smaller boards, but I wouldn't expect there to be any support or sharing & supporting like here...I never looked.. you may have to approach it in segments.... audio, ht boards & computer boards... good luck in your quest for knowledge.... & if they don't want the bear then ****em'

Hehe thanx for support and advices. Yes it is funny... but i tried to register there over two weeks time from three different mail accounts and with different handles... they never send me activation mail. So i concluded its not as public it seems

Yes i wont expect to find such detailed and umbrellic (hmm that might be new word

) experties as mp3car... and i agree that htpc aint so foreign environment to computer scientist as car is...but there are some areas where sevral heads probably is better than bearhead... like tweaking with h+, writing control software for different devices equibbed with serial ports, and making it control theater curtains and lighting through x-10, oh and stereo projection :P. Well i guess i have to take segmented aproach... is damn shame... mayby somebody should start a good htpc forum

camsgs3 · 11-12-2005, 05:34 PM

Im also getting into the HTPC stuff, I just received my HP 1080p 58" HDTV , I have my PC pretty much done -Now Im looking into all the diff. frontends, ripping methods, TV tuners, videocards,etc....

Here are some places to loook at:

HTPCNEWS.com - this has a very good forum and lots of info

thegreenbutton - this is good if your using Windows Media Center 2005, lots of info and useful 3rd party apps to download

Build Your Own PVR - this site has good reviews of different frontends as well as reviews of hardware, also the forum is not that bad

P3rv3rt B3ar · 11-12-2005, 08:32 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by camsgs3

Im also getting into the HTPC stuff, I just received my HP 1080p 58" HDTV , I have my PC pretty much done -Now Im looking into all the diff. frontends, ripping methods, TV tuners, videocards,etc....

Here are some places to loook at:

HTPCNEWS.com - this has a very good forum and lots of info

thegreenbutton - this is good if your using Windows Media Center 2005, lots of info and useful 3rd party apps to download

Build Your Own PVR - this site has good reviews of different frontends as well as reviews of hardware, also the forum is not that bad

Have u registered to HTPCNews. did it work out for u?

wi77iam · 11-12-2005, 10:48 PM

Here you go:
http://www.htpcforums.com/
http://www.avsforum.com/

StrataG · 11-13-2005, 12:18 AM

There are tons of quite a few front-ends available and they all have their pros and cons. I personally like customization so that is why I chose Meedio. It has tons of plug-in's, themes, and the customization of it surpasses all other front-ends. There is a bit of a learning curve to get things the way you want, but that goes along with anything that is as customizable as Meedio. They also have a very active and great community forum.

Their tv software isn't great, I personally use Beyond TV for that end of my htpc's. Once shows are recorded though, I use a great plug-in for Meedio that downloads and displays tons of details about the show. The only thing I don't use Meedio for is scheduling recordings and watching live tv. Writing plug-ins for it are easy too with .NET so if you are a computer science major, you could probably have some fun with it.

P3rv3rt B3ar · 11-13-2005, 07:57 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by wi77iam

Here you go:
http://www.htpcforums.com/
http://www.avsforum.com/

Thanx htpcforums seems exactly what i was looking for... though not too popular yet... but im sure that url is going to atract hobbyist.

P3rv3rt B3ar · 11-13-2005, 08:20 AM

Anyway im going to brazil for a few months and will buy case only after that, so i still have good time to familiarize my self with the field before actually building it. but heres what ive been thinking of, italian design uneed dign x15, with 7" touchscreen. Anybody has this box? is it in paractise as good as it looks? Im not good with graphics, but my new girlfriend made a visualization how it is going to look with my sony player. Oh shes so cool, no SAF related probs with her!!

Auxon · 11-13-2005, 09:43 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by P3rv3rt B3ar

Thanx htpcforums seems exactly what i was looking for... though not too popular yet... but im sure that url is going to atract hobbyist.

I stick with AVSForum. Sooo much information, been around forever so no matter what your question is, its been answered.

The site is a little hard to navigate the first time there so go here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=26

AVSForum: 144,128 posts in 11,418 threads (HTPC section alone)
HTPC Forums: 989 posts in 406 threads

Kevin

P3rv3rt B3ar · 11-13-2005, 10:08 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Auxon

I stick with AVSForum. Sooo much information, been around forever so no matter what your question is, its been answered.

The site is a little hard to navigate the first time there so go here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=26

AVSForum: 144,128 posts in 11,418 threads
HTPC Forums: 989 posts in 406 threads

Kevin

Well i shortwhile ago read book "home theater hacks" from o'reilly... and that was like worst book ive read for ages... author (who based on his writing appears to be complete imbesil) recommend forum in question so that put me little off. After that i got impression that this community is for people who should start looking for coffin case instead of HTPC case, but since u recommend it... ill give it a look.

P3rv3rt B3ar · 11-13-2005, 10:59 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by StrataG

There are tons of quite a few front-ends available and they all have their pros and cons. I personally like customization so that is why I chose Meedio. It has tons of plug-in's, themes, and the customization of it surpasses all other front-ends. There is a bit of a learning curve to get things the way you want, but that goes along with anything that is as customizable as Meedio. They also have a very active and great community forum.

Their tv software isn't great, I personally use Beyond TV for that end of my htpc's. Once shows are recorded though, I use a great plug-in for Meedio that downloads and displays tons of details about the show. The only thing I don't use Meedio for is scheduling recordings and watching live tv. Writing plug-ins for it are easy too with .NET so if you are a computer science major, you could probably have some fun with it.

What u are saying about meedio sounds great... cause i defenetely will have great need for customazion. So far i have only tried GB-PVR and im not too happy with that. Is meedio freeware? also i plan to buy that media versio of XP as OEM, but i doubt thats going to suit my purposes.

RPM_VR4 · 11-13-2005, 09:59 PM

My opinion: SnapStream is the best DVR followed by SageTV and then Meedio TV. Meedio Express is definatly the best movie/music/other front-end.

StrataG · 11-14-2005, 01:05 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by P3rv3rt B3ar

What u are saying about meedio sounds great... cause i defenetely will have great need for customazion. So far i have only tried GB-PVR and im not too happy with that. Is meedio freeware? also i plan to buy that media versio of XP as OEM, but i doubt thats going to suit my purposes.

Meedio TV, which I haven't tried recently, wasn't that great. It did the job, but I personally think Beyond TV is better and I've stuck with it. As far as your stored media, I don't think anything beats Meedio. Their customizable views are unsurpoassed. For example, in my movies section, my first screen when choosing Movies allows me to view movies by:
- All
- Actor/Actress
- Director
- Genre
- Index (Allows you to choose by first letter/number)
- Rating (G, PG, etc.... great if you have kids or nieces and nephews)
- Recently Added (my most often used view)
- Review (Based on IMDB scores)
- Year

Obviously they are not all necessary, but if you have a very large collection you will wonder how you got along without these options. You can also search manually by lots of fields. There are two plug-ins which are excellent for pulling in details about movies automatically. This includes cover-art and IMDB details.

If you plan on recording TV shows, while I do use Beyond TV to record them, unless I'm watching them live, I use Meedio to browse through them. There is a great plug-in that grabs all of the information from tvtome.com (now tv.com), and makes it easy to browse through recordings. Again this is great if you have lots of shows.

There is also a great plug-in for music called MeeMusicJukebox that makes browsing music really easy. From the same screen, you can select genre->artist->album->tracks. Obviously you do not need to use this, but it makes it much easier when creating playlists in my opinion.

In all honesty, the foundation of Meedio is what makes it great. The base product is ok, but it's the user community that makes it great. Outside of the ability to manipulate views and creation of menus the product is nothing spectacular. What they do great though is making it easy to make plug-ins for it, and the user community has really taken advantage of this.

The software is not free, they do have Meedio Express which is freeware, but it is a limited version. You could try out the free version, but keep in mind what I said. Until you can take advantage of all of the plug-ins and themes, you really can't get a feel for what this software can really do.

If I (if I ever find the time) or some other user wrote a plug-in that controlled Beyond TV from within Meedio (entirely possible), I would have my ultimate solution.