HTPC Blog

At the heart of an HTPC is a media center software application that provides an interface for viewing and controlling your media. One such application is MediaPortal, an open source software that transforms your PC into a Media Center/HTPC. This free application lets you watch videos and DVDs, listen to music or radio stations, schedule and record live TV plus much more.

Customization
MediaPortal is a highly customizable application that supports custom skins, customs keys and many plugins for added functionality. Being an open source application, developers have the option of adding their own features and tweaks.

Remote Control
After you have setup MediaPortal, you will probably want to start controlling it from a remote control. The good news is that there are a number of input plugins available for various remotes. You can view them at the Input Plugin page.

TV
MediaPortal is an ideal platform for watching or recording TV. Analog, DVB-C, DVB-T, DVB-S, ATSC, HDTV and AC3 TV formats are supported. A number of recording features are available including record once, record now, daily or weekly, weekdays or whenever a program appears. TV guide features include Grab DVB-EPG & MHW-EPG directly for DVB, XMLTV, colors for genres, search and channel grouping.

Video
Video playback is available for any movie which your PC has an available codec for. MediaPortal can store all of your movies in its video database. You can then view and sort your movies by genre, year, title and actor. There is also the option of using the internal MediaPortal DVD player or an external DVD player.

Pictures
Media Portal includes a picture mode for viewing digital photos and pictures saved on your PC. The slideshow mode includes controls such as play/pause, next/previous picture, zoom and rotate. Other picture features include delete, sort, background music and filmstrip view.

Music
Most of the music features you will find in other media player applications are included with Media Portal. The basic play/pause, stop, next and previous track commands are obviously included. A number of view and sort features are available which include album, artist, genre or filesize options. MediaPortal can also automatically download album art for all of your albums. "Nice to have" features such as visualizations, music ratings and party shuffle mode are included.

Radio
FM, DVB or internet radio station support is included. As is support for external radio tuner applications.

Weather
MediaPortal can show you the latest weather information for your area. View the temperature in degrees C/F, UV Index, Humidity(%) and Wind (mph/kph). Also view live internet images for satellite, temperature, UV Index, wind, humidity and precipitation.

Additional to all of the features listed above, MediaPortal has many more. Launching external programs, CD-DVD burning, RSS news, computer hardware monitoring to mention a few.

To begin with MediaPortal can perhaps be a bit difficult to setup. The effort is well worth it as you get a powerful media center with many features for free!

If you are looking for a quality TV tuner card, you can't go past the ATI TV Wonder HD 650 PCI. This card packs many features ideal for an HTPC. Its a hybrid card offering over-the-air digital TV/HDTV (ATSC), cable analog TV (NTSC) and clear QAM digital HD cable. Attach an analog TV cable and amplified high definition antenna to watch analog TV while recording digital TV at the same time.

The ATI TV Wonder HD 650 is based on ATI Theater video processing technology. An ultra sharp image is produced with the combined 3D Comb Filter, Edge Enhancement and Noise Reduction technologies. The 3D Comb Filter also works with the analog signal to produce realistic images.

Full Personal Video Recorder (PVR) functionality is provided through the ATI Catalyst Media Center. Play, pause, or schedule TV program recordings. Support for video conversion, DVD playback and authoring is also included. The HD 650 works with Windows Media Center but a remote control is not included.

The ATI TV Wonder HD 650 is not a new device but has gained a solid reputation as a quality TV tuner card. It's currently available through Amazon for $78.

If you are going to have an HTPC on display in your living room environment, you will probably want a case that looks nice and blends in with your other HTPC equipment. The HTPC 6000 case from nMediaPC is certainly worth considering. It is available in Black or Silver, made from aluminum, compact in size has been designed to look like a piece of AV equipment, not a standard computer case.

For ease of use, a range of IO connections are available at the front of the unit (behind door). The front panel connection options are USB 2.0, e-SATA, HD Audio, SDHC 2.0 and IEEE 1394. An optional 20x2 programmable MCE LCD module is also available for the front panel.

Specifications:

• Dimensions - Case: 17" x 6.6" x 16.4"
• Motherboard - Supports ATX or Micro-ATX
• Power Supply - Supports ATX PSU which is not included
• Drive Bays - External 5.25" Bay x 1, Internal 3.5" Bay x 6
• Expansion Slots - 7 Full size
• Front IO - USB 2.0 x 3, eSATA x 1, Audio x 2, IEEE 1394 x 1, Card Reader x1
• Cooling - 80mm Silent Case Fan x2, 120mm Case Fan x1

The best price for the nMedia HTPC6000 that I could find at the time of writing this article was $75 through www.directron.com.

MSI have recently released the 890GXM-G65 - a motherboard designed for the HTPC. This AMD 890GX chipset based board features the latest AMD Phenom II processors, support for DirectX 10.1 and UVD multimedia standards, SATA 6Gb/s and USB3.0 interfaces. Supporting OC Genie easy overclocking technology, the 890GXM-G65 can be overclocked to increase performance by up to 15%.

Features:

• AMD socket AM3 CPU support up to Phenom II
• 4 x DDR3 memory slots (800/1066/1333/1600/1800/2133(OC))
• Micro ATX form factor
• 2 x PCI-Ex16
• 1 x PCI-E Gen
• 1 x PCI-Ex1
• 2 x USB 3.0 ports (Rear)
• 4 x USB 2.0 ports (Rear)
• 6 Audio ports + Optical SPDIF
• HDMI & DVI output connectors
• OC Genie Lite Overclocking Technology
• Lossless 24bit/192kHz HD Audio
• 7.1 channel surround sound effect

From the feature list above, it can be seen that this is a powerful multimedia board with plenty of I/O options. For anyone considering building their own HTPC, the 890GXM-G65 would be a worthy choice.

An HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer) is a PC configured for home media requirements. Typically it will be used for watching movies or TV but may also be used for listening to music, playing games or browsing the Internet. An HTPC is usually integrated with other home theater components such as a remote control, television, Blu-Ray player, amplifier and speaker system.