Need advice setting up HTPC

D

Devilpup

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Sep 4, 2002
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I've been building PCs for quite a while but never actually set up a HTPC. I finally got a "let's look into this and maybe do it" from my wife so I need some advice from people with experience. First off, I plan to build it using my old hardware:

Lian-Li PC-60b case
AMD PII 550 w/ mobo
AMD 4870 vid card
4gb RAM
Win 7 home (32 bit, because I already have an extra copy)

Problem 1 - Ripping
Originally I tried to just copy the files from my dvds to the hard drive because I want to preserve the menus, full surround sound, and full quality. I'm not interested in degrading the quality of my movies because I spent a good deal of money on my home theater system, and I want to keep the full high-def sound and visual experience. When I tried to play it in Media Center though it came up saying it was not formatted properly (DRM issue I think). I used HD Decrypter from DVDFab to rip a test disc at full quality, and it seemed to work. I haven't used it on the HT system yet so can anyone let me know if this actually keeps all the goodies like 5.1 channel sound? If not, can you recommend a good program (preferably free) that will? I have probably about 900 or so discs that I'd eventually like to put into the server so I won't have to mess with the discs anymore.

Problem 2 - Connectivity
My original plan was to use my main rig as a file server and just stream the video to the HTPC over my home wireless network. I've been reading though that a normal home network won't provide enough bandwidth to stream full dvd quality. What would I need to do to make this happen wirelessly or would I be better off just putting the storage drives in the HTPC itself?

Problem 3 - Programs
Right now I'm looking at controlling everything with Windows Media Center and the Media Browser plugin. Is there a (free) program out that is better for cataloging and browsing a large selection?

Problem 4 - Control
I have a Logitech Harmony One remote that I'd like to use to control the media player. From what I gather, it can be programmed to do this providing I get an IR receiver for the HTPC. Is anyone using a One to control their HTPC? If so, how did you set it up?

I'm sure I'll have more questions as I work on this but I appreciate any help/advice you guys can provide.
 
First advice if there is no gaming going to take place on the computer, get rid of the 4870 and get a cheap 54XX or 64XX based ATI card.

As for bandwidth don't use wireless, what I use is Powerline networking which should have enought bandwidth to stream any blu-ray quailty video file. I get close to 100Mbit which is more then enought. As long as your place is somewhat new, you should be fine.
 
Well, only reason I'm using the 4870 is because I already have it.

I'll have to look into the powerline networking thing, I'll admit I know even less about how that works than I do about wireless.
 
I can stream DVDs over my wireless -N network...however not blu-rays. Also, I find that powerline networking is not enough to stream all blu-rays..I could stream some, but the more demanding ones would not work over a powerline network (I find you need at least 10MB/s to ensure streaming any Blu-ray over a network). I needed to go to full gigabit to ensure I could stream all blu-rays. It should be possible to stream DVDs over powerline networks with no problems. All based on my own experience with using them in my house.

If you buy a media center remote, you can use the IR receiver that comes with it with your Harmony. You can find a device called "media center remote" for the Harmony, and just select that when you want to control your HTPC. Works great.

Why don't you just copy your DVDs to folders and use the built in player in WMC to play DVDs? You don't need to use anything for a DVD. That works fine on my system though I do have klite installed, but that's mainly so I can play MKVs ripped from blu-rays (I have a combination of DVD folders, ripped MKVs (bit perfect) and ISOs for blu-rays on my media server. The MKVs are mostly for TV episodes taken from blu-rays as I find the menus to be a pain for TV). I use PowerDVDUltra 11 to play blu-ray ISOs.
 
Thanks for the info, I was looking at the WMC remote since it was cheap so it's good to know that it will work.

I am using the built in WMC player to play it, just using the Media Browser plug in to add the extras like movie info and cover art. Originally I just opened the dvd with explorer and copied the file over, but when I tried to play it I got an error message saying "this disc is not formatted for this region" or something. I deleted that then used the DVDFab program to rip it to the hdd instead, and after that it played fine. I've just never really gotten into organizing a media library on the computer before, so I didn't know if maybe there were better programs out there to browse libraries.
 
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