Comments on: Home Theater Projects http://themediaviking.com Home Theaters Done The Viking Way Thu, 20 Jan 2011 08:46:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: A New Year Brings New Projects | The Media Viking http://themediaviking.com/home-theater-projects/comment-page-1/#comment-5 A New Year Brings New Projects | The Media Viking Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:46:48 +0000 http://themediaviking.com/?page_id=35#comment-5 [...] to expand my home theater setup. My current setup is rather lacking as you will notice on the Projects page. I currently stream all my media across the network to my HDTV via my Playstation 3. You all [...] [...] to expand my home theater setup. My current setup is rather lacking as you will notice on the Projects page. I currently stream all my media across the network to my HDTV via my Playstation 3. You all [...]

]]> By: DamianP http://themediaviking.com/home-theater-projects/comment-page-1/#comment-4 DamianP Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:36:00 +0000 http://themediaviking.com/?page_id=35#comment-4 Right now W7/WMC + MediaBrowser was been my UI of choice. It has been the most flexible for me to arrange all my content and has been very easy for my wife to operate all with only using my Harmony remotes. I still mess around with XBMC/Boxee/SageTV/MediaPortal on my desktop PC, so it is not set in stone that I may switch down the road. I will wait until the next release of MediaBrowser under the new paid model to determine if I stick with it our look elsewhere. My HTPC cases are two different extremes. In my bedroom I just went with a generic HEC mATX case, basically cheap and desktop pc looking. For my Family Room I went with the Antec Fusion Black. Right now they both work well. When I eventually replace I would probably like to go with something smaller. Hopefully with Clarkdale, Pinetrail, etc... we should have a lot of good choices down the road. Right now W7/WMC + MediaBrowser was been my UI of choice. It has been the most flexible for me to arrange all my content and has been very easy for my wife to operate all with only using my Harmony remotes. I still mess around with XBMC/Boxee/SageTV/MediaPortal on my desktop PC, so it is not set in stone that I may switch down the road. I will wait until the next release of MediaBrowser under the new paid model to determine if I stick with it our look elsewhere.

My HTPC cases are two different extremes. In my bedroom I just went with a generic HEC mATX case, basically cheap and desktop pc looking. For my Family Room I went with the Antec Fusion Black. Right now they both work well. When I eventually replace I would probably like to go with something smaller. Hopefully with Clarkdale, Pinetrail, etc… we should have a lot of good choices down the road.

]]> By: vidkun http://themediaviking.com/home-theater-projects/comment-page-1/#comment-3 vidkun Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:11:55 +0000 http://themediaviking.com/?page_id=35#comment-3 Time and money. They always seem to hold you back. That's why I haven't built up the HTCP yet. I run mostly Linux on my network, but do have a few windows based virtual machines running for certain required functions. Though when I build the HTPC, it will probably run Win 7 for best codec support and occasional blu-ray play back from disc. I still like XBMC for the frontend though. Have you found anything you like better yet? Another hold up is the case for HTPC. I want something decent, but cheap. I can't justify $200+ for an HTPC case. What cases do you use/like for HTPC's? Again price comes about. I went with the Norco because it allowed for 20 bays for storage alone (there are 2 internal bays for OS drives) and the price was one of the cheapest I could find. It also got a lot of great reviews over on the AVS Forums. Time and money. They always seem to hold you back. That’s why I haven’t built up the HTCP yet. I run mostly Linux on my network, but do have a few windows based virtual machines running for certain required functions. Though when I build the HTPC, it will probably run Win 7 for best codec support and occasional blu-ray play back from disc. I still like XBMC for the frontend though. Have you found anything you like better yet?

Another hold up is the case for HTPC. I want something decent, but cheap. I can’t justify $200+ for an HTPC case. What cases do you use/like for HTPC’s?

Again price comes about. I went with the Norco because it allowed for 20 bays for storage alone (there are 2 internal bays for OS drives) and the price was one of the cheapest I could find. It also got a lot of great reviews over on the AVS Forums.

]]> By: DamianP http://themediaviking.com/home-theater-projects/comment-page-1/#comment-2 DamianP Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:39:41 +0000 http://themediaviking.com/?page_id=35#comment-2 Looks sharp. I was looking at the Norco but decided I wanted a pedistal case instead, so I went with the Chenbro SR109 which gives me 1 O/S drive and potential for 15 storage drives. Right now I have all but 2 bays filled at about 16TB. Most of my drives are 1TB WD GP drives with a few 1.5TB and 2TB drives. If/when I run out of space I will probably slowly replace the 1TB drives with the 2TB drives (I just picked up a few of the WD GP 2TB drives for $139, lowest price I have seen on these). I am running WHS and so far am very happy with it (was running WHS on my HP EX470 for about a year before I built Shawshank). My house is a mix of HTPCs (2) and media players (PCH C-200, Xtreamer, Myka, HD200, etc...). My HTPCs though are my main players, using WMC + MediaBrowser as the main UI. I do a lot of messing around with XBMC, I am hoping they get DXVA for Windows and a centralized db up soon which would make it more practical for my setup. It is definitely time to ditch the PS3 and go the HTPC route :-) Cheers Damian Looks sharp. I was looking at the Norco but decided I wanted a pedistal case instead, so I went with the Chenbro SR109 which gives me 1 O/S drive and potential for 15 storage drives. Right now I have all but 2 bays filled at about 16TB. Most of my drives are 1TB WD GP drives with a few 1.5TB and 2TB drives. If/when I run out of space I will probably slowly replace the 1TB drives with the 2TB drives (I just picked up a few of the WD GP 2TB drives for $139, lowest price I have seen on these). I am running WHS and so far am very happy with it (was running WHS on my HP EX470 for about a year before I built Shawshank). My house is a mix of HTPCs (2) and media players (PCH C-200, Xtreamer, Myka, HD200, etc…). My HTPCs though are my main players, using WMC + MediaBrowser as the main UI. I do a lot of messing around with XBMC, I am hoping they get DXVA for Windows and a centralized db up soon which would make it more practical for my setup.

It is definitely time to ditch the PS3 and go the HTPC route :-)

Cheers
Damian

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