Hi all,
I am looking to set up xbmc so that I can run it on my TV in the living room.
I cannot seem to find any threads that will tell me what equipment I need to run this.
I may be blind, or stupid, or both but what I really need is a step by step guide to set up that includes options on what equipment i need, what OS to run on it and how to attach this to my TV.
I'm certainly not a complete novice with computers and have installed xbmc on my pc and have had a play around with it, but how to get it onto my TV is a bit confusing.
Any help would be appreciated.
Well, a full "how to" would take quite some time. The information is there if you look for it. I`ll give you a rundown.
Hardware:
Processor - Just about any processor will do.
RAM - 1GB is sufficient
Graphics Card - It's highly recommended you have an NVIDIA brand 8-series or above
Sound Card (IF your TV or NVIDIA card doesn't have HDMI)
USB External Hard Drive or Thumb Drive
Your TV needs to accepts any one of the following: Component, VGA, DVI, HDMI inputs.
1- Download the XBMC-Live ISO
2- Burn the ISO to disc
3- Put the Computer together
4- Connect your TV and USB Drive to the Computer
5- Turn on the Computer and go into the BIOS
6- Change the Boot order to "1st: CDROM and 2nd: External Drive"
7- Insert Disc into Computer and Exit BIOS
8- The XBMC Live CD will load -- Choose "Install XBMC LIVE" on the options screen and just follow the prompts to magically turn it into an HTPC.
9- Remove the Disc when prompted and restart the HTPC
10- Put Popcorn in the microwave and grab a beer.
The only issue you may encounter is if your mobo is picky and does not boot from USB properly.
Doctor3D Wrote:Well, a full "how to" would take quite some time. The information is there if you look for it. I`ll give you a rundown.
Hardware:
Processor - Just about any processor will do.
RAM - 1GB is sufficient
Graphics Card - It's highly recommended you have an NVIDIA brand 8-series or above
Sound Card (IF your TV or NVIDIA card doesn't have HDMI)
USB External Hard Drive or Thumb Drive
Your TV needs to accepts any one of the following: Component, VGA, DVI, HDMI inputs.
1- Download the XBMC-Live ISO
2- Burn the ISO to disc
3- Put the Computer together
4- Connect your TV and USB Drive to the Computer
5- Turn on the Computer and go into the BIOS
6- Change the Boot order to "1st: CDROM and 2nd: External Drive"
7- Insert Disc into Computer and Exit BIOS
8- The XBMC Live CD will load -- Choose "Install XBMC LIVE" on the options screen and just follow the prompts to magically turn it into an HTPC.
9- Remove the Disc when prompted and restart the HTPC
10- Put Popcorn in the microwave and grab a beer.
Thanks, most of that I guessed. TV has HDMI so that should be fine, I'm going to start putting one together and search for answers as I come up against problems, bound to get some!
Wish me luck
My example:
I built my own dedicated htpc (home theater personal computer) to run xbmc and to serve my media to my big screen tv.
I built my htpc for about $400, dual core cpu (xbmc needs some cpu horsepower to avoid jerky motion when playing hd content), onboard nvidia 9400 video chip, little hard drive to install windows 7 on and a little cube case to house it all, (see my avatar under my name). Cable from htpc to tv has to be hdmi if you plan on watching HD content.
After the htpc is in place and connected to your tv, simply start windows and install xbmc, then inside of XBMC point it to the source of your media, in my case I point to media sources on my upstairs computer via my home network.
For controller I use a wireless mouse and keyboard that sits on my coffee table which is in front of my tv.
tcman47 Wrote:Cable from htpc to tv has to be hdmi if you plan on watching HD content.
Simply not true.....HD can be passed with DVI and component as well.
tcman47 Wrote:My example:
I built my own dedicated htpc (home theater personal computer) to run xbmc and to serve my media to my big screen tv.
I built my htpc for about $400, dual core cpu (xbmc needs some cpu horsepower to avoid jerky motion when playing hd content), onboard nvidia 9400 video chip, little hard drive to install windows 7 on and a little cube case to house it all, (see my avatar under my name). Cable from htpc to tv has to be hdmi if you plan on watching HD content.
After the htpc is in place and connected to your tv, simply start windows and install xbmc, then inside of XBMC point it to the source of your media, in my case I point to media sources on my upstairs computer via my home network.
For controller I use a wireless mouse and keyboard that sits on my coffee table which is in front of my tv.
Personally, $400 is way too much for a HTPC. I could build 3 for that price. Short of the graphics cards and the optionally sleek cases, the two I have built were made out of spare parts I had laying around the house.
A dual-core is NOT necessary to run HD content if you have an NVIDIA card. While the HTPC that is hooked to my projector does have a dual-core, my HTPC in the bedroom is running off an old AMD64 3000+ and my brother has one made out of a VERY old celeron with 512mb of RAM.
I can't tell a difference between any of the three HTPC mentioned above. My brother's HTPC ran him about 80 bucks for internal parts and just using a case I gave him. There is very little CPU processing going on when running through VDPAU via NVIDIA.
Personally, I'd spend the extra money that was saved by not opting for an over-powered PC on extra storage space and a remote control.
Doctor3D Wrote:Personally, $400 is way too much for a HTPC. I could build 3 for that price. Short of the graphics cards and the optionally sleek cases, the two I have built were made out of spare parts I had laying around the house.
A dual-core is NOT necessary to run HD content if you have an NVIDIA card. While the HTPC that is hooked to my projector does have a dual-core, my HTPC in the bedroom is running off an old AMD64 3000+ and my brother has one made out of a VERY old celeron with 512mb of RAM.
I can't tell a difference between any of the three HTPC mentioned above. My brother's HTPC ran him about 80 bucks for internal parts and just using a case I gave him. There is very little CPU processing going on when running through VDPAU via NVIDIA.
Personally, I'd spend the extra money that was saved by not opting for an over-powered PC on extra storage space and a remote control.
I am running pure 1080P HD content exclusively through my box on to my 52" flatscreen and my HDMI connection carries both the pure 1080P HD video signal and pure digital audio signal all in one cable.
If you are able to do this without any frame drops ever with less hardware and suggest the DVI is an alternative solution to HDMI, than more power to you.
tcman47 Wrote:I am running pure 1080P HD content exclusively through my box on to my 52" flatscreen and my HDMI connection carries both the pure 1080P HD video signal and pure digital audio signal all in one cable.
If you are able to do this without any frame drops ever with less hardware and suggest the DVI is an alternative solution to HDMI, than more power to you.
Respectfully, that doesn't make any sense. Pure HD runs BETTER on my HTPC than a DivX rip. Because, my card does not support DivX offloading via VDPAU. DivX rips cost me about 15% on my single-core processor. But, it runs at 5% or so on pure 1080P.
Audio processing does not even occur on the computer at all, as it goes straight out of HDMI into my receiver.
I just want the gentleman to understand that he does not need to buy expensive hardware to run XBMC. It's simply not true. The graphics card is all that really counts, anything else is negligible.
Doctor3D Wrote:Respectfully, that doesn't make any sense. Pure HD runs BETTER on my HTPC than a DivX rip. Because, my card does not support DivX offloading via VDPAU. DivX rips cost me about 15% on my single-core processor. But, it runs at 5% or so on pure 1080P.
Audio processing does not even occur on the computer at all, as it goes straight out of HDMI into my receiver.
I just want the gentleman to understand that he does not need to buy expensive hardware to run XBMC. It's simply not true. The graphics card is all that really counts, anything else is negligible.
When I built my htpc it was new and it was two years ago, back then new hardware was slightly more expensive than it is now (at the time I didn't think $400 was outrageous but maybe it was), I consulted the forums back then and all anyone said was that xmbc needed a strong cpu to run 1080p content without frame drops and that the video card didn't really matter at all because that's how the inner workings of the program ran, so that's the concept that I built my htpc around, maybe something has changed since then, not sure.
I still think a person is better off with one hdmi cable carrying both 1080P content and digital audio as opposed to a dvi cable setup but then again that's just me.
cheers
TC
Everyone has their own preference. Give it a rest. No, it is not necessary to run XBMC on a dual-core CPU and hardware acceleration does amazing things! But some people want the added power to help future-proof their system. I would rather spend the extra $x now and not have to worry about upgrading for some time... to each his own.
I would honestly like to see the specs of the 3 HTPCs you built for $400 total. That is very hard to believe. And you cannot count on others having spare parts just lying around. So using spare parts and not factoring that into the total cost is deceptive.
Just saying, the low-end for building a custom HTPC box is usually about $200!
tcman47 Wrote:I still think a person is better off with one hdmi cable carrying both 1080P content and digital audio as opposed to a dvi cable setup but then again that's just me.
cheers
TC
Yes, using the HDMI may be more convenient... but HDMI is technically DVI with audio. You can get by with DVI and optical audio and obtain the same end result.
bmcclure937 Wrote:Just saying, the low-end for building a custom HTPC box is usually about $200!
No way. Let's just say I wanted to build a quick lil HTPC right now.
I can go on Ebay right now and pick up an old AMD64 939 processor and board for $10.00
1 GB ddr ram with 1h 57 mins left currently at $1.04
PSU - plenty on rail for- $8.99
Case - $10.00
8400GS 10.99
Rest all on storage, cables, etc.
This particular one I just put together via Ebay is faster than the one in my bedroom and It only took me literally 3 minutes to do that search. I'm a very patient and smart shopper though. I could get that number down even lower. In this economy there is no reason to spend $200 on something that runs with no intensive overhead and almost entirely off a graphics card.
Now, gaming PC? Yeah. I`ll break the bank on that.
Oh dear! I seem to have caused a slight arguement.
Seriously folks, thanks for all your replies so far.
I have burnt the live iso and will start looking around for a pc to put it on now.
Would an old Xbox be any good? Not sure about external storage though.
Whats the best way to get a remote control set up for a home made pc please? From what I've read so far it sounds a bit tricky.