[eamiryar]

I forgot to mention that I also have a combo HD DVD/Blu-Ray reader coming with todays goodies too. I have a few HD DVD movies that I got with the XBox HD DVD unit and want the functionality to be able to play "any" HD media with this project so I'm hoping this works out okay.

For the money it's a steal!

I almost jumped on that deal the other day when there was a $10 off coupon for it, but I decided to hold off until XBMC officially supports Bluray (and I know that will probably be years). Also, unless you plan on doing encodes on the media center itself, I'd recommend installing this drive in your primary PC so you can make x264 video rips from your bluray/hddvd media. You can share the drive out to PowerDVD over the network to support disc playback I think, but you'll need something like AnyDVD HD.

Honestly though I'm fine with mkv containers. I always thought the menus and extras would be important but when I actually stopped to think about it I realized I *never* watch the bonus stuff.

[eamiryar]

eamiryar,
one quick question, I noticed that you are using optical audio, have you tried HDMI?


Thanks

I'm using optical audio. At the present time I do not have a receiver that supports HDMI inputs and I don't plan on upgrading until a 4+ HDMI input unit drops in price. I also suspect that XBMC will support audio over HDMI soon (not based on any posts, just a guess) and I'd like to keep this box as "stock" as possible. I'm getting to the point where I'm tired of tinkering, I just want stuff to work. XBMC Live with the hardware list in my other thread is just about as "PnP" as it gets.

[eamiryar]

Just realized this mobo has a series 9 geforce chip. I could be wrong, but I though I read a thread a while back about the geforce 9 series video cards having some issues with xbmc live. Again, could be totally wrong, and the issue might be resolved by now, but it's worth searching on to make sure.

[GaryT]

I almost jumped on that deal the other day when there was a $10 off coupon for it, but I decided to hold off until XBMC officially supports Bluray (and I know that will probably be years). Also, unless you plan on doing encodes on the media center itself, I'd recommend installing this drive in your primary PC so you can make x264 video rips from your bluray/hddvd media. You can share the drive out to PowerDVD over the network to support disc playback I think, but you'll need something like AnyDVD HD.

Honestly though I'm fine with mkv containers. I always thought the menus and extras would be important but when I actually stopped to think about it I realized I *never* watch the bonus stuff.

Yeah, I know I'm taking a bit of a risk with the optical drive but I'm considering running Windows on this in some flavor simply for the reasons of ripping the movies.

[GaryT]

Just realized this mobo has a series 9 geforce chip. I could be wrong, but I though I read a thread a while back about the geforce 9 series video cards having some issues with xbmc live. Again, could be totally wrong, and the issue might be resolved by now, but it's worth searching on to make sure.

As far as support under Live, it works out of the box. The only thing I had to do was enable vertical sync for a slight video tearing issue.

[GaryT]

Got the parts in yesterday and completed the physical assembly tonight. The case is killer and has plenty of room inside - enough that I could keep the cabling pretty clean.

I had a dual socket IDE/CF adaptor with 2x 2GB CF's from a previous project which I dropped in but I dunno if I'll use them or not just yet...

I know the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray won't work with XBMC so I'll likely run Windows on it and play HD media from there. I'm still debating the install though so I'll let you know the direction I end up going in.

Here are a few pics of the build...

[BLKMGK]

Same exact case I've got. The side fan will be noisy due to the air pulling through the tiny vent. You may also find that the P/S doesn't vent properly as there's NO holes under it and every P/S i found wanted to vent downwards - I drilled the heck ouot of mine as a result. Getting the LCD to work under Linux is a PITA and the IRDA receiver was likewise an issue for me - hopefully your case has updated\different electronics for that.

[GaryT]

Same exact case I've got. The side fan will be noisy due to the air pulling through the tiny vent. You may also find that the P/S doesn't vent properly as there's NO holes under it and every P/S i found wanted to vent downwards - I drilled the heck ouot of mine as a result. Getting the LCD to work under Linux is a PITA and the IRDA receiver was likewise an issue for me - hopefully your case has updated\different electronics for that.

I know it is, I took the liberty of using the info you have in your signature! Thanks for the useful info man!

I knew about the bottom vents before I purchased it, again I think it was from a post that you had made so I looked at options. The case I got does have them but it came at the cost of an extra $100!

Here's a shot if the inards...



The power supply is so perfect for this case, I was able to almost hide all of the cables with with some careful routing so as not to hinder air flow too much.

I've heard about the noisy fans from other posts but so far this one os really quiet. I'll see how it goes.

I'm still on the fence about the OS; I find myself bouncing back and forth for one reason or another! LOL

[danillll]

GaryT, this looks very beautiful, so what version of XBMC did you end up with?
I still didn't order my parts, hopefully this coming Tuesday, I just want to see what I'll get for my birthday
I liked your case, but it's way out of my budget, what other case would you recommend for 100$ max?

To be ready when I get my parts, I have been testing different XBMC setup on my HP 8510w which has a 2.2GHz dual core and nvidia FX-570m .
I installed the live version and the windows version (both with the multithreading ffmpeg version to take advantage of the dual core), however, I noticed, playing the same mkv on both versions, that the CPU usage on windows is slightly higher.
So in my opinion here is the pros and cons for each:

Linux/Live:
- Slightly faster/ Less CPU usage (compared to XBMC windows version)
- Easy to develop, update and build your own XBMC version
- Tricky to configure all the hardwares/drivers (hdmi audio, bluetooth, etc...)

Windows:
- It was a plug and play solution, very easy to setup
- Little bit slow and more cpu usage

Oh btw, I was able to use my BD PS3 remote on the windows version, all you need is the "PS3 remote application", it's very easy to setup and map keys (It would also work for linux).
I highly recommend the PS3 BD, it's bluetooth, works perfectly and if you go to a nearby closing Circuit City right now, you can get it for ONLY 17$!!! very cheap, I already bought 3 for my friends

I'm using optical audio. At the present time I do not have a receiver that supports HDMI inputs and I don't plan on upgrading until a 4+ HDMI input unit drops in price. I also suspect that XBMC will support audio over HDMI soon (not based on any posts, just a guess) and I'd like to keep this box as "stock" as possible. I'm getting to the point where I'm tired of tinkering, I just want stuff to work. XBMC Live with the hardware list in my other thread is just about as "PnP" as it gets.

eamiryar I recently got the Pioneer VSX-1018AH-K, it's a very good receiver, it has 3 hdmi in and one out, I got it from best buy, I was able to price match walmart online and brought the price down from 600 to 450$

[bobd76]

...I installed the live version and the windows version (both with the multithreading ffmpeg version to take advantage of the dual core)...

Can you clarify that please, danillll? I too will be installing XBMC windows on a dual-core, and I want to make sure I'm getting the full use out of it. I assumed all I had to do was install a recent version, and it would automatically maximize the dual-core CPU. Is that not true? DO I have to do more tweaking?

[GaryT]

It's tough to come up with a decent case that looks the part and doesn't cost the earth. BLKMGK has a case identical to mine which you can pick up for about $150 though it will still need a power supply added to that cost.

Originally, I was going to put an XBMC in four rooms of our house so the original idea was to get the expensive case for the front room where my home theater sits and cheaper cases for the other three rooms. I found a way to utilise XBox 360's which we have in these locations already so I didn't follow through with my original plan but the case I actually bought (but returned) was the following...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811108095

It's nicely built and comes with a power supply and hosted my parts pretty well. If you're on a budget you can consider it but note that the front flap has to be opened before you can eject the CD. I was going for a clean look above most other things.

I ended up going with Windows Vista for a couple of reasons; simplicity in getting the iMon remote software and VFD working, to be able to watch Blu-Ray and HD-DVD using CyberLink and also to have the ability to rip movies.

I've had to get creative with the wife'ability thing to allow her to use the system easily but most things are possible with tweaking my Harmony 880 and iMon to do what I need.

I actually just finished the setup and installed everything in the final resting places today and ran my wife through the system. To say she likes it is an understatement and I have to say the presentation and final install looks killer!!!! I love the MediaStream skin!

For what it's worth, if I didn't have the extra requirements I would run Live as a first choice for some of the reasons you've already identified.

[danillll]

GaryT
Glad that your enjoying the system and thanks for your inputs and suggestions.
what is the average CPU utilization on your 3ghz dual core when running a 1080p mkv with bitrate > 10mb, I am going to get the same CPU as the one you got and curious to see how it performs on vista.
I was talking to my brother who is a Nvidia engineer and was trying to get some inputs regarding the h264 decoding and if it will ever be efficient to be decoded using CPU, so it looks like GPU is currently the best solution because of its parallel processing power and its compatibility with the cross matrices the h264 algorithm uses, so even with a powerful CPU, I hope XBMC GPU supports come out soon.

Can you clarify that please, danillll? I too will be installing XBMC windows on a dual-core, and I want to make sure I'm getting the full use out of it. I assumed all I had to do was install a recent version, and it would automatically maximize the dual-core CPU. Is that not true? DO I have to do more tweaking?

bobd76 , I am not sure if the official versions (the one you get from the XBMC download page) has the ffmpef multi-threaded version, however I highly recommend to use the recently built ones despite its bugs.
For windows, you can grab one of Jester's builds, http://ocs.nl/xbmc/ grab the one with ffmpeg-mt.exe at the end

For live, check this http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=44019 and follow "To install XBMC (latest SVN)" steps

[tcman47]

Got my parts on thursday, built it on friday, tweaked it saturday afternoon and sunday morning:

[danillll]

I placed the order last night for the following, can't wait to get these toys!!!!

CPU INTEL|C2D E8400 3G 775 45N R - Retail
MEM 2GX2|A-DATA ADQVE1B16K R - Retail
MB GIGABYTE GA-E7AUM-DS2H 9400 RT - Retail
DVD BURN LG|GH22NS30 22X SATA % - OEM
CASE ANTEC|NSK2480 BK/SIL RT - Retail

How long did it take newegg to deliver your hardware? Can't wait

bobd76, I just noticed that I got the same CPU, Case and Mobo as yours, how do you like your setup so far? Do you like the case

[GaryT]

Nice looking system man, glad you got it up and runing. What's the version of XBMC, I'm assuming Live - considering the forum?