Goodbye Tivo, Hello Custom Built HTPC

[Jump_Ace]

Because my Tivo Netflix playback is pretty poor and because usb playback on my Roku is
equally poor, I've decided to replace them both with a Home Theater PC (HTPC).

Since we aren't on a contract with Tivo we can cancel at anytime. We also have two
Tivo's in the house, one in my 'office/game room' that I haven't used for about a year.
We will also drop one cableCARD rental from our Frontier FIOS. So we will be saving
about $30 a month with the HTPC, which will pay for itself in a couple years. I wish I'd
done it a year ago when we got our last Tivo, but that's how it is.

One requirement for this HTPC is that it must have very high WAF. If there's no high WAF, then I'll have to return all the hardware.

Below are specs for the unit, I'll post some pics of it soon

Hardware:
- Processor -
Core i3 4330 3.5GHz CPU
- Motherboard -
Asus B85M-G Socket 1150 (spring for a more expensive MoBo, this one doesn't boot off USB 👎)
- Memory -
Crucial 2x2GB PC10600
- Keyboard/Mouse -
Logitech K400 KB/Touchpad Wireless (use in rare occassions where I need KB+M it just sits on top the HTPC)
- Hard Drives -
OCZ 120GB SSD (OS Drive)
Seagate 3TB SATA 6Gbps Hard Drive (Media HDD)
- Case With Power Supply -
Coolermaster Mini 210 300W mATX
- Remote -
Logitech Harmony 650 Remote I already owned it and it has a Media Center config embedded, nice! I also already owned a SIIG Windows MCE Remote and am using that IR receiver with the HTPC
- CableCARD & cableCARD Tuner Adapter -
Renting just one cableCARD from TV Provider
Ceton infiniTV4PCIe Tuner
- Blu-Ray Disc Playback
Since I never rent Blu-Ray discs I didn't drop more money on a BD drive. Prices on these are pretty cheap now a-days.

Software:
- Windows 7 Pro (uh, not free)
- Windows Media Center (aka WMC - free with Win 7/8 Pro), will record HD premium channels and record 4 shows at once
- Little Registry tweak to add mkv playback. I believe WMC plays, MPG, AVI, Divx, Xvid, MP4, M4V, MP3 files. But I've only tested MKV, AVI, MP3, MP4 so far.
- Installed Amazon Prime Instant Video MCE addin
- Updated version of WMC comes with Netflix addin
- Installed Pandora MCE addin (ver. 1). Or you can use an alternative way and WMC do Pandora via a Chrome (ver. 2).
- I have the 3TB drive shared on my LAN so I can just drag and drop files for playback from any computer (assuming mobile device too)

Suggestions if you are interested in making your own HTPC:
- I tried XBMC (free) but it won't show cable channels.
- I tried MediaPortal (also free) but I could never get it to scan for channels, it's not intuitive software AT ALL.
- Windows Media Center was easy to setup, logical, powerful.

Issues:
- Some shows won't record and you get a tuner not found error even though nothing has
changed and the card and tuner are still installed and recognized in windows. There's
plenty to be found about this issue via Google, but what I found was the required WMC
services weren't set to start automatically when the computer starts. I haven't seen the
no tuner card error in two weeks now after setting the services to start automatically. 👍

Wrap-Up:
Since it's been running for a few weeks, I canceled my Tivo account and will be selling
my G3 and G4 Tivo's on Craigslist soon. I'm not expecting to get much for them, but
anything will help recoup the costs.

My HTPC does have very high WAF, so it looks like we'll be keeping it.

Jerome

 

[12thgear]

Nice job! I still have a Series 3 (Tivo HD) upstairs and used old parts for an HTPC downstairs. It's nice having a really responsive DVR, eh? I ended up using an HDHomeRun Prime as my tuner. I do have an Ethernet drop near my HTPC but no easy way to run coax, so this was perfect. And its DLNA tuner function means I can also watch live TV on my iPad (using nPlayer) or Macs (using VLC or XBMC) upstairs so it's quite flexible.

I also have Plex Media Server running with the Plex Home Theater plugin for WMC. I've been converting my Blu-ray and DVD movies and storing them on my NAS. The one sticking point for me is Netflix. The integration with WMC 7 and 8 is OK, but it's still using Silverlight, so it's bitrate limited and lacks 5.1 surround sound. My HTPC is running Windows 8 and the free app includes all the features, but it doesn't integrate with WMC and lacks full remote/keyboard control. I've been using a Lenovo N5902 backlit keyboard/mouse controller, but it'll be a sticking point when I set up the Harmony and the rest of my gear.

How's the integrated GPU working for you? I'm using a Radeon HD 7770 as the GPU in my HTPC and video content (most TV) looks fine, but there's serious judder when watching telecined movies. I've played with my pulldown settings and tweaked refresh rates to no avail. I can get around this with my own movies since Plex offers resolution adjustment and 24p support.

By the way, check out Ceton's My Media Center app. It's a pretty slick way of managing recordings and navigating the program guide using a second screen.

 

[Jump_Ace]

Ooh, thanks for the link to the app, that sounds great. I'll let you know how it goes with that.

The integrated GPU has been working excellent, no issues to speak of. I don't know for sure, but I think a few shows on Netflix have come in over 1080p, the rest of my content is 720p or so. I used to use a NAS drive but the models I tried kept the drives in a ready state, resulting in the drives being too hot to touch when you try and remove them. But having the media folder shared in my LAN is really handy. My hdmi receiver picks up the audio really well, our living room has about a 7'6" ceiling so noise bounces nicely.


Jerome