Home Theatre PC (HTPC) v2.0
Background | Components | Images | The Build | Configuration and Testing
Background
HDTV is going mainstream, and with my recent purchase of a Prima 42" Plasma HDTV, it's time to add HD capabilities to the HTPC. My Generation 1 HTPC has worked very well for me over the past year, but some of the hardware components just aren't fast enough to handle HD video streams and upsampling of DVDs to 720p resolution. I would also like to reduce the noise level a bit from what it is at right now. Therefore, the Generation 2 machine is coming together over the next couple of weeks!
Additional capabilities of this machine over the previous machine include:
- - A new case with stronger PSU to support the more power-hungry upgraded hardware, and capable of holding up to 7 expansion cards in a standard, upright configuration. Front panel VFD for status information.
- - Over-the-air (ATSC) HDTV tuner card for HD broadcast reception without having to pay monthly for digital cable + HD receiver.
- - Upgraded Beyond TV software with HDTV recording.
- - Faster CPU and video card for smooth playback of high resolution video from HD and upsampled-DVD sources. This machine will also take over as my primary game PC when I get a laptop for my desktop in the future, so the motherboard supports the latest AMD dual-core processors and NVidia's SLI spec for dual-GPU performance.
- - Quieter; the Nexus 120mm CPU fan and 80mm case fans will help with that. I believe the new PSU fan will be quieter as well. The 2.5" laptop hard disk will also be quieter than the 3.5" currently installed. Even the Plextor DVD drive will be quieter than the previous, a Lite-On.
Images
Images of the initial build. No HDTV tuner card yet. I will add more photos when the card is installed, and when the HTPC is installed in my currently non-existent stereo rack.
The Build
To my delight, there have been no significant issues building this system. There were a few minor issues that I was able to work out with little trouble.
The Thermalright XP-120 is BIG. Especially with a 120mm fan mounted on top of it. Fortunately, the Asus A8N-SLI Premium provides a generous amount of space around the CPU socket. Even with this much space, the heatpipes of the XP-120 barely fit without interfering with other motherboard components. When positioned one way, the heapipes did not clear the motherboard's MOSFET CPU voltage regulator heatsink. When positioned the other way, it just clears the first RAM stick in socket A1. The OCZ RAM I chose is equipped with heat spreaders, which add slightly to the width of the stick, and the XP-120 heatpipes fit with have maybe 3mm of clearance. It might be difficult to remove the RAM without removing the CPU heatsink.
The Ahanix MCE601 case is beautiful. Its oval-shaped VFD window matches nicely with my NAD audio components. I only wish it was available in the gunmetal grey of the NAD gear. I do have several minor naggles with the case, though:
- - I had to remove the CPU fan duct that was screwed to the case cover. It interfered with the large XP-120 w/ 120mm fan.
- - I wish the vent above the CPU was large enough to fully vent a 120mm fan. It appears to be appropriate for only an 80mm or 92mm fan. The vent above the PCI slots looks precisely the right size, too bad the CPU vent is smaller.
- - I had minor trouble installing the aluminum DVD faceplate, which I will elaborate on below. It's possible that the Plextor drive tray varies from the norm, so this may not be a fault of Ahanix.
- - The stock 60mm fans (one of them in particular), while relatively quiet, have a mildy annoying (and easily noticeable) buzz, and will be replaced with SilenX iXtrema Pro 60mm 8dB fans, or possibly 80mm fans with adapters.
- - The drive cages (HDD and DVD) both have sharp edges. The rest of the case is nicely rounded or smoothed, why not the drive cages?
- - The factory slot covers are of the "break off" variety. For a $300 case, these should be of the reusable screwed-in type. My cheap-o desktop tower case came with reusable slot covers, why not this premium (expensive) case?
- - The blue LED power indicator is way too bright. It is more like an LED flashlight when viewed straight on. This LED needs a diffuser coating to even out and diminish its output.
- - The VFD needs an internal connector. The external parallel port connector is ridiculous.
- - The case did not come with a cover for the external 3 1/2" drive bay. When I open the front panel, there is a gaping hole. I will fill it with a flash memory reader.
I was a bit hesitant to use the (expensive) Plextor SATA DVD drive. nForce4 specs say that it is capable of recognizing ATAPI devices on SATA, and after reading about others successfully using this drive on nForce4-based motherboards, I felt confident enough to give it a try. With the drive plugged into the Silicon Image 3114 SATA RAID controller (the Red SATA headers on the motherboard), I would receive a BSoD when installing Windows, at the point where the installer says "Starting Windows Setup". I then plugged the drive into the second port of the nForce4 SATA headers (the Black ones) and it worked flawlessly. The drive has a solid, confident 'clunk' when closing, like a quality CD player. It also allows me to configure the drive speed for silent operation, and even to change the speed at which the tray opens and closes for a quiet, luxurious, slow motion. Doesn't hurt that it came with a copy of Roxio.
I removed the plastic drive tray faceplate from the Plextor to install the Ahanix aluminum faceplate. However, the drive tray has a small plastic "nub" on the tip, which prevents proper installation of the aluminum faceplate. I simply trimmed it down a bit with some wire snips. Also, the aluminum faceplate has protrusions on both ends which prevented the drive tray from closing completely. I snipped those off as well (with said wire snips), and was then able to position the Ahanix faceplate correctly for proper drive tray closure.
I thought that my XFX GeForce 7600 GS, with it's PureVideo capability, would include the actual PureVideo decoder software. Sadly it seems that it does not, and the cost for the desired Platinum version is a whopping $50 USD, a full 1/3rd of the cost of the video card itself! Big disappointment.
I suspended the 2.5" Fujitsu laptop hard disk inside the hard drive cage using the only thing I could find on-hand: a shoelace! It's a surprisingly good system, as I wound it through the cage several times and it could probably hold 2 more drives, if desired. It is a bit unsightly though, and doesn't provide a way to secure the drive in place - it is currently just resting on one of the "shelves". A more permanent solution is in the works. It's worth noting that I can't hear this drive at all while the fans in the case are running. A significant improvement over the previous 3.5" Seagate HDD!
The DViCO FusionHDTV5 Lite has been ordered and is in the mail. I will update this page once it is installed.
Configuration and Testing
I followed SpHeRe31459's FAQ for setting up TheaterTek DVD, the PureVideo decoder, and ffdshow and wow! Finally things are really looking great on my HDTV, and CPU usage is averaging only 15-20%. I'm really impressed!
The desktop resolution is set to 1280x720, output is via DVI to the HDMI port on the display, which uses a 720p timing to display this. The display's native resolution is 1024x768 (damn those rectangular pixels), so of course, it is doing some scaling, but it looks very good! There is no over/underscan, colours are vibrant, and lines are reasonably sharp. I tried 1920x1080 (the display uses 1080i for this) but the image looks softer and slightly washed out, not to mention that the higher resolution taxes the CPU and GPU more. It is also difficult to use Windows on the PC in 1080i as text, icons and interface controls are too small and blurry. 720p it is.
So I setup the video decoder and ffdshow as per SpHeRe31459's FAQ, used just a little bit of sharpening in ffdshow and what a difference it made. Léon: The Professional looks like it's in HD! Ice Age looks equally impressive, with it's bright colours and sharp detail. Shadow detail is good, and the picture looks very film-like with no visible pixelization while maintaining sharp details. Textures (like clothing) and hair look particularly good.
The Prima 42" plasma has some peculiarities of its own (as do most cheaper plasma displays, I imagine), but once it's dialed in it is really wonderful. I used the NVidia Display Optimizer, which is just a tool in the NVidia display control panel. It helps you setup your brightness and gamma. The brightness setting was helpful, however the gamma that this tool recommended was much too dark. I stuck with the default gamma and found that to be appropriate for both DVDs and TV.
Also worth noting is that the black levels with DVI/HDMI are significantly better than with an analog VGA connection. VGA produces more of a dark grey than a black, and an occasional instability in brightness as well. The DVI connection is nice and black, and rock solid.
The 720p mode (as well as the other Progressive modes like 480p) on the Prima has a bug. The TV seems to have a sync/refresh problem, where the top 2/3 of the image refresh faster than the bottom 1/3, causing a distinct horizontal line break across the image 1/3 of the way up from the bottom. As you can imagine, upon discovering this I was shocked! How could my new 42" Plasma have such a big defect?! Of course, I Googled it and found that I wasn't the only one having this issue, and nobody seemed to have a solution. It looked like I was going to have to either return the TV, hope for tech support to fix it, or use it in the less pleasing 1080i mode (none of the Interlaced modes show the problem). I was playing around in the TV's setup menus, trying to see if there was any adjustment that might fix the problem, when I discovered that if I enter "Freeze" mode (which simply freezes/pauses the image currently being displayed) and then back out of it, the sync problem disappears! Needless to say I am very happy about this, and it gives me hope that Prima can probably fix this problem with a firmware adjustment or upgrade via the TV's serial port. With that problem mitigated, I'm free to use the ideal 720p mode and enjoy viewing without the distracting artifact.
The last problem I've had is that the TV's IR codes overlap with some of the codes for my HTPC remote control. When I use the left/right navigation buttons, the TV tries changes its volume (which isn't being used anyway). When I press the menu/guide button on the remote, the TV toggles its preset mode (between Movies, Multimedia, Weak Signal, Personal, etc). These are customizable brightness/contrast/colour presets. I have calibrated the Personal mode and so I have to switch it back to Personal each time it jumps out of it. One of the other buttons on the remote toggles the TV's Mute function. It helps to try and point the remote only at the PC, but sometimes the TV still picks up the signal.
I'm happy to report that the Plextor SATA DVD drive, when dialed down to 2X with the included software tool, is very quiet. Just as quiet as my NAD T533 DVD player, which is to say, virtually silent.
The FusionHDTV5 Lite should arrive this week and now I'm very excited to finally try some real HD television programming. Another update once I get that setup.