HTPC Hardware (MB, RAM, Video Card etc)
My Coolermaster experience of years gone by has left a VERY sour taste in my mouth. In fact, anything with proprietary PSUs have been scratched of my possible list of purchases. The 280 seems to do away with a lot of my old gripes with large fans, standard PSU and a MCE compatible remote system. From the article: This case […]
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Zalman, long known for their cooling supplies, has taken the HTPC market by storm with their latest cases. Of course, they appear to from good heritage ;). The HD160XT is the grand daddy in Zalman's lineup and sports a 7" touchscreen, MCE compatible remote, card reader, and a nice array of media buttons on the front. Although most HTPC case […]
Read moreGizmodo, those lucky bastards, have gotten their grubby mitts on a Desktop 8000 keyboard from MS. Priced at $249 it makes the Logitech Edge look somewhat cheap but it looks like it would be a great addition to a media center setup. A nice addition to the keyboard is the built-in 4-port powered hub in the dock. From the article: […]
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Anyone who's ever built an HTPC knows how important it is to have a quiet system in place. Nothing worse than a silent dramatic part of a film & hearing the whirring of the fans inside your system. Passively cooled video cards definitely help, but keep in mind they also increase the internal temperature of your system. PowerColor has partnered […]
Read moreWith the release of the 690G chipset to the public, HTPC enthusiasts everywhere are wondering if this is the next 6150 chipset killer. On paper, it appears to be very well suited with its integrated graphics sporting HDMI out with HDCP. However, it seems to fall flat with gaming performance only slightly better then the 6150 and CPU useage during […]
Read moreI haven;t made the leap into Pre-N, or MIMO G for that matter. I guess I was lucky with what little streaming I did to my laptop. However, Pre-N does hold promise of a future without wires. However, just for the speed of moving large files and the reliability of the connection, I would expect my next project to remain […]
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Thanks, as always, for Chris L. pointing out this Media Center Remote Front panel from ACS! I see some nice potential for surrounding room control. For example, in a great room style house, you would not need an additional zone to listen to your HTPC, but it would be nice to have an inexpensive solution like this to control your […]
Read moreMore of a high level summary, but still not a bad place to start if you're interested in building your own HTPC. They list the pros & cons of several component options, and may help you narrow the decision making so you can stop thinking & actually buy. Make sure you do some research on all components you plan on […]
Read moreI stumbled across an article from the NY Times talking about the Microsoft 7000 keyboard. Now its time to figure out when the 7000 and 8000 keyboards will finally make its way to market. I guess the cool feature for me is a static electricity sensor that will turn the keyboard backlight on and off as your hands approach. I […]
Read moreSiliconDust has finally released beta drivers for the HDHomeRun to get QAM working in MCE. It is a bit of a cludge right now because MCE does not support QAM EPG. You have to map the OTA channels you get in the area to the QAM tuner channels so you can get the EPG information needed. There is a lot […]
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