All Digital Home

Theater	Audio
Network	Phone
Gadgets	Home

Overview

I decided to add a PC to my home theater for two reasons. First, I wanted to have a computer handy in that room for Internet surfing. Normally I'd just bring a laptop in there, but having something displayable on the TV seemed like a good idea. Second, I wanted to experiment with DVD playback from a PC. Using a HTPC allows me to display DVD's using the HDTV inputs of my TV and lets me use all of the information available from each kind of DVD (4:3, 4:3 Letterbox, and Anamorphic). Read about aspect ratio control for more information.

Hardware

My HTPC is a homebrew unit consisting of components that were recommended by other HTPC owners and reviewed favorably elsewhere on the web and in print. The discussion at AVScience was invaluable in my decision making process. The discussion of both hardware and software is a "must read" for anyone considering buying or building a HTPC.

The complete hardware list is:

Component
Manufacturer
Model Purchased
From Comments

Motherboard
ABIT
BE6-2 Comp-U-Plus
($114) This motherboard is generally well reviewed and is well liked by overclockers (I'm not one). It has onboard ATA-66 support. I was disappointed with the board. It works just fine now, but it came with a bad floppy cable (boy was that a waste of time) and the BIOS rev it came with had trouble with ATA-66 support. I've put together quite a few systems over the years and this one took longer than usual

CPU
Pentium III 667, 133MHz FSB Comp-U-Plus
($265) Plenty of computrons for DVD playback. This was an OEM package that included a heat sink and fan. They attached quite easily and seem to work well.

Memory
128MB, 133MHz Comp-U-Plus
($134) Nothing special here

Hard Drive
Western Digital
10.2GB EIDE, 5400 RPM Comp-U-Plus
($74) I didn't really need anything special here. I just wanted something relatively quiet and at a good price point. These days (6/2000) 10GB drives are very inexpensive.

DVD-ROM
Toshiba
SD-M1212 Already Owned I took this out of my primary home computer. I replaced it with a new Toshiba model that is also a CD-R, CD-RW unit.

Display Card
Matrox
G400 32MB Dual Head Comp-U-Plus
($139) Along with NVIDIA GeForce cards, the Matrox is the most often recommended card for HTPC use. It is well liked because of its high quality and tremendous flexibility. The Matrox PowerDesk software along with Entech's PowerStrip allow a wide range of custom resolutions and timings.

Ethernet Adapter
Linksys
LNEPCI-2 Already owned This is just an old 10MBit ethernet card I happened to have. After rummaging around to find the driver, it works just fine.

Keyboard/Mouse
Liteon
Airboard Digital Connection
($49) This wireless keyboard/mouse combo has a receiver that plugs into both the keyboard and mouse ports of the computer. The small keyboard uses 4 AA batteries. The keyboard works well, the "mouse", really more of a small joystick, works OK.

Sound Card
Creative Labs
SoundBlaster Live X-Gamer Comp-U-Plus
($69) This card has a digital output that can be connected directly to a Dolby Digital receiver. Since the output expects an 1/8" audio plug, you need a $1.49 converter that allows you to plug in an RCA cable. Though I'm not a very discriminating listener, this card sounds great to me.

Case
Avance
Desktop ATX Digital Connection
($59) The dimensions of this case allow it to fit (snugly) in my component cabinets. It is the standard beige color, so I spray painted it black. I still need to paint the bezel on the DVD drive and drawer front to match.

Overall the hardware went together fairly smoothly despite glitches with the motherboard. It's a reasonably zippy system and is more than adequate for DVD playback.

Software

I've kept the software installed on this machine to a minimum. It will be used primarily for DVD playback and web surfing so I didn't want to clutter it with a bunch of other software that might end up causing me trouble later. The major software packages includes:

Software
Publisher
Program Comments

Operating System
Microsoft
Windows 98 I'm running Windows 98 (first edition) on this machine. I'd prefer to run NT or W2K for greater stability, but judging from other feedback there is not enough software support yet to make those platforms a viable choice. I'm going to keep my eye on this and convert once W2K is a viable choice.

DVD Player
Intervideo
WinDVD 2000 This player is often credited with having the best playback quality and scaling abilities. It does produce quite a nice picture, but it also has some quirks. The alternative that I've tried, Cyberlink PowerDVD, does work well on my system. In fact it causes crashes.

Scaler
Jim Ferguson
YXY This useful utility works in conjunction with WinDVD or other programs to scale the video to an appropriate size. This is useful, for instance, for displaying 4:3 (full frame or letterbox) material on a 16:9 set.

Display Tweaking
Entech
PowerStrip This very cool program allows you to create new custom resolutions that are then integrated into Windows' display properties. For instance, you can define a 960x540 resolution for widescreen DVD playback. The program does many other things as well, but this is my primary usage.

Display Driver
Matrox
PowerDesk I normally wouldn't list a display driver, but this driver comes with desktop software that is invaluable. PowerDesk allows you to customize the new resolutions that you created with PowerStrip. It allows you to set all of the details of the display timings (e.g. Horizontal Refresh rate, Front porch, Sync, Back porch) to match the HDTV parameters that your TV is expecting. Though most people won't compute these on their own, it allows you to enter values that are computed and tested by others. Look at this discussion thread for lots of details.

I have a few other things loaded such as Netscape Navigator, but the list above captures the software that is really necessary for HTPC use.

Pros and Cons

Using a HTPC for DVD playback definitely has it's pluses and minuses. Here's a list of the items that have occurred to me so far:

Pluses:

Image quality. The picture from a HTPC can really be fabulous. When I'm watching 4:3 material I use a resolution of 640x480p and it really looks great. For anamorphic discs I use a resolution of about 1480x500p. This causes my TV to go into widescreen mode since the video timings look like 1080i. Using this resolution produces stunning images.
Web Surfing. It's nice having an Internet capable device at the ready in case I want to look something up or show people family photos from my web site.

Minuses:

Noise. Despite some efforts to make the PC quiet, it's still louder than I would like. It's in a closed cabinet, but I've got to improve on this. During quiet passages in movies it's downright distracting. I've read a lot of discussion about how to improve on the noise level, but I've only tried the basics.
Complexity. It's too hard to use. I programmed my Pronto with commands for WinDVD, but it's still more difficult to use than a normal DVD player. I suspect that no matter how much automation I add, it always will be more complex than a standalone player.
Reliability. Unfortunately neither WinNT, Win2000, nor Linux are currently viable platforms for an HTPC. This looks like it will be changing soon (I'm writing this on 7/14/00 - I may have to eat these words) as more of the pieces become available for NT or 2000. Right now I run on Win98 which is not known to be a very stable platform. Furthermore, WinDVD has known problems with occasional pausing or stuttering during playback. Other players may not exhibit these occasional hiccups but so far none can match the video quality of WinDVD.

Learned the hard way...

See the Minuses listed above.

Component Manufacturer Model	Purchased From	Comments
Motherboard ABIT BE6-2	Comp-U-Plus ($114)	This motherboard is generally well reviewed and is well liked by overclockers (I'm not one). It has onboard ATA-66 support. I was disappointed with the board. It works just fine now, but it came with a bad floppy cable (boy was that a waste of time) and the BIOS rev it came with had trouble with ATA-66 support. I've put together quite a few systems over the years and this one took longer than usual
CPU Pentium III 667, 133MHz FSB	Comp-U-Plus ($265)	Plenty of computrons for DVD playback. This was an OEM package that included a heat sink and fan. They attached quite easily and seem to work well.
Memory 128MB, 133MHz	Comp-U-Plus ($134)	Nothing special here
Hard Drive Western Digital 10.2GB EIDE, 5400 RPM	Comp-U-Plus ($74)	I didn't really need anything special here. I just wanted something relatively quiet and at a good price point. These days (6/2000) 10GB drives are very inexpensive.
DVD-ROM Toshiba SD-M1212	Already Owned	I took this out of my primary home computer. I replaced it with a new Toshiba model that is also a CD-R, CD-RW unit.
Display Card Matrox G400 32MB Dual Head	Comp-U-Plus ($139)	Along with NVIDIA GeForce cards, the Matrox is the most often recommended card for HTPC use. It is well liked because of its high quality and tremendous flexibility. The Matrox PowerDesk software along with Entech's PowerStrip allow a wide range of custom resolutions and timings.
Ethernet Adapter Linksys LNEPCI-2	Already owned	This is just an old 10MBit ethernet card I happened to have. After rummaging around to find the driver, it works just fine.
Keyboard/Mouse Liteon Airboard	Digital Connection ($49)	This wireless keyboard/mouse combo has a receiver that plugs into both the keyboard and mouse ports of the computer. The small keyboard uses 4 AA batteries. The keyboard works well, the "mouse", really more of a small joystick, works OK.
Sound Card Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live X-Gamer	Comp-U-Plus ($69)	This card has a digital output that can be connected directly to a Dolby Digital receiver. Since the output expects an 1/8" audio plug, you need a $1.49 converter that allows you to plug in an RCA cable. Though I'm not a very discriminating listener, this card sounds great to me.
Case Avance Desktop ATX	Digital Connection ($59)	The dimensions of this case allow it to fit (snugly) in my component cabinets. It is the standard beige color, so I spray painted it black. I still need to paint the bezel on the DVD drive and drawer front to match.

Software Publisher Program	Comments
Operating System Microsoft Windows 98	I'm running Windows 98 (first edition) on this machine. I'd prefer to run NT or W2K for greater stability, but judging from other feedback there is not enough software support yet to make those platforms a viable choice. I'm going to keep my eye on this and convert once W2K is a viable choice.
DVD Player Intervideo WinDVD 2000	This player is often credited with having the best playback quality and scaling abilities. It does produce quite a nice picture, but it also has some quirks. The alternative that I've tried, Cyberlink PowerDVD, does work well on my system. In fact it causes crashes.
Scaler Jim Ferguson YXY	This useful utility works in conjunction with WinDVD or other programs to scale the video to an appropriate size. This is useful, for instance, for displaying 4:3 (full frame or letterbox) material on a 16:9 set.
Display Tweaking Entech PowerStrip	This very cool program allows you to create new custom resolutions that are then integrated into Windows' display properties. For instance, you can define a 960x540 resolution for widescreen DVD playback. The program does many other things as well, but this is my primary usage.
Display Driver Matrox PowerDesk	I normally wouldn't list a display driver, but this driver comes with desktop software that is invaluable. PowerDesk allows you to customize the new resolutions that you created with PowerStrip. It allows you to set all of the details of the display timings (e.g. Horizontal Refresh rate, Front porch, Sync, Back porch) to match the HDTV parameters that your TV is expecting. Though most people won't compute these on their own, it allows you to enter values that are computed and tested by others. Look at this discussion thread for lots of details.