Introduction
Right back in the start of 2005 the only way to watch video clips I had on my computer was my small 15" monitor. I decided to start looking at building a HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer). My first attemp used mostly old equipment that I had lying around. I wanted to see if I was to build a brand new HTPC that I would use it and it would be worth my trouble.
First Attempt
Second Attempt
It is not an easy task to decide what bits you need for a HTPC from scratch, as there are so many different technologies (ATX, mATX & ITX) those are just the different motherboards, then you have to choose what processor but that affects which motherboard and so on. I decided to start with the case, I spent nearly two weeks searching for all the different HTPC cases available. I finally decided on the Mega PC 865 Deluxe, the main reason behind this was it's size and also the direction that MediaPortal seems to be going. I only wanted a small case as when I was deciding MediaPortal was developing the "Client/Server" approach which would mean that I could have a small and quiet machine next to my TV and a larger server hidden away.
Now that I had a case it was a lot easier to decided on the rest of the parts, I already had one HDD's from the first attempt so I bought a Maxtor 6B300S0 DiamondMax 10 300GB 16mb Cache 7200rpm SATA to add on (I'll explain later where I put it as the case only holds one HDD. I also used the graphics card and TV Crad from the previous attempt, this only left processor, RAM and DVD Drive. I settled on the following items.
Samsung Original 1GB DDR PC3200 400MHz 184pin Memory Module
LG GSA-4167BA 16x DVD±RW/RAM Dual Layer Internal IDE
Intel Pentium 4 (Northwood) 2.8GHz 533FSB Socket 478 512Kb Cache
After what felt like Christmas Day I put everything together and started installing Windows XP Pro SP2, about half way through installing XP there was a huge bang. I didn't have a clue what had happened, then started to find bits of somthing all over my desk. I'd just had a CD explode couldn't believe it, it's never happened to be before and scared the s**t out of me. I've encluded some pix below. Had to take the whole DVD Drive apart as some bits of the CD were really jammed in there.
The latest purchase I have made for my HTPC is a wireless RF Keyboard and Trackball, as quite often there are times when I want to type stuff in quickly or use a mouse which is not possible with just the Hauppauge Remote.
