buying pc kit

[pvrboy]

I want to buy a pc that I could put in my living room. Something that's small enough to look like it belongs there, not a full sized pc.
But at the same time, something that I can open up and add a tuner (or two?) to.
And something with USB that'll let me plug in an IR sensor (perhaps this needs to be a powered USB?)
At the moment I'm looking to have just one machine to be the client + server in one, but I'd be very interested to hear about separate client and server ideas too because I might upgrade to that eventually.
Does anyone have any up-to-date recommendations please of which models I could look at, or what they're using please?
There are always new products coming to the market so I'm looking for up-to-date recommendations.
Thanks

[thisheat]

First off, best to build your own. You get better stuff, and it can be a fun project.

From what I've read, a lot of people use cases from Silverstone and Lian-Li, but they aren't cheap.

I use an Antec Minuet, which I love, but a) would restrict you to low-profile cards, and b) isn't in production anymore, though they can occasionally be found cheap on eBay.

Your main considerations should be:
Micro ATX vs. Mini ITX- the former are usually easier to get around in and have a wider selection of MBs, but the latter are a lot smaller.
Noise- you want bigger case fans at lower RPMs, and as much passive cooling as possible

This link should help you see what's out there. Sorry, I know nothing about UK retailers...
http://www.newegg.com/HTPC-Media-Center-...ory/ID-690

This one might look nice by the fireplace
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811204039

[bgowland]

This one might look nice by the fireplace
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811204039

lol - my stepson is a skilled carpenter and has made furniture from time to time - tempted to get him to make me something like this to replace my TV stand. Nice idea.

[gEd]

my 2cents...

For me, silence is more important that size and the problem with small cases is that this means small fans that often produce a high-pitched whine.
I use a black silverstone LC17 case which is not especially attractive but looks vaguely like an AV-Amp if you squint. It is however near silent after some minor modding (to mount HD's on foam) and a good cpu cooler and high quality fans.

perhaps take a look here: http://www.quietpc.com/htpccases

[JonnyCam]

I want to buy a pc that I could put in my living room. Something that's small enough to look like it belongs there, not a full sized pc.
But at the same time, something that I can open up and add a tuner (or two?) to.
And something with USB that'll let me plug in an IR sensor (perhaps this needs to be a powered USB?)

You could just use a networked tuner, like HD Homerun for DVB-T and have it located somewhere else maybe in a cupboard (anywhere with an aerial & ethernet) allowing you to keep the PC small & uncluttered.

[bgowland]

You could just use a networked tuner, like HD Homerun for DVB-T and have it located somewhere else maybe in a cupboard (anywhere with an aerial & ethernet) allowing you to keep the PC small & uncluttered.

Do any HDHR devices support DVB-T2 (used for HD channels over here)?

[Lao Pan]

Do any HDHR devices support DVB-T2 (used for HD channels over here)?

HDHR4 will be T2 in Europe when it is released - and it looks as though we will need more than 1 DVB-T2 tuner from early 2014 - 2 additional T2 muxes on Mendip Transmitter
At present PCTV, Blackgold and TBS appear to be the only DVB-T2 vendors.

[jcjefferies]

I started out with an old PC next to lounge TV for recording and playback with a single USB DVB-T tuner for Freview then later added a twin tuner both by Kworld from Maplins. Noise is can be a problem and the fans are the main source of noise not the hard disks. I soon added a NextPVR client PC to bedroom TV so could watch recordings at either location. My server now sits in the top of a wardrobe and now have client PCs at both TVs

I was looking at building an ITX motherboard based playback PC but none of the cases available were that small and people complained about noisy fans. I then looked at the various bare bone micro PCs from Zotac, Intel NUC and others and just bought an Acer Revo L70 from Ebuyer which is tiny and silent as my 3rd generation of NextPVR clients. An MCE remote means a keyboard and mouse are mostly unnecessary although can still be usefull.

Recording digital TV requires little processor power as the data is sent straight to the disk. There is little difference in processor usage if I am recording from 1 or all 3 tuners. With only one tuner I missed about a 1/3 of recordings but now having 3 means it is very rare that I miss a recording but some people have a tuner for each mux so they never miss anything. At the moment I dont record HD because most of the time I dont see an improvement in picture quality because of viewing distance.

[mvallevand]

I prefer a PC backend with all the junk cable and tuners hidden away. I use a 6 year old Vista box with an early cheap Core2Duo with just a 120GB SSD and it running great with 4 tuners plus an HDHR and fast, and since it only runs about 30 hours a week, I hope I won't have to change for a while. If you don't have one I figure a $150 Win7 refurb would run really well

Then you just need a networked client in the living room. These can be as small silent, cheap or expensive as you'd like, the cheapest are XBMC clients. Most recent PC's are ok (I don't like my ION much) if you are doing broadcast, but you will need more powerful boxes for 10bit h264, 4k and HD lossless audio.

Martin

[bgowland]

HDHR4 will be T2 in Europe when it is released - and it looks as though we will need more than 1 DVB-T2 tuner from early 2014 - 2 additional T2 muxes on Mendip Transmitter
At present PCTV, Blackgold and TBS appear to be the only DVB-T2 vendors.

Interesting to know - I'm not really interested in a HDHR but was just wondering in case pvrboy wanted to receive the HD channels.