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So, here is my HTPC, in all of its expensive glory:

Item	Size	Comments
LIAN LI Black Aluminum PC-C37B	Micro ATX	Media Center / HTPC Case
AMD Athlon X2 4850e CPU	2.5 GHz	2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 45W Dual-Core Processor
CORSAIR XMS2 TWIN2X4096-6400C5C	4GB	240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory
GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-US2H	micro ATX	AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
SeaSonic M12II SS-430GM	430W	ATX12V 2.2 /EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power
Western Digital Caviar Green WD6400AACS	640 Gb	7200 RPM SATA 3.0 Gb/s 3.5" internal hard drive
LG DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model GH22NP20	22X
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250		Dual TV Tuner/Encoder 1229 PCI-Express x1 Interface
Microsoft Windows Vista Business SP1 64-bit for System Builders DVD

With all the discounts and mail in rebates, this total system came to approximately $750.00. The most expensive components were the case ($170), the tuner ($113) and Windows ($130). The least expensive was the DVD burner ($25).

I want to take a moment to give a plug to the newegg.com website. A lot of the research for this project was accomplished on this site, reading their through specifications of the products. I might have saved some money by shopping around, but as helpful as their site was, I would have felt guilty going some where else. (You, of course, are encouraged to shop where ever you like.)

Wizard of OS

At last, a subject that I already know something about.

There two choices for operating systems to run on your HTPC: Windows and some version of Linux (Red Hat, Ubuntu, CentOS, to name a few). So which OS is the best? Well, to misquote Hans Solo, I've been from one end of this galaxy to the other and I've seen a lot of crazy operating systems, and I don't really like either Windows or Linux. Window's problems are well known and I won't dredge them up here, plus it costs money. Linux is free, but you get what you pay for. I'm rather a fan of the original UNIX myself, although I realize that it was not perfect. At least, when an upgrade to the operating system came out, programs that use to work will continue to do so, because UNIX understood the importance of backward compatibility. Linux seems to take the attitude that, no one uses that programming interface any more, so we don't need to support it. Well guys, not every software application is open source, and not every programming shop wants to spend time rewriting their app because of your whims. We'd rather spend time putting in new features. (Getting off soapbox now.)

I would say that, if you're familiar with Linux and like a challenge, then pick your favorite flavor and go for it. Otherwise, buy Windows.

There is also one other driving factor and that is the driver software for the hardware, such as the TV Tuner cards. If there isn't software support for your hardware in the operating system of your choice, then you're shiny new hardware is useless to you. This is also true of the software that you are planning to use to record programs. Look at the operating systems that it supports, and let that drive your decision. In my case, the TV Tuner card that I chose is supported on Windows Vista but not Linux, so Vista it is.

The next question is which version of Windows? And I don't mean XP vs Vista vs Windows 7. I mean Home vs Business vs Ultimate. I suspect that Home is sufficient for an HTPC, but see which version that your recording software supports. In most cases the recording software won't care which version of Windows, but you should check anyway. Wait, what's this? It's a message from the future! It says, "Vista Business doesn't have have a DVD Decoder for playing DVDs and getting a cheap or free one is hard on 64-bit Vista. Get Home or Ultimate instead."

Then there comes the age old question: Retail vs OEM. OEM is significantly cheaper, but officially you should get that version if you are building this machine for resale and only if you are planning to support it yourself. So, if you already know something about Windows, and can are up to a challenge, buy the OEM version, otherwise buy Retail.

For my HTPC, I went with Windows Vista Business, because I am fond of the remote desktop feature. I also got the OEM version because, if there's a problem that I can't solve, Microsoft customer support won't be able answer it either. (I have also found that Microsoft's knowledge base articles have many, many answers in them. Go to msdn.microsoft.com to search them.) Finally, I got the 64-bit version, since the CPU is a 64-bit microprocessor. I've been warned that there may not be 64-bit driver software for all of my hardware, but I'm going to plow ahead.

You may have noticed that I have not touched much on the recording software. This is because I haven't done the research on them. I'm planning of starting with the trail version of Sage TV and seeing how that works. Once I have some opinions on this subject, I'll blog about it.

So, next up, the final shopping list.

To Capture and Record

Capture cards, also known as TV Tuner cards, allow you to watch live and record TV on your computer. There are quite a few manufacturers of the cards, but the best known (and perhaps market leader) is Hauppauge.

One obvious thing about the TV-Tuner cards, but I'll point it out anyway, is that they are usually expansion cards, although some plug into a USB port. The expansion card variety plug in to your motherboard at a 90 degree angle. The nice thing about this is, as they make better ones, it will be possible to upgrade yours. The other thing to consider is that your motherboard has a limited number of expansion slots. If you want to be able to record lots of programs at once, you're going to need lots of expansion slots, and perhaps you should consider an ATX, rather than microATX motherboard.

On the motherboard that I picked there are 4 expansion slots. One is a PCI Express x16 slot. This is a high speed expansion port which is intended for a HD video graphics card. Another is a PCI Express x1 slot. This use to be the standard video graphics slot until HD came along. Finally, the motherboard has two standard PCI slots. You can get tuner cards for PCI Express x1, standard PCI and USB. So, when buying a TV Tuner card, you need to consider which slot you're going to plug it into, and you need to consider its height. The Lian Li case is a low profile case, so we should consider only low profile cards.

We also need to consider what types of inputs that the card can process and how many it can process at once. The latter is, of course, as many as possible, so let's worry about the signals. There are two potential sources for TV signals, cable and over the air. Until recently, it was impossible to record the cable HD signals, but that is changing. There is a new standard called ClearQAM, for broadcasting unencrypted (that is, free) digital channel over the cable system, and there are new cards for capturing that signal.

Let's take a moment to consider the different standards for television signals: NTSC, ATSC, and QAM. NTSC stands for "National Television System Committee" and it is the standard analog television signal that has been broadcast for years. (See the article at Wikipedia for more information.) ATSC stands for "Advanced Television Systems Committee" and it is the standard for Digital Television (DTV) that was defined by the FCC. (See the article at HDTV Primer for more information.) Finally, QAM stands for Quadrature Amplitude Modulation. This is a sophisticated method for transmitting digital signals. (See the article at tech-faq.com for details. There is another article at Wikipedia too.) While NTSC and ATSC describe programs broadcast over the air, QAM is the standard used by the cable systems. The term ClearQAM describes programs that are broadcast over the cable "in the clear", that is, not encrypted. Typically, a digital program is that available over the air is usually broadcast over the cable in ClearQAM.

So, what does that mean for us? Since the over the air stations are all switching to digital, it would seem like we don't need a TV-Tuner that supports NTSC, but the cable system is still using that standard for its non-digital channels. ClearQAM support is a definite necessity if we expect to record from digital cable. ATSC is only needed if we also want to record over the air digital programs. Thus when picking a card, you need to focus on one that has the recording capabilities that we need. It would be nice to have a card that does it all.

But, there is one other thing that the card can do to truly do it all, and that is to be able to record s-video and composite video so that we can record video from a camcorder (to archive those family vacations videos) or cable boxes (to record pay cable channels).

If what we wanted to do is simply capture the digital broadcasts, we could get away with a card that fit in the standard PCI slot, but, if we want it all, then we're going to need to get a card that uses the PCI Express x1, and fortunately, we have one of them available in the motherboard.

Is there a card that does all of this? Fortunately, there are many to choose from. I picked the Hauppauge 2250. It can record two programs at once, from both analog and digital sources. This is also a low profile card. This card seems to have everything, but let's take a closer look. Because it is a low profile card, it is hard to get all of its inputs, TV, FM, and two sets of A/V (composite video and audio), on the mounting bracket of the card. Instead the second A/V set are on an auxiliary mounting bracket. Thus, while the 2250 takes only one PCI slot, it can take take two mounting brackets, if you want to record a second set of sources. Plus, the description of the card promises to be able to record two programs at once: "record two TV programs at the same time: two analog cable TV channels, two digital TV channels or one analog cable and one clear QAM digital cable TV channel". What this is trying to say is that there is only one TV connector on the card. Thus you can't record a ATSC and a cable channel at the same time. It is either "over the air" or "cable". (I don't know about you, but I could live without the FM input in order to be able to record both ATSC and ClearQAM at the same time.) I would be unhappy about having to give up a PCI slot for the second AV input, but I'm not planning on using the PCI Express x16 slot any time soon. And I sincerely doubt that I'll ever use the second A/V input, so if I ever want use the PCI Express x16, removing the second mounting bracket won't be that big of a loss.

Another question about the 2250 is whether you get it with a remote or not. The remote control is necessary for controlling the recording software that uses the card. Most are MCE remotes, which stands for Microsoft Media Center Edition. You'll probably just need one of these, so any other TV-Tuner cards that you buy can merely be the card itself.

One other thing about the 2250 is that it has a "blaster" capability. What this means is that, not only can it receive remote control signals, it can also broadcast them, enabling it to control other devices like your cable box. No more setting up a pay cable program twice, once on the VCR and once on the cable box, in order to record it. This card can truly do it all.

Had enough yet with this complicated topic? Well, there's one other thing to touch on: If you decide that you would like to record over the air digital programs, you'll need a digital antenna. Getting an outside antenna works best, but an indoor one may be possible. Go to Antenna Web to find out for sure.

So now, I think, we've covered all the hardware pieces that go into an HTPC. Let's briefly talk about the operating system next before we get the complete shopping list.

Thanks for the memory

There's not much to say about computer memory, other that you need to get the right type and speed for your motherboard. There are two prevailing memory standards these days: DDR2 and DDR3. These are both "Dynamic Memory" because they have to be refreshed every few milliseconds or else their contents will be lost. On the other hand "Static Memory" keeps its contents as long there is power. Static memory would seem like the memory of choice, except that it takes 6 transistors on the integrated circuit to implement a single bit, where as dynamic memory takes merely one transistor and a capacitor. So you see, with dynamic memory, you can get 3 times more memory in the same space.

There are many differences between DDR2 and DDR3, and you can read an interesting article over at neoseeker to find out about them. The most important thing to know is, what type of memory does your motherboard take and what is the speed? The speed is the second number after the DDR specification. The higher the number, the faster the memory. Thus DDR2-1600 is twice as fast as DDR2-800. You can put faster memory in the motherboard than is recommended, but it is a waste of your money. The CPU will only pull data from the memory at the speed that it was designed.

For my HTPC, I picked 4 GB of Corsair memory. I'm not sure why I picked the Corsair, perhaps because the memory had a built in heat sink. (I know, not a very scientific method.)

One final note, DDR memory is always installed in pairs and one should not mix DDR memory sticks from different manufacturers. So, don't expect to cut costs by buying only one. Buy them in pairs, and mate them for life.

There's only one more piece of hardware left to discuss in an HTPC, and that is the video capture card, the thing that turns a HTPC into a DVR, so we'll tackle that next.

Blu Ray of my dreams

My original choice for an optical drive was a $160 Blu-Ray Read Write drive. That was going to be the jewel of the system, the apple of my eye, the motivating factor behind the entire project ... and then I got the total for the rest of the HTPC. That fancy Blu Ray drive turned into a budget buster. I finally took Judy's suggestion and got an inexpensive ($25) DVD burner.

Oh well, some day. That's the nice thing about building your own machine, upgrades are easy!

On a clear disk, you can seek forever

My initial choice for a hard drive was a 1 Terabyte Western Digital. That is a mind boggling amount of storage and since the high def programs were going to be so large, I figured that I'd need every byte of it. However, as I was getting ready to make my actual order, I saw a customer review at Newegg where someone had bought 5 of them and had already returned 3. Not good odds, so I decided to go with something not quite so bleeding edge.

Instead I picked a Western Digital Caviar Green 640 GB disk drive. Assuming that the OS takes 200 GB and broadcast HD is about 6 GB per hour, that gives me about 73 hours of record time.

(Judy tells me that Sage TV recommends that I create a separate partition for the HD files with a large block size, like 64K, which is good to know before you install the operating system.)

One other point about hard drives to touch on: most hard drives these days communicate with the motherboard via a serial cable. They use what is known as the SATA (Serial AT Attachment) standard. Back in the day of the AT (Advance Technology) computer, the motherboard communicated with the hard drive via a ribbon cable with a lot of wires in parallel. This standard was called IDE, but it has now been renamed PATA (Parallel AT Attachment). However, now all hard drives use a serial connection with just a pair of wires. This simplifies the hardware, is faster, allows for full duplex (reading and writing simultaneously) and hot swapping of drives while in operation. See the Wikipedia Serial ATA article for more information.

Having said that, CD drives and DVD drives still tend to be PATA, although the Blu-Ray drive that I was going to buy was SATA.

And, speaking of that Blu-Ray drive, let's cover that next.

Power to the people

When it came to power supplies, my first thought was to total the wattage of the various components and get the power supply that was the best fit. However, this turned out to be hard as very few of the components had their wattage listed by Newegg . I then just picked a quiet power supply made by Lian Li, however Judy had a better suggestion: get a "modular" power supply. Modular power supplies have fixed cables for the motherboard, and then sockets in the power supply for plugging in cables to power the components that you have. This reduces the number of loose cables that are laying around in the case taking up room and blocking air flow.

She is partial to Seasonic and Corsair, but recommended that I look at an article at Silent PC Review for really quiet ones.

Finally, she recommended using Newegg's wattage calculator.

One thing to be careful about is to ensure that your power supply will work with your motherboard. There is an issue about 24-pin vs 20-pin power supplies. Apparently, 20-pins were the previous standard for motherboards, with 24 pins being the new standard.

I ended up getting SeaSonic M12II-SS430GM 430 watt modular power supply. This power supply also had CrossFire support, so if I ever did add a graphics card that was capable of interfacing with the graphics chip on the motherboard, the power supply would be ready.

The Gigabyte motherboard is described by Newegg as being a 24-pin motherboard, while the Seasonic power supply is described as a 20+4 pin power supply. (In reality, the Gigabyte has 4 pins of power supply separated from the other 20, so it may itself be a 20+4 pins motherboard. I'll find out soon.)

Judy assured me that 430 watts was more than enough for the system that I was building, so I didn't use the wattage calculator.