Cheapest HDMI PVR Possible

Posted by Jacob Santos on May 8, 2008

Goal

The goal for recording is to have a main Media Server do all of the recording and then just stream the video off the network. This needs a gigabit network card, HDMI out (for newer TVs), and the minimum amount of components to get the device up and running.

Components

  1. Asus M2A-VM HDMI Motherboard

    • $89.48 (from better reviewed source)
    • HDMI out adapter
    • Digital Coax S/PDIF
  2. ThermalTake VF6000BWS LANBOX Lite Black Cube

    • $93.63 (from better reviewed source)
    • 5 drives (2 external 5.25″)
  3. Ultra / X-Connect

    • $21.00
    • Modular
    • 400Watts
    • 2 SATA power connectors (1 cable)
  4. AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Dual Core

    • $56.99
    • 2.2 GHz
    • Dual Core
  5. WD Raptor 360ADFD 36GB

    • $89.99
    • 10,000 RPM
    • SATA 1.5Gb/s
  6. Corsair XMS2 2GB

    • $51.00
    • 2GB
    • PC2-5400 DDR2
  7. Pioneer BDC-2202 Black Blu-Ray Reader/DVD±RW DL Writer

    • $185.00
    • 5x BD-ROM
    • 12x/6x/12x DVD±RW

Total: $587.09 for base system.

Keyboard, mouse, monitor should push it upwards to about $800. Still, with just a DVD Writer, the price would be around $150 less, which would just about cover Windows Vista Home Premium.

Base System

Surprisingly, this system right here is pretty cheap. A few key points is that Asus is coming with newer and improved HDMI motherboards in the next few months which should push the price up, because you will want to buy the improved models. The HDMI will not send sound, so you will not have the quality as you would if it was video and sound. The nice part also, is that you’ll be able to upgrade by merely upgrading the motherboard and probably the processor.

The reason I choose the dual core, is that for the price difference between the dual and single isn’t that much, about $20 and while you won’t need all of that power, it will help during burning and watching Blu-Ray and HD videos.

My focus with the price is the base system. You will want to have a remote, which will cost extra, but not by much. Also, you will need to have a TV, which will cost close to $1000.

This system is really for when you already have a network PVR media server, because you won’t be able to record much with the computer, but the Blu-Ray will allow for watching movies at that location instead of having to go to the media server.

With both a Windows Home Server for storage and a Media Server for recording TV, this device would be completely standard.

Need to Store More?

With only two SATA connectors used with two more available, you could easily have the device to where you buy the cheap DVD Writer first with the 36GB fast drive, then buy the Blu-Ray device. If you need more space, then you can easily buy a 200GB+ hard drive for less than $100, which will more than enough store everything you need.

Reason for only 36GB

My focus is centered around using the Windows Home Server for most of the files. Which means, you store what you are currently using at that moment. I have many files stored on my PC, which I don’t use and don’t need on my PC at the moment. It is far better to have the files that I’m working on stored on my system and then when I’m finished to have it stored on the network.

The purpose for using Gigabit, is so that when I do need to pull down the files or stream video, it won’t put that much pressure on my network.

However, I probably will buy or use a second hard drive, just for the sole purpose of nothing having to use my primary hard drive for my files. Better yet, I’ve thought about just having a 200GB+ hard drive and just partitioning off sections, instead of having two hard drives.

If you are using Vista, then it would make more sense to use a Flash Memory stick for speeding up the cache instead of using a really fast hard drive. No matter how quick the hard drive is, it won’t be able to beat the USB 2.0 Flash Drive speed. So in that sense, it would be better to just get a bigger hard drive and partition it.

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2 Comments.

  1. mdmadph May 9, 2008 at 2:32 pm

    Pretty good setup! My only disagreement is with the Raptor drive — they’re seriously not worth the money. (If you really, really need speed, you can put two drives together in a RAID array that’ll give you a ton more space at not much more price.)

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but the only real benefit from a Raptor drive is the very low seek time, which isn’t really necessary for an HTPC, right? Your overall speed is about the same as any other drive.

  2. Jacob Santos May 10, 2008 at 12:33 am

    Well, the point of going with a 10K RPM hard drive is to improve the performance of Vista. You can do other performance tuning that would actually improve performance. If you use a memory stick and set it up to use that for the page file, you really wouldn’t need the 10K RPM hard drive.

    By the time I actually get around to building the machine the prices will be a lot cheaper. You can get away with something now that is cheaper, but I like the extra power this machine looks, at least on paper.

    I’m actually looking at Linux alternatives, but there are some features which are missing. If my entire network was on Linux, then it would make perfect sense to use MythTV.

    I’m going to review this post in three months, when the new processor from AMD comes out and the new HDMI motherboards from ASUS come out. I’ll actually have money at the time to really weigh in on the options. If I had to build a machine at this moment, this is probably what I would build and then have to upgrade three months later.

    If only money grew on trees.