Jacob Santos

Details

The Media Server PC is going to use MediaPortal TV-Server, because I like that it is written in .NET and works with Windows and has applications for both the Server and Clients. Therefore, I can build the servers, with multiple tuners and have the clients stream from them. In the future, I probably can build something that allows me to setup schedule recordings from the web browser as a plugin or install a plugin that does it for me.

This Server won’t be built until the File Server is completed. So the timeline for building this server is in 2010 and I’m hoping that by then MediaPortal II is out with TV-Server support. There are several other HTPC TV servers that I can look at, and depending on the experiments with MediaPortal/MediaPortal II, I might switch over to MythTV and Linux. I just like how the integration of MediaPortal and MediaPortal TV Server and how well they can be used together based on the documentation.

I already have a TV tuner that supports one channel, I’ll buy another TV tuner that supports dual tuners. The dual only requires a single coaxial connection for the dual tuners, so the system will only require two connections. This will give the system the capability to record three channels at the same time.

The most expensive item on the list is the CPU, which is pretty much a requirement since one CPU is not going to be able to manage three tuners recording HD TV shows. Hopefully, the Tuners are smart enough to use the other CPUs when required. I believe that by the time, I can afford to build the PC, the price should have gone down to where the machine should cost around $600 to $700 to build. It will enable the PC to be built very quickly, since many of the components can be purchased at the same time.

Components

These parts have not been purchased yet. Once they are purchased, they will be moved to a separate location and the price will be removed, as well as the link.

1. Windows 7 Home Premium (Not available yet)
   • Price: $NA
2. ThermalTake VG7000BWS SopranoRS
   • Price: $69.30
   • 11 Drive Bays
3. ThermalTake Pure Power TWV500W
   • Price: $71.00
   • Modular
   • 500W
4. ASUS M4A78 PRO
   • Price: $109.99
   • Supports 6 SATA slots
5. AMD Phenom II X4 940
   • Price: $233.00 (By the time I buy it, it will be cheaper)
   • 6 MB L3 Cache
   • 2 MB(512kBx4) L2 Cache
   • 512kB L1 Cache
   • 3 GHz
6. Corsair XMS2 Xtreme Performance 4GB PC2-6400
   • Price: $107.60 (x2 $53.80)
   • 8GB total
   • 800Mhz DDR2
7. HP DVD Burner with LightScribe
   • Price: $23.99
   • SATA connector
   • 20x DVD Writer
8. Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB
   • Price: $129.99
   • SATA-II
   • 7200 RPM
   • 32MB Cache
   • 8.5 sec Access Time
   • 1.5 TB
   • Might get two for mirroring.
9. Hauppauge WINTV HVR 2250
   • Price: $127.26 (x2)
   • PCI-Express x1
   • Dual TV Tuner
10. VisionTek TV Wonder HD 650
    • Price: $118.98 (x3)
    • PCI
    • TV Tuner
    • Optional add on tuners to record more than four channels.

Total: $872.13

Current Hardware

This component is actually part of another existing computer that will be moved over when the new PC is built.

1. VisionTek TV WonderTM HD 650
   • PCI Express
   • TV Tuner

Partitions

There will only need to be one hard drive, since most of the storage will take place on the file server.

1. Windows and Programs
   • Size: 100GB
   • Shared: No
   • Will store all Windows and File programs on a single partition in case Windows were to fail and need to be reinstalled. There shouldn’t be a need to install all that many applications, but it wouldn’t hurt to have as large as a partition as possible.
2. TV Storage
   • Size: ~1.3TB
   • Shared: No
   • All of the TV streams will be stored on this hard drive as well as TV shows before they backed up to the file server.