Difference between revisions of "Alx9r's Materials"

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*Modern surround-sound decoding capabilities.
 
*Modern surround-sound decoding capabilities.
  
Something from the Marantz line seemed like a good fit.  I settled on a Marantz SR7500 that was available for $500 USD.  It seemed to have all the features of the latest-greatest same-category SR7002 except for some video switching and conversion features that I probably wouldn't use anyway.  The great thing is that I got the SR7500 for 1/3 the price: $499.
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Something from the Marantz line seemed like a good fit.  I settled on a Marantz SR7500 that was available for $500 USD.  It seemed to have all the features of the latest-greatest same-category SR7002 except for some video switching and conversion features that I probably wouldn't use anyway.  The great thing is that I got the SR7500 for 1/3 the price: $499 USD.
  
 
====Speakers====
 
====Speakers====

Revision as of 06:59, 31 May 2008

Alx9r's Sample Setup
System Diagram

I did my best to keep track of all the materials I purchased in putting my system together. Note that prices are in Canadian dollars before taxes, duties, brokerage, shipping, etc unless otherwise stated.

Network Gear

I found that a reliable, configurable wireless broadband router is necessary for the network configuration that I chose to use. Gladly, such a router is cheap and readily available: The Linksys WRT54GL. The firmware that ships with the WRT54GL is fairly limited. I flashed my router to OpenWrt/X-WRT (White Russian 0.9).

Hybrid Core Kit

I started with a core/hybrid topology to keep my costs down. The original plan was that this hybrid box would become my core server that lives in a closet, and I would go to a smaller dedicated media director in my living room.

In addition to the criteria I already mentioned here, the design of my hybrid was also guided by the following:

  1. Only components available through ncix.com, preferably in stock.
  2. Tend toward components that lend themselves to eventual use as a dedicated core serving 2 or 3 media directors.

I opted to put two HDD in the system to allow for easy software upgrading and re-installation without losing media. I have read that installing LinuxMCE on a partitioned HDD is not well supported. Having a separate system HDD should allow me to install LinuxMCE from bare metal without losing media or spending time tranferring it.

Below is a table of all of the items in the kit I used to build the Hybrid Core.

Component Model each Notes
Motherboard ASUS M2NPV-VM $94.01 used in Video, now out of production
breakout ASUS SPDIF-OUT/OPT $9.02 SPDIF breakout board
breakout ASUS 9PIN Serial Port Header $6.60 two of these to breakout COM ports
CPU AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ EE Dual Core Processor AM2 Windsor 2.4GHZ 512KBX2 65W 90NM $80.92 Video used 4400+, 4600+ is cheaper and maybe faster
heatsink Scythe Mini Ninja Heatpipe Fanless Heatsink AM2 $38.98 should be good enough to cool w/o CPU fan
RAM Kingston PC2-5300 512MB DDR2-667 CL5 240PIN DIMM $16.70 2 sticks
second ethernet adapter ENCORE ENL832-TX-RENT $8.68 based on Realtek_8139
TV Tuner Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 MCE $79.78 comes with a remote that looks like a Windows MCE Remote
HDD 1 Hitachi Deskstar P7K500 500GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 3.5IN $87.20 media drive
HDD 2 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 80GB SATA2 2MB 11MS 7200RPM Hard Drive $42.64 system drive
SATA Cable nGear Serial ATA SATA Right Angle Cable 18IN 7PIN $2.69 2 come with mobo, straight cable would be fine too, right angle was cheapest
optical drive Pioneer DVR-212D Black 18X6X18 DVD+RW 18X8X18 DL 10X SATA 2MB $32.19
CD Audio Cable $3.00 to connect optical drive audio out to mobo onboard audio
case Silverstone Lascala LC17B $129.99 HTPC form factor, big enough to accomodate conversion to core
power supply OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS 500W $61.99 cheap, works, fairly quiet

Living Room AV Gear

TV

A 42" wall-mounted LCD seemed like the right thing for my condominium's living room. The Video showed a Sharp Aquos LC-26D6U in the bedroom. Sharp seems to have good RS-232 control support -- as long as the control port is actually there.

I settled on the Sharp Aquos LCD LC42D64U because it met the following criteria:

  • Has RS-232 control.
  • Very close to the TV used in the Video.
  • Countless positive reviews, only a few reported issues.
  • 1080p
  • Got it for a decent price ($1499) and in my neighborhood. No shipping, brokerage, or duty.

Receiver

I set out looking for a receiver that met the following criteria:

  • Has RS-232 control.
  • Similar to models that other users have gotten working with LinuxMCE.
  • Decent sounding.
  • 5.1 and 7.1 capable.
  • Modern surround-sound decoding capabilities.

Something from the Marantz line seemed like a good fit. I settled on a Marantz SR7500 that was available for $500 USD. It seemed to have all the features of the latest-greatest same-category SR7002 except for some video switching and conversion features that I probably wouldn't use anyway. The great thing is that I got the SR7500 for 1/3 the price: $499 USD.

Speakers

The Definitive ProCinema 600 speakers I selected are small. The space that I have set aside for home theatre is only a part of my already main living space. I didn't want it to be dominated by speakers - especially since there would be six of them in a relatively small space. The wood-framed condominium where this will be used doesn't have enough sound insulation to crank the volume without disturbing the neighbors, so a modest speaker set is a good fit.

I managed to get the ProCinema 600 set for $520 USD.

Glue

There were a variety of miscellaneous items I ended up needing to put this system together.

Component Model each Notes
Wall Mount for Sharp LC42D64U Ergotron WM Low Profile Wall Mount P/N 60-578-003 $89.00 costco.ca Item # 115242
Null Modem Cable Generic Null Modem Cable DB9 Female to DB9 Female 6FT $4.50 2 of these to control the TV and receiver
HDMI-DVD cable Generic HDMI-DVI/D M/M HDMI to DVI-D (Dual Link) 10FT Cable - M/M (19 Pins) / (24 PINS+1) $30.00 to connect the TV
infrared transceiver USB UIRT $50 + $8 S&H to use IR remotes and control AV gear



Alx9r's Sample Setup
Materials Network Gear · Hybrid Core (living room) · AV Gear (living room) · Orbiters · Glue
Preparation Router Setup · Aquos TV Power-on
Hybrid Core pre-LinuxMCE Setup Assembly · BIOS Tweaks · Hardware Testing · NAS Media Drive Setup
Hybrid Core LinuxMCE Installation Bare-metal Install · AV Wizard · Sarah (Setup Wizard) · Special Steps · PVR-150 Remote · Aquos TV · Denon Receiver · Media Drive Setup · Laptop Orbiter · Webpad Orbiter
Hybrid Core Additional Software Bittorrent · Synergy
Toolkit Laptop · telnet/ssh client · Remote Mouse and Keyboard · Partition Tools
Design Rationale Network Topology · NAS