# Exploring possibilities for HT PC



## jmhga44 (Aug 27, 2006)

Hello to one and all..

I'm beginning to explore the possibilities of replacing a Sony 300 disc DVD/CD changer with what I hope is a Home Theater like PC that I can load all the DVDs and CDs into. My eventual intent is to have all of the DVDs and CDs on a hard drive instead of in a changer that can be flaky and destructive if a disc isn't loaded correctly (almost had that happen and it would have been very messy!). I also realize that there are difficulties in copying DVDs to a hard drive due to licensing and copyright issues and any suggestions on how to legally load DVDs to a hard drive if that's possible would be helpful. I've seen a few possibilities out there for HTPCs such as Moneual but I also have some size issues with a HTPC due to a small depth of the slot in my entertainment center that the changer presently resides in (the present 300 disc changer barely fits at around 16" deep). Any insight or suggestions from anyone is appreciated. It may turn out that I'm biting off a lot more than I need but figure it's worth a try. 

Thanks..


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## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

jmhga44 said:


> Hello to one and all..
> 
> I'm beginning to explore the possibilities of replacing a Sony 300 disc DVD/CD changer with what I hope is a Home Theater like PC that I can load all the DVDs and CDs into. My eventual intent is to have all of the DVDs and CDs on a hard drive instead of in a changer that can be flaky and destructive if a disc isn't loaded correctly (almost had that happen and it would have been very messy!). I also realize that there are difficulties in copying DVDs to a hard drive due to licensing and copyright issues and any suggestions on how to legally load DVDs to a hard drive if that's possible would be helpful. I've seen a few possibilities out there for HTPCs such as Moneual but I also have some size issues with a HTPC due to a small depth of the slot in my entertainment center that the changer presently resides in (the present 300 disc changer barely fits at around 16" deep). Any insight or suggestions from anyone is appreciated. It may turn out that I'm biting off a lot more than I need but figure it's worth a try.
> 
> Thanks..


Hello back atcha!

I was enamored with Sony's Digital Home System&#8230;but they have moved to the Home Entertainment System (HES) which hold 200 BD (or DVD/CD), but it has limited capacity for ripping them to a library. Have you looked at the HES?


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## jmhga44 (Aug 27, 2006)

smiddy said:


> Hello back atcha!
> 
> I was enamored with Sony's Digital Home System&#8230;but they have moved to the Home Entertainment System (HES) which hold 200 BD (or DVD/CD), but it has limited capacity for ripping them to a library. Have you looked at the HES?


Smiddy..

I haven't looked at the Sony HES yet..your post was the first I've heard of it. I'll go out to Sony's site and check it out. Thanks for the info!


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## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

I have built several HTPC's and I say go for it but keep in mind that you are going to need a LOT of storage space to store your existing DVD Collection. 

Lets say that you only want to keep the movies themselves and not all of the extras that are on the DVD's. A good rule of thumb is that each movie will take between 4 and 5GB of space. If you want to keep all of the special features then you will bump that up to 6GB. If you do the math then you would be looking at between 1.2 and 1.8TB of storage just for your existing movie collection.

Remember that HD movies will take up much more space anywhere from 15 - 25GB.

I started out doing this years ago and have switched to an actual Server that stores all of my Audio and Video. I started out with under 1TB but have expended it up to 6TB of RAID 5 Storage. I have the capabilities to go up to just over 11TB without swapping out any drives and 15TB if I go from 750GB to 1TB Drives.


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## jmhga44 (Aug 27, 2006)

funhouse69 said:


> I have built several HTPC's and I say go for it but keep in mind that you are going to need a LOT of storage space to store your existing DVD Collection.
> 
> Lets say that you only want to keep the movies themselves and not all of the extras that are on the DVD's. A good rule of thumb is that each movie will take between 4 and 5GB of space. If you want to keep all of the special features then you will bump that up to 6GB. If you do the math then you would be looking at between 1.2 and 1.8TB of storage just for your existing movie collection.
> 
> ...


Funhouse69..

I've been doing some rough figuring on how much hard drive space would be needed and I was using the size of a standard recordable DVD (4.7GB) and multiplying that figure by the number of discs I had in the changer (roughly 260 right now and that includes a few CDs also). I'm glad you mentioned if the special features are included that would drive the per disc figure to around 6GB. I haven't even thought about HD DVDs yet and probably won't until and if a standard is decided between Blu-Ray and HD DVD. Did you happen to build your server yourself or did you go out and buy one already built? How are you able to control the server with the rest of your home theater setup?

Thanks for the information..it gives me more things to consider.


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## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

jmhga44 said:


> Funhouse69..
> 
> I've been doing some rough figuring on how much hard drive space would be needed and I was using the size of a standard recordable DVD (4.7GB) and multiplying that figure by the number of discs I had in the changer (roughly 260 right now and that includes a few CDs also). I'm glad you mentioned if the special features are included that would drive the per disc figure to around 6GB. I haven't even thought about HD DVDs yet and probably won't until and if a standard is decided between Blu-Ray and HD DVD. Did you happen to build your server yourself or did you go out and buy one already built? How are you able to control the server with the rest of your home theater setup?
> 
> Thanks for the information..it gives me more things to consider.


I was surprised at how much space a Full DVD Can take, a lot of the retail DVD's are dual layer and like I've seen Discs with upward of 7GB of stuff on them. This is where a good ripping application comes in to play that will allow you do extract just the main movie itself. I personally don't copy all of the extras as they are something I will check out once and not over and over.

I built my server and several others for other people and they have all be thrilled with them. The server isn't anything more than a system that "Stores and Shares" all of your data. So there isn't any real need to control it, the data is accessed through a share that can be accessed through the network.

I use Xlobby as my Graphical Front End which will display all of the cover images for the movies. This used in combination with my remote control will launch my DVD Player application which is TheaterTek which I have found to to the best player that actually acts like a regular home DVD player.

Hope this helps.


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## jmhga44 (Aug 27, 2006)

funhouse69 said:


> I was surprised at how much space a Full DVD Can take, a lot of the retail DVD's are dual layer and like I've seen Discs with upward of 7GB of stuff on them. This is where a good ripping application comes in to play that will allow you do extract just the main movie itself. I personally don't copy all of the extras as they are something I will check out once and not over and over.
> 
> I built my server and several others for other people and they have all be thrilled with them. The server isn't anything more than a system that "Stores and Shares" all of your data. So there isn't any real need to control it, the data is accessed through a share that can be accessed through the network.
> 
> ...


You've given me some good things that I didn't realize were around.. Too bad you're not in the Dallas. TX area..if you were I might consider having you build me one of the servers you're referring to. When you built your server did you convert a regular Home PC to a server or did you work with a PC that was in a case that would fit in a home entertainment center?

Thanks again for all the good information!


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## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

jmhga44 said:


> You've given me some good things that I didn't realize were around.. Too bad you're not in the Dallas. TX area..if you were I might consider having you build me one of the servers you're referring to. When you built your server did you convert a regular Home PC to a server or did you work with a PC that was in a case that would fit in a home entertainment center?
> 
> Thanks again for all the good information!


Here is a picture of two of the servers that I have built. They are both in the same case and use the same Hot Swap Drive Carriers. This might be way overkill for you or it might not be. This system is connected to my network but doesn't even have a monitor connected to it. I access it remotely if I ever need to do anything or to check on it.

I also have an actual HTPC that I built and is sitting in my Entertainment Center. That is based on this case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811204003


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## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

Wow, nice storage there funhouse69! BTW, when you put math behind the DVD library you have a grand point...

See, there ya go making me think about this stuff somemore. Man Mrs. Smiddy is either going to love this or hate this...either way it will all be fun.


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## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

smiddy said:


> Wow, nice storage there funhouse69! BTW, when you put math behind the DVD library you have a grand point...
> 
> See, there ya go making me think about this stuff somemore. Man Mrs. Smiddy is either going to love this or hate this...either way it will all be fun.


This is a debatable thing, are you and or the Mrs people that can and will watch movies over and over? If so then I think that both of you will LOVE this. Having your whole DVD and Music Library at your finger tips. As I mentioned I use my pretty much every day sometimes multiple times a day.

I am a tech person and thought that this was cool but when I show it to my non-tech oriented people they love it too. The only ones that don't see it are people that won't watch a movie over and over even if it is from a library of upwards of 1000 movies.

I'm glad to help, as I've said this has been a learning process for me and this went from a single hard drive up to a 6TB Array that I built from scratch. I love where I have ended up and don't see this stopping anytime soon. I settled on SATA Drives are they are somewhat new, perform well and have a good price point. We know that they are going to get larger and cheaper so that will allow me to keep this expanding as time goes on.


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## jmhga44 (Aug 27, 2006)

funhouse69 said:


> Here is a picture of two of the servers that I have built. They are both in the same case and use the same Hot Swap Drive Carriers. This might be way overkill for you or it might not be. This system is connected to my network but doesn't even have a monitor connected to it. I access it remotely if I ever need to do anything or to check on it.
> 
> I also have an actual HTPC that I built and is sitting in my Entertainment Center. That is based on this case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811204003


Funhouse69..

That's rather impressive to say the least. I would be curious on where your servers are located in relation to your home theater and are they connected to your network wirelessly or hard-wired. If the servers are located in a part of the house away from the home theater that would lead me to think that I could locate them in my office separate from the home theater since I really don't have a spot in my entertainment center that would house servers similar to yours.

I'll also add that the case that you're using for your HTPC would fit in the space I presently have my changer. With the HTPC do you have a good amount of hard drive space in it?

The wheels are churning with ideas!


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## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

jmhga44 said:


> Funhouse69..
> 
> That's rather impressive to say the least. I would be curious on where your servers are located in relation to your home theater and are they connected to your network wirelessly or hard-wired. If the servers are located in a part of the house away from the home theater that would lead me to think that I could locate them in my office separate from the home theater since I really don't have a spot in my entertainment center that would house servers similar to yours.
> 
> ...


While I would love to have both of servers you see in the picture in my network only one of the servers you see is actually mine (the one on the left). The other I built for a friend so I had to put them together and take a picture. I've actually built a few for other people. One of which owns just under 1000 DVDs and has his whole entire library on it.

My server is located in my basement on a wire shelf. It is hardwire connected to my network GigE which I have throughout my house. I even have an 8 Port GigE Switch in my Entertainment Center. While I don't have anything against wireless I just feel that it can't provide the speed and reliability like hardwired can.

Even with that said you can certainly get away with 100Mb Wired and even Wireless G (obviously Wireless N would be even better). I transfer a lot of data around my network on a regular basis from Digital Pictures to Video that I edit and want the speed.

In my HTPC I have a single drive and got the smallest I could get which was an 80GB. I only have the OS and the HTPC Software on it everything else is on the network itself. I have built a few for people that don't have a "Server" so they have large drives in them from 500's to even 1TB Drives.

Remember that the server is a complete computer with motherboard and everything. I happen to be running Windows Server 2003 but the next one will probably have Home Server which is WAY cheaper and kind of made for exactly this type of application. You can certainly get a NAS (Network Attached Storage) Device but they are really expensive when you get up to this amount of storage.


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## jmhga44 (Aug 27, 2006)

funhouse69 said:


> While I would love to have both of servers you see in the picture in my network only one of the servers you see is actually mine (the one on the left). The other I built for a friend so I had to put them together and take a picture. I've actually built a few for other people. One of which owns just under 1000 DVDs and has his whole entire library on it.
> 
> My server is located in my basement on a wire shelf. It is hardwire connected to my network GigE which I have throughout my house. I even have an 8 Port GigE Switch in my Entertainment Center. While I don't have anything against wireless I just feel that it can't provide the speed and reliability like hardwired can.
> 
> ...


Funhouse69..

It sounds like from your note that you have the server and HTPC in fairly close proximity to your home theater (I could be wrong). I've got a Buffalo Technology WLI-TX4-G54HP that is sitting on top of my entertainment center and it connects to the wireless router for the network (it also has a couple more available ports in it). If I had a HTPC that would replace the changer that could use one of the ports in the Buffalo Technology WLI-TX4-G54HP to connect via the network to a server similar to yours that was located in another part of the house (probably the office) could a setup like that work? I don't have any Cat-5 network cable run anywhere and don't really want to run it if I could help it. I also don't have a real accessible place to put a server that uses a tower type case other than the top of the entertainment center.

You mentioned another good point in your note about building a future server with Windows Home Server. A co-worker had mentioned looking at one of the HP Media Servers and I checked Best Buy's web site. The one on their web site happens to be using Windows Home Server. What's your thoughts on a system like that?

Thanks again for the thoughts and ideas..


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## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

My entertainment center is on the second floor of a very old old house so it is about 30' or so away from my entertainment center if you could go through a straight line through the floors. I actually have a Wireless access point in my basement and on the second floor to give me good coverage throughout the house. I tried using Wireless G on my desktop systems and didn't care for it at all. I just don't get the throughput that I want. Obviously I'm not going to see anything wireless that will compare to GigE but even 100MB is way faster than my wireless. To be fair I haven't done a lot of testing with anything "N" which I know is better and faster but none of my laptops have built in cards so I probably won't bother until it is time to upgrade the laptops. 

I considered purchasing a server but for something to supply the kind of storage that I am looking for would be astronomical in price. This was before Home Server hit, now companies like HP have some very attractive price points for their servers. They still don't however offer the kind of storage that I have obtained with my own server and you will be able to buy home server as an OEM at some point. So if this is something that you are thinking about / planning on you might be in luck if you wait a while. 

If you don't want to built a system then by all means see what you can get in one of these servers. I believe the most I've seen drives wise with them for their RAID is 5 but I might be wrong. From 5 - 16 is a big deal for me.


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## jmhga44 (Aug 27, 2006)

funhouse69 said:


> My entertainment center is on the second floor of a very old old house so it is about 30' or so away from my entertainment center if you could go through a straight line through the floors. I actually have a Wireless access point in my basement and on the second floor to give me good coverage throughout the house. I tried using Wireless G on my desktop systems and didn't care for it at all. I just don't get the throughput that I want. Obviously I'm not going to see anything wireless that will compare to GigE but even 100MB is way faster than my wireless. To be fair I haven't done a lot of testing with anything "N" which I know is better and faster but none of my laptops have built in cards so I probably won't bother until it is time to upgrade the laptops.
> 
> I considered purchasing a server but for something to supply the kind of storage that I am looking for would be astronomical in price. This was before Home Server hit, now companies like HP have some very attractive price points for their servers. They still don't however offer the kind of storage that I have obtained with my own server and you will be able to buy home server as an OEM at some point. So if this is something that you are thinking about / planning on you might be in luck if you wait a while.
> 
> If you don't want to built a system then by all means see what you can get in one of these servers. I believe the most I've seen drives wise with them for their RAID is 5 but I might be wrong. From 5 - 16 is a big deal for me.


Funhouse69..

I've just remembered that I have a 5 port Netgear Gigabit Ethernet switch in my office that has a couple of unused ports in it and it is hard wired to the router. If I'm understanding your last post right if I can figure out a way to get a cat-5 cable from the Gigabit switch to my home entertainment center I could then hook up the server that way. I'm not a networking expert in any form but I could talk to a friend whose wife is and get some ideas from them.

The HP Media Server that I looked at on the Best Buy site comes with 1 500GB SATA drive but has 3 empty bays in it. So I'm guessing you could stick some more drives in those bays. Best Buy's site also mentioned that it has external capability to add 1 e-sata drive. I am not in any kind of a hurry right now and you had mentioned that there may be Home Servers coming along in the future with more storage so I can wait a while to see what happens there.


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## jmhga44 (Aug 27, 2006)

funhouse69 said:


> My entertainment center is on the second floor of a very old old house so it is about 30' or so away from my entertainment center if you could go through a straight line through the floors. I actually have a Wireless access point in my basement and on the second floor to give me good coverage throughout the house. I tried using Wireless G on my desktop systems and didn't care for it at all. I just don't get the throughput that I want. Obviously I'm not going to see anything wireless that will compare to GigE but even 100MB is way faster than my wireless. To be fair I haven't done a lot of testing with anything "N" which I know is better and faster but none of my laptops have built in cards so I probably won't bother until it is time to upgrade the laptops.
> 
> I considered purchasing a server but for something to supply the kind of storage that I am looking for would be astronomical in price. This was before Home Server hit, now companies like HP have some very attractive price points for their servers. They still don't however offer the kind of storage that I have obtained with my own server and you will be able to buy home server as an OEM at some point. So if this is something that you are thinking about / planning on you might be in luck if you wait a while.
> 
> If you don't want to built a system then by all means see what you can get in one of these servers. I believe the most I've seen drives wise with them for their RAID is 5 but I might be wrong. From 5 - 16 is a big deal for me.


Funhouse69..

Ideas keep popping in my somewhat feeble mind about the HTPC possibilities. Using your setup mentioned in a previous thread (HTPC and server hard wired to network if I understood it right) is it feasible for me to do the following -

1). Have a HTPC in my entertainment center that would replace the DVD changer and hook up to the rest of my home theater and be hooked up to the network via cat-5 cable (I think I can get a cable from my HT to my office where the Gigabit switch is since the office is right across from my entertainment center)?

2). Locate a separate server in my office that would be hard wired to the Gigabit switch which would make it accessible to the HTPC? Doing #1 and #2 would still leave me 1 port available on the Gigabit switch.

If I understood your setup correctly you have the TheaterTek and XLobby software on your HTPC which in turn gets the DVD files from the server. Is the HTPC hooked up to your entertainment system in a way that allows DVDs that are Dolby Digital (or similar format) to play back on your entertainment center in that same format and if so how does that work (high end sound card in the PC perhaps)?

The wheels are running overtime now!


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## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

Yes you can locate your server anywhere on your network as long as it has some kind of network connection be it hard wired, wireless or even Power Line. I as mentioned I like / prefer Hardwired as it is just the least amount of trouble and all of my network hardware is managed which allows me to "See" what is going on inside my network and with specific devices. 

The process is this - you would need some method to "Rip" your DVD collection to your server. This is obviously easily accomplished by many different applications. I personally like DVDFab Platinum as it allows me to extract just the main movie and not all of the extras like we discussed before. These movies will be stored on your server and shared out so any system on your network, I watch movies in my laptop once in a while which is also cool.

From there your HTPC will be connected to your TV, I am connecting to my Sony 50" Rear Projection using DVI to HDMI for video which as an added bonus will "Upconvert" your DVD's for you which I think does a wonderful job. 

As for sound I have my HTPC Connected to my TV using an 1/8" Headphone Jack to RCA's on the TV but I also have it connected through an Optical / Toslink connection to my Sony Surround Receiver! The Theater Tek Software supports pretty much all Dolby Digital Options that I have seen. My Sony pumps out 7.1 without any problems. The only caveat that is that you do have to go in to the Theater Tek Configuration to switch between "Normal" and "Optical / Spdif) outputs but it is easily accomplished through the remote control. 

I am using the sound card that is on the motherboard which in this case is an ASUS Micro-ATX. You do need to get the adapter that plugs in to the Motherboard to give you the optical out but that is under $20. I have tried using another sound card and honestly there isn't any difference so I've been sticking with the on board. 

Also keep in mind that if you do run a single cable to your entertainment center you can always put another switch there to give you even more ports. I have an 8 port switch in mine to connect my 2 HR20's, HTPC, Slingbox Pro, SliMP3.


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## jmhga44 (Aug 27, 2006)

I may have a possible problem if I try to hook up a HTPC to my TV in a manner like yours. According to the owners manual for my TV it states that the HDMI/DVI jacks do not support being connected to a PC. It looks like a PC can only be connected via a VGA (D-Sub in the TV manual which I think is the same thing) connection and that would be a big impact downward in picture quality. Could the same be true for a HTPC? I do possibly have a spare HDMI jack in my Denon A/V receiver but don't know for sure if that would work here. My present DVD changer is I believe hooked up for video to the component jacks in the TV.


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## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

jmhga44 said:


> I may have a possible problem if I try to hook up a HTPC to my TV in a manner like yours. According to the owners manual for my TV it states that the HDMI/DVI jacks do not support being connected to a PC. It looks like a PC can only be connected via a VGA (D-Sub in the TV manual which I think is the same thing) connection and that would be a big impact downward in picture quality. Could the same be true for a HTPC? I do possibly have a spare HDMI jack in my Denon A/V receiver but don't know for sure if that would work here. My present DVD changer is I believe hooked up for video to the component jacks in the TV.


I don't see what this would be an issue. To me this would be like any other device connecting to your TV that has HDMI out. If this is an issue then there are several different video cards out there that support HD TV Output Via Component. I had my TV Connected that way for a while but then went to HDMI which I found was a little easier as it is true digital and my PC detected that I was connected to a Sony TV. So maybe that is why?

If you have a PC now that has a DVI Connection on it, update the Drivers so that it supports HD TV and pick up a cable from someone like Mono Price for short money to try it. This way you would know which way you would need to go before you build or by an HTPC. Or just pick up a video card with both HDMI and Component options. I believe the nVIDIA card I have in mine now has both (it uses some little converter that you connect to the card to give you HDMI).


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## jmhga44 (Aug 27, 2006)

funhouse69 said:


> I don't see what this would be an issue. To me this would be like any other device connecting to your TV that has HDMI out. If this is an issue then there are several different video cards out there that support HD TV Output Via Component. I had my TV Connected that way for a while but then went to HDMI which I found was a little easier as it is true digital and my PC detected that I was connected to a Sony TV. So maybe that is why?
> 
> If you have a PC now that has a DVI Connection on it, update the Drivers so that it supports HD TV and pick up a cable from someone like Mono Price for short money to try it. This way you would know which way you would need to go before you build or by an HTPC. Or just pick up a video card with both HDMI and Component options. I believe the nVIDIA card I have in mine now has both (it uses some little converter that you connect to the card to give you HDMI).


I agree..I saw that point in the owners manual for the TV and thought it would be a problem..I've got a PC that has an ATI HD2600 Pro with 2 DVI connections on it but it's not real easy to move it next to the TV..I think the drivers on that card already support HDTV but could be wrong..I'll do some checking on the ATI site.


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## jmhga44 (Aug 27, 2006)

funhouse69 said:


> I don't see what this would be an issue. To me this would be like any other device connecting to your TV that has HDMI out. If this is an issue then there are several different video cards out there that support HD TV Output Via Component. I had my TV Connected that way for a while but then went to HDMI which I found was a little easier as it is true digital and my PC detected that I was connected to a Sony TV. So maybe that is why?
> 
> If you have a PC now that has a DVI Connection on it, update the Drivers so that it supports HD TV and pick up a cable from someone like Mono Price for short money to try it. This way you would know which way you would need to go before you build or by an HTPC. Or just pick up a video card with both HDMI and Component options. I believe the nVIDIA card I have in mine now has both (it uses some little converter that you connect to the card to give you HDMI).


Funhouse69...

I sent an email to Samsung and they confirmed what I suspected about connecting the HDMI jacks on the TV to a DVI jack on a HTPC. They responded since my TV was made prior to 2007 the HDMI/DVI jacks on the TV will not work when connected to the DVI jack on a PC. The only way to connect a PC to the TV is via the VGA jack which would be completely useless for HDTV. If the TV had been made anytime from 2007 on I could have used the HDMI 1 jack on the TV to connect to the DVI jack on the PC.

Ouch! Guess this puts a big and screeching halt to putting a HTPC in my home theater unless I want to change out the present HDTV.


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## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

jmhga44 said:


> Funhouse69...
> 
> I sent an email to Samsung and they confirmed what I suspected about connecting the HDMI jacks on the TV to a DVI jack on a HTPC. They responded since my TV was made prior to 2007 the HDMI/DVI jacks on the TV will not work when connected to the DVI jack on a PC. The only way to connect a PC to the TV is via the VGA jack which would be completely useless for HDTV. If the TV had been made anytime from 2007 on I could have used the HDMI 1 jack on the TV to connect to the DVI jack on the PC.
> 
> Ouch! Guess this puts a big and screeching halt to putting a HTPC in my home theater unless I want to change out the present HDTV.


Can you or have you asked for a firmware update to include it? Or is there a hardware issue? It sounded like firmware is possible, but it could be a chip within the TV too.


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## jmhga44 (Aug 27, 2006)

smiddy said:


> Can you or have you asked for a firmware update to include it? Or is there a hardware issue? It sounded like firmware is possible, but it could be a chip within the TV too.


Smiddy..

That's an angle that I didn't think of and a good one. I'll send a note to Samsung to ask about that. I didn't see anything in their last response that indicated a hardware issue. I'll post any further information that I get from Samsung..

Thanks for the info..


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## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

jmhga44 said:


> Smiddy..
> 
> That's an angle that I didn't think of and a good one. I'll send a note to Samsung to ask about that. I didn't see anything in their last response that indicated a hardware issue. I'll post any further information that I get from Samsung..
> 
> Thanks for the info..


I am a little confused here... To me this shouldn't matter if you are connecting a PC to your TV or a DVD player. If they are putting out the same type of output then what is the difference?

I think you should try this - At the very least I think you will be able to get away with Component out, while certainly not as easy to deal with a HDMI or DVI to HDMI it will certainly give you an HD Signal.


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## jmhga44 (Aug 27, 2006)

funhouse69 said:


> I am a little confused here... To me this shouldn't matter if you are connecting a PC to your TV or a DVD player. If they are putting out the same type of output then what is the difference?
> 
> I think you should try this - At the very least I think you will be able to get away with Component out, while certainly not as easy to deal with a HDMI or DVI to HDMI it will certainly give you an HD Signal.


Funhouse69..

I would agree wholeheartedly with you on the TV shouldn't care whether a HDMI signal is coming from a PC or a DVD player. I was very surprised when I found out that the TV wouldn't accept DVI from a HTPC.

Right now I've got the Component Out from the DVD changer coming to the Component In jacks on my Denon A/V receiver and the and the Component In jacks on my TV going to the Component Out jacks on the Denon. Based on your suggestion about using the Component In jacks on the TV for a HTPC if the DVD changer were swapped out for a HTPC the HTPC would have to have a graphics card with Component jacks on it which in turn would be hooked up to the Component In jacks on the Denon. I would guess in that scenario that you would also have to run separate audio cables from the HTPC to either the Denon or the TV.


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## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

Either way you will have to run a separate audio connection to something. Remember that HDMI from a component like a DVD Player or a Cable Box carries Audio but when you take a DVI Connection from a PC and through an adapter or something change it to HDMI you aren't going to get any audio. Obviously the same applies for Component. I have my HTPC Connected to my TV through a mini headphone on the PC Side to the Left / Right RCA's on the TV. I also have the Optical Out of the PC connected to my Sony Surround Sound Processor which I only use when I watch a movie. 

I think you are going to be able to get this to work one way or another. If you look at almost any of the newer video cards they will have HD Output and for most of them that will mean it will come with a special adapter that will have the Component Connections if that is what you need. 

I originally had my HTPC Connected this way and it worked well but DVI to HDMI is so much easier and my PC detected it as a "Sony Monitor". My TV is pushing 3 years old so maybe Sony was just ahead of the game?


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## jmhga44 (Aug 27, 2006)

funhouse69 said:


> Either way you will have to run a separate audio connection to something. Remember that HDMI from a component like a DVD Player or a Cable Box carries Audio but when you take a DVI Connection from a PC and through an adapter or something change it to HDMI you aren't going to get any audio. Obviously the same applies for Component. I have my HTPC Connected to my TV through a mini headphone on the PC Side to the Left / Right RCA's on the TV. I also have the Optical Out of the PC connected to my Sony Surround Sound Processor which I only use when I watch a movie.
> 
> I think you are going to be able to get this to work one way or another. If you look at almost any of the newer video cards they will have HD Output and for most of them that will mean it will come with a special adapter that will have the Component Connections if that is what you need.
> 
> I originally had my HTPC Connected this way and it worked well but DVI to HDMI is so much easier and my PC detected it as a "Sony Monitor". My TV is pushing 3 years old so maybe Sony was just ahead of the game?


Funhouse69..

That confirmed my hunch about a separate audio connection for a HTPC. Thanks for the info..I'll keep you posted on the HTPC research.


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## eric99 (Nov 23, 2008)

I am planning on building an HTPC. I want a completely silent system. I would also like a small LCD screen on the front of the case so that I can make music selections without firing up my 65 inch tv. But I will still need component out for watching videos. My tv does not have dvi or hdmi inputs. I would appreciate any advice on a case for the system I am planning.


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## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

eric99 said:


> I am planning on building an HTPC. I want a completely silent system. I would also like a small LCD screen on the front of the case so that I can make music selections without firing up my 65 inch tv. But I will still need component out for watching videos. My tv does not have dvi or hdmi inputs. I would appreciate any advice on a case for the system I am planning.


Check out a case like this
 that has a built in touch screen.

Component out only depends on your video card, you might not be able to get an all in one motherboard that will support it but pretty much any HD Compatible Video Card should give you the Component Option. I have my HTPC Connected to my TV via component and it works great.

Hope this helps


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