Im looking for advice on a new project that I am starting. [bold]Background:[/bold] I have about 1200 Dvd's between the ones I own and my wifes Ballet performances. (Princable dancer in a large Company) The Ballet DVDs are burned recordings and are not replacable. I always keep a backup in case of scratches but this is getting to be a major hassle with over 500 performance recordings. The idea of having a HD backup is becoming more apealing everyday as I see HD's fall in price. [bold]Plan:[/bold] Rip the discs in ISO form and catagorize them on the HD's. [bold]Hardware[/bold] [bold]CPU:[/bold] Intel Core Duo 2.4GHZ (Could I get away with a 1.8? Im tempted to wait for the Quads, or a price drop, but the heat and power usage cuts make it ideal compared to a PentD.) [bold]RAM:[/bold] 2x 1GB DDR2 800 (Dual Chan. This seems like enough, although I have 2 slots open) [bold]MoBo:[/bold] ABIT AB9 Pro (Always been a big fan of ASUS but 9 SATAII is perfect for this op) [bold]Sound:[/bold] Creative XFI 7.1 (Should integrate nicly into my HT) [bold]Video:[/bold] Almost any HDTV/S-Vid out Compatable PCIE16. (Ideas welcome. 52" Sony Widescreen.) [bold]TV Tuner:[/bold] Hauppauge WinTV-PVR250MCE (I've heard good things, but have no on hands exp.) [bold]HD:[/bold] 12x 500GB SATAII3.0 7200RPM (SATAII seems perfect for this. High transfer rats, affordable) [bold]SATA PCI:[/bold] PROMISE SATA300 TX4 [4x SATAII] (Adds those extra 3 SATAII connections, and keeps an extra for expanding.) [bold]Optical Drive:[/bold] Almost any DVDRW with 2M+ Cache and a 21000+ Transfer Rate. IDE Due to SATA usage. [bold]Case:[/bold] Lots of Airflow/Fans (I have a few server and ATX cases, but have seen some HTPC designed cases that look slick.) [bold]P/S:[/bold] 650W? (I could go as high as 1000W, but only 2 drives would ever be fully powered up at a time, no SLI, and the lower power draw of the Core Duo, do I really need it?) I understand how to do it, it really just comes down to how much power do I really need in a Tivo on crack? Anyway, any thoughts or experiences you have to share would be great. [bold]~Talath[/bold] "Viva La Afterdawn!" *This is my first post in a year or so and I forgot my old Handle. I check the site at least once a week, and I have posted quite a few times. (To many forums to keep 'em all straight though.)
This will be a nice system, but you don't need nearly those specs for a DVD jukebox. I would recommend getting a NAS (network attached storage) server for your hard drive storage. This you can stick out of site. Then get a mATX case that will look nice and be much smaller. Then go for silent fans and psu. 500W should be plenty. the Hauppauge PVR500 is dual tuner and comes in handy if your going to be recording shows on your htpc. Make sure the video card output you get has the same input as your TV HDMI/DVI. Any decent video card will do if you're not playing games on it. the 6600GT and 7600GT is a good midlevel cards. And if you're getting all that you might as well get a Blu-Ray or a HD-DVD drive. Enjoy. That'll be a fun project.
Hi, If all you're doing is ripping DVDs to .iso's and storing them on an HDD, then just buy a large HDD{s} and use the Shrink/Decrypter then store them until you need them. If you're looking for a TiVo/DVD/OnDemand type device...then you'd be alright with even half your specs if you're looking to play back at 720p (which is believe is the same resolution as OTA HD channels). Here's the meat and potatoes of my build: A64 3200+ 1GB PC3200 7600GT (you can actually go with a 7300GT but, you'll lose Inverse Telecine and Bad Edit Correction features) 400W quality PSU for the PC itself. You also, don't need a capture card (Hauppauge WinTV-PVR250MCE) for playback. And, I'd agree with bajtra regarding the NAS. If you plan on keeping this PC near your TV, a lot the fans and HDDs will get loud.
I don't know if the system is that overpowered. I might cut down the ram to 2 sticks of 512, but with 12 HD's the heat issue is going to be quite real. The Duo's produce much less heat then even the Celerons. A thermalake typhoon cooler and a half dozen fans and I should be ok. Im going to run this via network to several TV's so the processing power is not that wasted. As for 220's suggestion of using shrink: That would take far more space then ISO format and I can watch them in ISO format with full features and menus.
