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ANyone here assembled or built a SFF system recently? - Page 2

post #16 of 30
1/13/07 at 12:53am
What is an SFF system? What the hell are you guys talking about?

Just one or two simple, dumbed-down sentences for the non-techie here, please.
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post #17 of 30
1/13/07 at 1:01am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nantucket Red
What is an SFF system? What the hell are you guys talking about?

Just one or two simple, dumbed-down sentences for the non-techie here, please.

Ah sorry. Small form factor systems. Shuttle is the most well known. Shoebox sized PCs.
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post #18 of 30
1/13/07 at 1:05am
Just get a Mac Mini.

--Andre
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post #19 of 30
1/13/07 at 1:09am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andre Yew
Just get a Mac Mini.

--Andre

Lol. If it would run the stuff I needed and handle a X-FI and high-end PCI graphics card.
Anyway, Linux is the way forward - March of the Penguin!
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post #20 of 30
1/13/07 at 1:54am
Wow, very cool. Thanks.
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post #21 of 30
1/13/07 at 2:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nantucket Red
Wow, very cool. Thanks.

Quite a few folks use SFF as the PC for home theatre systems.

____________________________
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post #22 of 30
1/13/07 at 2:53pm
Basically, NR, if you build a home theater pc, with either a home theater component styled case or sff, you can put all your music on it, rip your dvd library to it, and do PVR (think tivo) out of one box. Music is the big thing for me. I use a sound card with high quality outputs to link to my home theater and i no longer have to go searching through my 60+ classical and opera CDs. And they're all stored in a lossless format, meaning that unlike MP3s, you don't lose any quality.
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post #23 of 30
1/13/07 at 3:33pm
GQ, what soundcard, and what file format? Thanks.
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post #24 of 30
1/13/07 at 4:33pm
Huntsman, I'm using a card from M-Audio, but I'd wait before buying anything. Vista has completely changed the driver model for sound cards and I'm not sure what support is like. M-audio has never been fast with the driver updates. I'm not sure what their current product range looks like either.

M-Audio always uses high quality components (burr-brown dacs etc) for their cards. If you're serious about audio, I'd stay away from creative cards, b/c they all internally upsample to 48KHz so they're not a real option for the discerning audiophile.

I use WMA-lossless as my music format because it integrates well with media center, not to mention that it's a good codec in its own right.

FWIW, it's possible to build an HTPC that can compete with the best of high-end audio if you choose your components wisely. And what's really cool is that with the imminent release of 1 TB drives, building a dvd library on a multi-terabyte raid array is getting more and more attractive. After that's done, it's simply a matter of selecting your film from within the media center interface and watching it.
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post #25 of 30
1/13/07 at 7:07pm
Ok, thanks. I keep thinking about heading in that direction, but it's been so long since I wore my geek hat...I don't know what happened there.
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post #26 of 30
1/17/07 at 7:09pm
Heads up on anyone building a system or into PVR: Newegg has the WD Caviar SE 500 GB for $150 after using coupon code EMC116CAV500GB:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ATT=22-136-073

This is the current noise champ over at Silent PC Review. Picked up one to replace my Samsung Spinpoint 160 GB.
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post #27 of 30
1/17/07 at 7:12pm
Good price on that WD drive.
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post #28 of 30
1/17/07 at 9:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Huntsman
Ok, thanks. I keep thinking about heading in that direction, but it's been so long since I wore my geek hat...I don't know what happened there.

I can't imagine going back to my pre-HTPC days. It's so worth building one. There's a whole thread on avsforums that's geared towards getting Meridian-like quality out of an HTPC. And you wouldn't think so, but people that come over always love it. It really makes access to movies, music, and recorded tv incredibly easy for anyone.

ATI has just a release a CableCard peripheral for Windows Vista, so now you can bypass your digital cable box completely, assuming your cable company supports cable card, which i think is now law in the US.

I don't use it for tv anymore, but for movies and music it's fantastic.
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post #29 of 30
1/17/07 at 9:56pm
Thread Starter 
And if you don't feel like doing that, a Tivo on a network connection with a server PC can serve up music video & photographs.
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post #30 of 30
1/18/07 at 10:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GQgeek
I can't imagine going back to my pre-HTPC days. It's so worth building one. There's a whole thread on avsforums that's geared towards getting Meridian-like quality out of an HTPC. And you wouldn't think so, but people that come over always love it. It really makes access to movies, music, and recorded tv incredibly easy for anyone.

ATI has just a release a CableCard peripheral for Windows Vista, so now you can bypass your digital cable box completely, assuming your cable company supports cable card, which i think is now law in the US.

I don't use it for tv anymore, but for movies and music it's fantastic.

Oh I believe it! I've been doing DVR on PC for ages, as well as serving music off of it (not at your level, though), so I definitely have to take it to the big leagues with the HDTV. And being able to kill the &$&*(()*&*(&*%&*((*& Cable box would be great -- it doesn't even have to be HD, as I can't get it anyway.

Thanks,
Huntsman
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