mATXvs [Video Server]

[Son1990]

The Beginning:
Iv been juggling the thought of using a video server to record and play recorded TV on all the computers within the house but also on the family 42" plasma in my basement. Iv always been a huge movie lover and my dad, as a teen, recorded HBO onto VHS tapes. Hopefully by the end of this log I will be able to sit in my room and watch movies recorded from mATXvs in the basement.

The Components:
Here is a list of components that will be used in my video server.
These components were picked according to mainly form factors and the size of my spending limit:

-ECS PM800-M2 VIA PM800 (Micro ATX)
-Intel Celeron D310 (Sk478)
-Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250GB (Maybe 2)
-2x 512mb of RAM
-Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-250

The Goals:
+ A superior Video/Tv recording Server
+ An almost silent system
+ Have the rig take up as little space as possible
+ Be able to watch movies recorded by mATXvs in my room via network

The Design:
Plans have changed, pictures have been takin down...here is the latest updated CAD model

 

[Son1990]

Small Update I found this laying around in the basement, must have been something my dad accedentily ordered. I will now be using it for this project:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16823109151

 

[Son1990]

Hardware Update I found a nice deal on a used PVR 250 so I will most likley be going with that instead of a new one from newegg, meeting my budget seems to be getting alot easier also concidering that Im taking my sisters old GeForce FX5500 and a Turtle Beach RIVIERA soundcard from Newegg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829118103).

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/29-118-103-01.JPG

 

[Son1990]

I ordered the following from Mcmaster:

Acrylic rods:
-8516K33 [24ft]
Acrylic .118":
-black: 8505K143 [24"x24" (x1)]
-white: 8505K147 [24"x24" (x1)]
-clear: 8560K194 [24"x24" (x1)]
Acrylic .236":
-black: 8505K913 [12"x12" (x2)]
-white: 8505K917 [12"x12" (x1)]
-clear: 8560K221 [12"x12" (x1)]
Nylon screws:
-94323A189 [1 1/2",6-32, black (x100)]
Tap/die set:
-2522A867 [6-32 kit]
Standoffs:
-92745A342 [1-pack]

and the following from TAP Plastics:

-IPS weld-on
-Medical Syringes (to apply IPS with,the one I have now leaks)

Then.....recived them the next day...well..half of what I ordered at least:

 

[Spaceninja]

Man that keyboard is cool, not $70 cool, but neat none the less. Mod looks good, Always love to see media center PC's.

 

[CrimandEvil]

Since your building an HTPC you should pay heavy attention to what software you're going to be using, I wouldn't choose MCE for media server simple because MCE's server capabilities is anemic at best. It's pretty much just a very simple file server.

I assume MCE because currently support for the MCE remote keyboard is limited to just MCE.

I also higly suggest getting another tuner card, one just isn't enough even if you don't watch much TV.

I would suggest looking into some software before you actually purchase much of the hardware.

My suggestions:
PVR app: SageTV- Hands down the best support for client/server setups as well as regarded as the best PVR app out there.

Frontend- Xlobby or Meedio- Both highly customizable and have support for a wide range of plugins, you can't really go wrong with either of them (I'm currently using Xlobby but I'm also going to be getting Meedio for another HTPC project).

DVD app- Zoomplayer or TheaterTek- Both are very good and were developed with HTPCs in mind, most consider ZP to be really good for PC usage while TheaterTek is geared more towards HTPC usage.

 

[Son1990]

Since your building an HTPC you should pay heavy attention to what software you're going to be using, I wouldn't choose MCE for media server simple because MCE's server capabilities is anemic at best. It's pretty much just a very simple file server.

I assume MCE because currently support for the MCE remote keyboard is limited to just MCE.

I also higly suggest getting another tuner card, one just isn't enough even if you don't watch much TV.

I would suggest looking into some software before you actually purchase much of the hardware.

My suggestions:
PVR app: SageTV- Hands down the best support for client/server setups as well as regarded as the best PVR app out there.

Frontend- Xlobby or Meedio- Both highly customizable and have support for a wide range of plugins, you can't really go wrong with either of them (I'm currently using Xlobby but I'm also going to be getting Meedio for another HTPC project).

DVD app- Zoomplayer or TheaterTek- Both are very good and were developed with HTPCs in mind, most consider ZP to be really good for PC usage while TheaterTek is geared more towards HTPC usage.

Thanks for the suggestions. Im working with what I can get and what I have. I will keep all that information in mind. You were correct about the keyboard and MCE. I dont think its within my budget however to afford another card. I do however, already have my softwear for recording picked out and will work perfectly with my tuner card and system.

 

[Son1990]

After a few days of measuring and cutting, I finished the bottom plate. I didnt take off the cover on the acrylic of the part that will be facing up in case I need to measure or doodle on it. As you can see the black is pretty much as reflective as a mirror and looks great.

I will be away for the weekend at a paintball tournament, next update should be sometime next week.

 

[Son1990]

Main frame has been cut and placed onto base plate. Im in the modding mood tonight.

 

[Son1990]

Update I finished the lower, outer skeleton. The PSU, and Hard drives will be fit below the rods. The secondary motherboard plate will be fitted above the rods.

 

[Blammo[doh]]

First off, welcome to the PVR world. You'll never want to go back.

Second, good choice on the PVR-250. (I own two of them myself) Too many people spend way too much time wrestling with CPU-driven encoding and burn out before they get anywhere fun. Might want to think about the PVR-500 (dual tuner) or one of the HDTV cards like the HD-2000/3000 or Air2PC cards (which I own 2 of myself)

If you're willing to think about an OS other than Windows, there are several killer choices for PVR apps. They have a little bit higher learning curve than MCE, but imho is far worth it:

MythTV: By far the most mature and popular - There are several "distro-on-a-disk", namely MythDora [http://www.g-ding.tv/ and Knoppmyth http://www.mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html , that can get you up and running in about 15 minutes. Puts TV, DVD, Audio, Pictures all into one nicely wrapped GUI. I've been using MythTV for 2+ years myself, and love it. Good place to start is JW's guide to getting myth going on Fedora http://www.wilsonet.com/mythtv/fcmyth.php Check out the screenshots on the home page of MythTV http://www.mythtv.com

FreeVo: I know less about this project, but it's been around a while as well. http://freevo.sourceforge.net/

 

[Son1990]

First off, welcome to the PVR world. You'll never want to go back.

Second, good choice on the PVR-250. (I own two of them myself) Too many people spend way too much time wrestling with CPU-driven encoding and burn out before they get anywhere fun. Might want to think about the PVR-500 (dual tuner) or one of the HDTV cards like the HD-2000/3000 or Air2PC cards (which I own 2 of myself)

If you're willing to think about an OS other than Windows, there are several killer choices for PVR apps. They have a little bit higher learning curve than MCE, but imho is far worth it:

MythTV: By far the most mature and popular - There are several "distro-on-a-disk", namely MythDora [http://www.g-ding.tv/ and Knoppmyth http://www.mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html , that can get you up and running in about 15 minutes. Puts TV, DVD, Audio, Pictures all into one nicely wrapped GUI. I've been using MythTV for 2+ years myself, and love it. Good place to start is JW's guide to getting myth going on Fedora http://www.wilsonet.com/mythtv/fcmyth.php Check out the screenshots on the home page of MythTV http://www.mythtv.com

FreeVo: I know less about this project, but it's been around a while as well. http://freevo.sourceforge.net/

Thats some good info. I dont think I will be getting the PVR-500 or any more tuners at this point in time due to my budget. However, I guess I can forget about the keyboard I was gonna use and look into mythTV. Guess I will just have to read up on that. Thanks for the good info and helpful links.

 

[CrimandEvil]

Might want to think about the PVR-500 (dual tuner)

He's using a VIA mobo so a PVR500 is out of the question anyways.

 

[feigned]

Looks very cool. Can't wait to see the rest!

But do us users on slower connections a small favor...re-save all of your image files as .png (preferable) or .gif if they are strictly your CAD drawings. They could be a few KB instead of over 1MB each like they are now.

 

[Son1990]

After working on a couple of diffrent things today, I completed the motherboard. I used nylon screws and 1/2" standoff's:

 

[Son1990]

Just something I did while bored. Though everyone might wanna see:

 

[Son1990]

Huzza for an update!
Well, finnaly after lots of work the past few weeks I finished the main structure, along with support beams, and secondary motherboard "rails".

The motherboard tray is screwed into 3 rails which screw into the main frame.Thank you to CCUABIDE for resizing these pictures:

 

[Son1990]

Better pictures.
Also, a strength test requested by Sewerbeing who didnt think the mobo tray/rail configuration was sturdy along with the rest of the case.

Size comparison with the 6th harry potter book.
Strength test with the whole harry potter book collection, The Art of War, Jarhead, CSS for dummies, and The Lord Of The Ring trilogy. Oh and cant forget Black Hawk Down

 

[Son1990]

CAD Model of what I will be working on tonight.

Its the hard drive rack. The drives have rails attached to each side, that slide into a bay, then after being slid in, connect to SATA data and power connectors allowing for extreamly easy hot swapping.
Green=HDD
Black=Bay inner rails
Grey=HDD Rails

There is a back plate that cannot be seen along with side panels which are not shown. The tall rod on the side is just for to scale (5" high)

 

[uzor]

What are you going to do about dust, etc. when this is all done? Are you going to make a shroud to cover the thing or are you just going to leave it open and put it in a cabinet or something?

 

[Son1990]

It will be enclosed with an outer shell.

 

[Son1990]

w00t! Got my Celeron 310 today, along with some red acrylic from McMaster.

 

[Son1990]

Just some pictures of the main case along with the motherboard, PCI cards, AGP card installed, and the Celeron.

 

[Son1990]

Cut and IPSed the first part of PSU mount. Currently waiting for the solvent to cure.

Will be finished hopefully tomorrow along with the Hard Drive Rail system.
Happy Thanksgiving all!

 

[Son1990]

I got my two maxtors, thats rightt 500GB's of pure storage. My other two 80's that will also go into this rig I allready have and are p-sata so they arent a big deal

 

[Son1990]

Ok well a little update. I didnt work on much over thanksgiving. Hope you all had a good turkey day :thup:
I did however, finish up the PSU mounts. I had to make two. one to support the PSU while in the case, and one to mount it on the exterior of the case of course. I might have re-configured the harddrives a bit, but in doing so I may want to void the warrenty so the Hard drive rack/mount is on hold.

The pictures pretty much speak for themselves. The first few are a continuation of what I posted in my last update. (red acrylic = shiny)

 

[Son1990]

 

[Son1990]

Perfect fit^^^^tocuhes mobo rails, pefect...yay!

Thats it for today. hopefully some more tomorrow

 

[Son1990]

Im curently on mATXvs, running it on a cardboard box, testing a few things and well, I have a few complaints which will soon be fixed.

Firstly, the two 40GB maxtors are semi loud under load, not a big problom, we can fix that up, but the CPU and GPU fans are incrediably annoying, now, dont figure me for a whinner for those of who know about my project Screaming Deltas (Overclockers Forums), know that I can handel a little bit of noise, but these just whine like no tomorrow. Im looking into a few heatsinks I can run passivley (or at least with a low RPM fan) with one of the following(no suggestions needed):

+ Swiftech MCX478-V
+ Zalman CNPS7700
+ XP-120/SI-120

Currently im concidering buying both to see which one runs better. Sure, Temps are fine as you can see below but, quite is key for this rig (as a matter of fact, those are really good temps, concidering its a stock HS/F and just a thermalpad).

 

[Son1990]

Holy crap Batman! An update!

I finished the first pair of hard drive mounts which where very easy and I love the position the hard drives will be in. They look pretty plain there but wont look plain after I complete the hard drives themself with a little "spice" but, I shall save thatfor another update.

I also finished a small 3"x3" box with the "mATXvs" logo etched into it. I didnt have an actual etching bit so I had to use a cutting bit. This box will be placed between the two hard drives in the front.

 

[Destos]

You need some comments up in here!

Looks great so far, I really like the look of the motherboard tray screws, where did you get them?

Also with the two 250 gigerz being somewhat far apart are you just going to use rounded cabling or fold a flat IDE cable under the motherboard mounts? I think hiding the cables under the tray will look more appealing.

Good luck with the rest!

 

[Son1990]

You need some comments up in here!

Looks great so far, I really like the look of the motherboard tray screws, where did you get them?

Also with the two 250 gigerz being somewhat far apart are you just going to use rounded cabling or fold a flat IDE cable under the motherboard mounts? I think hiding the cables under the tray will look more appealing.

Good luck with the rest!

I got the thumb screws from mcmaster.com. You can check the first page of this log for which part number. I do plan on hiding the cables under the motherboard, tis why the stand offs are about 1/4 of an inch taller than normal ones

 

[Son1990]

Wow, its been a while since my last update. So much has happend and distracted me from three of my current projects, as well as school and even paintball!

This part of the mod has basically been on hold since I was waiting for Pat (sewerbeing) to send me my holiday gift (sleeving, in which I send/am sending him one of my thousand delta fans). It finnaly got here and I have been working like a maniac of the 440w Antec that will be going into mATXvs to run 24/6.

Before the pictures Id like to take a few seconds to thank those of you who have posted in my threads as well as wish everyone a happy new year. These pictures were hosted by Photobucket because my server is now down.

 

[Son1990]

I then started to cut the holes for the wire managment.

 

[Son1990]

Painted PSU, Sleeved it, and took out top fan, will put in possibly a window later.

Custom cables

 

[Son1990]

HSF

Temp sensor

Very nice rails:

Thats it for tonight, now I have to start work on the side panels.

 

[uzor]

With that side fan gone are you concerned about airflow at all through your power supply? (assuming of course, that you do window it as you mentioned).

 

[drizzt81]

PSU looks hot!.. very nice work.

 

[Son1990]

With that side fan gone are you concerned about airflow at all through your power supply? (assuming of course, that you do window it as you mentioned).

There will be moderate ambeint tempatures for me to not have to worry about the PSU over heating. There is still the exhaust fan however and Im currently tossing around the idea of a window or maybe just playing a fan externally to blow down.

 

[stelleg151]

No updates? This project was looking nice