Is it possible to build a HTPC like this?

blackbird3216

blackbird3216

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I just received an email talking about Boxee for windows alpha. I installed it on my Pc to try it out, but it was really laggy. The interface was pretty nice though. I was considering building a HTPC a few months back, but now that have an incentive to do so, i was thinking "why not". However, i don't want a traditional HTPC in the sense that I just want the basic features. I just want to cut the crap and make an HD streaming PC. A main feature is the Netflix Streaming, so i can't do ubuntu. Its inevitable that Netflix Streaming will be avaliable on windows soon.

My wants:
-Boot Windows Xp from a flash drive.
(http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-22_11-5928902.html)
-Cut the crap(as in no hard drive, disc drive, unnecessary functions)
-Have as little fans as possible.
-Control it through my harmony 520.(which will probably require me to internally embed an usb ir adaptor)
-Be as small as possible.
-Be able to run 1080p video.
-Under $300.

Is this even possible, or am i just dreaming?
 
Currently? You're dreaming. However, there's a few things on the horizon that will help.

In my honest opinion, purchase an Apple TV for under the $300. If not - because you're adamant in building your own - wait until summer/fall. By that time you should be able to purchase enough components to build a phenomenal box for $500, and that's including a nice, aesthetically pleasing chassis.
 
Scratch what I said about Apple TV, I forgot Netflix doesn't run on Boxee through it. Yet, there is the Roku box for under a hundred, it does HD streaming now (unless I'm mistaken).
 
[quote name='Kilraven']Scratch what I said about Apple TV, I forgot Netflix doesn't run on Boxee through it. Yet, there is the Roku box for under a hundred, it does HD streaming now (unless I'm mistaken).[/QUOTE]
yeah, i was thinking about the ATV, but it didn't play Netflix. The Roku does it, but doesn't do anything else but netflix and amazon on demand. PC, still in alpha, and I have no clue how to build it. Basically, the "All in one" box doesn't exist yet.
 
I don't think it would be very desirable to boot off the flash drive.

You can build a small, silent PC, and there are techniques for silencing the hard drive if thats an issue for you. You'll need a low wattage CPU thats still powerful. You'll either need a micro atx board with integrated HDMI and Dolby 5.1, or one with at least one pci-e slot and one pci slot, as well as half height video and sound cards.

What you are describing is not uncommon (aside from the flash drive) but keeping it under $300 will be challenging. You'll need to take advantage of some very nice deals for that to happen.
 
[quote name='dafoomie']I don't think it would be very desirable to boot off the flash drive.

You can build a small, silent PC, and there are techniques for silencing the hard drive if thats an issue for you. You'll need a low wattage CPU thats still powerful. You'll either need a micro atx board with integrated HDMI and Dolby 5.1, or one with at least one pci-e slot and one pci slot, as well as half height video and sound cards.

What you are describing is not uncommon (aside from the flash drive) but keeping it under $300 will be challenging. You'll need to take advantage of some very nice deals for that to happen.[/QUOTE]
hmm. What would be the advantage of booting off a HD compared to a 4gb Flash drive(which would be more than enough storage space for an OS and Boxee). Would there be heat problems if I leave the Flash drive inside the case? Also, are there any Bluray playing programs that you can set to "close program when ejected"? Because if there is, I might consider adding a BD drive($90 extra).

Ok, so there are a couple of ways this could work. I either make a Hackingtosh(i don't know if this is illegal), which would be able to do Netflix streaming(albeit not in HD), or I wait until the inevitable netflix boxee update comes. Im not sure if XP or OSX would be better for performance/compatiblitity.

What mobo/case do you guys recommend? I was thinking about using a Nvidia 8200 mobo(fast enough to do BD @1080p) w/ a 2.5Ghz Athlon X2(is this fast enough?). Any suggestions?
 
Flash drives are only good a finite number of cycles.. that is, after so many read/writes the memory's just dead. Using it for an OS involves a LOT of read/writes.. constantly.. it's pretty tough to ballpark how long it'd last but it's just not worth it. That's why a slow 4gb SSD costs so much more than a fast 4gb flash drive or memory card.

I'd just wait for Boxee to support Netflix on AppleTV.. it's gonna happen real soon. Boxee's still in its infancy and developing very rapidly, it won't take long. The hardware is tiny and silent, has a remote and can run HD. Everything you need for $230.
 
[quote name='Koggit']Flash drives are only good a finite number of cycles.. that is, after so many read/writes the memory's just dead. Using it for an OS involves a LOT of read/writes.. constantly.. it's pretty tough to ballpark how long it'd last but it's just not worth it. That's why a slow 4gb SSD costs so much more than a fast 4gb flash drive or memory card.

I'd just wait for Boxee to support Netflix on AppleTV.. it's gonna happen real soon. Boxee's still in its infancy and developing very rapidly, it won't take long. The hardware is tiny and silent, has a remote and can run HD. Everything you need for $230.[/QUOTE]

Using an OS on a flash device isn't that bad in terms of read/write, it's the speed that gets you. The OS doesn't read/write as much as you'd think, and you're talking about accessing small sections (blocks) which gets spread around to even things out. Running an OS off of flash will give you about 10 years. You'll have upgraded long before then, or even replaced the whole setup. Some of the product we create at work run Win XP or embedded off of SD or CF cards, and that's to run shit far more taxing than Crysis.

But yeah, if they can get moonlight to run netflix, then grab that apple tv.
 
[quote name='Kilraven']Using an OS on a flash device isn't that bad in terms of read/write, it's the speed that gets you. The OS doesn't read/write as much as you'd think, and you're talking about accessing small sections (blocks) which gets spread around to even things out. Running an OS off of flash will give you about 10 years. You'll have upgraded long before then, or even replaced the whole setup. Some of the product we create at work run Win XP or embedded off of SD or CF cards, and that's to run shit far more taxing than Crysis.

But yeah, if they can get moonlight to run netflix, then grab that apple tv.[/QUOTE]
So 10 years is not that bad then. I guess I can wait a couple of months to see if the apple tv gets netflix. If it does, i'll get one of those. If it doesn't, then i'll build a ion box(which should be fast enough).
 
10 years seems ridiculously high.. but I'm too lazy to search for contradicting claims via Google, so I'll pretend I believe you. :)

Wikipedia has this to say:

Disadvantages

Like all flash memory devices, flash drives can sustain only a limited number of write and erase cycles before failure[24][25]. This should be a consideration when using a flash drive to run application software or an operating system. To address this, as well as space limitations, some developers have produced special versions of operating systems (such as Linux in Live USB) [26] or commonplace applications (such as Mozilla Firefox) designed to run from flash drives. These are typically optimized for size and configured to place temporary or intermediate files in the computer's main RAM rather than store them temporarily on the flash drive.
Click to expand...

If you do the flash drive route I'd definitely recommend looking into those optimized OSs
 
[quote name='Koggit']10 years seems ridiculously high.. but I'm too lazy to search for contradicting claims via Google, so I'll pretend I believe you. :)

Wikipedia has this to say:



If you do the flash drive route I'd definitely recommend looking into those optimized OSs[/QUOTE]
but then again, both a hackingtosh and winxp is not optimized. :(
 
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