I recently got a new GPU for my HTPC which required a replacement power supply as the old one wasn’t suitable for powering a GPU with an 8 pin PCIe power cable. The HTPC is in use for an average of around 6 hours per day and with electricity at 15p/kWh any reduction in power at the wall works out at 33p a year per Watt. This isn’t a big saving, but if consumption is reduced by several watts the saving can add up.
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ਪੋਸਟ ਟੈਗ: htpc
0True home cinema for a grand
I’ve long had a “home cinema” setup with a fairly budget HTPC, a 50″ plasma TV, and a 4.1 surround system, but when I moved house a year ago I found I no longer had a place in the main family room to fit the 50″ TV, so had to revert back to the old Samsung 32″ 720p CRT that I bought in around 2006. The room has a large bay window with a little recess perfect for fitting a screen, so a plan was born for true home cinema
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0Keeping your HTPC clock in sync
I’ve had a long-standing issue with my HTPC where it loses a minute or two every day. If I leave it switched on for weeks on end, with only standby utilised, I find that it starts missing the start or end of TV programmes due to having the wrong time. I’ve tried modifying the windows time service settings to make it update regularly, but this hasn’t worked. Thanks to an article on LifeHacker I recently stumbled upon I’ve now had an accurate clock for a couple of weeks.… ਪੂਰਾ ਲੇਖ ਪੜ੍ਹੋ
0Playing BluRays with VLC
There have been a couple of interesting articles on Anandtech in the last couple of days. First was a review of a cheap CEC device by Pulse-Eight which hopefully signals the arrival of more choice for HTPC remote controls. Of greater interest is the news of a “hack” for VLC which enables the play-back of commercial (encrypted) BluRays. Nightly builds of VLC since 1.2 include support for BluRay playback. All you need for it to fully function is an AACS keys database, a quick google should provide one.
0Planning a new networked home media setup
In the coming months I will be buying a new property, and to go with my new home, I’ve been reading up lots on how I might integrate a new home media setup. In recent months several exciting new options have become available, which finally makes the sort of setup I have always desired a real possibility.… ਪੂਰਾ ਲੇਖ ਪੜ੍ਹੋ
0Comparison of HTPC GPU’s
Anandtech has an excellent article comparing 4 bottom end GPU’s for HTPC’s. The article is extensive and does a good job of explaining issues of framerate timing, cadence detection, telecining and pulldown as well as comparing the 4 GPU’s. As we don’t believe in reinventing the wheel — we recommend anyone building a HTPC setup read the article before setting out.
0Creating a new DIY HTPC from scratch
Pulling together a lot of previous posts here is a guide on how to build and set up a fully featured DIY HTPC from scratch…
… ਪੂਰਾ ਲੇਖ ਪੜ੍ਹੋ
2Full 7MC codec setup
I’ve previously posted several times about codec issues on 7mc, but I’ve now got a solution that is comprehensive, fairly simple and works consistently. With a few free codecs and utilities you can have full decoding support, DXVA, subtitles and fantastic flexibility working in 64bit (or 32bit) Media Center. The following instructions are specific to the x64 edition, but should work just as well on the 32bit edition.
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0DIY HTPC Media Center PC
Following on from previous posts about my HTPC I thought I’d provide a list of what I built it with for anyone else interested in building a similar machine
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0Technology Wish List
One of the best things about the Internet is that one can find almost anything. Sadly, there are some things that can’t be found (at the time of writing). Below is my personal list that I’m hoping to eventually find…
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“Hi James I realise it has been a long while, but I just checked this on windows 11 (build 23H2)…”