Hardware & Technical new HTPC

jmg · Mar 23, 2017

retiring my 10+ year old Silverstone case for a new case... loved the old one, but it had serious airflow issues, horrible cable
management, and the program for the front LCD isn't supported under win 10... Building this out tonight with a I7 7700, 980Ti (I have a few left over from upgrading, may even see if SLI can work without generating too much heat), 950 M.2 NVME, and 4x 8tb drives for local video storage:

And, of course, it'll be more than capable of being a steam-machine.

Asp Explorer · Mar 23, 2017

No IRDA?

jmg · Mar 23, 2017

Asp Explorer said:
No IRDA?

for a remote?
I have a blutooth remote.

edit-- didn't mean that to come of as dismissive if it did.
I've never considered using IRDA... I use a Bluetooth remote, and the dongle MS gives you for the 360 controllers... but if it's something that's useful, I'm all for adding more features

)

Brett C · Mar 24, 2017

Asp Explorer said:
No IRDA?

IRDA requires line of sight to the receiver for the infrared to get a signal transmitted properly. Granted, IRDA indeed is more universal. However, going the bluetooth route means you can use your smart devices (phone, tablet, computer, BT enabled remote).

robbyp · Mar 24, 2017

I too have a 10 year old (wow.. that long) case, still going strong, an Antec NSK2400.

I only use it for youtube/kodi/video/tv recording, not playing games, so its fitted with an I3 and no video card.

Its been rebuilt about 3 times so far.

And it has a remote IRDA receiver! No fancy bluetooth when i last rebuilt it.

The funny thing is, when I told the wife we were going to dump the VHS recorder for this HTPC, she was very worried that this new fancy gizmo would work. Took to it like a duck to water.

Shadowdancer · Mar 24, 2017

jmg said:
for a remote?
I have a blutooth remote.

It's a mixed blessing. A unidirectional infrared (likely not IRDA, just something like RC-5) remote can go years without changing or charging batteries, in many cases the remote will die long before the battery because those rubber dome switches suck. Just want to watch the teevee that you haven't looked at in two years? Chances that the batteries in that remote are still good. Want to do that with a fancy new-fangled device, you better remember where you left the charger and if you have lithium cells in there, better charge the sucker outdoors

And did you know that IEEE 802.11 (yes, WLAN!) has an infrared profile in the initial standard too?

jmg · Mar 24, 2017

Shadowdancer said:
And did you know that IEEE 802.11 (yes, WLAN!) has an infrared profile in the initial standard too?

I did -- I actually spent a ton of time getting into the weeds on a 802.11 -- the early 2mb (and slower) versions, including drafts to the IEEE.. up through a/c. a part of my life I will never get back

I've been using Bluetooth remotes in some fashion for years, just never thought to give irda a try-- just never wanted to add yet another remote to an already massive collection.

I've actually been thinking of ditching remotes completely and just using my phone with something like power grid:
http://www.roccat.org/en-US/Products/Gaming-Software/Power-Grid/Download/

Shadowdancer · Mar 24, 2017

jmg said:
I did -- I actually spent a ton of time getting into the weeds on a 802.11 -- the early 2mb (and slower) versions, including drafts to the IEEE.. up through a/c. a part of my life I will never get back

I did some basic work with the 802.11 family, a bunch more with 802.15.4 (WPAN, actually a neat little standard one can really get things done with) and its ZigBee tumor (such a fugly mess, would not recommend).

At least reading those IEEE standards is easy enough, they tend to be quite structured and written by people who kinda knew what they were doing and where they were going.

jmg · Mar 24, 2017

Shadowdancer said:
I did some basic work with the 802.11 family, a bunch more with 802.15.4 (WPAN, actually a neat little standard one can really get things done with) and its ZigBee tumor (such a fugly mess, would not recommend).

At least reading those IEEE standards is easy enough, they tend to be quite structured and written by people who kinda knew what they were doing and where they were going.

now that you mention it, you're right.. I remember being a daunted when looking at the sheer volume of the standards, but they are actually very well organized.

jmg · Mar 24, 2017

pretty much finished -- cable management was unpleasant, but everything is in....
Just need to finish fabricating a metal plate/grommet for the back (I'm mounting the CPU rad externally):