I then had a bit of a break from the blog due to lack of time – sorry about that!

Well, the HTPC I put together is still very much in everyday use, but I thought it worth a brief update.

The experience hasn’t been totally without fault. While in general the HTPC works fine, there are a couple of “niggles”. Firstly, for some still unknown reason, the IR remote control seems to take about 5-10 seconds to register a command on the HTPC if it hasn’t been used for a while. For example, if I press the Pause button, I then have to sit and wait for it to take effect. Once it has, then subsequent presses are instant as expected. I’m still trying to track-down the problem – maybe it’s something to do with devices powering-down, or maybe it’s delays in Windows 7 – suggestions welcome!

The 2nd problem I’m experiencing is stuttering of the video on occasion. The seems to happen in the evenings at varying times, but generally around either side of 9pm. Other computers in the household continue to work fine, as does general internet access, and the video is being shared (via Windows CIFS shares) from a central PC. Everything looks fine on all of these, and yet the problem remains. Upgrading the Revo R3600L by adding a D-Link DWA-140 802.11n Wireless LAN dongle has helped, but hasn’t totally solved the problem.

So, where to go from here?

Well, during my blog-break I decided that I also wanted to watch video from my central PC in the bedroom. Unfortunately, the TV in the bedroom isn’t as new as the one in my living room, so it’s lacking a PC/RGB input, and no DVI/HDMI either – ruling out another Revo-based HTPC. It does, however, have standard Composite inputs (video and left/right audio). After a bit of searching I came across the WD TV Live. This is a great little (and I do mean little) box that simply plugs into your TV using either HDMI, Component or, in my case, Composite connections. It has an Ethernet port and a USB port. Using the USB port you can connect an external USB thumb-drive or even a USB hard disk, or you can do as I do and connect a USB Wireless LAN dongle, such as the DWA-140.

You can find them on eBay, and Play.com sell them for around £99 (make sure you get the WD TV Live – the one with the Ethernet port – as they also sell one without for video playback from a USB HDD).

Now, with this setup, I have a very simple and easy to use way of watching video in my bedroom.

Thinking forward to my family holiday in July, I am going to take the WD TV Live together with my WD Passport 320GB USB hard drive (loaded with most of my video collection) with me – which is a god-send if you have little kids as I do!

The only real down-sides I can see with the WD TV Live is that the user interface isn’t fantastic, and it really would be good if you could disable unwanted options, or add short-cuts to your favourite places such as Network Shares. Also, it would be really good if it showed you which video’s you had already watched (like ZoomPlayer on my HTPC does).

All in all though, for about £120 (including the DWA-140), this is a great little media player and so much simpler to use and manage than a full-blown HTPC.

So what’s in store for my Revo R3600 HTPC? Well, nothing right now – I can’t justify replacing it just yet (at least, not if I’m to have any hope of buying that HTC Desire) – but be sure – it’s days are numbered…

The first thing that you need on your HTPC hardware is an operating system of some kind. There are lots of options available including the pre-installed LINUX, but in my case I’ve decided to opt for Windows 7 Home Premium partially because I got it for only £45 on a pre-order from Amazon, but also because I like to have the full functionality of Windows on my HTPC, and it integrates well with the rest of my setup. I also like the new Windows 7 Home Group functionality that makes it much simpler to share documents, media and printers between your home PC’s.

So, having purchased a Revo R3600L running LINUX, my challenge was to get Windows 7 installed and working on it.

The version of Windows 7 I purchased came, of course, on a DVD, but the Revo has no DVD drive, and I don’t have a USB DVD-ROM that I can use, so I had to install Windows 7 via a USB memory stick.

Fortunately, I’m not the first person to have done this – Paul Thurrot’s excellent Supersite for Windows has an article that explains exactly how to copy your Windows 7 install DVD onto a USB key:

Windows 7 Upgrade Scenarios: Scenario 3 – Upgrade a Netbook from Windows XP to Windows 7

[NOTE: I tried other methods, such as using xcopy to copy the install media from the DVD to the USB key, but found that the Revo would not boot from the USB with this approach.]

Having followed these instructions, I now have a USB key ready for Windows 7 installation.

The steps to install Windows 7 now are quite straightforward:-

1. Make sure the Revo is turned off
2. Insert the USB memory stick with Windows 7 on it into one of the USB ports on the Revo
3. Turn-on the Revo
4. Hold-down the F12 key until the boot device menu is displayed
5. Select the USB memory stick from the menu and press RETURN.
6. Follow the prompts to install Windows 7

For my setup I decided to erase all the partitions from the Revo hard disk before installing. This is a personal preference and removes the pre-installed LINUX and RevoBoot configuration, so I suggest using this option with care.

On a normal Windows installation I would normally split the hard drive into a C: and D: drive, C: for the operating system and program files, and D: for data. As the hard disk is “only” 160GB on the Revo, and all my media files are stored on my NAS box I’ve chosen not to do so on this occasion.

After about 20 minutes Windows 7 is installed and the Revo can reboot and come-up normally.

Once installed and booted, the next steps were to:-

1. Ensure the Revo was connecting to the internet OK – initially I used the built-in WiFi adapter for ease of use, but later will switch to a cabled LAN connection directly to my router and NAS box to ensure the smoothest possible media playback.
2. Run Microsoft Update (until all updates are installed). This will update several of the Revo specific hardware drivers, and requires a few reboots.
3. Once fully updated, install Microsoft Security Essentials, Microsoft’s new, excellent and free Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware product, ensuring it’s fully updated.

Once all of this is done you should have a fully functional and safe Windows 7 installation on which to continue your HTPC installation.

In the next installment I shall talk about installation and configuration of my chosen HTPC software.

Well, my new toy has now arrived, the next working day after ordering from eBuyer.com – excellent!

Below are some Flickr photos of the grand unveiling for your perusal (I apologise in advance for the quality of some of the pictures – I only had my iPhone to hand at the time!).

Next time I shall talk about how I installed Windows 7 in place of LINUX on this box.

In my previous post I gave a brief introduction to this series, explaining why I’m replacing my existing HTPC and what it consisted of.

In this post I shall cover my decision process on what to buy for my new replacement HTPC.

The first step for me was to decide what I wanted my new HTPC to do, and then what bits and pieces could be salvaged from my old HTPC and re-used on the new one.

Requirements

My basic requirements for this new HTPC are actually quite simple compared to most.

I used a SkyHD box to record TV, so I no longer need that function in an HTPC.

My primary use, therefore, is to play-back video (and some audio) that I have previously downloaded (using my Synology CS407 NAS box). This mostly consists of films and TV programmes. The interface needs to be very clean, simple, and quick.

As I’ve disposed of my Logitech Z-5500 5.1 surround sound system and now just use the built-in TV speakers, I no longer need 5.1 sound capability, so basic stereo output is fine.

I do have some Hi-Def video that I want to play-back, so that is a must.

And, of course, all of this must be easily controllable from my sofa, so the use of a TV remote is a must!

Salvage

So, firstly going back to my old HTPC setup…

I have a Logitech Harmony 555 universal remote control, a Microsoft MCE keyboard and USB Infra-red sensor. I’m quite happy with all of these and can re-use them on the new HTPC. My media is all stored on my Synology CS407 NAS box, and will continue to reside there, so storage is not a key requirement.

My Hitachi 42PD7200 TV is quite old now, and only has a single HDMI input which is taken up by my SkyHD box. Fortunately, the TV has an RGB input that I already use on my old HTPC, so I can continue to use that for the PC. It also has a DVI input and I’ll investigate using that later, but for now I’ll stick with using RGB for simplicity.

Options

There are actually quite a few options available now for an HTPC. Among the most notable are:-

• Apple TV –The Apple TV is a great little device, but for me it has a few drawbacks, namely (a) price, (b) the need to download video using iTunes on another PC somewhere and (c) it doesn’t run Windows so isn’t very versatile for my configuration.

• XBOX 360 & XBMC – The XBOX is primarily a gaming platform, but the XBMC team have written an excellent media centre package that can run on the XBOX (it can also run  on the Apple TV, Linux, and Windows). However, I’m not a gamer so for me this option is overkill. Also, XBOX’s are really quite noisy and I want to keep the background noise to a minimum.

• Acer Aspire Revo R3600 – this little box is a great little PC. It’s small, cheap, capable of Hi-Def video playback and can run either Windows or LINUX. It comes as standard with a minimum of 1GB of RAM, but has the NVIDIA ION chip-set for optimal video playback. It can also be mounted onto the back of a TV using the supplied VESA mount-kit.

• Acer Aspire Revo R3610 – this is the very recently released big-brother of the R3600, using the newer Atom 330 processor, up to 4GB of RAM, and up to 500GB hard disk. The problem, however, is that as it’s new it’s much more expensive than it’s older sibling, and given my requirements I don’t see the need for 4GB of RAM or the larger hard disk size.

• Windows Home Server & Windows Media Extender – as much as I like the idea of having a Windows Home Server at home, I already have a Synology CS407 NAS box that performs many of the same functions. To replace this seems overkill, especially as I’d also have to purchase some kind of media extender (e.g. XBOX 360 or Windows PC) to stream video too as well.

• Netbook – Netbooks are great, and I regularly use a Samsung NC10 as my own personal NetBook. However, as they are a very small form factor, and have a built-in keyboard, battery and screen, they can be expensive. Also, most current inexpensive models are not capable of playing back HD video.

My Selection

Based on the information above, I’ve decided to opt for the Acer Aspire Revo R3600L. This is the LINUX variant of the R3600.

As the R3610 has just been released, the R3600 has now dropped in price. The LINUX version I have opted for can currently be purchased from eBuyer.com for a mere £150 including VAT, compared to £250-£300 for the R3610.

Also, before the official launch date for Windows 7 I managed to pre-order a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium for a mere £45 from Amazon.com (now £106!), and I shall load this onto the Revo in place of the pre-installed LINUX OS.

The Revo has numerous USB ports, so should easily take the components from my old HTPC. It also has both RGB and HDMI outputs, and a stereo headset output so connectivity to my TV will be fine.

Coming Next

In the next post I’ll be posting the obligatory “unboxing” photo series of my new toy freshly delivered from eBuyer, and then after that I’ll cover the installation and configuration.

To set the scene, I already have an HTPC that I built about 3 years ago using the following key components:-

• MSI P35 Neo Motherboard
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Processor
• Gigabyte GForce 8500GT graphics card
• Silverstone LC20M HTPC Case
• LG Blu-Ray Drive
• WinTV PVT150 TV Tuner
• Microsoft MCE Keyboard, for those times when I really do have to type on the HTPC
• Logitech Harmony 555 Universal Remote Control, for controling the HTPC, SkyHD and TV

This is connected to my TV, a Hitachi 42PD7200, using an RGB cable and a 3.5mm stereo jack lead (previously, it was connected to a Logitech Z-5500 5.1 surround sound system, which I have since parted with).

I also have a Synology CS407 Network Attached Storage (NAS) box with 4x 500GB drives, and I use this to hold all of my data and media, as well as to download video from the internet for me (using both BitTorrent and USENET)

There’s nothing inherently wrong with this set-up – it’s quiet, fast, and functions great. However, I no longer use the WinTV card as I find SkyHD to be just fine for recording programs, so on the HTPC I tend to only watch video downloaded from the Internet. So, for an HTPC this is a bit overkill. On top of that, I needed a new PC for the kids and this one could easily fit the bill.

So, with recent technological developments I decided it was time for a new HTPC to release this one for use elsewhere (and as something for me to play with too!).

This series of posts will cover the purchase and installation of this system in the hope that it will help others who are looking to do the same.

Part 2 will cover my thoughts on selecting the right hardware device to make-up the HTPC…