Living Room/Media/Home Theater PCs

[AshleyAshes]

Frequently enough this forum gets into the discussing of 'Console Killer' PCs but there's not often a lot of talk about actually using PC builds in a 'console like role' in the living room.  That is, a PC built to be hooked up to the a television and used as a key component of that entertainment system.  Obviously you can hook any PC up to a TV but a lot more goes into it than that.  I'm actually someone with two HTPCs in my apartment, one for the living room and the other for the bedroom, they are made of mishmash of spare parts, hand-me-downs from my workstation as it gets upgraded itself.

 

Livingroom HTPC:

i7 3770K

16GB Corsair Dominator DDR3 (Fun fact: Bought used from an LTT employee)

Radeon HD 7950 3GB

 

Bedroom HTPC:

i5 4570

8GB DDR3 from Patriot

Radeon HD 6950 1GB

 

Far from top of the line PCMR ego boxes, but when they are made from hand-me-down parts from other machines or used parts, there's a value there and for media and couch gaming, they get the job done.  But let's talk about the software side, which is what really matters.

 

Windows sucks from 10+ feet away on the couch.  Windows can scale it's GUI and other stuff but in the end this is a desktop environment and it is not built to be 'couch friendly'.  So I have Windows 10 configured to automatically start the Windows port of Kodi.  Kodi acts as the 'front end' for the machine for the most part.  I have a media server that supplies Kodi with it's content.  Kodi has a friendly '10 foot interface' that is built for a TV.  Then Kodi itself has a 'Steam Launcher' application that lets you fire up Steam in Big Picture Mode which is also a 10 foot interface and the system can switch back and forth.  Full media playback and a range of PC games, all with TV friendly interfaces.  Now we have an entertainment machine.  It takes some effort to ensure things auto-start perfectly and honestly, it's windows, it's NEVER 'perfect' it's only ever 99% right.  Even professionally setup Windows power kiosk systems can be borked and show a Windows desktop instead of whatever it should be showing instead.

 

The desktop keyboard and mouse sucks for couch input.  I'm not arguing what method of input is 'best', different controls are better for different applications, but from the couch only a few specialized keyboard and mouse setups are workable.  LTT has done a few reviews on these products and even a DIY product, even at their 'best' you still have a pretty big periferal that requires you to sit upright.  Personally I dodged this entirely for the time being, I do have a Logitech K400 keyboard with touchpad for each machine but they are not for 'gaming' they are for 'Maintaince' because eventually you need to crawl into windows and change something.  Game pads on the other hand are great, especially for the kinds of games you are likely to be running from the couch.  I've gone with a full set of four Xbox 360 wireless controllers since they are of the best PC gamepads and being true Xinput devices give them out of the box compatibility with most games being released these days.  I also have some additional controllers, two Xbox 360 arcade sticks and two MadCats Xbox 360 'Fightpads' which look more like retro gamepads but are still 360 controllers.  I try to stay in the Xbox 360 family for controllers since they are usually the most brain dead compatible for Windows.

 

 

Yes, I have custom colored 360 pads and custom artwork on the arcade sticks... Also installed Sanwa parts.   Sadly the 'Fightpads' are stock and I think the SFIV art is ugly, been considering customization options though.  Okay, I admit it, this is a lot of controllers but most people PROBABLY only need a gamepad of some sort.

 

...But I don't like gamepads for the Kodi interaction.  You can controller it with a smartphone app, gamepad, keyboard or other things, but personally, I like classic IR remotes.  So Mediagate has me covered, though these Windows Media Center Edition 'MCE' remotes I have are not made anymore and I hoard them off eBay for replacements and spare parts.

 

 

Don't judge me, I just really like eBay!

 

Oh, and let's talk about what annoys me the most.  Out of the current motherboards I have, they can NOT wake from true S5 power state, that's the 'off' power state.  Even the remotes can only wake them from Sleep or Hiberation (S3 or S4) but if the box is OFF, I can't just turn it on from the couch.  (This is NOT true of all motherboards)  If the box is ON and crashed, I can't reboot it from the couch.  Meanwhile I can totally power on any modern game console from the couch.  So I built something.  I built an arduino device with an IR sensor and an electrical relay, it's tapped into the EATX connects 5+v STB pin and ground and patched into the PWR pins on the motherboard.  When the contraption detects the 'Power' IR signal from my media remotes, it triggers the relay, it acts just like you pressing the power button from the case.  Hold the button for 4 seconds and the motherboard shuts down.  ...Yeah, I built a computer into a computer to turn on that computer.  We can file that under 'Things people entirely forget about when building their 'Console Killer' hardware lists.

 

 

The uninstalled machine on a breadboard.

 

So yeah.  This is a kind of PC that people don't really talk about much and this is what I went through to build my HTPCs.

[Techicolors]

26 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

The desktop keyboard and mouse sucks for couch input

there's a piece of software on steam called controller companion that lets you use the Xbone controller as a mouse and keyboard. i think it's free as well so you don't have to buy it, but i recommend you should. it actually works very well