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About my HTPC and remote control

Show off your HTPC builds, NAS Servers, and any other hardware. Great place to ask for hardware help too.
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michael1
Posts: 91
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2018 6:32 pm

About my HTPC and remote control

Post by michael1 » Tue Feb 26, 2019 12:37 am

Hi HTPC enthusiasts,

As suggested by Paul I would like to give some hints for making CMC and a HTPC even more comfortable. I also got inspired to introduce my HTPC by other posts in this section of the forum.

What I really like on my HTPC is how I can operate it with my remote control. This requires however a specific case incl. an IR receiver which is connected to the power supply. I found this in the Moneual Moncasa 320 case, in my opinion a breathtaking beauty of a HTPC case which perfectly fits in Home Theater rack. It comes with a VFD display which can be programmed. Behind the display the IR receiver is hidden. Also an adaptor cable which connects between motherboard power and the power supply unit is included. As this adaptor cable is connected to the IR receiver, I can switch on my HTPC very comfortable with my remote control. (Upon request I would provide more info or pictures on this.)

Regarding remote control, I use a Logitech Harmony 525 which is a “universal” remote control. This means it can be programmed to be used for other devices as well. So I included my TV, LED illumination and air condition into my remote control. Not all functions of each device, but the most important, e.g. TV on/off, volume control, mute, channel input, or for my LEDs on/off, dimming, color pattern, or aircon on/off, colder/warmer and so on and so forth… I have linked CMC to my autostart folder, so it takes me two pushes on my remote control to switch my HTPC and TV on, wait 10s and I am in the middle of my movie collection.

Additionally I have the Logitech di Novo mini keyboard. This is a perfect match to CMC because it can be switched from mouse to keyboard mode. Therefore I can control CMC and all other programs on my HTPC with only one device. However, for CMC, watching movies and browse my library in only need the Logitech Harmony. Also it turned out as helpful if the remote devices have a background illumination.

I have my case and remote devices more than 10 years, but still think it is a great combination and enjoying it nearly every day. I am afraid some of these products are out of production already… The more I am happy that with CMC I could move on to Win10 and not depend on Microsoft MediaCenter anymore. Although I still keep my Win7 MediaCenter PC alive with MyMovies and TV tuner etc. but actually don’t use it anymore.
The hardware inside my HTPC has changed several times. Currently it includes an Asrock Fatal1ty ITX motherboard and i8100 CPU which are able to play UHD BD discs. OS and other programs are on a M.2 SSD, and my data on a local 4TB disc. I have only ripped my DVDs so far. For my BDs I need to improve my storage solution. I have a NAS running as well but only for backup purpose. So far I prefer to have a fast local HDD connection instead of a network solution.

I hope I could give you some ideas about my HTPC setup, which is in my opinion very convenient for user with a medium amount of data, but who want to watch movies in a comfortable way and good quality. Last but not least I have attached a picture of my case…😉

Cheers!
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Jamie
Posts: 942
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2017 11:26 pm

Re: About my HTPC and remote control

Post by Jamie » Tue Feb 26, 2019 11:18 am

Nice looking case. Moneual Moncasa 320 case Where did you buy it? How well does the MB fit in the case? Is it made to fit an ITX board only? What do you use for a power supply?

{edit] I see their only available on ebay

Jamie

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Pauven
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Re: About my HTPC and remote control

Post by Pauven » Tue Feb 26, 2019 12:15 pm

I echo Jamie's sentiment, that is a real nice case. There's a page on Newegg about it (out of stock), where I discovered the motherboard is Micro ATX only. You definitely would want a CPU that runs cool for a case like this.

I've got a couple HTPC cases. One is a conversion from a regular case to a HTPC case I did about 18 years ago, before you could buy HTPC cases. A guy had come up with the design, and had the face-plate and conversion kits manufactured. It includes a VFD display, but I always struggled to find good software to run with the display, so I really never used it. My other is a true HTPC case, and it includes a 7" touchscreen monitor in the case. Just like the VFD, I've struggled to find the touchscreen useful, so I typically don't use it. I'm curious what software you run with your VFD.

Very nice that you have your remote controlling your HVAC. I'll have to keep that in mind for my next house.

10 seconds from power-on to browsing movies, nice!

Thanks for sharing Michael, I greatly enjoyed reading about your build.

Paul
President, Chameleon Consulting LLC
Author, Chameleon MediaCenter

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michael1
Posts: 91
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Re: About my HTPC and remote control

Post by michael1 » Wed Feb 27, 2019 8:59 pm

Yes, the case is for microATX at max. As it is a slim case the power unit is lying horizontally therein and only low-profile cards fit into. I don’t remember anymore where I bought the case, but their origin was Korea. I had some of them many years ago, but kept only one. The other ones I sold as assembled HTPC that time.
The software for the display serves me just as interface between RC and case, because all my multimedia buttons I program on my RC. I configured the VFD display to show some basic info like time, cpu temp and usage etc. although detailed functions can be programmed. If I must add or change s.th. I do it on my RC.
I had some cases incl. touch screen as well, but also found it inconvenient to getup from sofa and walk to my rack for controlling it. If I remember right there was a software add-on for WMC, that the inbuilt-screen shows movie info while the main screen is playing the movie. I tried but couldn’t get it running stable…

Btw, I counted again and now boot-up is around 15s... 8-)

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Pauven
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Re: About my HTPC and remote control

Post by Pauven » Thu Feb 28, 2019 11:24 am

michael1 wrote: Wed Feb 27, 2019 8:59 pm The software for the display serves me just as interface between RC and case, because all my multimedia buttons I program on my RC. I configured the VFD display to show some basic info like time, cpu temp and usage etc. although detailed functions can be programmed. If I must add or change s.th. I do it on my RC.

I guess that means the software is specific to your hardware, though I would still like to know what that software is called.


michael1 wrote: Wed Feb 27, 2019 8:59 pm I had some cases incl. touch screen as well, but also found it inconvenient to getup from sofa and walk to my rack for controlling it. If I remember right there was a software add-on for WMC, that the inbuilt-screen shows movie info while the main screen is playing the movie. I tried but couldn’t get it running stable…

Though it is a low priority, since I do have a touchscreen case it is on my wish list to add support for it to CMC. To be honest, I'm not quite sure what I should even use it for, so I'm open to suggestions. Seems like it would be nice to queue up music from the music library without turning on a TV/Projector.
President, Chameleon Consulting LLC
Author, Chameleon MediaCenter

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michael1
Posts: 91
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2018 6:32 pm

Re: About my HTPC and remote control

Post by michael1 » Fri Mar 01, 2019 6:26 am

Hi Paul,

the Software is called "M.Play MX". I will send you the Manual for the Software and RC which came with the case by email.

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