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What would make a good UHD HTPC

Show off your HTPC builds, NAS Servers, and any other hardware. Great place to ask for hardware help too.
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Pauven
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Re: What would make a good UHD HTPC

Post by Pauven » Tue Mar 02, 2021 1:07 pm

Awesome Jamie. I got mine a month or two ago, and I'm incredibly happy with it. I'm amazed how quiet it is. I plugged all 3 fans into my motherboard's chassis headers and set them to the quiet/silent mode in the BIOS. I also got that Noctua cooler I mentioned earlier, and it is super nice and fits perfectly in this case.

My only complaints are that Silverstone didn't include an IR port, and the extra USB ports in the front are kind of ugly. But then I came up with a solution for both! I got an Inteset internal IR receiver, model PC-IRS5-01, same as I used in my other HTPC case, and installed it in place of one of the two USB ports. I actually unsoldered the USB port from the PCB mount, and hotglued the Inteset's IR receiver in it's place.

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To do this, I had to take the IR plastic off of the receiver, and the bottom plastic with the adhesive sticker was large enough to more than cover the USB port hole. So I traced the hole with blue painters tape, and then cut with a dremel to fit flush in the hole left by the removed USB port.

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Here's a shot showing how I mounted everything inside. I put the Inteset's main PCB board near the fan, so I can actually look through the fan from the outside and see if it is powered on without removing the lid.

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Almost seems like it came this was from the factory now. I put my Logitech keyboard usb receiver in the other front port, which helps to hide the ugly blue USB port, and provides for the best possible signal path.

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Jamie
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Re: What would make a good UHD HTPC

Post by Jamie » Tue Mar 02, 2021 3:48 pm

Interesting. I will have to show this to my brother to see if he might be up to helping me do the same thing. My hands are gnarled by arthritis so it's tough working on small items and handle a soldier iron or dremel tool.

Teddyboy
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Re: What would make a good UHD HTPC

Post by Teddyboy » Tue Mar 02, 2021 4:48 pm

Paul I wish I could do that as easily with my hdplex case. I can do what you did, but I’ll have to take the face plate into my friends business and have him mill out a pocket. He has a prototype machine shop. He does mostly prototype and small runs. I’ve definitely been thinking about doing that. I just can’t stand seeing that MCE if receiver sitting out. HDPlex used to offer a embedded or receiver but he stopped that a while ago. I think I still have the inteset receiver in storage, or I could take apart the standard MCE receiver (I have spares) and figure out a way to mount it internally. It just depends on the connector. I could take apart and put a female header on the standard mce remote.
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Teddyboy
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Re: What would make a good UHD HTPC

Post by Teddyboy » Tue Mar 02, 2021 5:04 pm

That is what I bought a long time ago from Amazon. I hope I still have in storage. If not I’ll buy another one.

Edit: I shouldn’t read so quickly
Looking closer at Paul’s mod, you’d still have to remove the USB port from the board by desoldering it. You’re brother would still need to help you. It’s a nice little board, and worth the effort to get it installed. It will give you a nice clean integrated look.

Here’s a review of it from missing remote.
https://www.missingremote.com/review/2 ... d-solution

Amazon ink:
https://www.amazon.com/Inteset-Interna ... 20&sr=8-13
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Re: What would make a good UHD HTPC

Post by Jamie » Tue Mar 02, 2021 5:59 pm

Teddyboy wrote: Tue Mar 02, 2021 5:04 pm That is what I bought a long time ago from Amazon. I hope I still have in storage. If not I’ll buy another one.

Edit: I shouldn’t read so quickly
Looking closer at Paul’s mod, you’d still have to remove the USB port from the board by desoldering it. You’re brother would still need to help you. It’s a nice little board, and worth the effort to get it installed. It will give you a nice clean integrated look.

Here’s a review of it from missing remote.
https://www.missingremote.com/review/2 ... d-solution

Amazon ink:
https://www.amazon.com/Inteset-Interna ... 20&sr=8-13
I just might give that a shot.

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Re: What would make a good UHD HTPC

Post by Pauven » Tue Mar 02, 2021 6:21 pm

Hey Teddy, that's the exact same Inteset receiver I used. The main PCB is too large to fit where the USB port is located, which is why I used the IR extender which fit perfectly. You can see the Inteset in the 3rd photo, adjacent to the fan - some of the cables are obscuring it, so you might not have realized what was there.

You have to get the one with the Extender Kit. The IR extender is in the bottom left of the photo (not to scale). I opened the IR housing of the extender, and used the bottom to make my new custom IR window, and hot glued the internal receiver board where the USB port was.

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Teddyboy wrote: Tue Mar 02, 2021 4:48 pm Paul I wish I could do that as easily with my hdplex case. I can do what you did, but I’ll have to take the face plate into my friends business and have him mill out a pocket.
I seriously considered doing something similar. One thing that's interesting about the Silverstone case is that there is a open space on the frame inside the front panel that looks like it was left open for locating an IR receiver, they just never milled out the front aluminum faceplate. I was actually thinking of just drilling a circle hole, nothing fancy, and then insetting a circle IR plastic cover. A simple circle is something you could do with a drill press, no need for fancy milling. You could possibly even doing it freehand with a cordless drill if you are really careful and take your time to make it straight.

If it wasn't for that ugly blue USB port that was annoying me, I would have drilled that hole.

Teddyboy wrote: Tue Mar 02, 2021 4:48 pm I just can’t stand seeing that MCE if receiver sitting out.
Yeah, they're really atrocious, and freaking huge. I honestly don't understand how any purveyor of HTPC cases can skimp out on that IR window - even if you don't provide the receiver, as least give me the window.

Teddyboy wrote: Tue Mar 02, 2021 4:48 pm I think I still have the inteset receiver in storage, or I could take apart the standard MCE receiver (I have spares) and figure out a way to mount it internally. It just depends on the connector.
Sometimes you just have to take a step back and look at all your options. I really like the Inteset, as it ties into the internal USB connection and the motherboard's power button, so you can actually toggle the power button via the remote, which is really awesome.

Another interesting option is the FLIRC, which looks a lot like the Logitech USB receiver but 5x longer. It's too long to plug into the front without looking stupid, but you could get a short USB extension cable (i.e. 12-24 inches), plug it into the back of the case and run it underneath your case, connecting to the FLIRC in so that it sits flush with the front edge of your case. Some good gaffer tape will hole it in place, no tools required. The FLIRC is 8mm tall, plus whatever height of the extension cable's connector you get, so you need to make sure that your case has enough clearance underneath for this type of solution. I've done it before, and it's not too bad, as the black front of the FLIRC gets a little lost in the shadow underneath your case.

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Sadly, this Silverstone case doesn't quite have enough clearance to locate the FLIRC underneath the front - I would have had to put 2mm spacers under the legs.

Also, I know my IR window handiwork looks a little rough in that photo (because it is), but any further than a couple feet away and you can't tell it's not perfect. That photo does help illustrate another idea I contemplated - to remove the USB port from the mount, but still plug the FLIRC into it and have it sit flush through the USB port hole, basically shoving the FLIRC into the hole. I think it would have required a little sanding of the edges to make it fit the hole, but it's really close in size and shape. Ultimately, I liked the power button feature that the Inteset provided to make that solution more desirable.
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Teddyboy
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Re: What would make a good UHD HTPC

Post by Teddyboy » Tue Mar 02, 2021 6:43 pm

The more I look at your mod the more I want to change mine. I’d have to take it in to his shop. It’s solid aluminum which would be to difficult to use hand tools. Plus it’s really tight in the case space wise. I can lay it out in Solidworks, and then give him the cad file along with the part. Larry at hdplex will sell me a face plate so I can keep the stock plate. He’s updated the case with a. New side plate for usb c, audio jack and power button. I may buy the side plate as well. This is my case.
https://hdplex.com/hdplex-h1-v3-fanless ... -case.html
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Re: What would make a good UHD HTPC

Post by Pauven » Tue Mar 02, 2021 6:53 pm

That's such a nice case. Have you thought about asking Larry to mill the new faceplate before shipping it?
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Teddyboy
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Re: What would make a good UHD HTPC

Post by Teddyboy » Wed Mar 03, 2021 9:53 am

Unfortunately he’s not able too. All his cases are made in China, so any mods I’ll have to do myself because he doesn’t have the facilities stateside. I think he does all or most of the design himself. They are really nice cases. I’m happy that I bought it. I was going to buy from atech-fabrication, but he’s really expensive.

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Re: What would make a good UHD HTPC

Post by Jamie » Wed Mar 03, 2021 7:11 pm

Pauven wrote: Tue Mar 02, 2021 6:21 pm
I seriously considered doing something similar. One thing that's interesting about the Silverstone case is that there is a open space on the frame inside the front panel that looks like it was left open for locating an IR receiver, they just never milled out the front aluminum faceplate. I was actually thinking of just drilling a circle hole, nothing fancy, and then insetting a circle IR plastic cover. A simple circle is something you could do with a drill press, no need for fancy milling. You could possibly even doing it freehand with a cordless drill if you are really careful and take your time to make it straight.

If it wasn't for that ugly blue USB port that was annoying me, I would have drilled that hole.
Paul, What size drill bit were you thinking of using for such a project?

Efrain, how much did you pay for that case? Not that I am jealous. Well maybe I am :lol:

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