Can anyone help with a recipe for the following:
- Black case for under TV in living room to go on shelf with front optical drive and USB
- Presumably will need Micro ATX
- fan free
- Intel i3 CPU power level (or higher) preferred but not esential
- 2 or 3 card capacity

My aim is to be able to watch HD Satelite and also terrestrial Freeview (I am in the UK) and to be able to record video with audio of anything that appears on-screen irrespective of whether or not is it coming from a TV station or the internet.
I use "Ant" for recording internet sourced video but it will not record everything and a search suggested to me that I need a soundcard to be able to make progress here.

This is a video which I tried to record but couldn't (don't watch it if you are a fan of the Royal Family):
http://www.trutherlyzer.com/

So, I presume that I need a sound card and a card for the DVB-S2 and perhaps another card. I hope that this is not too much for an HTPC case.

Any help will be most appreciated,

Andrew.

The Streacom FC10 desktop case would fit OK. It doesn't have a front USB but looks like I would be able to get 2 or 3 cards in it. I really could do with a bit of help though as I am new to this. Any ideas for a shopping list for the main components from someone who knows what they are doing would be most appreciated.

Andrew

Those TV-Cards get really hot while in use. I doubt you can make it work with multiple cards in a fanless case. They'll probably die of being cooked very very slow.

especially if confined inside a media cabinet with amp/receiver/sat and/or cable box.

Thank you pappnaas and xan-user. If you are correct and it can not be done then fair enough, but:

> It will be going on an open shelf.
> The TV has its own built-in amp so the amp will not heat the PC
> There is no Sat box, I just use the internet and Free Sat.
> I do not know what you mean by cable box but I don't think I have one.

Arctic have released a thin HTPC pre-built computer combined with media centre (Arctic 'MC001-DVD') running an Intel Atom CPU so it looks like it
can be done without overheating issues (I presume that it does not have a fan) - and the Streacom FC10 case is bigger with more free air in it.

The MC001-DVD arrived at the Arctic European distributor the other day but my local shop will not have one for a few weeks.

It looks good! >>>> http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/living/entertainment-center/382/mc001-dvd.html

The problem with the MC001-DVD is that it will not play my blu-ray's.


I would love to hear from anyone who knows that a fan free HTPC media centre PC with 2 cards can be made at home ?

The TV-Tuner section from Arctic reads "optional: DVB-T or ATSC"

So i assume they use mini-pci Tuners or even USB models. Where exactly would you put a full size pci (-e) card into this one?



It is easily doable if you happen to have a constant 18° C in your living room and put your stuff in an open case with a big desk/room size fan in front of it. You do not have to believe me, it's your money and stuff your potentially destroying.

The Arctic website (see link above) does not read "optional: ..." it reads: "with an integrated TV tuner . . . . . " It also shows the back panel of the MC001 which has a co-axial input.

In asking for discussion, for an opposing opinion, I was not saying that you were right or wrong, or that you are a Mexican't instead of a Mexican . I thought that getting various opinions was what forums were for - and this is a silent PC forum!



The Arctic website actually does show that the MC001 has an integrated TV tuner, no fan and uses a super thin HTPC case.


Is there anybody who thinks that it would be a reasonable assumption that this can be done with an FC10 case ? ?

So, if i click on your Artic link and then click on "technical data" then i see:

ODD DVD-RW 24x
Wireless IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
LAN 10/100/1000 Ethernet
TV Tuner (optional) DVB-T or ATSC
Audio Onboard analog stereo high-definition audio (ALC892)
7.1- Dolby True HD or DTS HD Master Audio (HDMI)
Optical Digital S/PDIF audio output

You do not seem to want a discussion, you want someone to tell you what you want to hear.

I'd guess this depends on just how hot your particular TV tuner card runs, and whether it's situated in the case in such a way that the heat can rise away the card unimpeded. You mention wanting to have 2-3 cards in total; this would not be possible with the FC10 -- you can only fit 2 add-on cards, arranged horizontally. Look at the pics of the back panel.

I have no personal experience with TV tuner cards or how hot they run, but I do have lots of experience assembling HTPC systems. I can tell you w/o any doubt that the need for them to be silent (ie -- fanless) is dubious unless it needs to be left on next to you while you sleep. Several facts:

1. when it's actually working (ie, TV on, sound on), even a moderately noisy HTPC often gets drowned out by what you're watching/listening.
2. it's easy to make an extremely quiet HTPC that is well cooled with multiple low speed fans that will never be heard in actual use.
3. I currently have a i5 Ivy Bridge dualcore HTPC in my living room that runs all the time (sleep mode turned off) and no one can ever hear it. It measures <15 dBA at 1m at all times. I just used a Noctua NH-L9i Low Profile CPU Cooler and let its fan be controlled by the motherboard BIOS "quiet" mode setting. I'm sure I could add another fan (80~120mm running up to 10000rpm for case exhaust) without suffering any significant noise increase.

So, going back to your situation, if there's some question about whether some components are going to be too hot for passive cooling, my approach would be to go for a case that allows good air cooling and manage the fan speeds so they never intrude.

Thank you for your comments, you are quite right, the 'Technical Data' section states "TV Tuner (optional) DVB-T or ATSC." However, the 'Description' section states that the TV tuner is "integrated." It therefore appears to me, allbeit with my limited understanding of all this, that the tuner is actually integrated - but that you can opt for either DVB-T or ATSC.

You are being a bit unfair by saying that I don't want a discussion - that is why I posted on this forum. Just because I would like to hear from someone who has a different opinion to "it can't be done" does not mean I don't want to weigh up opinions. It means that I do want to weigh up opinions.

Anyway, I appreciate your help, thanks.

Thanks very much for your help Mike.

I had hoped to be able to put a sound card and a TV tuner inside the F10 fan free case - but as that is now 3 people all saying in effect that they wouldn't risk it and nobody has said they have done it and it worked, or that they are sure it will work, then I can't argue with the maths. I suppose I do need fan cooling if I build this.

Thanks again to the three correspondents, Pappanaas, Xan_user and Mike.

Kind regards,

Andrew
UK

it wouldn't be hard do 3 tv cards in a larger case with some nice quiet, slow fans. get a mobo (ie asus w/ fanexpert 2) that can turn fans off and on and change speeds at set temps and youre golden.