neogeo Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Hi All, I am looking to build a HTPC with 10.5 and Plex. I have a 24 inch imac for my main rig and I have built a previous Shuttle PC with OSX86. My main goals for this project are: 1) Cheap as possible. I only want hardware that is good enough for my needs. I don't need to over do it. 2) Motherboard with HDMI or DVI that is capable to hookup to a panasonic 50 inch 720p plasma. I prefer a microatx board with onboard video and audio but I am not opposed to video and sound cards as well. Would like to use a slim htpc case so half hight cards or external usb sound are ok as well and welcomed. 3) Digital audio Optical out 4) capable of playing back 720p and 1080p .mkv files flawlessly. 5) some type of remote control (wiimote, apple remote, universal ir remote etc) 6) Stable under OSX, once I have it installed and running Plex to my satisfaction, I don't need to update it. 7) I will be running this at a 720p resolution and would like to have OSX autolog in and boot Plex in fullscreen mode automatically. Is this possible? I want it to act as much like an appliance as possible. I currently have an xbox using xbmc as my htpc, it is the greatest thing in the world but no longer cuts it due to hd file playback. I am most familliar with windows and osx but prefer osx for a htpc as it will not need antivirus and other overhead a windows htpc requires. I love Plex on my imac. It is currently more polished than windows flavor of xbmc. Not opposed to linux but looks like more work than I want to get into at this time. Any recommendations for hardware are welcome. As stated, I only care about digital video and audio out and fast enough to play 1080p and 720p mkv. Thanks for being the best forum in the world for OSX86! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/154194-want-to-build-a-htpc-with-osx-105-and-plex-media-center/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donw35 Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 I am doing this using a HP DC7700sff PC, can get these off ebay cheap. I use it with a Geforce 8600GT low profile card, doesnt have HDMI but others do, I use the PC cable on my 46" Sony XBR. I use the sound card in the machine but suppose you can get a sound card for it too. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/154194-want-to-build-a-htpc-with-osx-105-and-plex-media-center/#findComment-1087340 Share on other sites More sharing options...
neogeo Posted February 21, 2009 Author Share Posted February 21, 2009 I am doing this using a HP DC7700sff PC, can get these off ebay cheap. I use it with a Geforce 8600GT low profile card, doesnt have HDMI but others do, I use the PC cable on my 46" Sony XBR. I use the sound card in the machine but suppose you can get a sound card for it too. thanks for the reply. I will look into that model. I am looking to build a box but am not opposed to of the shelf hardware either. Dis you have any particular issues getting this to run osx86? which osx86 did u install> Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/154194-want-to-build-a-htpc-with-osx-105-and-plex-media-center/#findComment-1087567 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donw35 Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Nope, in fact, the only thing in this PC that does not have a driver is the on board video but you would want to upgrade that anyway, the built in lan works good but for streaming I added a netgear lan card that is supported by OSX for the higher speed. The reason I like this PC is the small size and ease of use. We use it to watch movies, surf the net and presentation stuff. mine is a core duo 2.4 with 4 gigs of ram and a 80gig drive. I stream the movies so I don't need alot of space on the machine. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/154194-want-to-build-a-htpc-with-osx-105-and-plex-media-center/#findComment-1087690 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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