Media machine for living room?

[Artemis]

Luxa 2 is a division of thermaltake and yes they use the same medialab software and remote.

I actually have two htpc's one in the lounge and a 2nd one I stream media to in the bedroom. The main htpc I have has the Microsoft ehome blaster with the MS beanbag remote and the MS multimedia keyboard, but the second PC I bought a little no name brand chinese remote which is a. very small and b. has a mouse built into it and it works brilliantly, I paid $28 for it so I would be surprised if the thing was $10USD, and when I need a keyboard I plug a USB one in (which is infrequently).
Back to Skiz's build, I suggested the Luxa 2 mini ITX case because it is a very high quality case but there are many other mini ITX cases out there, most manufacturers are now building desktop htpc & mini tower ITX cases, Aywun is a very cheap but good alternative, or for another take on an ITX htpc case look at the OriginAE mini ITX case.

It depends what you are after really, if you do not want a VFD or LCD display on the case then any mini ITX case will do, I just think that the Luxa 2 design is one of the best I have seen.

[Detale]

The Luxa2 is a nice case but the TT DH-102 is nicer

[Artemis]

The Luxa2 is a nice case but the TT DH-102 is nicer

That's right, I forgot about your A.D.D. , we are talking about a mini ITX solution here, remember skiz wanted something SMALL, a DH102 isn't exactly small, it is nice but it's not even remotely small

[megabyteme]

I only glanced through this thread and it seems you are interested in some form of HTPC, which is what I thought I needed. So I build one. It has been just fine, but I had to find a way to turn it on remotely, and then navigate to folders, etc.

I recently bought an Asus O!Play. It does everything I need it to in the living room. Actually, I will be moving the rest of my PCs around, because I have found I don't need the HTPC in the living room anymore.

The Asus has the ability to hook up to a network. And has USB along with eSATA connections. I am really happy with it. It is entirely capable of 1080p and I have not found, or heard of a codec it does not have. Firmware upgrades also add future functionality, ofc.

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Play-Medi.../dp/B002MCZJ3C

Or

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16815293008

I paid $87.99 w/ shipping and a free HDMI cable right before Christmas.

[ryan20021982]

I only glanced through this thread and it seems you are interested in some form of HTPC, which is what I thought I needed. So I build one. It has been just fine, but I had to find a way to turn it on remotely, and then navigate to folders, etc.

I recently bought an Asus O!Play. It does everything I need it to in the living room. Actually, I will be moving the rest of my PCs around, because I have found I don't need the HTPC in the living room anymore.

The Asus has the ability to hook up to a network. And has USB along with eSATA connections. I am really happy with it. It is entirely capable of 1080p and I have not found, or heard of a codec it does not have. Firmware upgrades also add future functionality, ofc.

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Play-Medi.../dp/B002MCZJ3C

Or

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16815293008

I paid $87.99 w/ shipping and a free HDMI cable right before Christmas.

I second that I just got one for my parents for christmas cause I'm tired of burning discs for them and its perfect. Only thing it don't have is the ability to decode 5.1 dts but it can pass it to a a/v receiver.

[Skiz]

I only glanced through this thread and it seems you are interested in some form of HTPC, which is what I thought I needed. So I build one. It has been just fine, but I had to find a way to turn it on remotely, and then navigate to folders, etc.

I recently bought an Asus O!Play. It does everything I need it to in the living room. Actually, I will be moving the rest of my PCs around, because I have found I don't need the HTPC in the living room anymore.

The Asus has the ability to hook up to a network. And has USB along with eSATA connections. I am really happy with it. It is entirely capable of 1080p and I have not found, or heard of a codec it does not have. Firmware upgrades also add future functionality, ofc.

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Play-Medi.../dp/B002MCZJ3C

Or

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16815293008

I paid $87.99 w/ shipping and a free HDMI cable right before Christmas.

Looks nice, but like the WDTV it isn't for me. I need an all in one solution and not extra components to go along with a PC.

[brightsid]

If you want something in a small size that can play everything I suggest to check ION solutions. For example something like that
http://www.asrock.com/nettop/spec/ION%20330.asp

[P2PDog]

Are any of you guys with the WDTV Live Media Player using it to connect to a linux box? If so, could you explain your Samba setup? I'm a complete noob when it comes to windows networking, and I can't seem to get a proper network share set up. I've got everything installed and running OK by the looks of things, I can connect to the box, but I'm getting a message that there's no media in the shared folder. Any tips, tricks, or sample samba configs would be great

[Detale]

Sure man. Now I'm not using Linux I'm using Windows 7. Start a new thread so we don't hijack Skizo's and let me know your exact setup. If you are using Win7 though you just have to right click on the shared folders then select share with>specific people then from the pulldown menu at the top select "everyone" and click "add" then "everyone will appear at the bottom make sure you have the permissions there set to read/write. If you have more questions start a new thread and I'm sure I can help you figure it out.

[P2PDog]

Whatever the error was I think I broke enough things until I fixed it I'm up and running now, and I have to say, this thing really rocks! I was going to go with the base model, but I'm glad I spent the few extra bucks for the Live version. Thanks for the recommendation (and the offer to help). Much appreciated!