- Joined
- Jul 27, 2012
- Messages
- 69
- Motherboard
- Gigabyte Z370 HD3
- CPU
- i5-8400
- Graphics
- RX 580
- Mac
- Mobile Phone
EDV11's HTPC - Perfect Transcoding Machine
H77N-WiFi - I3 3225 - 4GB RAM
ComponentsH77N-WiFi - I3 3225 - 4GB RAM
GIGABYTE GA-H77N-WIFI mini-ITX motherboard socket 1155
[AMAZON-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009GB87KO/ref=oh_details_o00_s01_i00/[/AMAZON-uk]
Intel Core i3 3225 Dual Core. 3.30GHz, 55W
[amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008F65MR2/[/amazon-uk]
Corsair Vengance 4GB 1600MHz DDR Memory
[AMAZON-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005W2A5M4/[/AMAZON-uk]
PcTV Nanostick Ultimate USB DVB-T HD receiver
[AMAZON-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pctv-Nanostick-Ultimate-Mac-Plus/dp/B003N3EDNG/[/AMAZON-uk]
Already Owned
Apple OS X Mountain Lion. Bought @ App Store
Antec Fusion Remote Mini
[AMAZON-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Antec-Fusion-Remote-Micro-ATX-Case/dp/B001B0QUXY[/AMAZON-uk]
Samsung HD501LJ
[AMAZON-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002J65AHQ/[/AMAZON-uk]
Logitech diNovo Edge keyboard
[AMAZON-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000MGV9RU/[/AMAZON-uk]
Optoma HD600 projector - discontinued
22" TV with HDMI input - discontinued
Kenwood old AV receiver with Yamaha 5.1 speakers - discontinued
Comments
I was running an old AMD setup in the case, used mainly as a download server in the basement, and from time to time as HTPC. I decided one day to start giving use to Plex and the transcoding capabilities, so it was time to upgrade. Due that I believe that Plex Media Server works better under Mac, it was time to leave Windows 8 aside and build a hackintosh for that purpose.
I based all the decisions in some facts.
- Low TDP from processor, as it is going to be powered on all day long. But powerful enough to do one or two transcodings at a time.
- Pretty straight forward build, as it is a computer I will not be using much.
- Optical audio out, as the AV receiver I have in the basement is an old Kenwood with no other digital inputs besides SPDIFF.
- And of course, price.
I chose the 3225 because it has the HD4000 intel graphics. Perfect for a hackintosh install where you don't have to mess around and good enough for HTPC use. The only thing you should worry about is if you want HDMI - which is not my case, as I will be needing sound to come out from the optical output.
Installation
Fitting a mini-ITX board in this case is piece of cake. Once in, there is a lot of room for putting all the cables and putting anything inside. Note that there is no DVD unit fitted right now.
The setup is pretty straight forward, very easy even for noobs. Prepare the UniBeast pen drive and start the computer from USB to install Mountain Lion. I didn't have to change anything on the BIOS, apart from starting from the USB drive.
Once you are on the desktop with your brand new fresh Mountain Lion, it's time for MultiBeast to do it's magic. This is the needed selections to be made to go DSDT free. This way you will not have HDMI audio.
Update to 10.8.2
At some point during the installation of all the software I will be using (XBMC, Plex Media Server, Sopcast, Ut*****t, TeamViewer), the system reminded me that I had to update to 10.8.2. A bit scary, knowing some of the problems on the past. Anyway, I just went ahead and installed what the App Store downloaded and rebooted.
Everything went perfect, I was back at my desktop but with Mountain Lion 10.8.2. I missed audio in the process, so I just run MultiBeast again with the network and audio options and rebooted, and everything went back to normal.
Summary
The computer is up and running. I usually log in using TeamViewer to check what should I download and move files between the computer and my NAS.
I have my parents hooked up to my movies, TV shows and music full library using PMS over internet. They can watch 720p content with no problem (that depends on your upload speed though). Also I watch whatever I want from my iPad or my Android phone, as well as if I'm late at the office, I can watch anything. I have tested two transcoding at a time with no stuttering issues, I don't know if it can go with more. If you are going to run many transcodings at a time, you should think of i5 3550k or even i7.
Things To Be Accomplished
- DVB-T receiver. I have yet to put a receiver for TV watching and recording. I have here a PCTV NanoStick ultimate. It should run straight forward as it is designed for PC and Mac. I want to check if the build can decode the HDTV correctly done
- DVD or Bluray unit? Sincerely, I don't think I will be adding any drive. The previous HTPC had a DVD drive that I never used, so I think there is no point in doing it. Maybe, at some point, I will go with a Bluray unit, but that's not important right now.
- Remote control. The case comes with an iMON remote and screen, which is not compatible at all with Mac. I haven't done any research, but I don't think I can do anything about it, but it's not a big issue for me. It would be cool to use the screen and remote if you have it, but I will not worry much about it. I could make the screen work
Making the screen work
The display in my case is an IMON LCD, and the version is 15c2:0038.
Get the necessary programs here
- Install Command Line Tools for Xcode from https://developer.apple.com/programs/register/
- Install Homebrew: write this on terminal:
Code:
[B]ruby -e “$(curl -fsSkL raw.github.com/mxcl/homebrew/go)[/B]
Code:
[B]brew install pkg-config
[/B][B]brew install libusb[/B]
- Download LCDproc (http://www.lcdoproc.org), and extract it to desktop- Open terminal and write
Code:
[INDENT=4][B]cd desktop
cd lcdproc-0.5.6
[/B][/INDENT]
[INDENT=3]Let's configure LCDproc
[/INDENT]
[INDENT=4][B]./configure -[/B][B]-prefix=/usr/local/ -[/B][B]-enable-drivers=all -[/B][B]-includedir=/usr/local/include/
make -j6
sudo make install[/B][/INDENT]
[INDENT=3]Now lets edit LCDd.conf[/INDENT]
[INDENT=4][B]sudo nano /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf
[/B][/INDENT]
[INDENT=5]Find DriverPath, and change it to 'DriverPath=/usr/local/lib/lcdproc/'
Find Driver, and change it to 'Driver=imonlcd'
Find [imonlcd] to configure the driver, and select[/INDENT]
[INDENT=6]'Protocol=1'
Device=/dev/stdout[/INDENT]
[INDENT=5]Ctrl+O to save, Ctrl+X to exit[/INDENT]- Install iMon_Helper in /usr/local/bin/
- Run this command to start LCDproc with the help of iMON Helper
Code:
/usr/local/sbin/LCDd | /usr/local/bin/iMon_HelperI have added the last command into a file called imon.command that I put to run every time the system starts, so after resetting the system, it always load up automatically.
Now, the LCD is working
Working, not working
Edits
- 21 January 2013.
- I had a little long argument with the TV I use as monitor, a rebranded 22˝ model. Somehow, if I selected 720p resolution, sometimes it would show image, sometimes not. Thanks to SwitchResX I could find the proper one, so I added the correct resolution to the plist.
- Installed a USB DVB-T stick with EyeTV 3 software. Now I can also stream TV through Internet
- 30 January 2013
- I managed to get the screen working. I added the workaround for it.
- 19 March 2013
- Updated to 10.8.3 with no issues. I reinstalled the network and audio drivers and the computer is good to go.
- 9 May 2013
- Installed MultiBeast 5.3.0. Selecting the USB 3.0 now all the USB ports fully work. I can plug any USB device (2.0 or 3.0) into the USB 3.0 and it would be recognized.
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