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Stork's Old School P55M-UD2 But Cool HTPC - How it works

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Stork

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Sep 21, 2010
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13,417
Motherboard
HP 17" 17-by3053cl
CPU
i5-1035G1
Graphics
Intel UHD Graphics, 1920x1080
Mac
  1. MacBook Pro
  2. Mac mini
  3. Mac Pro
Classic Mac
  1. Power Mac
  2. PowerBook
Mobile Phone
  1. iOS
GD06BFrontViewweb.JPG

I recently moved most of the components of my original Hackintosh into a HTPC case to create a HacHTPC: Stork's HTPC Old School P55M-UD2 But Cool HTPC. But enough about hardware...here's how I use it.

Media Center App
I use Plex as my media center app. Several years ago, I tested all the Mac compatible media center apps on a Mac Mini HTPC and Plex was the winner. Turns out it was a good choice. There's not much to tell you about using Plex as their documentation is very thorough, and, thus, I don't need to add any more to their documentation.

I use a Samsung F4 2TB hard drive for my media. I have the hard drive, Media, structured following folders:
Movies
Movie Names​
Music
Artist
___Albums
______Songs​
Photos
TV Shows
Show Name
___Season #
______Show Name - SxyEab (exampel: Cheers - S01E01)​
To Convert​
Converting Media to Digital Format
Note: the tonymacx86 Forum Policy prohibits the discussion of piracy (See the Forum Rules & Policies). Consequently, there will be no discussion of such programs as TV Shows, Transmission, Episode Linker, Hazel and Automatic in this thread or any other on the Forum. The Plex and other forums are full of threads that cover this illegal practice. :silent:

Since I have a sizable movie and TV show DVD collection and too many music CDs and LPs, I'm in the process of finishing converting all my media to digital format. I'm retired, so I have the time. :lol:

For DVDs, I use RipIt which has work flawlessly so far. RipIt is shareware ($25 USB) but comes up every once in a while in the MacUpdate and other semi annual bundles. RipIt is too easy to use:
- launch RipIt;
- For first time use, go into the Preference and set up the destination folder;
- Insert the DVD;
- Rip away!​
Apple's DVD Player app will automatically launch when you insert the DVD. Just quit the DVD Player and press on with RipIt. However, I got tired of exiting out of DVD Player every time I inserted a video DVD to rip. So, in Snow Leopard, open up the System Preferences > CDs & DVDs pane. In the last option, "When you insert a video DVD:" choose "ignore" in the drop down window.

Once the DVD has been ripped, I use HandBrake to convert the DVD files to .m4v files that are compatible with Plex, Apple TV (I have a 1st generation ATV) and/or iPhone/iPad. For Plex, I use HandBrake's High Profile conversion which is one the default setting choices. More settings for the discriminating viewer can be found on the HandBrake forum. (See you there!)

HandBrakeProfileWeb-1.JPG

I also use one of the HandBrake's developers codes for my ATV1G which you can read about here.

Music
CDs. Nothing surprising here. I rip my audio CDs with iTunes. Plex uses my iTunes library as part of it's music collection. I also download music from the iTunes store and Amazon. I have lots of iTunes playlists which help avoid the boredom of listening to a consecutive songs by the same artist or groups.

LPs. LPs are a lot tougher. I've used several approaches - all of them work, but take lots of time:
- Canopus AVVC 100 interface to my turntable and Mac was my 1st approach;
- Griffin Technologies' iMic and Final Vinyl was my 2nd approach; and
- An inexpensive USB turntable and Audicity was my last approach.​
(This description is a work in progress. More details real soon now.)

FaceTime
Now that the tonymacx86 gurus have incorporated the FaceTime code into Chimera, I've hooked up my Apple iSight camera to the HacHTPC and am awaiting a FaceTime "experience" with our family members and friends. A quick try says it works. If I have any problems with it, I'll post it here with solutions.

Well, that's it, so far. I'm still exploring the ability of a HacHTPC running Plex.
 
Last edited:
+1 on RipIt + HandBrake combo
 
The digitizing process is such a bore! I still buy CD since I'm an ALAC addict, but being kind of a maniac I'm also used to scan worthy arts from the booklet and it can take a while for artists like Marilyn Manson.
Good case, BTW. I considered your Silverstone GD06 for a while, then a much higher-end all aluminum CW02, but it's huge and too Marantz-alike and, in the end, I've made-up my mind for a second-hand OrigenAE that'll fit 4 HDDs and look as good as my Yam receiver and Blu-ray Player.
ATM, my old Silverstone tower is like dead, laid down on a lower profile, next to the hifi setup. Kind of pitiful!
 
Ripping CDs & DVDs is for following us to one house to the other, depending upon the season. Digital takes up less room. :lol: However, some LPs and CDs do go with us for the reason you mentioned.
 
Last summer, I bought a high-end Yamaha Blu-ray player (BD-S1067), and I must say CDs sound far better than iTunes ALAC from my computer, though I'm not sure if my ears or my imagination make most of the difference. :lol:
Maybe I'll have a better opinion of this matter next week, when I get my first SACD, a best of Nick Drake that is insanely cheap on Amazon.co.uk.
Anyway, most of my CDs are in storage boxes ATM, but I think about a nice solution from Boltz to display them again, once I'll have moved to a new apartment.
 
But, kinda hard to take on walks, in the car or when cleaning the house. :lol:

Rock music isn't too terriblely affected by ripping, it's the other glorious music with orchestras or with full range audio that are best played on the original format.
 
Last summer, I bought a high-end Yamaha Blu-ray player (BD-S1067), and I must say CDs sound far better than iTunes ALAC from my computer, though I'm not sure if my ears or my imagination make most of the difference. :lol:
Maybe I'll have a better opinion of this matter next week, when I get my first SACD, a best of Nick Drake that is insanely cheap on Amazon.co.uk.
Anyway, most of my CDs are in storage boxes ATM, but I think about a nice solution from Boltz to display them again, once I'll have moved to a new apartment.
sacd are amazing with the right system i have many and love em...
for cd's i use a flac compressor..(to me)sounds better than alac or wma
madflac works nice for osx ,or purchase audicy or fidelia(app store)
fidelia will play any file u through at it up to 196k streams...
allmost as good as sacd...
u can also buy hd-audio online these files sound unreal(assuming your sound card can handle them)

edit:i have been converting my flac files to alac with no loss in sound quality
and for ease of migration i now only use alac(from and to widows and mac builds)
 
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