My new thin mini-ITX build!

[barnabas1969]

I found a firmware update program on their packages site. It miraculously installed the x64 drivers, and successfully updated the firmware (it does this EVERY time I run it, even though I must already have the current firmware after running it the first time). Anyway, the firmware update program can obviously communicate with the device.

Too bad the tray application can't. It gives me an error every time I run it. Now waiting for Pulse-Eight to respond to my (multiple) e-mails.

[barnabas1969]

I feel like I'm talking to myself, but I'll update this thread anyway... just in case anyone else wants to build a similar system.

Since I posted my last post...

I got my HDHR3-US tuners (two of them, each has 2 tuners). I connected one of them to Cable, and the other to my antenna. I scanned channels on the new PC and it picked up everything correctly.

I also got a response from Pulse-Eight about 8 hours after I e-mailed them. It turns out that the latest version of their software was written with Visual Studio 2012, and their installer package installs VS 2010.

Lars from Pulse-Eight told me to install the run-time of VS2012 (both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions, since I'm running Windows x64)... and the tray application worked after that.

So, I tested it... and I found some bugs. I haven't finished my testing yet... but here's the e-mail (Aug 7, 2013) I sent Pulse-Eight support (no reply yet, but I did give them a bunch of things to think about):

I bought the internal CEC adapter, and installed it on an Intel DQ77KB motherboard.

I don't use XBMC. I only use Windows 7 Media Center.

I have been using the RCAware device for more than a year, and I'm dissatisfied with it, mostly because the firmware on the device "hangs" after it runs for a week or two, requiring the power to be disconnected from the device for a few seconds. I need a device that is reliable for months on-end. The RCAware hardware/firmware is made by Rainshadow Tech, and the driver/software is made by by RCAware. The RCAware device is connected to a different PC that I built in March 2011.

The PC to which the Pulse-Eight (herein referred to as "P8") device is connected is a new PC build, using Win 7 Professional x64. When I was testing the P8 CEC adapter, I connected the new PC directly to the TV (in order to eliminate the AVR as a possible source of problems) and disconnected the RCAware device from the HDMI bus (in order to eliminate the possibility that the RCAware device could interfere with the CEC communication).

I have a few issues with the Pulse-Eight adapter, and I'd like to submit the following bug reports, feature requests, and comments. Each number below begins with "HIGH", "MEDIUM", or "LOW" as a label for what is most important to me.

Please let me know how long you estimate that these will be corrected/implemented.

1) LOW - When the device powers up (e.g. when the PC is first plugged in to AC power), it turns ON the connected TV. This happens before Windows (or BIOS) even starts. Just applying power to the CEC adapter causes the TV to power on. This isn't a very high priority problem for me, because my PC is always connected to a battery backup, but I don't think the TV should power-on when power is applied to the CEC adapter. The RCAware device does not power-on any devices when power is first applied to the device.

2) LOW - The P8 device does not automatically detect the physical address of the PC. Neither does the RCAware device. But it would be a nice feature. My CEC-enabled Bluray player automatically detects the HDMI port. It seems like the P8 device could do this also.

3) HIGH - The P8 tray application does not work in Windows 7 Media Center (x64) unless the tray application is set to "minimise after startup" and also is set to auto-start Media Center (ehshell.exe). If the tray application is not set to auto-start Media Center (ehshell.exe), or if ANY settings are changed in the tray application without closing and starting a new instance of the tray application, the tray application does not control Media Center. This is a high priority item. The application should allow me to make changes to the configuration, and it should continue to control Media Center without the need to re-start the tray application. Further, if Media Center is started by some other application (e.g. manually or via some other application like Event Ghost) the tray application should still be able to send commands to Media Center.

4) LOW - Is there a way to clear the LOG in the P8 application? It seems that the log cannot be cleared. It would be a good idea to clear the log immediately before testing a function so that the log would clearly show the problem. Not being able to clear the log causes the log to become cluttered... making your troubleshooting more difficult.

5) LOW - The setting "Minimise after connecting to the adapter" (on the "Configuration" tab) is reset to un-checked each time the tray app is started. If any changes are made at this point, the check box must be checked again, or the tray application will not start minimized the next time it is executed.

6) MEDIUM - I connected the PC to my Samsung PN64D8000 TV. On the "Media Center" tab, the CEC command "Return (Samsung)" is mapped to "backspace", which is correct. When I press the Return button on the Samsung TV's remote control, the command is shown in the log... but the backspace key is not sent to Media Center. I tried mapping the "Exit" button to "backspace" and it works successfully. I would like to get the Return button as well.

7) LOW - In the default configuration, many of your buttons are incorrectly mapped. For example, the FFWD and RWD buttons are set to left-arrow, and right-arrow. They should instead be mapped to CTRL+SHIFT+F and CTRL+SHIFT+B. There are others. Please see the following webpage for more information on the keyboard commands that are recognized by Windows Media Center:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/wind ... -shortcuts

In addition to the keyboard shortcuts documented at the above link, CTRL+U will cycle through the captions/subtitles, and CTRL-Z will cycle through the zoom options, and CTRL+SHIFT+C will display the close-caption menu. See below regarding the "CC" button.

8) HIGH - The "Channel List" button on the remote registers in the tray application log, but there is no way to define a command for it. There is an "electronic program guide" command listed, but this command is not activated when I press the "Channel list" button on the remote. This button should send CTRL+G. This button works with the RCAware device.

9) MEDIUM - There are two buttons on the TV remote that display a message on the TV screen that says "Not Available". These buttons are the Record (labeled with a red circle), and "CC" buttons (for closed captions). These buttons don't work with the RCAware device either, and nothing appears in the CEC tray application log for them either. This seems to indicate that the TV is not sending these commands to the CEC bus (which, in the case of the "record" button, seems strange since the CEC adapter appears as a "recording" device). It would be very nice if there is a way to make a Samsung TV send these two buttons to the CEC bus.

10) MEDIUM - The RCAware device/software allow me to define different functions for "double press" and "long press" of the various buttons on the TV remote. For example, when I press the FFWD/RWD buttons on the remote once, Media Center will FFWD/RWD. However, if I double-press these buttons, Media Center will skip-back (default 7 seconds) or skip-forward (default 29 seconds). It would be nice if the RCAware device was customizable to allow this kind of functionality.

Please give me a reasonable timeline expectation for the resolution of the above-listed items.

[barnabas1969]

I still haven't received my optical drive from China even though I paid for expedited shipping that had an estimated delivery date by Aug 7, 2013 (no big surprise there... especially since it took 3 days, from the time the seller registered a tracking number on e-bay, for the Chinese postal service to register that they had received it! , but I hope I didn't waste $20.00 on the extra-cost shipping option). Normal shipping from China, in my experience, is 2-5 weeks.

I plan to do my case mods tomorrow to add the extra two rear USB ports, the HDD sound/vibration isolation with rubber dampers, and the LED's on the front panel for use with LEDs Driver.

I had a double-port USB cable that was in an old PC case (that I threw away), and I moved the pins around to match those used by LEDs Driver, and cut/stripped the cable tonight, so I can solder the cable onto a project board. I bought some LED's and a project board today at Radio Shack. I plan to solder it up, and drill holes to fit the case tomorrow. The LED's have a forward-voltage of 3 volts, so I need some 100 ohm (1/8th watt) resistors for current-limiting. I'll pick those up tomorrow morning.

The project board will screw-in to the place where the CIR device is screwed-in now. I don't need/want the CIR board. It doesn't work with my motherboard (see earlier posts), and I prefer to use an external IR receiver so I can place it where it gets the best signal from my remote-control. I like being able to press buttons on my remote without having to lift it off the couch... so placing the IR receiver high on the wall (above the TV) works best for me.

[barnabas1969]

I got my optical drive yesterday. I tested it with both a DVD and a Bluray movie tonight. It works fine, and it's quiet too. It plays Bluray movies at 4X speed, so it plays in fast forward and rewind better than my 2X drive that's in my old HTPC.

I added some pictures to the first post of this thread.

I haven't built the LED board for the front panel yet, nor the USB ports for the rear panel. Once those are done, I'll organize the cables in the case.

I've been testing the HDMI-CEC adapter from Pulse-Eight. So far, their tray application is very disappointing. But the hardware seems to be fine. A user on the pulse-eight forums has created his own tray application. I might give that a try. But I'm leaning toward creating my own EventGhost plugin for the thing. More information here and here.

[jerryt]

Did you do any configuration changes (Undervolt/Bios) to obtain a 11 watt idle?

Very impressive...

[barnabas1969]

Did you do any configuration changes (Undervolt/Bios) to obtain a 11 watt idle?

Very impressive...

No. The only thing I changed was the thresholds for fan speed control in the BIOS settings.

EDIT: I haven't measured the power consumption since I installed the optical drive and some software. I'll get the measurements again soon.

[volfan6415]

I feel like I'm talking to myself, but I'll update this thread anyway...

I'm here barnabas please keep posting...also more pics

[barnabas1969]

You know, I took some pretty decent pics. They were all around 3MB. This site just wouldn't let me upload them as attachments. It didn't give me any errors, and it didn't tell me that the files were too big. It seemed to upload them successfully, but then it just took me to a blank screen. I uploaded it to Google+ and shared it publicly. Here's the link:

https://plus.google.com/photos/10927966 ... 2813027553

[volfan6415]

That system is so thin! It's amassing how much like a ce device it looks when it's that thin.

[barnabas1969]

Yeah, it's really amazing. I downloaded a program called IntelBurnTestV2.exe. It runs all four cores and all 8GB of RAM at 100%. I ran it for more than 20 minutes, and everything stayed well within the specs for safe temps for each component. During the test, the fans never got above a whisper.

In my opinion, if you're looking for a PC case that looks very much like a normal piece of Home Theater equipment, without spending a boatload of money (like what you would pay for the "Tranquil PC" cases), this is the case! Of course, the Tranquil PC cases will be completely silent (except for HDD sounds)... but is it really worth 2x or 3x the price when this case makes less noise than what you can hear from the refrigerator in your kitchen?

• It is very well built. The front panel is very solid aluminum, painted black with a thin silver stripe that is raised above the front panel. The power button is a simple, circular, aluminum button with a blue LED in the middle... which, I'll admit, might be too bright for some people (I'm STILL waiting for the LightDims that I ordered from Fry's! I've considered replacing the LED with one that isn't as bright... and dual colored would be preferred since my motherboard supports it... but I don't know if I want to go to that much trouble... if the LightDims from Fry's ever show up!). The steel part of the case is very well built too.
• The cooling solution works very well. It keeps everything well within spec, even when using a 65 watt CPU that is running at 100%.
• It's quiet, even when the CPU is running at 100%.
• It has room for two 3.5" HDD's, or one slim optical drive and one 3.5" HDD (and you could easily fit two 2.5" drives in place of the rear 3.5" drive, with minor modifications). If you don't install a slim optical drive, the included blank panel that fills the hole (for the optical drive) in the front panel is high quality aluminum that perfectly matches the front panel. No cheap plastic.
• It has two front USB 2.0 ports (and room for two additional USB ports on the rear, if you're willing to sacrifice the 7.1 analog jacks, cut some sheet metal, and drill some holes).
• It comes with a remote-control that looks very similar to the ones supplied with Linksys extenders (I haven't tested the remote yet). Physically, it's exactly like the Linksys extender remote... with some different screen printing on some of the buttons. I'm not sure if it can be re-programmed to act like a Linksys extender remote.
• It comes with a CIR device that plugs-in to the DH61AG motherboard (if you don't want to use an external IR dongle). I can't test the CIR device to see if it will work with Media Center, because my chosen motherboard doesn't have a header for it. The seller (MitxPC) says that it DOES work with Windows Media Center, and the included remote control has a Windows logo "green button". I plan to use the front IR window for some LED's that will be driven by the on-board RS-232 header and LED's Driver (from Slick Solutions). Personally, I prefer the USB dongle... so I can place it where it will receive the best signal from my remote (while the remote is laying on the couch).
• It comes with a 7.1 audio cable and rear jacks that plug directly into the DH61AG motherboard. If you want 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 surround sound... and your receiver has the 5.1/6.1/7.1 analog inputs... and no digital inputs... this might be perfect for you. Personally, I wouldn't want to use the analog audio from a motherboard. In my experience, there is far too much electrical noise on a motherboard for analog audio to be an option. But, if you don't have any other way to get surround sound from a PC, the included rear jacks (and the DH61AG motherboard) should do the job.

[werds]

I feel like I'm talking to myself, but I'll update this thread anyway... just in case anyone else wants to build a similar system.

Thanks for all the in depth info - I have been keeping an eye on this as I definitely want to do similar in the future

[WarrenH]

Barnabas, considering you've had over 800 post views, I very much doubt you're wasting your breath
It's all very informative and I'm sure will benefit those considering a new build, me included for my next project
I really like your case, in some defence however of the Tranquil, your's is around GBP 320, I paid GBP 420 for my Tranquil barebones with board, power, led display, IR and remote - I contacted Tranquil directly and asked them to build me a barebones based on their sister company AVA Media's system which they do directly for AV specialist retailers; mine's been in daily use as our only source of TV and media for over 2 years now
All the best and keep us updated on how you progress

[barnabas1969]

Warren,

I paid $135 USD plus shipping for the case. That's only 86.31 GBP. I didn't buy it as a barebone. I bought the case-only. I don't know if the seller I used (MitxPC.com) will ship to the UK, or what the shipping would cost from California to the UK, but it might be worth investigating for anyone who lives in the UK and is interested in the case.

I think the Tranquil cases are beautiful. I'm just not willing to pay that much for a case.

[WarrenH]

Thanks the info, I actually prefer your case as it doesn't look like a pc, they're in ebay at the price I listed including e61 board and power so not too bad

[holidayboy]

The case reminds me of my old Hipermedia one - nice build BTW

[milli260876]

Nice build bud, i built a mini media client pc for our bedroom in an old kiss dvd player. There's a cheap case!!! Lol

[barnabas1969]

I finally got around to working on the HTPC again. I modified the case, and installed LED's for LEDsDriver. Here are some pictures of the cable I made. The connector will fit the RS-232 header on the motherboard, and the little perf board will fit in the place where the IR receiver was mounted (which came with the case). I don't want an internal IR receiver anyway. I prefer to use an IR dongle so that I can place it where it will get the best reception.

[barnabas1969]

Here's a close-up of the perf board installed in the case:

Here's a close-up from the front. The camera flash illuminated the LED's for the picture, but you can't see them without the flash unless they are turned on:

And, here they are turned on:

[barnabas1969]

Here's the USB bracket installed:

And here it is from the rear, with the top cover installed. I just used tape to cover the open holes that originally had RCA 7.1 audio connectors in them:

[barnabas1969]

And here is a close-up of the rubber grommets I installed to isolate the hard drive. This prevents sound from being transmitted to the case from the hard drive. I intentionally installed them farther from the rear and side of the case than the original mounting holes, because I didn't want the drive to touch the rear of the case, and I also wanted it farther from the air intake holes on the side of the case.

And, finally, here's the finished product with all the cables zip-tied and stuff: