Broadcom Hardware Decoder added

And it rocks! CPU consumption is now down to 10-20% for 720P and 15-30% for 1080P.

It is called Broadcom BCM970012 or BCM70012 aslo known as Broadcom Crystal HD and so far it has accelerated all the H264 videos I have thrown at it. However, even though the CPU load is very low even for 1080P, it sometimes stutters a bit. I suspect this might be because the GMA950 GPU is having trouble keeping up with 1080P. I have experimented a bit with different renderers (Haali, VMR9, EVR etc.) but haven't quite found the perfect match. Fortunately I don't really need to be able to play 1080P at the moment. But it would be nice to get it working though.

I bought it on ebay for 20$ (~100 DKK). It is about the size of half a Visa card and it is very easy to install. You slip it in, and install the drivers from the HP Mini 110, then you add a new external filter in MPC HC called Broadcom Decoder, move it up the priority list and that is it.

It also works in MediaPortal built in player.

The Goal

The goal is to create a small, cheap, silent HTPC and NAS that has very low power consumption (TDP) so it can remain turned on 24/7.

The HTPC should be easy to control, even without having a display turned on (for listening to music), preferably by using an iPod Touch (since I already have two of those lying around from another project.)

So the requirements are:

• Low power consumption (less than 20w)
• Silent operation
• Cheap (less than 120€ ~ 180$)
• NAS capabilities
• Ability to run 720P MKV HD material smoothly
• Controllable with iPod Touch or iPhone (at least when listening to music)
• rsync to remote server for off site backup
• Should run uPnP server to stream music to iPod Touch in upstairs room
  

The Hardware

I have based the HTPC on the following hardware:

• Mainboard and CPU: Intel D945GSEJT with embedded Atom N270 processor (656 DKK ~ 125USD)
  
• RAM: 2GB Corsair Value DDR2 SO-DIMM 200 pin (180DKK ~ 34USD)
• Power brick: 12V - 5A AC to DC converter for LCD monitor (from ebay.de) (47DKK ~ 9USD)
• HDD: Western Digital Green 1TB WD10EADS (548DKK ~ 104USD)
  
• HD Decoder: Broadcom BCM70012 (100DKK ~ 20USD)

Total price with HDD: 1531DKK ~ 292USD
Total price without HDD: 983DKK ~ 188USD
Note that the hardware is probably 20-30% cheaper if it is bought in the USA.

Since the HTPC will be stored away in a cabinet under the TV, I am building it without a cabinet. One of the advantages of the D945GSEJT is that there is an onboard DC-DC converter, which means that a traditional power supply is not needed. A standard 12V power brick is all it takes.

I use my Panasonic 42" PX80 plasma as display, and the HTPC will be hooked up to a Denon AVR-2106 receiver and a pair of homemade speakers

The Assembly

The memory stick was easy to insert and the motherboard came with SATA cable and power connector for the HDD, so that part was easy.

Since I want to place the HTPC in a cabinet along with my HiFi-gear, I don't really want to fork out the money for a fancy case. So I decided to just mount the motherboard on a piece of cardboard with a few pieces of scotch tape :-).

I did the same with the hard drive, so it could just lie next to the motherboard in the metal cabinet.

For power I used the 5$ (12V, 5A) power brick bought on ebay from Hong Kong, and it plugs right in to the motherboard.

When I wanted to hook up the audio out to my DTS receiver, I hit the first snag - the

D945GSEJT does not come with a cable or bracket for SPDIF digital out. Oh well, it has a header on the motherboard, that uses the same kind of plug that a HDD led cable for connecting a motherboard to a case LED, so I sourced such a plug from another computer and soldered an RCA cable and jack to it. Problem solved.

The setup looks a bit messy, but who cares when it is locked away in a cabinet.

The Software

OS:

Since I knew that 720P would be pushing it a bit, I knew I needed a fast decoder like the CoreAVC decoder. This meant that I would have to run some form of Windows. I decided on Windows XP as I have a feeling that Vista would consume to many resources.

I installed Windows XP from a USB stick using this guide.

After installing I disabled restoring and eye candy.

Other software:

I chose to use XBMC as the media center software for the following reasons:

• I like the look and "smoothness" of it
• It enables me to remote control it from an iPod Touch (or iPhone) using XBMC Remote
• It has a built in uPnP server that enables me to stream music to an iPod Touch upstairs using PlugPlayer

In order to be able to utilize the CoreAVC, I needed to setup XBMC to use an external player. I decided on using Media Player Classic Home Cinema edition (MPC HC)

To configure XBMC to use an external player see this guide

To troubleshoot and change settings, I have installed RealVnc on the HTPC. (Remote Desktop would also do).

The Result

I am really satisfied with the result. It practically fulfills all the requirements I had for a cheap HTPC and NAS.

It plays 720P material fluently (but chokes on 1080P)  as well as 1080P after installing the Broadcom HD decoder, it is easy to control using either the iPod or a wireless mouse. One of the few gripes I have, is that the experience would be more seamless if I did not have to use an external player to get smooth playback. The fact that I use an external player means that I am unable to pause, rewind etc. using the iPod when playing videos. For that I have to use the mouse.

One of the really nice things though is that I can browse and play my music using the iPods interface without having to turn on the plasma.

As a NAS it works flawlessly with much higher transfer speeds than my previous QNAP 109II. And for a much cheaper price. For once upgrading hardware actually made me money instead of costing me money.

Before I had a QNAP 109II as NAS and a laptop with a broken screen as HTPC. I sold these two items for about 400$ and then spent 180$ on building a better replacement. What's not to like?