Home Theater & MP3 warehousing

[InFlux]

I'm looking for ideas on a way to incorporate a PC into my home theater. I have many CD's that I would like to convert to MP3's. Ultimately, I want flexibility to setup groups and favoriate playlists from my full collection - similar to how any CD jukebox would work. So, for now, the sole purpose is music warehousing with excellent playback options. Eventually, I would probably consider internet, but that is not in the scope right now.

What do I need in terms of hardware & software to get started? How fast of a processor do I REALLY need. What sound card...? Can you get them with optical outs? What software would one use for the MP3 warehousing? I found remote controls for PC's that have options to "correct" the video for better resolution (in the included software). Are any other interfaces needed? What video card makes sense for future internet use... (S-Video or composit output would be nice)...

Thanks. I'm sure many people have done this. Any advice would be appreciated.

[meuge]

There are very good HTPC cases, and I'll get back with a suggestion, because I don't remember the model number offhand (I just helped a friend build one).

As far as components go, what you really want to go for is an Nforce2 micro-ATX motherboard (will get you the model number tonight) from Abit. Get an Athlon XP 2600+ or higher, as well as a decent cooler (will get you that as well). For now, if you're not going to be using this for video, you can use the onboard video card and save yourself some money. There's no real competition as far as sound is concerned, so you want to get a Chaintech AV-710. It's only $25 and comes with an optical out. When you decide you want good video, an ATI All-In-Wonder is a good card to consider. The come with a variety of input options, as well as DVI outs (you can also get component out by buying a DVI or VGA-to-component converter).

The quietest hard drive available right now is a Samsung Spinpoint, specifically the IDE version, not the SerialATA one. 120GB should do the job for both audio and video.

There is a lot of software out there that will let you manage your music collection very well, but try to look for free or open-source programs, so that you're not tied down to a commercial product.

[InFlux]

Thanks & I would appreciate those model numbers.

What about interfacing with the computer? Are people using wireless keyboards & mice, or are people using remotes, etc...?

[scriven]

If you're going for good quality I would avoid MP3. Even at its lowest compression levels there is a quality loss. I am also considering moving my material from cd jukeboxes to a computer but when I do it will be in a format that retains the full audio quality from the cd.

I am currently running a Sound Blaster Audigy2 Platinum that has both optical digital input and output. I think it is now discontinued but please don't tell mine because it is still working and I don't want it to get upset.

If you just want to manage and play audio files you dont need much horsepower on the CPU. If you get to the point where you want to process audio then you will need more computing power. I am currently running a 450Mhz PII that does fine for playing files, creating or copying CDs and recording LPs. Where it falls down is trying to process the recorded LP information to clean it up. I would make a SWAG that I need at least a 1Ghz processor to do that comfortably.

[meuge]

Check out my detailed parts list here:

http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=65630

[Earle Decker]

Im using an old Pent 2 as a music server. I have a Pioneer 56TXi connected to the computer via usb and counldnt be happier.

I just added 2 250 meg HDs to the computer and ripped my cd's as wav files.

All my cd's have been put into storage, and music is just a click away

Earle

[cueman]

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On 5/16/2005 7:51:29 PM scriven wrote:

If you're going for good quality I would avoid MP3.

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This is exactly what I was going to say. MP3's are terrible for critical listening on a good system. If you want to convert your CD's to a hard drive, just convert them as .WAV files. Sure, they'll take up 10 times the space, but they will sound a lot better.

Edit: Didn't read Earle's post, but he has got it right !!

[meuge]

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On 5/16/2005 7:51:29 PM scriven wrote:

If you're going for good quality I would avoid MP3. Even at its lowest compression levels there is a quality loss. I am also considering moving my material from cd jukeboxes to a computer but when I do it will be in a format that retains the full audio quality from the cd.

I am currently running a Sound Blaster Audigy2 Platinum that has both optical digital input and output. I think it is now discontinued but please don't tell mine because it is still working and I don't want it to get upset.

If you just want to manage and play audio files you don’t need much horsepower on the CPU. If you get to the point where you want to process audio then you will need more computing power. I am currently running a 450Mhz PII that does fine for playing files, creating or copying CDs and recording LPs. Where it falls down is trying to process the recorded LP information to clean it up. I would make a SWAG that I need at least a 1Ghz processor to do that comfortably.

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I would agree with everything you're saying. Storing music as .WAV files is no longer prohibitive space-wise, as I can testify, having done it myself.

CDEx is the best program for ripping/converting/naming/tagging audio files.

Foobar2000 w. Kernel Streaming is the best software player to use.

[InFlux]

There is a lot of good information here. WAV files it is then, forget the MP3's. I now understand.

The parts list was especially helpful. Thanks everyone.

[colterphoto1]

My 'Jukebox' is an iMac computer in my home office, which is centrally located in my home. The output from this goes to a Yamaha receiver through Dahlquist M905 speakers for the office. A tape output from Yamaha feeds a power amp in the office closet and distributed system throught the house, and another output runs a line about 50' long and feeds my Main HT Yamaha receiver, so the BIG system can play the same tunes.

I generally use the 192 mbps MP3 mode, which is the highest sampling rate, tunes that I use for critical listening I input as the Mac AIFF format which is like WAV files- no compression. I understand that the latest iTunes software, used for downloading from the internet has a 'lossless' compression technology which saves some disc space without compromising sound quality.

Currently I have 2544 songs loaded, which would play continuously for 7.7 days and only takes up 20 GB of the iMac's 80 GB hard disk space.

Michael

[r.cherry]

all of my music has been put on my hard drive as mp3, i have Roxio platinum that can conver these to wave files. My question is this, is it too late? Should these have been converted to digital as .wav in the first place? How will the software know how to uncompress properly? Can it truely uncompress properly? please say it can as i have almost 20k songs and i don't even want to do all that again...

[scriven]

r.,

Sorry but it's too late! The compression used in MP3 is not reversible. (Read that - it looses data.) At this point the damage is done and you may as well keep them in the compressed format.

Try taking a wav file and converting it to MP3 files with various levels of compression. Then do an A/B comparison and you will hear the difference.

[Frzninvt]

However, if you used a DBX 3BX-III or 3BX-DS Dynamic Range Expander you could un-compress the MP3 and add new sparkle and life to them you did not think possible. You would hook the sound card outputs to the DBX unit and then the DBX unit outputs to your receiver or amplifier then you could tweek as required. The 3BX-III is more powerful at expanding so it may be a better choice with MP3's. The 3BX-DS is more refined and may require the controls be turned up further. Just a thought.

These units work similarly to the MX Expander in my Alpine head unit in the car not only can they expand dynamic range, they can also restore impact restoration (immediacy) to the signal. All user controllable of course!

I have 900+ CD's that I would like to do the same thing with at some point.

[meuge]

R. Cherry, - it's really not so hard to re-do it. Get CDEx and it will rip your CDs and name their files (you can look up song names with just a single click).

You should make sure you have enough disk space. Raw *.WAV is 146 KB/sec, 8.75MB/min. With an average song length of 5 minutes, and average album length of 12 songs, you must ensure you have about 550MB/album.

You'll probably need to purchase additional storage, so I'll tell you that a good 160GB hard drive is about $90. If there is no space inside your computer for more hard drives, you can always get USB2 external enclosures for your drives, at about $30 apiece, and you can daisy-chain up to 127 of them onto a single hardware USB port.

[cyclonecj]

Just to give you an idea of the minimum computer just for a music only player, in my garage I use an old HP Brio computer that was being thrown out. It has a Celeron 266 with 128 ram & a network card. It pulls MP3's from the server & plays music for me all day with no problems.

In the main system & use more power so I can also play ripped DVD's. I am using a Sound Blaster Live with the digital out going to my receiver, & an ATI All-in-Wonder video card.

[Olorin]

Also have a look at Exact Audio Copy for ripping. It has very powerful extraction capabilities and it's naming is quite flexible as well.

[Shade]

As far as sound cards, M-audio makes some very good cards. I use a Revolution 7.1 card, no optical out though, only coax. Great sound quality though. You can pick up the Revolution 5.1 on newegg for $75, same card except it does 5.1 instead of 7.1. I've heard a lot of good things about the Chaintech, and it's 1/3rd of the price. I would advise you stay away from Creative Labs. They're cards upsample to 48khz, where cards like the M-audio will leave it at 44khz. Also stay away from onboard sound, it's usually not done well.

For video cards, I'm a fan of ATI. You could go with a regular card for a bit less $$$ if you're just interested in video out (RCA, S-VID, component, or DVI). Or you could go with one of the all-in-wonder cards for more flexibility.

I'll also reccomend CDEX as a ripper. Been using it for some time.

Also, if the number of hard drives being used is a concern, they do make hard drives up to 400GB. It won't be as quiet as some of the ones mentioned, but if you're short of space in a case or have a really extensive CD collection, it may be the way to go. Price on newegg for a Hitachi 400GB is around $270.

Also you should determine what size/style case you want, and the cooling options available. With an older CPU that consumes less power (ie less heat dissipation) you may be able to run a fanless setup. There are heatsinks designed for this, as well as fanless power supplys. Or if you decide to use a modern cpu, a large heatsink with a 120mm cpu fan and a 120mm exhaust fan would be extremely quiet, although this setup may not be do-able in a micro atx case. Then there are PC cases which are designed to look like stereo gear, working volume knobs, displays and all.

Whatever you decide on, there are certainly a number of options available to you.