Budget HTPC (Part 2)

Controls

Since the HTPC is a good 13-14' away from the sofa, a standard mouse and keyboard couldn't cut it. I had to look into wireless options. There are a lot out there and the mainstream brands are very expensive. I found a good keyboard on Directron that had a built-in joystick to act as a mouse ($37)... not many keyboards have this option. It was a requirement for me though because I wanted it to be something that fully controlled the computer while resting on my lap. I also shopped for a wireless mouse ($15) for occasions when I need more precision.

Shopping List

1. Keyboard - I suggest looking at the no-name brands for a keyboard that has a built-in joystick, trackpad or trackball. If you go with Microsoft or Logitech, you'll find yourself spending over $100. I ended up getting the BTC 9019URFIII and it works just as well if not better than the $150 Logitech Dinovo Edge.

2. Mouse - In an HTPC, you won't be using the mouse for the entire time, so you don't need a full-sized desktop mouse. The best option is to get a notebook laser mouse. It should be laser because you'll probably use it on many surfaces... might not always have a mousepad handy in the living room. Some good options are the Logitech V450 Nano ($40 regular, $15-20 sale) and Gigaware wireless laser ($50 regular, $25 sale). Both of these have small dongles that won't get in the way.

Final Cost
My final cost was about $275 but that involved Black Friday deals and existing parts. It would just cost a little more if you built one today based on my shopping lists... maybe around $350, but not more than $400.

Pistilli Grand Manor

I checked out a brand new condo my Mom was showing earlier in the day. Being used to the new wave of cheap, cramped and expensive Flushing apartments, I was surprised to see that this one was well constructed. The materials and craftsmanship were good. The walls were solid. Each unit was very spacious. Unlike Flushing where 2 bedrooms includes one medium room and one tiny room, this building actually had units with 2 huge rooms.


There was a trade off though... it's not near a subway station!

Budget HTPC (Part 1)

The Core

A media center PC can cost $500-$1000 if you go out to the store to buy one. However, in my opinion, it's really not necessary to do that. Older systems are very capable of operating as a home theater PC (HTPC)... especially if you're building something for a 720p TV. Buying a new dual-core or quad-core system with all of the latest parts is overkill unless you plan to do video editing and Photoshop work on your TV. In this series of posts, I'm going to write about the system I built for my parents' new 52" LCD.

This project started on Thanksgiving weekend and I was able to find a lot of Black Friday sales related to parts I needed. I started with the small form-factor IBM system from my apartment. I replaced the hard drive with something much larger... going from the default 40 GB to a 500 GB model ($35 @ Directron... FREE shipping). That had plenty of room for a bunch of DVDs and DivX movies. I also had a bunch of spare parts that I added to the system... a 802.11g wireless PCI card ($10 after a rebate offer) and USB 2.0 PCI card (FREE after a rebate offer) to fill up the 2 available slots.

Shopping List

1. System - First, you'll need a small form-factor system... something that will fit into your TV stand. It should also be energy efficient and relatively cool since it will be on a lot and could be in an enclosed space (depending on the type of stand you have). For good off-lease system, check out the IBM ThinkCentre S50 or Dell Optiplex GX series from PC Exchange. They're both Pentium 4 systems. For any system you order, get the highest possible RAM option and upgrade to a DVD-ROM if it has a CDROM by default. Leave the hard drive because you'll want a 500 GB or higher.

2. Hard Drive - Get a 500 GB or larger drive because you're going to store large movie files on it. It should be hi-speed... at least 7200 rpm, large cache, SATA is possible (IDE should still be OK).

3. Network - The best option is to connect via ethernet to your hi-speed Internet connection. The video throughput is much higher than wireless. If not possible, 802.11g actually works OK. With the HTPC I built, I was able to stream an episode of Terminator without any problems.

4. USB 2.0 Ports - If the system doesn't have a lot of these by default, you should add an additional card since you'll probably have a need to add media drives and connect cameras in the future.

DVDeals 12/14 - 12/20

DVD Tuesday
There are a couple of editions of Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor to keep an eye out for this Tuesday. Circuit City has the best price for the regular edition at $14.99. The 2-disc special edition w/ digital copy is $22.99 everywhere. The trilogy box set is cheapest at Amazon... $38.99. What's unclear is whether the set includes 3 regular edition movies or special edition ones.

Best Buy Deals
In addition to the sale prices, you also get a $20 gift card if you buy 5 of these.
- 2 Fast 2 Furious for $9.99
- Casino Royale for $9.99
- Spiderman 3 for $9.99
- Resident Evil: Extinction for $9.99
- Bourne Ultimatum for $9.99
- Fearless for $9.99

Emily's B-Day & More Sentosa

For Emily's family birthday party, we went to her favorite Flushing restaurant, Sentosa. My opinion on this restaurant is still the same. It's consistently been one of the best for years. For my full review, see the May entry. We got the restaurant early so we could secure a large table and beat the crowd. Sentosa fills up quickly for dinner, especially on a Saturday night. But getting there before 6 guarantees a spot.


After dinner, we headed over to my parents' house for dessert, tea and the Bulls game.

Related: Sentosa: Full Review, Sentosa: Addendum

Hancock

Story: 4
Action: 6
Acting: 7
FX: 7
Durability: 2

Based on the trailer, I was expecting Hancock to be a comedy about an unconventional superhero. Instead, the movie really wasn't a sci-fi flick, wasn't really a comedy nor a kid's superhero movie. The story was very simple and the origins of the 2 superhumans were never fully explained. There was almost no point to the movie. Hancock was a man with super powers and amnesia. He would go around and sloppily try to help people, but cause more destruction in the process. He gets PR guy to help him with his image, but later it turned out that the PR guy's wife was his wife through many ages. The way it worked was their powers would deplete when together and increase when apart. If you watch the movie, you'll notice that the power & proximity factor is inconsistent through the story.

Though it had good points like the special fx and action, the simplistic story overshadowed everything else. I'm glad I didn't end up buying this one!

Nan Shian Dumpling House

Location: 38-12 Prince St., Flushing, NY 11354
Cuisine: Chinese
Phone: (718) 321-3838
Prices: about $9/person
Credit Cards: Cash only

Food: 7
Service: 7
Value: 6
Environment: 3

Frequency: Unique

I did the usual lunch thing with my parents on my day off and covered a new restaurant today. Auntie Kim mentioned Nan Shian Dumpling House before and my Mom ate there a couple of times. This was my first time to compare it to Joe's Shanghai.

I'll get right to the specialty from the start... the Xiao Long Bao (soup dumpling). It was much more expensive at Nan Shian. The crab was $6.25 for 6 dumplings and the pork $5.25 for 6. I don't remember the price at Joe's, but it was definitely under $5 for 8 dumplings. I didn't taste anything special with the premium price. They were also slightly smaller than their competition. So Joe's Shanghai wins by a longshot. The other dishes were better at Nan Shian though. We had pork chop noodle soup and Shanghai pan fried noodles. Aside from the taste, the portions were pretty small and lacked contents. The noodle soup had 2 pieces or pork chop. The fried noodles was supposed to have strips of meat in it, but I found very little. Another noteworthy thing about the food is that not all of the appetizers are available every day... only what you see in the cart they have up front.

The service was OK... no complaints. The value was just OK because they lost to Joe's Shanghai significantly on prices. If Joe's Shanghai is THE soup dumpling restaurant, one should expect places that haven't been around as long to have lower prices.

The restaurant space was clean and well maintained, but was extremely cramped. There was no elbow room and tables have to be shared. There was also no heat, which felt pretty uncomfortable at first, but luckily we had a hot soup in our order.

The overall menu was good, but I can't see a reason to come to Nan Shian Dumpling House if the driving force is a craving for soup dumplings. I'll just head to Joe's every time!

DVDeals 12/7 - 12/13

DVD Tuesday
Batman: Dark Knight comes out this Tuesday and almost each store has a different exclusive offer. Just for the movie itself though, Best Buy and Circuit City are tied at $14.99 for the regular edition. Amazon is the clear winner at $20.99 for the 2-disc special edition that includes a digital copy. At Best Buy, you get an exclusive Joker card when you buy any edition. If you get the special edition, you get a Batman or Joker mask. At Target, you get an exclusive Batman mask box with the special edition. Circuit City has a logo journal with the special edition.

Best Buy Deals
- X2 for $4.99
- Batman: Gotham Knight for $4.99
- Transformers for $4.99
- Matrix for $4.99

Circuit City Deals
- Batman: Gotham Knight for $9.99
- Superman: Doomsday for $9.99
- Batman Begins for $6.99
- Superman for $6.99
- Superman III for $6.99
- Blade for $6.99
- Blade II for $6.99
- Matrix for $6.99
- Aeon Flux for $7.99
- Coming to America for $7.99
- Spiderman for $7.99
- Spiderman 2 for $7.99
- Ghost Rider for $7.99
- XXX for $7.99
- Patriot for $7.99
- The One for $7.99

Perlas ng Silangan

Location: 69-09 Roosevelt Ave., Woodside, NY 11377
Cuisine: Filipino
Hours: MON-TUE (11am-10pm); WED-THU (11am-12am); FRI (11am-2am); SAT (8am-2am); SUN 8am-10pm)
Phone: (718) 779-3272
Website: www.perlasnewyork.com
Prices: about $20/person
Credit Cards: Cash only

Food: 9
Service: 8
Value: 8
Environment: 5

Frequency: Uncommon

Our December dinner tonight celebrated Emily & Ben's Birthdays. We wanted to go for Filipino, but couldn't choose Ihawan because of it's early closing hours. I looked up the hours for Perlas ng Silangan and they close at 2am! It was a bit of a risk because I only ate here once and it wasn't that great. Still, I thought it was worth reevaluating because I had the buffet during a wedding reception. I was very impressed with the regular sit-down meal here and it even rivals Ihawan in taste. Please click on the photos in the slideshow for more detailed descriptions of the dishes.


The restaurant space was pretty comfortable, especially for a location on Roosevelt Ave. in Woodside. Typically, restaurants on that street are very cramped. The space an acoustics made up for the lack of decor and poorly maintained bathrooms.

The service was good overall. The staff handled the large order without error. They were confused at first when we mentioned that we wanted to order family style. I was surprised by that because I would think most people eat that way here. The bill was also accurate and sans mistakes.

So it seems like we have a new favorite Filipino restaurant and could see this place a lot more in the future. Their schedule and location are perfect for our monthly gatherings.

Holiday Gift Ideas

The holiday shopping season kicked off with Black Friday. So now that the bonus bargains are over, it's time to get into the heart of the gift list. Here are a few original ideas offered by some of my friends:

Yarnyums
Last year, Jene Wallace was selling handmade soaps, but she switched craft hobbies and is now crocheting food items. It sounds odd, but they make original gifts and have a visual appeal to them. All items are original patters. Click here to shop.

Wonderham's Super Secret Stash
Wonderham is a great character that stars in a single panel Online comic created by James Li. He has Cafe Press stores with various products depicting everyone's favorite hamster. Click here to shop.

A Ma$tamind Christmas 3
This is Shawn Noel's 3rd X-mas album. Not only does this make an original gift, but be sure to get one for yourself for background music if you're hosting a party. Click here to shop.

Pinoy Superstore
Have family on the Philippines? Richard Ng's service makes overseas gift giving much easier. His Online store has a wide variety of items. They come at a premium, but the shopping and shipping is done for you. No need to worry about unpredictable shipping delays. Click here to shop.