Need a "media PC" recommendation......

**greatwhite** · 03-22-2008, 06:44 PM

I'm in the military and they're posting me away from home and family for a year. I'm going into a 1 room appt so space is kind of at a premium.

I've never owned a media pc, but this seems as good a time as any.

So here's my requirements:

1. Storage- lots of it! 500 megs and up. Two drives would probably be best for backup purposes.

2. Video playback- I'd like to be able to use it to play videos and dvd's on the TV. HD would be great but not a nessessity

3. Music- MP3, cd, etc.

4. Sound- decent amplified PC speaker system for surround sound and music playback.

5. I'd like to be able to control it from the "on tv screen" menu like I think windows media center does

6. Internet surfing, bill paying etc.

7. enough processor to run photoshop cs, etc

8. Dl dvd burner

9. Some light PC gaming (tomb raider is about the worst I get).

10. would be nice if I could get it working with the Wii I just bought. (tried x-oom, not what I'm looking for)

Buy it or build it, doesn't matter. I can do either. Try to keep the costs down too gents.

Thanks for any recommendations on parts or systems.

Cheers

**Drimon** · 03-23-2008, 06:30 AM

всем привет

**2k1Toaster** · 03-23-2008, 06:41 AM

Get a Core2Duo chip, generic mobo, $60-$120 video card with tv-out. 500Gb drives are a good price point at $100 each. Get 2 and raid-0 them. If you want backup then raid-1 them but movies/music is easy to backup on optical disks. 1Gb RAM is plenty and only $30

So with a case and a power supply, a copy of XP media center with remote and you are golden. Probably for under $600 maybe under $500. Not sure what you mean about the Wii... The PC goes to a tv, the wii goes to a tv, all non-1970 tv's have multiple video inputs.

**greatwhite** · 03-23-2008, 09:03 AM

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

Get a Core2Duo chip, generic mobo, $60-$120 video card with tv-out. 500Gb drives are a good price point at $100 each. Get 2 and raid-0 them. If you want backup then raid-1 them but movies/music is easy to backup on optical disks. 1Gb RAM is plenty and only $30

So with a case and a power supply, a copy of XP media center with remote and you are golden. Probably for under $600 maybe under $500. Not sure what you mean about the Wii... The PC goes to a tv, the wii goes to a tv, all non-1970 tv's have multiple video inputs.

Yeah, the more I read, the more I'm thinking pretty much what you wrote...........

I may see about a package deal unit. I'm probably going to up the video to hdmi or dvi out to the falt panel I will most likely buy.

It also seems the only real advantage of an htpc over a regular pc is the ability to record tv, not a big concern for me. I just thought it might be nice to have everything in one interface (ie: tv).

I might just go with a pc for music, internet, etc and stick with a cable box and dvd player for tv.

Cheers

**2k1Toaster** · 03-23-2008, 07:51 PM

Originally Posted by greatwhite

Yeah, the more I read, the more I'm thinking pretty much what you wrote...........

I may see about a package deal unit. I'm probably going to up the video to hdmi or dvi out to the falt panel I will most likely buy.

It also seems the only real advantage of an htpc over a regular pc is the ability to record tv, not a big concern for me. I just thought it might be nice to have everything in one interface (ie: tv).

I might just go with a pc for music, internet, etc and stick with a cable box and dvd player for tv.

Cheers

You would need a cable box or satellite box either way unless you have a fancy cable tuner card that actually works. The cheap ones I found when building a mythtv box never work. You set it to record something on Channel B at some time while the tuner is still tuned to Channel A. It is supposed to send the command to switch channels and start recording but it only works like 1 out of 10 times so you usually record the wrong thing.

This was 4 years ago now though, I am sure things have improved.

But now I just have a regular HTPC with XP running media center, with an ATI remote that came with the video card in my old desktop PC. I can say from experience that you really do want to shell out money for that media PC remote from microsoft or at least a remote with that funny looking circular home button. Because without it you have to use the cursor arrows to go over it to go back home which can be annoying. We usually just keep it in the video screen though so it isnt much of an issue but for you it seems like it could be.

**greatwhite** · 03-23-2008, 08:00 PM

OOpps, should have updated this thread a little while ago, anyways..........

After going through my options of "build or buy", I settled on this unit:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/g...reg_R1002_CAEN

Paid just a shade over 500 bucks and it'll do just about everything I'm looking for.

Sure, it's not in a nice low profile case, but I don't really care for the cost saving and convenience of not having to build it and get everything to interface properly. Times getting short before I have to go, so this is probably best. At least it's a decent pc with extra 3.5 bays and couple free pci-e and pci slots.

Oh, it also come preloaded with vista, media center (I think vista come with this anyways, doesn't it?) and a remote.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

Cheers

**2k1Toaster** · 03-23-2008, 08:06 PM

Glad you found a solution for you.

But you could have built it for less and earned some good geek points

**greatwhite** · 03-23-2008, 08:21 PM

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

Glad you found a solution for you.

But you could have built it for less and earned some good geek points

Perhaps, but parts are a little more expensive in Canada than the states, I don't think I could have built it and the software for 500 bucks. Well, I paid 579, so closer to 600 I guess.

At least, not around here.........

Quick Pic:

Geek points? Well, not that interested in that. I've never thought of myself as a "geek", but I have to admit, I used to beat up kids in high school (that was a long time agao, I'm 42

) that know as much about computers as I do now.

Funny how life changes all things..............