Media center setup!

wiserommer

wiserommer

wiserommer

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Joined
28 Dec 2008
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191
Hello all,

I'm currently in the process of designing a media center around my house...i have about £1200 to spend. Here is what i am looking to do...but i have no idea of what hardware i need.

- I want at least 2x 32inch LCDs one in the bedroom the other in the living room.

- a media center that is capable of holding a large amount of files with the ability to play back 1080p and mp3 files.

- also, some type of hardware that will allow my kids to be able to select movies on a wired network in their bedrooms.

well, i know its a lot but maybe i can compromise somewhere.

thanks
 
There was a company that sounds rich, which was selling 42" for £400...

Thats 2 3rds of your budget gone.

Do you have a ps3/360 in your living room or whatever, as that could be used to watch video's in one room, and the media centre can power the other.

Anyhow, lets say you spend £350 on each tv, that leaves you with £500.

£200ish could get you a 360/ps3 for the living room, giving you either blue ray and more gaming capabilities. It would also act as a media extender.

Your HTPC could then be left connected to the other TV.

Do you have any parts already?
 
I have nothing mate...and yes i already have a PS3. maybe i could purchase one of them homeplugs for the PS3 downstairs.

I'm just looking to buy a complete media center...i've tried to build pcs in the past without any success.
 
When you say the kids will be accessingmovies in their bedrooms do they already have tvs? Are these hdmi compliant or scart etc?
 
Also do the tvs need to be 1080p as well? And whats your idea of lots if storage? 1tb ? 2tb ? 12tb ?
 
ok let me be specific...

yes the kids have standard tvs with scart sockets...i've actually been looking at the WD media center wifi ones.

Well...relativly speaking i could settle for 720p and the storage i was thinking more like 2TB or something.
 
Xtreamers make pretty good and cheap (£100) players for each room. I run mine without an internal hdd (they take 2.5inch ones) and have it connected to an Acer H340 with 4x1tb drive (£400 with 2x1tbs). Plays everything I throw at it.
 
so 2x tvs

media viewing in 4 rooms and min 2tb of storage (networkable)

DVD players in all rooms ? Blu ray wanted in at least the main room?
 
Right, so the Ps3 can be used to access the media on your HTPC, so you just need to hook up your HTPC directly to the other TV.

Say you spend £350 on the TV's, then you have £500 left for your HTPC.

Antec Fusion Remote HTPC Case - Black

Asus AT3N7A-I Ion Intel Atom N330 DDR2 ITX Motherboard
OCZ Gold Edition 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 Dual Channel
Western Digital Caviar Green 1.5TB SATA-II 64MB Cache - OEM

£395 Delivered.

Case comes with remote/PSU, so you just need to choose an optical drive, and any other pheripherals for your £100 left.
 
Azra said:
so 2x tvs

media viewing in 4 rooms and min 2tb of storage (networkable)

DVD players in all rooms ? Blu ray wanted in at least the main room?
Click to expand...



Well i plan copy the dvd onto my media center so it can be accessed in all rooms via the network...and yes the blueray will be in the main living room.
 
DireEmblem said:
Right, so the Ps3 can be used to access the media on your HTPC, so you just need to hook up your HTPC directly to the other TV.

Say you spend £350 on the TV's, then you have £500 left for your HTPC.

Antec Fusion Remote HTPC Case - Black

Asus AT3N7A-I Ion Intel Atom N330 DDR2 ITX Motherboard
OCZ Gold Edition 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 Dual Channel
Western Digital Caviar Green 1.5TB SATA-II 64MB Cache - OEM

£395 Delivered.

Case comes with remote/PSU, so you just need to choose an optical drive, and any other pheripherals for your £100 left.
Click to expand...

thanks for the parts mate, but i am nervous about putting hardware together not exactly that handy.
 
£1200 looks a little light then.

assuming 2x tvs is around £700 that leaves £500

PS3 in bedroom and 2 streamers (at least £100) in other bedrooms leaves £400 max for 2tb media centre (with operating system) and home plugs to network house.

Leaving kids to use main room and £500 for media centre works.

PS3 is wireless capable and I could build a reasonaby pretty and well spec'd htpc for £500 with windows 7 on it.

Adding 2 streamers and networking realistically adds £100+ as a minimum or £250 to use the wd live you mentioned.
 
pre built the Acer Aspire Revo R3610 can be had for £300 (comes with win 7 and 500gb hdd). add an external maybe £400 with the 2gb you looking for
 
Azra said:
£1200 looks a little light then.

assuming 2x tvs is around £700 that leaves £500

PS3 in bedroom and 2 streamers (at least £100) in other bedrooms leaves £400 max for 2tb media centre (with operating system) and home plugs to network house.

Leaving kids to use main room and £500 for media centre works.

PS3 is wireless capable and I could build a reasonaby pretty and well spec'd htpc for £500 with windows 7 on it.

Adding 2 streamers and networking realistically adds £100+ as a minimum or £250 to use the wd live you mentioned.
Click to expand...

Doesnt need any more streamers mate.

Ps3 does the job in one room, media centre connected directly to TV in the other.
 
to 2 scart tvs how exactly?

edit... As he stated he was looking at the WD Live you have to assume the kids don't have media capable pcs in their bedrooms already etc
 
Last edited:
You could build the media centre PC with Svideo out.

As also stated the OP is looking to get at least 2 32" LCD's, which I would assume nowadays, most come with HDMI.
 
Again read the OP.

We are talking 4 tvs here not 2.

I would get 2 good tvs and a suitable media centre then spec out the kids when more funds are available.
 
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