Building a media centre PC

samcim · 11 Jul 2006 at 17:04

HI all. Building a media centre PC soon & just wanna know what components to use. I will be going for a Silverstone Lascala SST-LC02 HTPC Case & wanna use a AMD A64 CPU with PCIe express GFX, 1gb ram ect. What mobo & ram you recommend?

Any troubles compaired to building normal PC's?

How do I recored live TV? Will I need a TV tuner? if so which one is good for the price?

Dont wanna spend to much. About £500-600 on it all.

Cheers!

Sam

samcim · 11 Jul 2006 at 17:08

Also with that case.... does it only support a slim optical drive & 1 hard drive?

Thanks

Sam

squiffy · 11 Jul 2006 at 17:15

A HTPC is a PC, but components are chosen to be as quiet as possible. Onboard graphics is more than suitable if you're not playing games. Can't help with TV/recording as I don't use it.

Personally I would use the 3000 from your main rig, put that into your new one and perhaps get a faster and/or dual core CPU for your existing machine. My HTPC is a Asus CSM MATX with a 3700+ btw.

Fiddliest is getting scaling/audio options and codecs working

samcim · 11 Jul 2006 at 19:49

Cheers mate. Im happy with this PC atm. Dont wanna change and parts its running sweet. Dont play games on this PC atm so might swap the GFX out of it and use it for the media pc & play games on that.

Any ideas on th case? Does it only support a slim optical drive & 1 hard drive? If so would a 400-500gb drive be ok in it?

Fiddliest is getting scaling/audio options and codecs working

What codecs you on about? Also could I use my audigy 2 in it? Or would I be better off with a better sound card?

Thanks

squiffy · 11 Jul 2006 at 20:06

Yup you can fit that X800XL into a HTPC, but how loud is the cooler? If it's a hoover I would get a passive or look for a motherboard with built in GFX.
Dunno about that case sorry. Checkout Silverstone site and do google searches with "review"

You'll want to limit the number of hard drives, if silence is a concern. I would just fit one for now. Even then you can fit a lot onto a 250GB, if you imagine one film is 750MB-1.4GB, and a TV series is around 7-9GB (22-24 episodes) both with acceptable picture quality.

Codecs wise FFDSHOW should pretty much do everything (DIVX and XVID) you might need AC-3 filter, and perhaps OGG and OGM.

As for soundcard, how are you connecting it up? To a TV or AV amplifier? Over analogue or digital? If it's analogue internal soundcard will do, unless you want better sound quality (for music) then look at better soundcard (not Creative)

Don't forget you'll need a remote and receiver also, the Microsoft one is pretty good, although it lacks discrete IR codes, so if you have a good learning remote you should have discrete IR codes (ie I have codes that'll go to "My xxxxx" whatever section you're in.

samcim · 11 Jul 2006 at 20:11

Hi, sound Im connecting it to an AV amp. What sound card you recommend? Also what remote & reciver do you recon?

lol I havent a clue about this have I?

squiffy · 11 Jul 2006 at 20:18

Remote/Receiver
Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre 2005 Remote Controller (SW-009-MS)

As for soundcard, one with digital out will do, however you'll want one that has ASIO drivers. When a 44.1khz track is playing (CD), the digital output sample rate is 44.1khz. And when a 48khz track is playing (DVD), the digital output sample rate is 48khz. My M-Audio Revolution works this way.

Some soundcards output 48khz, no matter what the track is. It's possible onboard/Creative soundcards will do this.

If you're connecting with L/R not important, however sound card quality will be important.