Help me spec a media centre!!

Gopher_By_Fende · 4 Apr 2006 at 19:42

Hi guys,

I've decided to get a new TV. i've got 1200-1300 to spend, and primarily i want a 32" LCD HDTV (im looking at the LG 32LX2R). i was hoping to get a pc to hook it upto, running XP MCE, but if i get that tv @ £999, ill only have 200-300 left. a backup option was one of those buffalo media thingies on the OCUK shop, but i dont know if these are any good.

Any suggestions on the best way to spend 1300 on a big as possible LCD HDTV and a PC to run the media. i wont be playing games on it, but i would like to run sky through it if possible, and use it as a recorder.

any help would be appriciated as i have no experience with media pc's at all.

Thanks

Energize · 4 Apr 2006 at 19:56

£300 isnt enough for a decent media center with hdtv support.

nyzrox · 4 Apr 2006 at 19:57

buy a mac mini for it

Energize · 4 Apr 2006 at 19:58

nyzrox said:
buy a mac mini for it

That wouldnt support hd, and it isnt a media center.

nyzrox · 4 Apr 2006 at 20:02

I know its not, but installing windows media center is not a hard thing to do, and get a usb tv tuner

... wouldnt this give it the features as a media center

Energize · 4 Apr 2006 at 20:21

nyzrox said:
I know its not, but installing windows media center is not a hard thing to do, and get a usb tv tuner ... wouldnt this give it the features as a media center

Installing windows media center on a MAC, Is a hard thing to do. It wouldnt have enough power to run the features anyway.

nyzrox · 4 Apr 2006 at 20:22

No its not a hard thing to do, if its a intel mac it is easy... I have the Mac with MCE on after all

Al Vallario · 4 Apr 2006 at 20:28

Energize said:
Installing windows media center on a MAC, Is a hard thing to do. It wouldnt have enough power to run the features anyway.

It's not at all difficult, but it's a huge waste of time. There's no denying you spend over the odds to buy Apple hardware, so why go and make it a boring Windows computer?

You're going to struggle to build a reasonable computer, let alone one with PVR hardware (tuner(s), remote control, wireless keyboard?), for £300. You can, however, get something like a Humax PVR-9200T for £200. It's got two freeview tuners, 160GB storage (100 hours of television, according to Humax), PiP capabilities, the ability to play MP3s and view photos and a USB cable for connecting to a PC. I'm not sure about connecting it to a Sky box, but I'm sure it must be possible somehow

Gopher_By_Fende · 4 Apr 2006 at 20:36

ok, cheers guys, thought it was a long shot but i gave it a go anyway!

regarding the buffalo media centre, does anyone know if this is any good?

i'm having a look one the buffalo site at the mo, but i would like the opinions of someone whos used one if possible

Thanks

ps - the pvr u mentioned sounds good, but unfortunatly i cannot receive freeview in my area!?! but i was thinking of getting a dual LNB for my sky dish and getting freesat, would it be possible to have sky & freesat running though something so i could record one and watch the other at the same time? how would i go about linking my 2 sky boxes to a computer? if i used to rf out on the sky box and had a dual or 2 analog tv cards, could that work?

pcoltrane · 4 Apr 2006 at 21:03

sorry - not got the time to break the prices down exactly, but this will give you an idea

Biostar geforce 6100 £40
1gb Ram £60
Sempron £45
Antec Aria £65
Samsung Sata 250gb £65
MCE remote £25
Compro T200 Digital TV card £40

Total cost : £340

you could get a smaller HD and 512mb ram should just about be enough if you need to get below £300

The on board 6100 gfx will only do 720p rather than 1080i, but since there isn't really any HD content around at the moment you can always add a £35 X300 or 6200 in a few months when you need it.

Marc

pcoltrane · 4 Apr 2006 at 21:04

Oops, just noticed you can't get freeview, so swap out the TV card for an analogue one.

Marc

Mr Mister · 4 Apr 2006 at 21:24

EDIT/ im talking rubbish sorry. :/

Gopher_By_Fende · 4 Apr 2006 at 21:53

ok, i know its way more than i said, but if i can get my friends to chip in (it will be going in the front room after all!!) then i may be able to strech my budget a bit.

comments, critisisms and suggestions for the following media PC please -

AMD Sempron 64 2600+ 1.6GHz (Socket 754) CPU - Retail £41.95

Gigabyte K8N51GMF nForce 6100 Micro ATX (Socket 754) PCI-Express Motherboard £39.95

GeIL 512MB (2x256MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 £24.95

Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £53.95

Samsung SH-S162A 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £22.95

Antec Overture II Piano Black Quiet Media case - 450W Smart Power PSU £66.95

Logitech UltraX™ Media Desktop - OEM £29.95

Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre 2005 Edition - OEM - 1Pk £64.95

Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre 2005 Remote Controller £18.95

Hauppauge WinTV PVR-500 Media Centre Edition Dual TV Tuner £94.95

Subtotal £459.50
VAT £80.42
Total £539.92

Energize · 4 Apr 2006 at 21:57

With mce you really need 1gb ram and an A64, the loading times can be annoying on a 3200 even, and youll need a decent card if you want hd.

Gopher_By_Fende · 5 Apr 2006 at 02:15

im not too worried about not having hd on the graphics yet, i just wanted the tv to be high def coz i dont want to spend a fortune on a tv then have to get a new one when hd is more freely available, i can always upgrade the graphics when i have the money.

what cpu/mobo/ram would you recommend as a minimum for mce?

tophee · 5 Apr 2006 at 10:01

How about going the knoppmyth (Deban/Linux) route. ok you need to get yourt hands dirty a bit with code. but it's all i use.
IT can be set up to do all you need it do do with the right hardware and the software is free

that would be:
A PC - avoid via chipsets as some have problems with DMA, 512 ram min, large hdd and TV card(s). Faster cpu the better but balance that with noice in cooling anda FX5200 card

pcoltrane · 5 Apr 2006 at 10:40

I've been running MCE on a barton 2500+ at stock speed with 2 digital tuners and only 512mb of ram. It runs fine.

A sempron will certainly do the job - you don't need an A64. You only have to check out processor occupancy to realise that most the time it is barely being stressed. 512mb ram on a 6100 board may be marginal because the on board gfx access it too. If you have any old 256mb sticks knocking around I'd put one of those in with a new 512 to make 768mb, which should cover you.

If you are spending £30 on the logitech keyboard and mouse, why not look into the microsoft media centre keyboard. It's so cool and shopping around you can find it for £35. it has a laptop style pointer device built in, which if you are using this as a dedicated media centre machine will be fine.

Marc