Media PC for basic TV and lounge use - Spec check?

andymac

andymac

andymac

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Joined
17 Oct 2004
Posts
347
I am looking for a small PC to live in my lounge. It is going to live in a cabinet below my TV, a space currently taken by a VCR.

I am looking at using it to store MP3s, a bit of internet browsing and displaying photos and videos both from its internal Hard Drive and from DVDs. (Would eventually replace the supplied DVD drive with a Blu Ray drive when they become reasonable in slot in design)

I was toying with a shuttle which would just fit, but I have found this. A Hiper case which could potentially be much neater and tidier. I have never built a SFF size PC before but I have built more than my fair share of full size PCs, so I am looking for a bit of advice. My spec sheet is still missing memory and an operating system. I'm thinking 4Gb of stock 800MHz RAM and Vista 64 Premium.

I think I'll also need a TV tuner as I may use it as a PVR also.

Any thoughts, ideas etc.


Hiper Media Case HMC-2K53A-A3 -
(£246.74)
Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103UJ)
(£79.89)
Keysonic Wireless Keyboard/Touchpad ACK-540RF
(£29.36)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ 2.20GHz (Socket AM2)
(£29.36)

Many Thanks

Andy
 
what motherboard are you getting? does it have hdmi?

if its not going to be attached to a lcd tv then u'll find that any surfing or anything to do with text is going to be a nightmare.

other than that it looks ok to me
 
It is a splendid looking case, but very expensive. If you went for a larger case, such as the Antec Fusion, you would be able to get the Blu-ray drive now.

Also with that case you are not going to get a GFX card in so you will need to have an HDCP mobo to allow you to upgrade to a Blu-ray drive later.
 
Hi, it will be connected through HDMI to a SONY 32" LCD TV. The unit is a barebones job so it has the motherboard in it that it has. It is an MSI number I believe.

I will mainly be using it as a fancy DVD player with the ability to play saved pics and videos also. It will also be used for basic internet access, stuff like using the BBC iplayer, and the ITV, CH4 and Sky equivalents. It isn't going to need an additional video card as it comes with HDMI capability built into the motherboard.

It is looking very tempting.

My other option is to go down the Zalman 160 route, lots more space and power available, but huge in comparison. I am really looking for a DVD player size unit. Not fussed on power as it will only do basic things.
 
SPCR have a review of that Hiper case.

Salient points
can only use 1 ram slot as the IR remote takes power from the other slot.
nb blower fan is noisy
 
The Hiper cases are nice. One thing that is in their favour is their size. If you ae going to use it in a cabinet check carefully the sizes, especially the depths. The Hipers sit around 310mm depth, whilst many of the other so-called media cases (Antec) are more like 400mm. I just couldn't fit any of those under my TV, the TV tand's shelf wasn't deep enough.

I'm pretty sure they are relatively standard, makes you wonder why they bother making 'media' cases that won't fit?
 
Antec veris 350 is more vcr sized and cheaper than the hiper (arguably not as nice though). Not sure I woudl reccomend any media pc in a cabinet though.

Vista 64 bit will bring into sharp focus drivers and software compatibity so stick with well supproted brands of tv card with guaranteed 64 bit drivers.

would also recomend a hand held remote as well as the keyboard for channel changing etc.

Have you considered a medai extendr running off your main PC, likley to be pretty small and more lounge friendly?
 
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