Media PC

[Ironic Namesake]

Right, I need (well....want) a Media PC for mainly :
Recording TV
Playing saved videos (also in HD) and DVDs

I am not sure how powerful it needs to be in order to play HD movies, and which sort of graphics card and connection I'd need to a 42" Plasma for great picture quality, also which TV card I am not sure about.

Any advice/specs appreciated

Thanks

 

[Supercow]

TV card I can comment on :Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-T 500 .. cannot be beaten!
Get the MCE version and you get the Media Centre Remote with it.

DO NOT GET WINDOWS MEDIA CENTRE EDITION .. its absolute poo.
Go to www.team-mediaportal.com for the PC version of the XBOX media centre. Pure awesomeness

 

[squiffy]

You don't need much for a HTPC, but because you'll want HD playback make sure CPU and GFX card is fast enough. Basically you want quiet components, it is just a normal PC, the only differences are..

Cut down on the number of hard drives/rotation speeds
Passive motherboard/passive graphics
Front end software/OS
Remote Control
Audio & video outputs to amp/display
Quiet PSU
Quiet case fans & CPU fan
Cool running CPU/Mobo/GFX

For HD I would recommend 2Ghz A64 or similar. I use a 3700+ Single Core, 1GB RAM, Asus CSM MATX (Nvidia 6150 IGP), M-Audio Revolution 5.1, Seasonic S12 430W PSU, ATI X300 128MB PCI-E (for TV-Out) Western Digital 2500KS & 3200KS, Pioneer 106S DVD-ROM, Silverstone TJ-08. That plays back 1080P easily. Oh don't forget to scale up to your native rez of your panel with FFDSHOW. Also select the resize if "<" as you only want to scale video that's under the native rez of the panel, and not to downscale any higher than native to native as stuttering will occur.

Building a HTPC is simple, it's the software/codec/no keyboard requirement in use & remote control integration side that's most difficult.

For Software I use Media Centre, FFDSHOW, Theatretek. Yet to get my music collection working as MC media library is rubbish, easier to use a Squeezebox (have one of these too) instead really as you don't need the TV to be on, and can manage your collection how you like with the SB server app. Only £165 which is a bargain really as a VFD is about £50 anyway.

I would also recommend a good learning IR remote, if you have several IR/RF components as it'll remove the clutter and be quicker/ easier to use.

 

[Tosk]

i use a 128MB Gigabyte 6200 Turbo Cache 700MHz GDDR2, GPU 350 MHz, 4 Pipes, D-Sub/DVI-I/HDTV in mine works really well and supports hdtv

ive not used it for hdtv yet tho. the card cost me 30 quid but ocuk dont sell it so you will have to look else where

passive cooler as well

 

[Musashi]

TV card I can comment on :Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-T 500 .. cannot be beaten!
Get the MCE version and you get the Media Centre Remote with it.

DO NOT GET WINDOWS MEDIA CENTRE EDITION .. its absolute poo.
Go to www.team-mediaportal.com for the PC version of the XBOX media centre. Pure awesomeness

I beg to differ. Personally I think that the Black Gold (by GTA) cards are better quality (picture wise)

Media Center Edition is more stable than media portal (if you want to read more about mediacenter edition try http://www.thegreenbutton.com ) in my opinion.

For HD you need at least an Nvidia 6600 as this was the first nvidia card with full MPEG2 decoding fully on the card, which you will need for HDTV.

A few other pointers 1mb of ram is more than enough for MCE. Most MCE builders use at least 2 HDs. 1 for the OS and one for recording media onto.
You will also need to buy the Nvidia codecs as they do not come with MCE (although they will come with Vista). You will need the nvidia codecs even if you use an ATI card as they are recognised to be the best and most stable.

Case wise I have 2 Antec Fusion MCEs and for my needs these are awesome cases. They run silent and cool, and you will be hard pushed, at the price point, to find a better case - especially as they include an Antec PSU, they have a rotary volume control and a nice quality iMon VFD.