Whats the best case for a Media PC

juno_first · 16 Dec 2007 at 15:20

I've a friend who just bought a MB100 & what a pile of poop, it can only play WMV9 or divx HD & it then crashes during picture search.
Being as most HD stuff is in x264 format he's thinking of building a media PC, but his lady dont want an ugly PC tower sitting by the TV so a desktop rig its going to be.
Being as he's just blown £348 on this dumb player, price is now a factor, so something that can play HD 1080p, use a remote, output surround sound & maybe TV capture 1 day.

Theres a nice desktop at £400 with LCD display & this comes with a remote for Vista, as how else can you get a remote working with Vista media centre?

thanks...

Cyber Hamster · 16 Dec 2007 at 17:10

just depends on what you want, most people would probally recommend a Antec Fusion (silver&black) and then theres its older brother the Antec NSK 2480

Failing those 2 and you dont mind breaking the bank Silverstone make some very nice HTPC cases....

juno_first · 16 Dec 2007 at 17:26

yeah was thinking of the Antec cases, so that just leaves the remote control

lsg1r · 16 Dec 2007 at 18:46

well remotes an easy one, take your pick from the range on ocuk site. Logitech usually get good reviews , alternatively there's the logitech mx air which is a mouse with features allowing media playback/skip etc

superplay · 16 Dec 2007 at 19:33

I have a Shuttle SN95G5 and it is silent (Well it is now I have taken off the Graphics card fan)

Been running this for a couple of years now without any hassle.

juno_first · 16 Dec 2007 at 20:33

I still have an xbox1 which can do everything except play HD.
Its cool playing divx over lan.

WolfR1der · 17 Dec 2007 at 21:16

DVD drive can be a bit rubbish for playing burnt discs though. You can shell out £20 for the right drive and flash the firmware, but then the eject button won't work and you need to spend another £16 on a 3rd party circuit board to solder on so that it does.

Still cheaper than a new HTPC I guess...