Wife Friendly Video Streamer PC Help

asm_int_3

asm_int_3

asm_int_3

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Joined
4 Jun 2003
Posts
33
Hopefully someone can help me...

I want to ditch my crappy NAD dvd player and replace it with a mini PC that can stream video (divx, TS, VOB etc) from my NAS (over wired ethernet) and also play DVDs. I've got music covered with my lovely Sonos and the Topfiled handles all my PVR stuff. TBH I'd go for a Mac mini but it seems a hassle to upgrade components (like fitting new dvd player etc).

My budget is ~£400, requirements are:
a) wife friendly case == small, quiet and pretty
b) can output 5.1 to my receiver
c) works with a remote control
d) has the oomph for HD streaming
e) can play DVDs
f) remote mouse and keyboard
g) can hook up to my Loewe (sp?) telly (normal CRT)

I've looked around but cases are either minging or too restrictive in some way (usually space) and I can't decide on how much ooomph I need CPU\Video wise.

Please help me spend my money...
 
Something like this

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Plus just go on Ebay, and search for a wireless keyboard for around £20. You'll find keyboards that has "built in mouse".
As for motherboard, look for something similar to THIS. I cannot for the life remember what mine is, I'll have to have a look for you, as these mobo's are hard to find.

To cut down on the cost, I'll just find some more generic ram/no name brand stuff, and you can also drop the GFX card if you want to (my mobo is HD capable). Also, loads of those s939 chips can be found cheap as second hand.

Remote control is included with the TV tuner card, and if I were you, I would just install windows XP as the OS, with MEDIA PORTAL as you front end media software . I have tried many front end media software, and this one in my opinion, is by far the best

ps: i know it's over budget, but you can get second hand stuff to cut down on the cost
 
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asm_int_3 said:
TBH I'd go for a Mac mini but it seems a hassle to upgrade components (like fitting new dvd player etc).
Click to expand...

The mini isn't that hard to upgrade (all you need is a putty knife), besides the only major upgrade you can do yourself is RAM anyway.

asm_int_3 said:
a) wife friendly case == small, quiet and pretty
b) can output 5.1 to my receiver
c) works with a remote control
d) has the oomph for HD streaming
e) can play DVDs
f) remote mouse and keyboard
g) can hook up to my Loewe (sp?) telly (normal CRT)

I've looked around but cases are either minging or too restrictive in some way (usually space) and I can't decide on how much ooomph I need CPU\Video wise.
Click to expand...

a) the Mini covers those points pretty easily.
b) it's got an audio out, not sure if it's optical though.
c) includes a front row remote
d) has gigabit ethernet and a core duo processor
e) the one in your price range only a combo drive unfortunately
f) you can buy your own wireless keyboard/mouse
g) has a DVI port you can hook up to most things s-video etc

an Evesham PC would be an option AFAIK they are more expensive then the mini
 
@sup3rc0w

Thanks a lot for the reply. That looks like quite a chunky case to me (is it?), my other half won't got for something like that I'm afraid. I've looked at several cases from silverstone that are really low profile but reviewers tend to complain it's a 'mare to get everything to fit. There's a case from AOpen that's a mac mini rip off but that seems hugely pricey (I think that's really the form factor I'm after).

I've been looking for ages and not find a suitable mix of aesthetic joy and ability yet.
 
Front row is VERY wife friendly :) Simply add some symbolic links into your "movies" folder to your NAS drive and frontrow will have access to all your stuff.
 
Hmm, when I've looked at the macs and specced up what seemed reasonable the price was always substantially on the wrong side of £400.

It seems as soon as you go for something smaller the price rockets. At the end of the day I don't need the computer to be able to do a fat lot (other than look nice) which is why I don't want to spend a fortune.
 
asm_int_3 said:
Hmm, when I've looked at the macs and specced up what seemed reasonable the price was always substantially on the wrong side of £400.

It seems as soon as you go for something smaller the price rockets. At the end of the day I don't need the computer to be able to do a fat lot (other than look nice) which is why I don't want to spend a fortune.
Click to expand...

Do you use MSN or Skype mate, if so add me to it [email protected] or sup3rc0w respectively. Not allowed posting my suggestion here.
 
Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre 2005 Remote Controller (£23.49)

Primo Basic AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz SILENT DDR2 System (£234.99)

Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre 2005 Edition - OEM - 1Pk (£77.54)

BFG GeForce 7300 GT OC 256MB DDR2 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) (£57.56)

Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail (£21.14)


Total : £425.23

All available on OCUK!
 
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It doesn't have the ability to play DVDs mainly. Even if I did just want to stream media I probably wouldn't use a Netgear anyway, I've owned a router and a switch of theirs and both have been, er, less than stellar. There's a few products like that netgear (I think the snazzio is another) but they all seem to need software installing on a PC - which is a bit self defeating since I've got a stonking NAS setup!
 
Will the base Mac Mini not do the job? Only thing would be to add another 512MB of RAM, if you can stretch. Although for purely front row usage it should be fine.
 
Akasa AK-ZEN-01-WH Zen White Case - No PSU (£30.54)

Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre 2005 Remote Controller (£23.49)

Sony DDU-1615 DVD-ROM (Beige) - OEM (£11.74)

FSP Sparkle ATX-400PNF 400W ATX2.0 PSU (£32.89)

Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail (£21.14)

Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 80GB 800BD SATA-II 2MB Cache - OEM (£28.19)

BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7300 LE Turbo Cache 256MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - (£34.06)

Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre 2005 Edition - OEM - 1Pk (M93-00200)
(£77.54)

Intel Pentium 4 820 Dual Core "LGA775 Smithfield" 2.8GHz (800FSB) - Retail
(£64.61)

Crucial 1GB (2x512MB) DDR2 PC2-4200C4 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT6464AA53E) (£58.74)

Gigabyte GA_945PL_S3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
(£52.86)

Total : £448.66

A bit over your budget but you can change your processor and other things to your liking. Casing is pretty cool i think :). Great future upgrade potential if you will think about it.
 
Arclite said:
Akasa AK-ZEN-01-WH Zen White Case - No PSU{snip}
Click to expand...
asm_int_3 said:
{snip}a) wife friendly case == small, quiet and pretty
Click to expand...
:rolleyes:

How about...
  • Asrock Conroe945G-DVI (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £41.99
  • Antec NSK2400 Desktop Case - 380W SmartPower PSU £51.99 ;)
  • NEC AD5170 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
  • Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail £17.99
  • GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC6400C5 800MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX21GB6400DC) £47.99
  • Intel Core 2 DUO E4300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail £95.99 :D
  • Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 NCQ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A32728) £32.99
  • Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre 2005 Remote Controller £19.99
  • Sub Total : £325.92
  • Shipping : £10.95
  • Vat : £58.95
  • Total : £395.82
:cool:
 
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@ hp7909

I think FirebarUK is right, that doesn't look like a small case. It's nice I grant you but those two slots on the right still make it look like a glossy PC (which in turn stop it being low profile).

@FirebarUK

I do think the mac mini is close, but it seems to attract a premium price and I'm worried about the upgrade path. I guess long term my thinking is that with a PC I can upgrade parts as they grow old, with the mac mini it looks like that would be too hard. For example upgrading the DVD player as something like BluRay becomes mainstream.

I think really I'm after something along these lines : http://minipc.aopen.com/Global/spec.htm but the price is waaaaay too much.
 
Dude, I waited for Apple TV for so long. And it fell so short. Seemingly no support without ITunes (wtf?) and no DVD player. I could have lived without DVD but I'm not going to tie myself to proprietary hardware\software.
 
Cheers, looks nice. I'll don't suppose 5.5 inches is that high actually. The front still looks very obviously a computer though (with the drive bays, USB, audio outs etc), it's a pity they didn't put them behind some sort of plate.
 
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