SO YOUR LOOKING INTO HTPC.
HTPC stands for Home Theatre Personal Computer. Just think replacing all of those boxes you so excitedly ran home from the HiFi shop to try out (without reading any of the manuals of course) With just one box of tricks. Ok so your Dvd player is top of the Range (or at least it was last week).With HTPC you can just update your machine with later Software or Hardware as newer and better stuff comes onto the market. I remember paying big money for my Amp ,Dvd Player and CD Player . I can build a decent HTPC system for the Cost of one of these items. Another advantage is that these machines are made out of components and any one with advanced PC repair knowledge would easily be able to diagnose hardware or software problems and repair very easily and cheaply. Imagine if the DVD player breaks down not a worry ,pop the cover of the machine and replace the drive at a fraction of the cost it would be for a HI-FI specialist to lift the lid off the machine and say "Tut Tut...££££££".
Ok so why do i think HTPC is better than LO-FI
1: Upgradeable hardware and software.
2: If youhave PC knowlege it will never be in the repair
shop
3:Can play DVD's CD's Mp3's Avi ,Wma, mpeg, (well anything you can throw at it)
4: Can watch TV. Digital TV.Can Run your projector through it.
5: Can Record From TV or Digital Tv. (Automatically)
6:Can Copy Cd's .Can Copy DVD's
7:Download Mp3's from the internet. Convert to Wave and burn to CD
8:Can Rip Dvd's to Harddrive.Can Rip Mp'3s to Harddrive.(turning the unit into a massive juke box)
lets see if you have a machine with 2x160GB harddrives just 1 drive could hold 40,000 songs (128mbit)quality.
9:You could do video editing(Yawn)
10:It can Do anything a normal computer can.
11: Browse the internet .Send E-mail..Type letters.Digital Photography. Printing Photographs.
12:Play the latest Games.
Ok i think im bored with all these advantages, there must be a couple of disadvantages.
1:Computer components are not exactly a good investment . You seem to loose out double because equipment changes so quickly . It not only becomes out of date but the newer twice as fast equipment gets cheaper. So nobody wants your second hand stuff.
2: Your Hifi PC could catch a virus.
3:You Need a Keyboard and Mouse inputting Device .Although the remote controller will do a lot of things there will be times when you need to use the keyboard and mouse.
This is the Gyration keyboard and mouse
seems to be the fave in the £2000 systems. But people complain they would rather have a cheaper standard type keyboard.
This is Windows xp Media Centre Edition With Optional Microsoft Remote Control.
So whats whats a sensible specification..Well basically i never like buying the latest in processors because they are far to over priced when they first appear on the market. So i would take a couple of steps back from the highest speeds and use maybe either a Pentium 4 -3.0ghz or Pentium 4-3.2Ghz.A real cheap option would be to use the Celeron 2.8Ghz. You could always upgrade later if you wanted to.
I prefer to use one of the cases that takes a full ATX mother board .I would prefer to buy one that is exactly the same width as a piece of Hi-Fi equipment. 420mm wide. I think its better to have a full size case (ATX) these are the type of enviroments the processors and memory and graphics cards have been tested in . So all is needed is to source the quietest harddrives , fans, power supply, you can find. This is where the Forums come in handy a few hours reading can save you wasting your time and money.Ok so
1:Decent looking desktop case (300w quiet power supply) case being 420mm wide and black to match my other stuff(what other stuff its all being made redundant).
2:Decent mother board with enough pci slots to add all the periphials i need(soundcard-agp8x-DBTVcard-10/100ethernet)
3: 2.8ghz 3.0ghz 3.2ghz pentium 4 processor.or if your strapped for cash (2.8)celeron is £75 compared to £120 for p4 3litre.the celeron is a socket 478 so you could always buy a socket 478 p4 3.2Ghz when the price drops.
4: 512Mb of pc(3200)Memory.or Even 1Gb..
5: 256mb ram Radion Graphics card with DVI -TV-out
6: A 16x.Dual Layer + - DVD Writer .That writes CDs. Does all
7: 2x 160GB(SATA) Harddrives.or even one 300GB partitioned.
8:A Decent Digital Tv Card (Nebule)seems to be the favourite in the £2000 models
I will have to try the happauge because they are only about £66 for a DBTV pci.
9:At the Minumum a Creative Labs Audigy 2 sound card.
10:The software to run all this stuff. Ok if its a brand new system the ideal way would be to put windowsXP media edition on and buy the microsoft remote control kit which is designed for the XP media edition.. The xp media centre is £89 and the remote £30downwards(seen it for £23to £30)
If you already have XP then something like meedio or showshifter would be an option.Most decent Dvd writers come with Nero burning rom and Power DVD 5. So that will be that part taken care of. A small little program sorts all of your DVD regions out. Pc DVD roms have about 4 allowable region changes once you have used all your lives the roms lock to the last region . Not a problemo we are talking pc and software you can do anything.
Ok so you like the idea of one of these fine peices of equipment If you have PC knowledge and enthuisasm for your HiFi and home cinema then get building . If you Ask really nicely i might build one for you. My interest in HTPC is completely the fault of one of my old school friends . He knows i have computer knowledge and ability . And just persuaded me to build one of these for him.