build me a $2000 HTPC

[nawfal]

what would you have in it?

im thinking HTPC are the future

 

[NoL]

Send me the money and I'll tell you

Nah, joking, just look around and price it up, C2D, Dual video card, whatever you'd like. Tailor it to your needs.

 

[FragTek]

Silverstone case w/ touchscreen LCD, E6600, AW9D-MAX, 2gb Dominator PC2-8500, Dual 7900GTO's....

 

[FarFarAway]

I vote single 7900GTO, C2D X6600/6400, Abit AW9D Max, Seagate 7200.10 hard drive, DVD-RW

And a TV card. I've used Hauppage before and it was nice

 

[nawfal]

what about the case?

that lcd touch screen looks nice, but its bloody expensive 500 quid! just for the case i think thats a little too much

im having tough time finding reviews on htpc cases

anyone know a good website?

also, i know what to do about ram and mobo.

but what type of processor is enough? i mean there is no need for overkill

also what about graphics card, do i need top of the range if im not playing games on it?

 

[Rastalovich]

I can`t understand the need for some items if it`s just a htpc.

 

[MikeEnIke]

No need at all to spend the 2000. Overkill to the max is being suggested. 7600GT if that, maybe a 4000+ AMD considering their huge price drop C2D if you'd really like, TV Tuner, and is it being hooked up to a TV or a monitor you need to buy? If a monitor spend most of the money on an LCD TV or something.

 

[nawfal]

yeah but id want huge amount of storage, hd/blueray dvd player

and a top of the range tv card, which could record one channel and watch the other, all whilst the computer doesnt slow down

top of the range sound card, with great speaksers.

 

[FarFarAway]

Well for sound get an X-Fi. Get a nice Hauppage dual tuner and get a Silverstone LaScala HTPC case

Sorted

 

[Rastalovich]

Hey Kemp, have any of u guyz internally @ OC3D had/used/tested a pc geared up as a htpc sorta thing with live tv recording and the like ?

I just totally do-not understand how the likes of .. a sky+ box or "hdtpc" record tv, in real time, and allow all the things that are associated with them - and they say they use equiv of mpeg2.. I`ve tried recording tv realtime with mpeg2 and have to say the quality sux. - and yet I see these things in action looking good .. what`s going on ? I`m so confuzed.. I need guidance.. I don`t know where to turn.

U can`t tell me the internals of a sky+ box can do more than an x2 3800+ pc with gigs and a faster set of drives.

(btw. haupauge tv thingies, whether usb or pci are very nice)

(btw. I don`t think it`s time yet for people to massively use blueray stuff)

 

[FarFarAway]

Windows MCE records in a propriety format and you have to use some external program to burn it to DVD.

It records in tip-top quality tbh - looks awesome on a standard def TV

 

[Rastalovich]

M8, I record a realtime tv thing off my sky box to the pc in an uncompressed format, even 16bit as opposed to 32, and it takes practically a gig a minute... the sky box holds what seems like days of recordings on it. (think it`s 40 hours - can`t remember)

Do the pcs with MCE installed record the tv in a similar way, uncompressed - coz to me that`d mean they need 100s of gigs of drive space to become even semi-practical ?

If it aint uncompressed, there would surely be a codec ?

 

[FarFarAway]

Ye tis some kind of specialised codec made just for Media Centre Edition. Takes up little space (comparibly) and looks nice. Still a good size HDD is useful to have

 

[Rastalovich]

I meant to add this link for the thread starter:

http://www.krunker.com/diy-–-building-a-windows-media-center-mce-2005/

It`s a nice read, with maybe some interesting comments below - and *ouch* when he mentions the costings, way OTT imo.