What Specs Do I Need To Make A Multimedia Machine (playback only)

[mr_fishbulb]

What Specs Do I Need To Make A Multimedia Machine (record and playback)?

I'm thinking of building a small and quiet machine (micro ATX size) to act as a DVD player, HD recorder, music player and video streamer from a networked machine. It will just sit under the TV so won't need to be overly powerful.

I want it to be able to play 1080p HD content without any problem. Does anyone know what kind of processing power this thing needs?

I also want to be able to use it as a HD recorder to record from the TV. What kind of hardware/software do I need for that?

Cheers guys

 

[FarFarAway]

Well I'd go for a P4M or Core Duo chip though they're quite dear. As for 1080p support - not many GPU's carry HDMI ready status so I'm unsure about that.

You'll need a HDMI ready GPU, A TV Card, about 512mb - 1gb RAM a nice DVD-RW and a big HDD.

Thats about it really - same as a normal PC cept you use either Linux Myth TV or Windows MCE (which is very easy btw)

 

[mr_fishbulb]

Cheers Kempez. So would it be best to wait until more HDMI GPUs come out?

 

[FarFarAway]

I would have said so yes if your in no hurry. Also Windows Vista is set to have some pretty damn sweet multimedia capabilities

 

[mr_fishbulb]

Cheers. I'll keep this idea on the back-burner then.

That should make it a bit cheaper too

 

[Ham]

You really think you'd need that much CPU power kemp? I used to run a media machine off of a p3 750mhz. Using Windows XP. I would have thought you could get wawy with a Sempy 3000 or higher.

Provided you use a PVR card as opposed to software.

Add: Agreed, MCE is built for retards to put it politly.

 

[mr_fishbulb]

You really think you'd need that much CPU power kemp? I used to run a media machine off of a p3 750mhz. Using Windows XP. I would have thought you could get wawy with a Sempy 3000 or higher.

I wanted it to play 1080p HD content too. I don't think I would be watching much, but want the option there so I can if I want to.

 

[FarFarAway]

Yes a media centre *can* be run on pretty much anything. VIA's CPU's are probably the best for a quiet PC at the moment. BUT having said that you may at some point want to encode some audio/visual stuff or perhaps play a quick game or two.

At that point then you may well want something a bit faster. If I were to build myself a media centre PC now I'd go one of two ways:

1: Speed

Yonah/P M CPU

Asus Board with adaptor/Whatever's good and available

1/2gb value RAM depending on preference (me: 2gb )

GeCube HDMI ready X1600 with VIVO

Hauppage Win Novias-T TV Card or similar/better

Decent Sound card if the board has two PCI slots

Silverstone SST-LC-16M Black

Quiet PSU Like Tagan

Or:

2: Quiet

Via Epia PD10000 Motherboard with VIA 1000MHz CPU

Onboard Via unichrome graphics

Very good PCI 5.1Surround Sound card (something like the M-Audio)

Silverstone SST-LC09 Black

ITX PSU

The second one is basically a silent system, the first a great performer that can be made quieter with a few mods

 

[Raven]

I also want to be able to use it as a HD recorder to record from the TV. What kind of hardware/software do I need for that?

got an old leadtek winfast tv2000 expert and can strongly recommend it.

its cheap and the software with it has been rock stable for over 3 years and 3 computers.

NOTE.

the software is NOT supported under xp64.

the program i have from leadtek is called winfast entertainment and is easy to use and configure.