| Forum Home | ||||
| Press F1 | ||||
| Thread ID: 58302 | 2005-05-28 00:11:00 | Home Theatre PC | Tukapa (62) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 359045 | 2005-05-28 00:11:00 | Hi all Just wondering if anyone can give me any helpful advice. I want to build my own HTPC and have been looking at my options for cases. I am pretty happy with this one: www.silverstonetek.com Don't seem to be able to get the lc11m in NZ at the moment but I digress. It says that it comes with a TFX 240W PFC PSU (300W optional). Bearing in mind that this will be used to play DVD, record TV and write DVD, play MP3 and CD and all the other stuff you would use a HTPC for do you think that either of these power supplys would be adequate? Would be installing a graphics card and tv tuner card leaving one PCI slot free for a future upgrade. Anyway, any opinions gratefully received and taken on board!! Thanks. |
Tukapa (62) | ||
| 359046 | 2005-05-28 00:40:00 | This article (www.extremetech.com) may give you some clues as to the hardware, but not necessarily the software, unless you are a Linux user. | vinref (6194) | ||
| 359047 | 2005-05-28 16:29:00 | I would go for the more powerfull powersupply unit as you said for future upgrades so you will need more power then so do it now so you dont have to do it later. 400 watt psu would be better.(one that has a 120 mm fan) 512mb ddr ram as well, tv card in pci slot Audigy 2zs sound card for the pci slot 6600gt for agp to play games really good later if wanted 120gb/160gb/200gb harddrive sata Dual layer DVD burner 16x speed. :2cents: check out www.pricespy.co.nz for prices. :thumbs: |
memphis (2869) | ||
| 359048 | 2005-05-29 22:04:00 | I would suggest you get a decent tv tuner with hardware encoding. A cheap and nasty TV tuner will load up your CPU while it encodes, and will be vulnerable to dropped frames if you do anything else while it's recording. The Hauppage PVR-150 is a nice card which is available in NZ. I would suggest that you get a high end wireless keyboard/trackball, as most of them want line of sight under 5 feet to work, and it will frustrate you on the couch 9 feet away. This product LOOKS good, but I haven't tried it myself though: http://mediaportal.sourceforge.net/ The other thing you will want is a remote. I believe the IR Blaster is quite flexible, also you can get Haupagge remotes with their product too. You can get OEM copies of MS media centre when you buy a MS remote control. I believe this is legal but frowned upon by MS as they prefer OEM to mean a whole computer not just a remote! :) If you do go down the authentic MS media center path make sure your hardware is on the compatibility list. No really, it's actually important, as otherwise you end up with a half baked machine which can't be trusted to work properly every time, and your family will dispise the white elephant. |
BIFF (1) | ||
| 359049 | 2005-05-30 09:44:00 | Hi Biff Is it possible to buy the remote separately as you suggest? I can't find anywhere for the life of me that I can do that. Do you mean the MCE remote or another third party jobbie? I presume you mean the MCE one cos you say you can buy the MCE 2005 software as OEM with the purchase of the remote. Would be interested to know. Cheers |
Tukapa (62) | ||
| 359050 | 2005-05-30 13:13:00 | The MS 'official' media center remote only works with Microsoft Media Centre. You can also get 3rd party ones which have their own software etc. I can't find any MS remote+OEM media center deals on the web tonight, but you can get both the remote and the Media Center software on e-bay separately. The hardest part is finding sellers who will ship all the way to NZ. Check out www.thegreenbutton.com forums for a while before embarking on a MS media center 2005 mission. Also consider using slightly slower components if it means they can use passive cooling rather than fans.... Have fun, you may get many months of entertainment perfecting your system :) |
BIFF (1) | ||
| 359051 | 2006-01-30 09:17:00 | I have just finished transferring my HTPC into a Silverstone LC10M (got in from a place in Hamilton last time I was up there) which looks pretty good. Better than the LC14 I think. I have a Hauppauge PVR150MCE tuner card which comes with a Windows Media Centre remote instead of the Hauppauge one. Not using it anymore because I've got the Silverstone one working (it has a windows media centre profile which you can load using the setup software). I use GBPVR instead of Windows Media Centre and it works well, plus it's free and developed in NZ too I think! |
Maorry (8222) | ||
| 1 | |||||