Home Theater PC (HTPC)

[hothandiman]

Hi everyone. Well, my Christmas wish is to build the ultimate HTPC. So far I have done a fair amount of research on the web, and there is some good information out there. I know there are alot of you on this forum that know WAY more about this then I do. Hope some of you can help. I want a state-of-the-art system, and my budget is 3-4K US (less would be nice!) Some of the stuff I would like to do is as follows:

1. Record and play back Hi Def-and NTSC and ATSC-signals. Pause and play back "live" TV. Antenna and satellite as sources.

2. Have a large MP3 storage on the HDD. Be able to organize, find and play back easily.

3. Have SACD and DVD audio play back capability. Have the proper outputs to hook up to my receiver.

4. Have a toslink (optical) output to my receiver for digital AC3 and DTS signals.

5. Burn and play back DVD's

6. Connect to my DSL for music and video downloads.

7. Have a user interface that makes this all easy to use. A simple remote for most tasks? It's hard to use a wireless keyboard and mouse in the easy chair while you are trying to relax!

Any thoughts and input would be great. Hardware--video cards, capture cards, audio cards, HDD, burners, ROM drives, processors, memory, cases, etc. And of course the software to help all this stuff to work. Thanks!

[LeoNapier]

Hi there!

Just a few thoughts on the subject...

1. Control software for HTPC: http://myHTPC.net, great software! It can manage all sorts of media files store on yr HTPC!!
2. Video Card: one of the ATI 9000 series All in One Wonder, with remote.
3. CPU: Intel P4 FSB 800 clock speed depending on how much you want to spend ( i think the 3.2 MHz is a bit pricey right now).
4. Hard drives: Maybe two 120-160Gb ones on a RAID setup.
5. The Box: I found that the HTPC box and power supply have to be chosen based on considerations of noise and appearance. Spending about $200-$250 on the box alone wouldnt be considered unreasonable.
Afterall, it will be sitting right in the middle of your living room, and you dont want it to either look bad, or the noise from the fans bothering you in the middle of a quite scene in a movie!
6. Sound card: One of the high-end sound cards by Creative (audigy is it?) will do the job!!

Good Luck!!

LeoNapier

[LeoNapier]

Silly me!

Stuck a comma right after the web link so it doesnt work... Sorry!

The myHTPC link:

http://myHTPC.net

LeoNapier

[hothandiman]

LeoNapier. Thanks for the great link--I had not seen that sight yet. Also, thanks for the great suggestions. Anyone else have any thoughts?

[burdo]

Does your tv support dvi input, and if not I would add that to the list... As well as a dvi output video card.
cant spell heh