Media PC??

[groundedchevy]

Here is the deal...I have a 51" samsung DLP 1080i tv and Ive wanted to get into blu-ray. I just recently received a free pentium 4 2.6 ghz desktop with 1.25 gb of ram and I have a 200 gb hard drive to drop into it. My first thought was to just make it a media PC and load the harddrive up with movies and music and use it on my tv exclusivly. Then I found blu-ray drives for $200 or under. I know I would need a video card and I was looking at the Ati radeon HD 2400. The computer would be used only for Blu-ray and other video playback onto my tv. Would the pentium 4 and the ati be able to handle this? I am on a budget, so any suggestions on video card to blu-ray drive would be great! I included some of the system information from this unit. Please let me know if there is anything im leaving out.

Property Value
Number of CPU(s) One Physical Processor / One Core / 2 Logical Processors
Vendor GenuineIntel
CPU Full Name Intel Pentium 4 HT
CPU Name Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.60GHz
CPU Code Name Northwood
Technology 0.13μ
Platform Name Socket 478
Type Original OEM processor
FSB Mode QDR
Platform ID 2
Microcode ID 21
Type ID 0
CPU Clock 2534.90
System Bus Clock -1.0
System Clock 194.99
Multiplier 13.00
Original Clock 2600.00
Original Bus Clock 800.00
Original System Clock 200.00
Original Multiplier 13.00
L2 Cache Speed 2534.90 MHz
L2 Cache Speed Full
CPU Family / Model / Stepping F / 2 / 9
Brand ID 09
APIC 01
HyperThreading 2
Cache 12 KμOps L1 T-Cache, 8 KB L1 D-Cache, 512 KB L2 Cache
Instructions MMX, SSE, SSE2, HT, HTT, MSR
Architecture x86
Property Value
Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard
Model 085Ch
Serial Number USW33208JL
Chipset Vendor Intel Corporation
Chipset Model 82865G/PE/P, 82848P DRAM Controller / Host-Hub Interface
South Bridge 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Interface Bridge
CPU Intel Pentium 4 HT
Cpu Socket Socket 478 [XU1 PROCESSOR]
Processor Upgrade
Max CPU Speed 3200 MHz
System Slots 3 PCI, 1 AGP
Memory Summary
Location System board or motherboard
Maximum Capacity 4096 MBytes
Memory Slots 4

[yoda313]

Two things -

First get a DUAL CORE processor. Then make sure you have a video card with HDCP enabled. You can do either DVI if your hdtv has a DVI input OR a dvi-hdmi converter cable.

Also double your ram at least. I had bluray when I was using a single core AMD and it stuttered quite a bit. But I then got a dual core x2 5200 2.7ghz processor and works smoothly now (by the way 2gbs ram on Vista Premium in my case).

Also - can BLURAY work on XP??? I don't know if that HDCP is a VISTA only venture or not....... That is just a suppostion on my part I don't know bluray compatbiltiy requirements in terms of os support. It does work just fine in Vista Premium though as that is what I have.

[Video Head]

Your system lists 3 PCI and 1 AGP expansion slots. AGP is probably no longer an option. The card you mentioned may only come in a PCI Express version. This would not be compatible with either the PCI or AGP slots. You would need to track down a video card that is PCI (not Express) that will meet your output requirements.

[[_chef_]]

2400 exists as AGO and PCIe version, BUT 2400, 2400 pro and 2400 xt are big different.

[groundedchevy]

What if I went with the SAPPHIRE 100217L Radeon HD 2600PRO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 8X HDCP Ready Video Card? It is $86.99 from newegg. I was thinking the lite on blu-ray drive for $149.99. Would I need to worry about the power supply with this setup? I believe the Blu-ray drive is Sata will I have to have an adapter for this? Would this actually work? My tv has hdmi and dvi inputs.

[yoda313]

you can buy a pci sata adapter card. That is what I did because my two ports were used by hard drives.

[[_chef_]]

The CPU is too slow, the chipset on the mobo is also outdated.

[Video Head]

Check out Cyberlink's Power DVD information on highdef system requirements:

http://www.cyberlink.com/english/support/bdhd_support/index.jsp

[groundedchevy]

Well I recieved all my parts today. I ended up finding a spare ASUS P4P800S...the Sapphire HD2600PRO 512 AGP...lite on blu-ray drive...antec 430 watt power supply...the quality is amazing on my 51" dlp 1080i tv...looks every bit as good if not better then my friends 1080p 52" mitisubishi LCD with an Xbox hd player....it lags a little a first then playback is nice and smooth...I believe I am going to overclock the processor and memory a little bit. What is everyones favorite blu-ray media player?

[groundedchevy]

Total cost ended up being $280 plus I need to purchase some type of IR receiver for my logitech xbox 360 harmony remote. Any suggestions on the IR receiver? Not really sure how to make this work...any help would be great.

[budz]

you should upgrade the ram to 2gb.