Home Theatre Pc

[schortfilms]

I just got a 50" Sony HDTV so of course my first thought was, "I have to build a PC for this."

Basically, I want it for games, HDTV DVD-ROMS, internet browsing, music (it will be hooked into my good sound system), etc.

My ownly thoughts about it so far are that I want to build it into a coolermaster Cavalier desktop case so that it looks like a stereo component. Also I want to have a nice vid card (Geforce 6600?) and a fast proc. (3.0 Ghz - 3.2 Ghz Intel, also would be willing to look into building an AMD based system). Finally, it will need to be wifi capable so I don't have to run an ethernet cable through the wall from my router.

Budget for the project is approximately $1,100

Any suggestions anyone may have would be great. Any creative thoughts on other functions that could be built in, etc. would be much appreciated. When I begin working on the project I will include a work log with photos, etc.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have.

[hallm00]

you need to have a lot of hd storage just incase you like to rip dvds to it. like me :) look at the 300 gig maxtors sata of course. http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-140-154&depa=1

[Xtremist]

You may want to look into getting a top notch sound card that has optical out to the amp, if your amp supports it. Other than that look at getting a good gaming video card with tv out.

[Viper_0000]

Audigy 2 would be an excellent choice for a sound card.
I don't think a 300 GB Hard-Drive would cut it though, that's to small, I would go through that pretty fast personally, look into a nice 500 GB Hard-Drive so you have your entire DVD library ripped at it's highest quality with all it's features.
It would be nice to have a nice GUI to browse through everything from your sofa/lazyboy chair/couch but I wouldn't know how to go about that. With a budget of 1100 bucks this should turn out amazing.

[mmm linux]

i dont think that there are hd dvd.

[Lockblade]

there are hd tv cards out there. I would recommend a barebones system, an MSI mega 651. I have it, it has radio functionality, is sff, has optical out and in built in, but you need a good vid card. All you need is the barebones system, a HDD, CD or DVD rom, ram and porcessor. Only downside is that it only works completely with windows XP :(

[hungrych]

Well, there are Linux media center distros, like GeexBox (http://www.geexbox.org/en/index.html). And there are HDTV tuner cards, like this (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=15-116-310&depa=0) one.

[Metae]

There is a discontinued drive that you can find somewhere that would be nice for this computer. http://www.xoxide.com/vpc1000.html

[schortfilms]

Wow! thanks for all the suggestions. Yea I think the audigy 2 w/ optical out is a good idea. And I'll definitely need to have a lot of harddrive space so I can use DVD Decrypter and just dump my whole collection onto the comp. Also in case any of you were wondering, High Definition DVD's that can be played on a PC are becoming available via retail - (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/content_provider/film/dvd.aspx)

also check out the media showcase - (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/content_provider/film/ContentShowcase.aspx)

So, I should be heading to the computer show either this weekend or the one after. I'll post pics of the project and the finished product.

Thanks everybody.

[nugget]

myth tv is a pvr software too if you wanna check it out.

[Pieking04]

I have read stuff about myth tv and it is COMPLICATED. I am also planning on doing this. I was just about to start a thread and I found this :D