Media Centre

[Zeb]

Right, new project. I want to build a media centre to go under the Tv. Any suggestions on components, cases and prices? Anything to watch out for?
Ta muchly!

[GreyGhost]

Right, new project. I want to build a media centre to go under the Tv. Any suggestions on components, cases and prices? Anything to watch out for?
Ta muchly!

Imac...............? http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore

[Zeb]

Imac...............? http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore

Ummmm...no. Too expensive and at a glance I did not see a built in Tv tuner and I do not need a screen.

Did I mention how expensive they were?

Oh, and I want to build it myself!

[GreyGhost]

Buy a Meccano set if you want to build something. :D

Forgot the Mini. Infra red remote operation as are they all. No TV tuner though. Add Itv.

I'm sure some one will be along with real suggestions for you shortly. :)

[Zeb]

Buy a Meccano set if you want to build something. :D

Well......I bought a model railway....but swmbo says I have to give it to my son in December :(

[JohnDotCom]

Well thats just plain Nuts! :D

[BMC123]

this article is a little old, but I more or less followed it last year to build one for my mate, a little tweaking here and there and some more modern components and it did the job nicely :)

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1893732,00.asp

[Zeb]

this article is a little old, but I more or less followed it last year to build one for my mate, a little tweaking here and there and some more modern components and it did the job nicely :)

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1893732,00.asp

Thank you... a useful guide!

[ColinB]

This site may help

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/

[Manxmann]

From experience the itx VIA based boards are underpowered for the 'Media Centre' experience.

I'm sat in front of the telly now watching Horizon and driving the whole shbang is:

D-Vine Media case
Gigabyte main board, forget the model.
AMD 64x2 3800
2Gb DDR 2700
400Gb Seagate SATA II
HD DVD drive, xbox 360 external drive liberated from its external drive
Nvidia 7800GT PCIE
Hauppaug NOVA-T 500 PCI
Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit
Media Centre remote + sensor
Zalman Flower CPU Cooler
Zalman Flower VGA Cooler
External Zalman 500w silent PSU.

My observations on the above setup:

Works well, reliable and responsive.
Expensive, iMac + hauppauge dual USB tuner + bootcamp + vista would be no more expensive!
Hauppauge is a corker dual tuner card, replaced a Terratec DT2400 PCIE card which caused problems from day 1
I've had to add a 'silent' 90mm fan to the case lid to vent the hot air.
The internal tuner is not as sensitive as even a cheap external DVB box so make sure you have a good signal.

To get the best kit, try the following website (I have no connection other than a happy customer).

http://www.silentpc.co.uk

Have fun.

[Zeb]

Thanks, that was useful!

I am tending towards a more-or-less standard desk top case and full size components as opposed to (expensive) miniaturisation. The aim is to spend no more than £500 so I will have to lower expectations on some parts but I reckon it's manageable. It will fit into a Tv cabinet so noise shouldn't be a problem but I will have to think about heat dissipation!

[BMC123]

for TV out there are quite a few decent graphics cards that you can put an aftermarket heatsink on, making them fanless and therefore silent in operation. be aware though that some of them are HUGE and won't fit in a small case, although some come already set up with smaller heatsinks fitted I find they would overheat. and a special note make sure the heatsink will fit your card as I nearly destroyed a £150 card by assuming it would fit :o

nearly everything can be made silent these days, even on a budget :)
you can get little rubber grommets to fit between your case fan and the chassis, that cuts down vibration from them, and the artic cooling fans have them as standard (at least mine did)

you have started me off on a building spree again :D I was already well into building another PC for the studio, and i quite fancy a nice media center one now :)

[Zeb]

Maybe we can compare notes as we go along BMC?:D

[BMC123]

well, we could but I am already 80% there :o I have an old "cube" media PC here that went on fire (due to a faulty PSU) that I have rebuilt and am waiting for a 2nd hand remote control and a tuner card for it and i am in business :D although I do have another one here in bits that might be fixable, i will have a look tomorrow.

[MGOracle]

I specialise in home theatre multimedia PCs and even have my own company directly related to it. :)

As an end user you can happily have the WHOLE lot for around £400 which includes Dual DVB-T Tuners, 2GB and 500Gb Hard Drive as well as Vista Home or MCE 2005.

Remember, unless you want to play games there is no need for fancy graphics.

Abit have a new board called the Fatal1ty which has onboard HDMI. Thank goodness!!!!

Also remember, a PC not running MCE will not be able to output correctly to a 720p screen as it chops pixles off (or you have stupid looking icons). If you have a 1080p telly you are laughing.

If you run MCE or Vista Home then the HDMI of the above board will look after you.