Building?...

[DoCtOr_oCtOr]

I have to admit ... I know a lot of things ... I'm very old ... but I don't know the first thing about Windows media centre...

But what I do know is that I need to build one ... I have all the components I need to build a pc a couple of times over ... but I am going to build this one into the cabinet under my telly...

So I need to know a couple of things...

What is the least I can get away with? ... I have a pile processors ranging from a 233 Intel to a 2600+Athlon with boards to match ... now I know that most of you would just say "put the fastest one in" but I like to keep all the good stuff for upgrading or replacing other peoples stuff ... I have hard drives ranging from 50Mb to 200Gb (I intend to stream all the media from my server) also have vid cards from a MX400 to a FX5700 ... as its going to connected to my 5.1 and my hifi I will be using some kind of off board audio card (what though?)
Also ... what kind of dvd quality will I get from the s-video output of a vid card? ... I have hooked my laptop (IBM thinkpadT21)up to a projector a few times and I wasn't that keen on the image quality...

Remote control? ... whats good? ... what works?
I am also assuming that Windows media centre comes ready to play dvd's?...

All input greatly depreciated...

[Taxation]

okay then

Seeing that you are going to use this for media, i would reccomend one of the faster processors, not the fastest, a 1.8 amd would be fine
use a geforce 4 for the graphics, but INSULATE the interior of the cupboard.and make sure that there is a good airflow over the components.
i would use at least 2 120mm fans for this.

1.8 AMD cpu
440mx gpu
any psu will do
512 RAM minimum
If you intend to stream stuff then i would do it over a wire connection, so the computer being streamed to only needs a small hard drive, i would reccomend 10GB
My mate got a wireless keyboard/mouse/remote, and the reciever can go basically anywhere and it works a treat with a range of 10M through walls etc.
Get any 5.1 ch audio card, make sure its not too cheap.
If the vid card has an S video cable then novatech sell a S-scart adapter.
Quality should be maintained from monitor>TV, it should be of a high quality.

[DoCtOr_oCtOr]

Thanks for that ... I have just been measuring up the room I have ... might have to have a rethink ... the only board I have that will fit is a weird old hewlett packard one (400MHz celeron) ... I have the height and depth but not the width ... **** ... a mini atx would fit but I don't have one ... and the only spare case I have is a full server tower (wife might notice that)...

If I could find a case that looked like hifi my wife might not notice it amongst the other stuff ... I'll have to do some looking around...

Back to the drawing board for a while

[DoCtOr_oCtOr]

Right Mr Novatech ... I found this - http://www.infotechshop.co.uk/products.asp?partno=case_accent_HT-201B - find me something - better looking - smaller- delivered for a tenner...

[Coops]

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prod ... p0s0n0m330 (http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/products/a887x1y0z1p0s0n0m330)

Silverstone Media Center PC Cases. There are various sizes not sure if any meet your requirement

[DoCtOr_oCtOr]

Thanks for that ... they are very pretty ... but I really didn't want to spend that much ... can't quite understand why they are so much dearer than a normal pc case ... strange...

I thinki I'll convince the Mrs that we need a bigger cabinet for the telly ... holistic pc building is the way forward...

[Chewie]

Heheh

they do make nice cases do silverstone, but as for price, well, new market and only a few makers selling them.

So really , price reflects Name and quality (mainly name) like Lian-Li would.


check this article on media pc building.
http://www.denguru.com/2006/02/22/diy_h ... nza_part1/ (http://www.denguru.com/2006/02/22/diy_hd_htpc_extravaganza_part1/)
http://www.denguru.com/2006/02/28/diy_h ... nza_part2/ (http://www.denguru.com/2006/02/28/diy_hd_htpc_extravaganza_part2/)
http://www.denguru.com/2006/03/07/diy_h ... index.html (http://www.denguru.com/2006/03/07/diy_hd_htpc_extravaganza_part3/index.html)

they use a silverstone one in the end, very nice and tidy

[DoCtOr_oCtOr]

I liked the car cd player looking media hub - http://www.denguru.com/2006/03/07/diy_hd_htpc_extravaganza_part3/page13.html - thats a funky monkey...

But ... that doesn't really look like hifi to me ... all my other stuff is sleek and black ... that looks like a really well painted shoe box with some usb ports glued to the front ... I couldn't put my hand in my pocket for that much money ... I will have to make it myself I think ... I have a few amplifiers hanging around that would be about the right size ... or I might just use the front and build it into the cabinet...

Actually ... I am far to lazy for all that muckin about ... I'll just hide the **** thing behind the telly and buy a remote...

Rock and roll...