Plasma and Windows Media
I want to buy a Plasma (Hitachi 42PD7200) and use windows media for TV, MUSIC, DVD, etc
Want a compact computer to replace DVD player, digi receiver etc Any one done this yet :wonder: and whats it like? :thumb: |
err no one then
any built a media centre yet? |
We build media centres, typically in units that resemble Hi-Fi separates
Smallest one we've done was a Shuttle for my accountant. AMD Athlon64 3700+ 2GB Dual Channel DDR Gainward 6600GT VGA Card 500GB Hard Drive Hauppage PVR-150 Capture Card DVD Writer 802.11g Wireless Was a nice little system, about the size of a DVD duplicator. Only drawback is expansion limitations. The wireless was a Shuttle ad-on (expensive) to leave the single PCI slot vacant for the TV capture card. You can add a second hard drive to them but this is at the expense of a floppy drive/card reader. On the plus side, they're small, practically silent (no CPU fan) and out-the-box every bit as powerful as a fullsize ATX machine. Very simple to throw together yourself. MicroDirect are usually the cheapest retailers of the Shuttle gear. |
How much was that system?
|
Shuttle M1000 will do it out of the box and is more of an appliance , though you can design almost whatever you want ....
www.icubes.co.uk do a lot of the SFF stuff... HTH Steve |
Think it was about a grand inc software.
Prob charged him about double that to recoup some of those 'professional fees' lol ;) |
:lol:
Nice link Steve M8 Ill have a look and see Scooby is that the best set up now? |
Originally Posted by Nich B
Scooby is that the best set up now?
If it's a proper media centre with a nice hi-def plazzy you're after then £1000 is around the mark you may like to spend to get nice set-up. If you absolutely must have the best of the best of the best (lots of punters out there like this) then you could easily spend almost that alone on a processor! :eek: You should ask yourself aside from managing your hi-def content, TV and audio, what else are you looking to do with the system (if anything)? Is hardcore gaming your thing? Throw an extra few quid at an FX CPU and VGA card. Going to be doing lots at once? Double up the RAM and consider an X2 CPU. If you want to go the other way, you could knock together a decent enough rig for around £500 as there are plenty boards around with almost everything integrated. e.g. Silverstone Case (like a hi-fi amp with digital displays) 400W Quiet PSU AMD Sempron64 3000+ 512MB PC3200 DDR ASRock K8-NF4G (integrated nForce 6100 128MB VGA & 8-channel audio) 250GB Hard Drive Hauppage PVR-150 Card Windows MCE (OEM) MS MCE Remote & Wireless Keyboard That's about all you'd need for a basic media centre. You should get change from £500 if you DIY (MicroDirect, Ebuyer etc) |
mmmmmmmm
If the media centre is just for playing music, films, PVR, and surfing internet the money I could save by building own with a budget of £500 ish could save enough for an XBOX 360, so I wouldnt need the pc to play games on. True enough about knowing what you need rather than what you want I want 400bhp but I only need 300bhp so is this Silverstone Case (like a hi-fi amp with digital displays) 400W Quiet PSU AMD Sempron64 3000+ 512MB PC3200 DDR ASRock K8-NF4G (integrated nForce 6100 128MB VGA & 8-channel audio) 250GB Hard Drive Hauppage PVR-150 Card Windows MCE (OEM) MS MCE Remote & Wireless Keyboard or similar Enough? |
I've recently set up a Media center system to replace the video recorder and dvd player. It is truely the way to go. It runs great on the old components I had
Silverstone LC17 Case 450W Silent power supply Asus A7n8x deluxe Motherboard AMD 2800+ Processor 1Gb Ram Gefore T14200 Fx Graphics Hauppauge PVR350 TV Tuner Soundblaster Audigy 2 Platinium Sound card Belkin Wireless NIC Microsoft MCE 2005 MCE Remote MCE Keyboard Now got all my music, photos and videos on it, and it runs like a dream. The MCE tv guide makes recording and series linking so simple its unbelieveable. Have a look at www.thegreenbutton.com for all things media center related... |
I can feel another project coming on
I might have enough bits lying around, and use bits from existing PC to build something :thumb: Nice link, plenty of info Roster |
Ah,
Forgot to mention you will also need a software MPEG decoder, NVIDIA's one works a treat with MCE, and costs about 20 quid. Edited to add: http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/dvd_d...-trial_uk.html |
Just built this. Went Pentium M because the machine runs nearly silent. Excellent little box - lot of time in configuring to the best settings
Ahanix MCE302 Aopen I915GMm-HFS Maxtor Maxpoint 250Gb 2 x 512mb Processor – Pentium M 750. 1.83GHz XP MS Media Center version 2005 with remote and receiver. Antec True PSU blackgold Digital and DAB philips dvd rewriter Microsoft Remote Keyboard for Media Center Edition x300se HDMI compatible video |
How much? and where did you source the bits?
Do you connect to the internet using this system |
Originally Posted by Nich B
How much? and where did you source the bits?
Do you connect to the internet using this system yup - got a wireless connection at the mo - just about to put an external cat5e cable in to improve the speed |
Nice
Im moving house soon so would like to start from scratch, in between the wife having a baby, and me getting the car sorted with a bigger turbo and remap More toys to play with |
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