Clueless October 31, 2008 Share Clueless GC Alumni October 31, 2008 I am kicking around the idea of building a media center PC. I am mostly interested in having movies on a hard drive with quick access via an on screen menu type system. I would also be interested in being able to record programs without doing the tivo thing....I hate paying a monthly fee for something I can do for free. So I would basically like to know what you guys are using, and get a few questions answered. 1. How big of a hard drive should I really be thinking about? 2. Can I also do this with Bluerays? I am sure they will take more room. 3. Is there an OS that is easy to use? I want something very streamlined and easy to integrate. I don't want mess with complicated PC software on a daily basis...and the wife will be using this too, so it needs to be user friendly. 4. Have any case/psu suggestions that are quiet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[LaW]Maverick October 31, 2008 Share [LaW]Maverick Member October 31, 2008 1.) It depends on how much you want to spend. I'm kicking this idea around too, and was going to start with one or possibly two 1 TB drives. The more space you have, the better. Then again, I plan on putting a LOT of movies and what not on it. 2.) Yes, you can--but I think it's trickier to get past write protection. 3.) Linux has some nice offerings, and honestly, the media extension for Vista is also pretty good, though it requires more horsepower. 4.) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811129054 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811133029 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811129030 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811129046 I'd probably go with one of those cases. Either that, or buy an ultra slim bare-bones system and tweak it myself. ASUS makes some nice ones.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo October 31, 2008 Share Cujo Member October 31, 2008 (edited) i avoid tivo by simply downloading all my shows. hd with 5.1 is 1.1gb though. on my connection i can get a show in about 15 minutes. oh and they're usually uploaded within an hour or two of their air time. Edited October 31, 2008 by Cujo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clueless October 31, 2008 Author Share Clueless GC Alumni October 31, 2008 i avoid tivo by simply downloading all my shows. hd with 5.1 is 1.1gb though. on my connection i can get a show in about 15 minutes. oh and they're usually uploaded within an hour or two of their air time. Where can I do this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Playaa October 31, 2008 Share Playaa Member October 31, 2008 Internets. that's where. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher October 31, 2008 Share Preacher Member October 31, 2008 I have one, my suggestion if you DL or convert movies is to have the biggest amount of storage as your budget will allow. Processor isn't really the highest priority, but the Pentium duel cores are only like $69. Mobo doesn't matter much, just make sure it's got good reviews. I also suggest at least 4gb of RAM. As cheap as it is, it would be dumb not to. I have 8gb in mine. The video card doesn't have to be top shelf to run movies and the like so a decent price should be more of a factor than high end power. I have a 8500gt in mine. Then you need to get a DVI to HDMI cable or adapter. I don't use Blue Ray yet so I went with a cheap Lite-on $23 DVDRW. If you need a remote I have one I bought by accident (thought it was a usb TV converter lol) I'll sell it to ya for $20 shipped, includes full retail box and works fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Playaa October 31, 2008 Share Playaa Member October 31, 2008 I would suggest checking out MythTV (for recording) and Boxee (if you don't want to record). MythTV however is a pain to get set up correctly from my experiences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clueless October 31, 2008 Author Share Clueless GC Alumni October 31, 2008 I will check out the software, thanks. And I have another question...does my cd/dvd drive need to be Bluray just to copy the data to a hard drive and not actually watch it from the DVD? I would also love to see some pics of what you guys are running in your living rooms....still curious about finding a quiet solution too....one that doesnt require 100's of dollars to liquid cool. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Playaa October 31, 2008 Share Playaa Member October 31, 2008 I'm not running anything yet, but what I'm going to be running is an AppleTV with Boxee installed on it come Christmas time. Hopefully. It won't do recording though, but it will download off the internet (as well as have a Bittorrent client). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primus October 31, 2008 Share Primus Member October 31, 2008 You can get a TB drive now for about $130 to $140. You might as well go with that. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...;Sku=TSD-1000AS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136284 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwEEziL October 31, 2008 Share dwEEziL Member October 31, 2008 I will check out the software, thanks. And I have another question...does my cd/dvd drive need to be Bluray just to copy the data to a hard drive and not actually watch it from the DVD? I would also love to see some pics of what you guys are running in your living rooms....still curious about finding a quiet solution too....one that doesnt require 100's of dollars to liquid cool. Thanks! If you're talking about copying a BR DVD over to your computer, then yes, your drive needs to be a BR drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squire October 31, 2008 Share Squire Member October 31, 2008 (edited) I've been looking into building a media center pc too. And I found this if you were planning on running Linux on it. XBMC Media Center It looks pretty nice and its free too. It will work with windows and mac too.. Edited November 1, 2008 by Squire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Playaa November 1, 2008 Share Playaa Member November 1, 2008 XBMC is what Boxee is built off of. I honestly don't know what the differences in them are apart from UI...though I know they exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VooDooPC November 1, 2008 Share VooDooPC Member November 1, 2008 I've been using my computer to watch TV for almost a year now, I think it's great. I only use Vista's Media Center though, I think it works pretty well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nut November 1, 2008 Share nut Member November 1, 2008 My brother did a media PC. 500 gig hd. an old 3000XP with like 1 gig of ram. He put MythBuntu on it... and its very user friendly and its great! cost was not a factor just old stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeroDamage November 2, 2008 Share ZeroDamage Member November 2, 2008 If I were to build one right now, I would build one based on Mythbuntu. http://www.mythbuntu.org/ It is Mythtv but build around Ubuntu and it is updated twice a year. The cool thing about it is that you can create the server part of the backend part really easily and it does all the heavy lifting of recording and converting and all of that jazz. Then you can have as many front ends that you want that connect to the backend and you can stream all of the stuff you want to them. My old ReplayTV Unit has yet to die so I wait until the need arises for me to put together my Myth TV system. If you go this route, pay attention to the Hardware requirements. The better you do, the less likely of a need for you to have to mess with the command line to fix a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mookie November 2, 2008 Share mookie GC Alumni November 2, 2008 What kind of CPU do you need to put into one of these things? Celerons have a very attractive TDP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clueless November 2, 2008 Author Share Clueless GC Alumni November 2, 2008 From what I have read so far...it doesn't take much cpu for a basic htpc unless you want to take advantage of picture in picture features and tivo-like functions, then dual cores seem to really shine. In my case, I will likely upgrade my gaming machine and reuse my current parts for the htpc. I am using a dual core AMD 5000+ Black Edition, which I have OC'ed to 3.25 ghz with no issues, I think that will be more than adequate. My biggest choices are going to be in video...I need this setup to cooperate with my cable box and also have no issues with HD playback on my 56" big screen. I have an MSI NX8800GT now, but I don't know if that will have the features I need...I am still in the beginning stages of research, so I am sure I will figure it out. As far as software goes...Bub showed me a pretty sweet, highly supported, open source program called Mediaportal...so far, it looks like I will be going with that. There is alot of support and a big forum set up for it, and it's supposed to be compatible with everything, so we will see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice_Berge_00 November 2, 2008 Share Ice_Berge_00 GC Alumni November 2, 2008 Be interested in hearing how that program works out for you clue, I'm thinking of turning my current machine or my new one I'm gonna build into a Media PC as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeroDamage November 2, 2008 Share ZeroDamage Member November 2, 2008 That is actually a good find. I can tell you that you will want a dual core at least with 2 GB of RAM if you plan to do HD TV in any way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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