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Building Media Center PC

J

J_I_M_B_O

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 31, 2006
Messages
400
I'm building a Media Center pc and I've a few questions

1)Why are most media center pc's so powerful? I was thinking a Celeron D, will that be enough? (btw, this'll be my clean computer, as in no internet. no viruses. So it only needs to play video and music (Not even games)

2)Can I buy/install a media center remote?

3)I thought it'd be cool to install a laptop cd drive but I noticed the connections on the back are different from those on a desktop. Is there a way to connect it?
 
this should probably go in the HTPC section for more responses, but here is my 2 cents...

1) lots of them are just powerful for the sake of being powerful. Some muscle is required for upscaling and some HTPC's are used for gaming as well, so some muscle is needed there. Depending on what you want out of it, a celeron D could be plenty. I have several HTPCS ranging from 1ghz P3 to 2.8P4.

2) yes. PCalchemy.com (down for server swap) has several options including the official MCE remote. also there are ways to use any remote you want.

3) yes, there are converters, but each drive can have different pins depending on the manufacturer. PCalchemy has matching drives/adapters.
 
Pcalchamey? What? I've never heard of them. Is that a well know site?
And if I could obtain a P3 1ghz, would that be better than a celeron d?
 
J_I_M_B_O said:
Pcalchamey? What? I've never heard of them. Is that a well know site?
And if I could obtain a P3 1ghz, would that be better than a celeron d?
Click to expand...

The Celeron D is definitely better than the P3. Since this comp is doing only video and mp3, a Celeron D sounds like a perfect choice.
 
New questions now...

1)Since the cpu will be dual-core will there be any more complications? Because I'm a tad bit of a novice at this (If my questions haden't given it away)

2)Since that PcAlchamey site is down could you tell me how you'd connect it to the mobo? You'd just put it in an expansion slot, right? Like a wireless card.

3)I've found a few but, does anyone know of any particularly good deals for a celeron d and mobo combo? I'm looking for one for about $100-$150. I found a few on new egg...

Edit: Also I've been looking into tv tuners for the comp. Anything I sjould know when shopping for 'em?
 
ummm... The Celeron-D chips aren't 'Dual-Core', they are simply a low-end CPU. You can purchase the MS MCE (and keyboard if you want) on it's own ~$30. Have you looked into what you plan on using for a case yet ? , if not check these out :) (pretty cheap @ ~120$)

http://www.nmediapc.com/htpc200a.htm

Oh also, choose carefully on the TV Tuner, you need specific tuners to work with MCE and some stuff that's out there doesn't work all that well with MCE even if it's stated to (eg. very sluggish channel changing which can get really annoying) ...
 
J_I_M_B_O said:
New questions now...

1)Since the cpu will be dual-core will there be any more complications? Because I'm a tad bit of a novice at this (If my questions haden't given it away)

2)Since that PcAlchamey site is down could you tell me how you'd connect it to the mobo? You'd just put it in an expansion slot, right? Like a wireless card.

3)I've found a few but, does anyone know of any particularly good deals for a celeron d and mobo combo? I'm looking for one for about $100-$150. I found a few on new egg...

Edit: Also I've been looking into tv tuners for the comp. Anything I sjould know when shopping for 'em?
Click to expand...

1) don't think it's dual core, but I know of no complications with the celeron D

2) the IR reciever for most remotes is USB. it is a little dongle like a wireless mouse or gamepad would have. some people have found ways to mount the receiver internally to eliminate cable clutter.

3)not sure, I usually do Newegg or monarchPC for my CPU shopping.

for TV tuner, there are only 2 options you should really consider. Hauppauge PVR series (150 and 500 specifically) and the ATI 550 chipset cards. both are good quality, well supported by MCE, and are hardware based. The hardware based cards allow you to multi task while recording TV. so you could record a channel and watch a DVD at the same time with no problems. just remeber that if you want to record a channel and watch another, you need 2 tuners.
 
Depends on what you are wanting to do, and how many tuners. The PVR 500 is a dual tuner card, so you could record 1 or 2 shows at once. But it costs a bit. Then there are the PVR-150s, which are single tuner cards, I have two of these, that i got from PCAlchemy when they were running a special. Also something that will make a big difference is , are you using HDTV or SDTV. Depending on what kind of tv you have will make a difference on the graphics card that you will need. Most people say for a HDTV to get a gefore 6600GT and up, but if not high def, and not playing games, you can go below that even down to the FX5200's and that will work fine.

Poke around the HTPC section some more. Also I go to this site a bunch for questions and research. www.byopvr.com
They have a good bit of info on the subject and some reviews of hardware and the software you would need to record your shows.
 
Huh? Pentium D = Dual core why doesn't Celeron D = Dual core?

And I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing about the case

I was aiming for a total of around $300-350, lately I have learned it's not happening
 
D for discount? I have no idea but it hardly matters since thats the why it is.

Yeah, $350 isn't going to get you much. If anything that might cover the cost of software (OS plus HTPC apps).

If anything spent the extra dough to get a nice case, you can always upgrade the hardware inside but you can't make an ugly/crappy case into a good one. It's just wasted money.
 
Actually I can save money on my case since I like a buissness looking pc, real simple. I've never really liked those ones with windows and and colored lights and things like that.

I've been looking into server case as well
 
the pvr500 is just 2 pvr150's on one card. 2 tuners means that you also need 2 sources. so you will have to spring for another set top box. also mce2005 is around $150 and its really just a gui and xp pro. there is no mce upgrade. only full install. i have a cracked version, but i have yet to see what will happen when the 60 day activation period is over. i am not up on intel stuff (do they still sell that in the usa?) but you will need a decent, not great, cpu for encoding/decoding, streaming vid, etc. any divx/xvid stuff that you have has to be converted to wmv or mpeg. all your photos, vids, mp3's have to be in places where mce will look. forget $300. and be prepared to put a lot of time and effort into setting this up. but i have to say that it was well worth it. the rig on the right in my sig is my htpc, not a great one, and prob was around $1000, not counting storage, which i had. consider just using winxp, and a good front end, like sagetv, instead of mce. its around $50, you can buy it in combos with pvr150 or 500 and a remote from alchemy.
start checking out htpcnews, digital digest, and the xbox360 forums. there is a lot of good video/mce stuff on the xbox forums because the 360 links up with my mce box and i can run any multi media from my pc thru the xbox to my tv's and hifi's. i happen to have the house wired for ethernet, but you can do this wirelessly. its handy being able to watch the latest movies in my bedroom instantly, rather than having to recode them and burn them to dvds, for instance.
 
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