Is it HTPC time? Help me decide.

S

semisonic9

Gawd
Joined
May 2, 2005
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Hey guys. Built a rig about 4 months ago that I'm loving. Filling up the hard drive with all kinds of good stuff.

Looking into the future a bit, I intend to buy a bigger screen TV, a console, and probably something to play movies and handle the sound for both. The problem is that most of this would be out in the living room, so converting my current desktop to the task isn't really possible. It resides in the bedroom.

What am I looking at, at the minimum, to have a decent HTPC that plays dvds, stores movies/tv shows on the hard drive, etc. I'm assuming I can set one up as a DVR recorder, to "tape" tv shows?

I'm a little put off by the prospect of still having to buy a receiver/amplifier regardless. It's kind of lame they don't sell solid quality audio components for PCs already.

So I'm really juggling the cost/benefit ratio of buying a DVD player (possibly Blu Ray) and DVR versus building a HTPC unit. Either way, I'll need speakers and an amplifier/receiver. As far as the casing itself, it seems like careful selection of the parts list can keep noise down. I don't see the point in going fanless. I do want a nice looking case, but I figured I'd go with something like a Lian Li A05 or one of the Lancool cases.

If you were starting from scratch, would you go HTPC or not? And why?
 
Nothing stops most of us from just simply transferring all our hardware into a "HTPC" case, thereby making it into a overpowered HTPC. You seem to just be referring to form factor and case selection.
 
All you really need for an HTPC, in most cases, is some sort of video capture or TV tuner card. You could use your current system for HTPC-related tasks without having to change out parts.

If, however, you want a dedicated HTPC just for your living room/new TV, that's another matter entirely.
 
Where you'll be venturing into low power, fanless/silent parts which focuses exclusively on video playback, not dual carding or overclocking, etc. The HTPC term just plain sucks, since any computer can pretty much be called a HTPC if it plugs into your display.
 
Right, ok. That question was a little broad. I'll narrow down the OP with a few more restritictions later tonight and bump it back up.

-S
 
Your OP is still a bit vague. Do you want to build a new HTPC?

How much would it cost for you to pick up a standalone DVR with Blu-ray capability?
 
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