Hey everyone!
I just signed up for these forums for this sole request (although if it helps I'm sure I'll stick around).
I am looking to build a home media center that will replace my DVD Player, HD DVD/BD Player, Audio player, and possibly gaming console. I would also like this machine to be able to record (so that I can pause and play TV shows).
I'm not looking for top of the line, but more around the average equipment and parts to make this happen. I don't know very much about this type of system at all so I found a list (created on January of 07) on a tech site and figured I'd use it as a guideline.
Here it is:
Case
• SilverStone LaScala LC17 $120
Power Supply
• Antec NeoHE 430 $70
CPU
• Athlon 64 X2 3800+ $56
CPU Cooler
• Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu $25
Motherboard
• ABIT AN8 Ultra $115
Memory
• 2GB Kingston ValueRAM $104
Graphics Hardware
• ASUS Extreme N6600 Silencer $109
DVD Decoder Software
• nVidia PureVideo Decoder $30
Hard Drive
• Seagate NL35 400GB $200
Optical Drives
• HP dvd740i DVD Writer $78
• NEC ND-3520A DVD±R DL $50
Memory Card Reader
• Mitsumi FA-405M $16
Audio Hardware
• Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi $116
• Creative DTS-610 $99
Analog TV Tuners
• ATI TV Wonder Elite (PCI) $110
• PowerColor T55E-P03 (PCIe x1) $85
HDTV Tuners
• Vbox Cat's Eye DTA-150 $89
• Vbox Cat's Eye USB-A 3560 $109
Keyboard/Mouse
• Microsoft ZV1 MCE keyboard $75
Remote Control
• Microsoft Media Center Remote $35
Operating System
• Windows XP Media Center Edition $125
Now what I need from you are recommendations, feedback, or anything that will help me build the system that I want.
The list does not seem to support HD or BD so that would be an important issue that I need help with. I would also like to know if it'd be possible to run DirectTV through this. The list also has Windows XP MCE, but I've heard that Vista Home or Ultimate would be a better choice. I could use some guidance there as well.
Again, any comments are welcome and appreciated. I plan on building this over the next month or two (preferably after Christmas).
Thanks a ton!
Andrew Lancaster
I just signed up for these forums for this sole request (although if it helps I'm sure I'll stick around).
I am looking to build a home media center that will replace my DVD Player, HD DVD/BD Player, Audio player, and possibly gaming console. I would also like this machine to be able to record (so that I can pause and play TV shows).
I'm not looking for top of the line, but more around the average equipment and parts to make this happen. I don't know very much about this type of system at all so I found a list (created on January of 07) on a tech site and figured I'd use it as a guideline.
Here it is:
Case
• SilverStone LaScala LC17 $120
Power Supply
• Antec NeoHE 430 $70
CPU
• Athlon 64 X2 3800+ $56
CPU Cooler
• Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu $25
Motherboard
• ABIT AN8 Ultra $115
Memory
• 2GB Kingston ValueRAM $104
Graphics Hardware
• ASUS Extreme N6600 Silencer $109
DVD Decoder Software
• nVidia PureVideo Decoder $30
Hard Drive
• Seagate NL35 400GB $200
Optical Drives
• HP dvd740i DVD Writer $78
• NEC ND-3520A DVD±R DL $50
Memory Card Reader
• Mitsumi FA-405M $16
Audio Hardware
• Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi $116
• Creative DTS-610 $99
Analog TV Tuners
• ATI TV Wonder Elite (PCI) $110
• PowerColor T55E-P03 (PCIe x1) $85
HDTV Tuners
• Vbox Cat's Eye DTA-150 $89
• Vbox Cat's Eye USB-A 3560 $109
Keyboard/Mouse
• Microsoft ZV1 MCE keyboard $75
Remote Control
• Microsoft Media Center Remote $35
Operating System
• Windows XP Media Center Edition $125
Now what I need from you are recommendations, feedback, or anything that will help me build the system that I want.
The list does not seem to support HD or BD so that would be an important issue that I need help with. I would also like to know if it'd be possible to run DirectTV through this. The list also has Windows XP MCE, but I've heard that Vista Home or Ultimate would be a better choice. I could use some guidance there as well.
Again, any comments are welcome and appreciated. I plan on building this over the next month or two (preferably after Christmas).
Thanks a ton!
Andrew Lancaster