A/V Jukebox

[hotrod]

I want to build a PC based 'A/V Jukebox.'

This PC will store and play Audio and Video files...that's it. I want both A & V to be of high quality (at least 5.1 audio, DVD/HDTV capable video) but I don't need overkill (I don't even own HDTV equipemnt currently). I think I need seperate Audio and Video cards to achieve high quality, but maybe not. The PC will connect to an A/V receiver. I think I need sVideo connectors for the Video output and RCA connectors for the Audio output, but maybe there's something better. I think I will start with one 160GB HD but want to expand to 4 or more ATA harddrives (which I will add as I need space), but I don't think I need RAID. I also don't think I need CDs, DVDs, or even a floppy (well maybe). I plan to run Win2k but would consider XP (my other machines are all 2k). I will need basic networking so that I can download files from another PC that's connected to the Internet.

So what I'm looking for is a recommendation for appropriate Hardware, including: motherboard, Audio amd Video cards, memory, CPU, power supply, cooling fans, case, and ???

Any suggestions? What performance bottlenecks should I be concerned with?

Thanx,
HotRod

 

[pIII_Man]

Budget?
Whatever motherboard/cpu you want (really as long as you are just playing videos and mp3's you don't need a very hot cpu...encoding thats a diffrent story). Now what do you need...well really its not too complicated the most important card is gonna be the one that outputs to TV...everyting else is gonna be standard stuff. You have 2 choices a AIW/ViVo card, or a stand alone tv tuner. I would go with a stand alone unit... I am happy with my ATI tv wonder...it works for me...as for sound the easiest way to connect it to your home theater system would be using an spdif or optical connector (you need to find a sound card that supports either of theses along with a theater system that does too). Other than these it will be like a standard PC build.