Home Theatre Media Server, need suggestions

[mapex]

I'm looking to build a cheap media server/dvr to become part of my home theater system with the below case.
nMEDIAPC HTPC 100BA
Other than that I'm not quite sure what all is needed, from the media server it will go to a regular receiver so it's going to need RCA outputs. So the only things this will be used for are recording an incoming signal (tv or console) and playing back digital files onto a tv. It doesn't need to be high-def or anything just DVD quality if it's playing a DVD. So i'm looking for suggestions for a good mobo/cpu combo and either an all in one tv tuner card with rca out or decent tv tuner and graphics card for the output. It'd be awesome if the tv tuner had a remote but it's not required. The box will also be on a wifi network but that doesn't really affect any of the other components.

 

[shadowduck]

Ok lets see here:

Motherboard: EPox EP-MGF6100-M- $75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813123007

CPU:
AMD Athlon 3200+ - plenty of power for this system- $83
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103637

RAM: Corsair XMS 1GB DDR2-675 CAS4- $103
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145573

Hard Drives:
Segate 250GB-320GB 7200.10 drives (2)

TV Tuner: ATI HDTV Wonder card with remote $89 before $20 MIR.
I know you didnt care for HDTV, but for $70 w/ a remote, this card is hard to beat price wise.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815116310

Video Card: Gigabyte X1300 128MB - $52.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125027

Sound Card: Creative Audigy 4- $79.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102004

 

[michaelahess]

Fairly similar to my HTPC, except I have 4 320GB HD's, a 3700+ and a Silverstone LC16M, but I can tell you that will EASILY cover all your needs and then some. If you plan on playing any games on it, like I do, go for a better video card, even the x850 I have is plenty since the resolution is only 1024x768. Also, no sound card in the "consumer" market has direct rca outs, just get an 1/8" stereo to rca cable from radio shock.

 

[monboy]

What exactly is a Home entertainment system, what does it allow you to do ?

I have been seeing this quite often but I must be missing something ?

Thanks

 

[michaelahess]

Saying "system" opens you up to a lot.

First item, most important:

TV, Projector, Monitor, etc.

Second almost equally important:

Stereo, a real 5.1 or higher component stereo is the best, the usual pioneer, kenwood, sony (shudder), is what most people have.

Third is a(many) media sources:

DVD player
VCR
100 Disc CD player (this is MANDATORY to qualify )
Tape Deck (24bit Digital dual well, oh yeah baby)
Record Player (yup, got one of them too, actually 2)
COMPUTER!!!!! (replaces DVD player in my situation)
Cable/satellite Box/DVR

Fourth are input devices:
Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, pc remote, home theater remote, or a big ass all in one.

Fifth is also very important:
High quality speakers, screw those crappy klipsch and gigaworks pc things!

And finally:
A couple nice recliners for you and the wife/girlfriend/buddy/etc.

If I missed anything please let me know.

 

[WR2]

Nice case. Good to see the 7-in-1 card reader. I couldnt tell if there was a reader to motherboard USB header cable included.

What exactly is a Home entertainment system, what does it allow you to do ?

Also described as HTPC or Home Theater Personal Computer. Used for video/audio entertainment purposes, such as recording TV shows, playing DVD's, CD music, or viewing digital pictures on the TV.

 

[mapex]

do you think the ATI AIW x1300 here would work instead of doing 2 cards? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814102661

 

[shadowduck]

do you think the ATI AIW x1300 here would work instead of doing 2 cards? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814102661

If you don't care about encoding from the TV to the PC yeah. Otherwise, since all the All-in-wonder cards lack an MPEG chip for compression, it will be much slower.

 

[glockman]

Nobody mentioned the OS. Lots of ways to do home theater PC's these days but you should anchor it with XP Media Center Edition. Lot's of remotes too, the MS one has good 'feel' to it.

Good place to shop for MCE stuff (including a wide variety of other cases)
http://www.pcalchemy.com/

 

[shadowduck]

Nobody mentioned the OS. Lots of ways to do home theater PC's these days but you should anchor it with XP Media Center Edition. Lot's of remotes too, the MS one has good 'feel' to it.

Good place to shop for MCE stuff (including a wide variety of other cases)
http://www.pcalchemy.com/

lol.. oops..

Good point, MCE is important.

 

[mapex]

does windows mce really make it that much easier to setup everthing to export to the tv? From what I knew about it, it was really just a fancy GUI that put everything in one location.

 

[glockman]

Well, like I mentioned, there are many ways to do this kind of thing; from software on the host to sattelite devices but I have to say that MS did a pretty good job making what you termed a "fancy GUI". Isn't a very polished user interface worth something when you are talking about a device that could sit a the heart of your home entertainment system?

Don't get me wrong, it isn't perfect but I have seen other attempts and MCE is pretty good. The extender technology is half baked and I still get lots of OS poking through in terms of Windows updates, anti-virus popups, my bluetooth keyboard losing connection off hand.

We will see if Vista makes any meaningful improvements to the experience.

 

[mapex]

well I know ATI has it's own GUI (can't remember what they call it) that seems very similar (and we all know how buggy ATI software can be). From what I understood to make full use of the windows mce you had to have approved mce hardware

 

[glockman]

Does the ATI software deal with pictures, music & TV?

Yes, MCE needs an approved video card & tuner but this is a new system, not too hard to buy a compatible one from the get go. I bought a video card that works fine for about $70 (not a gaming card, just works with MCE).

You can get a complete MCE from HP that works fine for less than $1K but it will have all kinds of logo's on the front that makes it ugly and a load of crappy HP add on software you will shake your head at and remove but it is functional for a reasonable $$ for a complete MCE.

The site link I posted previously (pcalchemy.com) has a load of compatible components and cases. (thegreenbutton.com is a good forum where MCE is discussed in detail).

Bottom line, MCE is good shit, my kids use it as a TIVO, I never take out my CD's any more because everything is on there and I have thousands of pictures archived there (and backed up elsewhere).

I use it with a Linksys extender which is a crappy experience, crappy remote reception but functional to link a second TV to the MCE.