Comptuer HT Project! Need Recommendations! (1 Viewer)

[Ian Charters]

Hey.. I'm building a computer from scratch for my HT. Right now im using my laptop to play movies on my setup. Laptop Miniplug-to-RCA into my Harmon/Kardon AVR125 Amp, then S-video out to the 51"G Hitachi HDTV Widscreen. I need some suggestions on what kind of hardware I should buy for this setup(Whole computer, but if you have bits and pieces you want to add, please post).

Also, I noticed when playing games like Counter-Strike on my laptop that the graphics are a bit fuzzy(Compaq 2175CA). So, the graphics card would have to be good enough to produce a crisper image.

 

[Jeff Blair]

I would get at least a 64 or 128meg video card with S-Video out.

For the Case I would look at Antec's line. They have one that is supposed to be very quite. I han't seen it, but I have herd good things about it.

Motherboard--Look at Asus. Most of there mother boards have digital out built in.
CPU--I would get at least a AMD XP2600+
Memory--at least 512Meg
If you are going to turn it into a PVR, then you will have to get a TV capture card. I have an ATI TV-Wonder-VE.
HD-- They are cheep now. If you want to rip all of your CD's into MP3's get a larger one. Also if you are makeing it into a PVR, more is better.

As for playing games on your TV, they aren't going to look that great comming from an S-Video port. Now if your TV has a DVI input, then that would be a lot better. Just make sure your video card has the output.

Get a wireless setup. That way you can listen to music from anywhere. I have it, and it's great.

As for the operating system, take a look at Linux. There is a learning curve. But, they have some nice free PVR software for it. And, I think you can still play Counter-Strike.

That's all I can think of right now. If I think of anything else I'll post it.

 

[Scott L]

Does your TV have a VGA or DVI input? If not get a VGA -> component transcoder to get a nice clean native progressive signal.

Is it just to play movies and game? How about TV scaling/time-shifting and music?

I 2nd Jeff's recommendations, especially a fully loaded Asus mobo. Grab one with the nForce2 chipset to get onboard DD5.1 for your games.

 

[Ian Charters]

Yeah, I have a DVI-HDTV port.