Need suggestions for setting up a wireless home theater (1 Viewer)

[Brian Bowles]

I have a friend who would like to use his computer that we are building for home theater. He would like to make it wireless is that possible? I mean if we get a wireless linksys router can he do that and still use it for home theater? There are two other important things too.

1. If he outputs the video image to the toshiba hdtv is burn in going to be an issue if he surfs the internet?

2. What sound card should he get?

Thanks so much for your time in this matter.

 

[Scott L]

Wireless routers work great. I was skeptical of download speeds at first but my friend's network is all from a wireless linksys and it was fast.
1) Surfing on the internet on a big TV like that will be painful. I'm sure the HD resolutions will help but reading text will not be fun. Just do what I'm doing and put an LCD monitor on a coffeetable next to a chair in the theater. I'm even thinking about getting this so it can swing right in my lap.
2) Sound card can depend on what you need it for. Will the PC be for gaming, music, DVD watching, all of the above? I'll try and give some info from what I remember:
- Gaming sound card for HTPC - get a card that outputs at least 5.1 (that's 6 outputs) so you can hook it up to your receiver (must have 5.1 inputs) to take advantage of EAX surround gaming. A digital audio output on a card won't do it as it only passes multi-channel DD/DTS and not multi-channel PCM (EAX).
- Music - there are a couple of cards that output 24/96khz for hi-res audio. More members can give you info on these.
- DVDs - Digital coax or optical out is pretty common nowadays on decent cards, even decent motherboards have that feature as optional if you're mobo hunting.
Case roundup:
Link Removed - Very sexual, very toight case. The best bang per buck at only $205 from Newegg and ExoticPC.
Coolermaster 600 Series - Nice, sleek cases but only Micro ATX. Everything else listed here is ATX.
Atech Fabrication HS Case - looks great, and has customizable bezels but expect to pay a whopping $400 with options.
Kanam Electronics Accent - Several nice looking models that appear to be Dign/D.Vine clones. Available here.
Link Removed - Mother of all cases but priced at $330. There's a less expensive Link Removed for about $250 which also looks very good.
Quiet power supplies can be found at QuietPC, EndPCNoise.com, and Link Removed.

 

[Brian Ruth]

You can hook it up wirelessly without a problem. I surf wirelessly (Wi-Fi) now from my main computer and my laptop, and they both work great. You'll most likely get a faster speed on wireless than you do on the broadband connection itself.
As for a sound card:
You MIGHT want to look at a Creative Audigy 2 for gaming, but I've heard a lot of suggestions on here as to better cards. Just a suggestion.

 

[Tekara]

yeah I would suggest using anything but a creative product. I have no love for creative, poor business practices, never ending hardware conflicts with their product that they won't fix, and horrid driver support top the list. if you want some suggestions, I'm a current fan of hercules's cards (fortissimo 7.1 and digifire 7.1) but the BEST card IMHO is the m-audio revolution 7.1.

more food for thought.