Media Centre PC - opinions/advice?

[Muppet_Guy]

I need to get a new HD set top box and HDD recorder. But I realised that none of the HDD recorders have any output to plug it into a computer and copy it off the recorder's HDD onto my computer (if I wanna record a show for someone and take it on a disc for example, or copy it onto my MP3 player to watch on bus, whatever). Hence why I'm thinking of a Media Centre... prefer in a smallish case as it will be in my TV cabinet, and will only be used for TV related purposes.

Realistically what are the minimal requirements for one? Don't care if XP or Vista, though Vista I presume will need higher specs. How much will that set me back you reckon? I'm guessing about $1K? Has anyone got any experience with them? Is it something that's a pain in the ass to use? Can I plug it into my 5.1 ch surround sound easily? Any recommendations, for or against etc. I'd love to hear them before I spend the cash. Cheers guys!

P.S. It will have to be able to handle 1920 x 1080 resolution as that's what my TV is made for, so whatever the graphics card is required...

[Remix]

confuzion..... media centre expert

[confuzion]

haha sif..

Ok basically my htpc setup is:
Gigabyte 7n400 pro2 mainboard
AMD 2600+ CPU o/c'd a little bit
Gigabyte 6800GT gfx card
2 x Leadtek tv cards
HDA Xplosion sound card with 5.1/DTS and all that ****
Dual layer dvd burner/player

It runs XP Media Centre Rollup 2 - dont get Vista yet, all the htpc gurus reckon its **** at the moment and buggy.. XP runs absolutley fine on those specs. Everything loads in an instant etc. The problem is youd have to buy XP MCE as nowdays you cant do any updates with pirated copies, and you really need to as the original with no updates is very buggy.

How much will that set me back you reckon? I'm guessing about $1K?
Depends.. my graphics card at the time was $700 so yeah.... As you want 1920x1080 your gonna need a big mofo card.

Is it something that's a pain in the ass to use?
Yeah can be, Mine uses a remote but sometimes you need a keyboard/mouse for some things.

Can I plug it into my 5.1 ch surround sound easily?
Yep, does your amp have optical input? Easy as and crystal clear sound.

The next gen video cards will have a HDMI output to plug into your HDMI TV/plasma etc so that will be good. You can either use VGA, DVI or DVI to HDMI cables etc.

They are great though, i have heaps of movies and mp3's on it which you can just fire up and no need to dick around with cd's.

Dont mind the cables :) I need wireless kb/mouse haha

http://www.users.on.net/~alemc/pcs/PB083084%20(Large).JPG

[Niva]

AMD in a media center!! brave man, even more so that its overclocked. nice setup though. is it connected (wirless) to your main pc?

[Lonewolf]

depends how small you want to go, if your sticking a small case in somewhere thats not ventilated, a celeron cpu will be the go.
all really depends on what you want to do with it..

[confuzion]

i am an amd man :)
It is connected to my main pc but its cabled not wireless. When we bought the house we cut channels into the wall and put in conduits for the rear speakers and the lan cable etc

[Niva]

nice

[Muppet_Guy]

Thanks confuzion, I will get some quotes on similar specs then. I've browsed through the net looking at people's opinions and stuff, and they either love it or hate it. With video cards hopefully there will be one reasonably priced that can pull 1920 x 1080. My old 1.5 year old laptop that cost me $2.5K can do that on my TV so perhaps there will be a $300 card that will too lol!

Nah, haven't actually bought the amp yet, I'm doing an all new setup in my lounge room at the moment, but yeah, will keep in mind to have optical input in it. Some already have HDMI I think do perhaps that will be better.

Are there any quirky pauses, or any often occuring annoying hiccups or anything like that with your system? I presume you only need to use your keyboard and mouse for when you change settings right? Otherwise for everyday use will the remote be enough? Can it be switched on and off with a remote? I presume it hibernates or something so start up would be a few seconds?

Cheers for your advice!

[flamo_damo]

Sorry for intruding thread but how does media center run with Xbox 360?

[Muppet_Guy]

I've read that Xbox 360 is an extender, so if you got it plugged in to your bedroom tv, and your media centre is somewhere else, you can still watch TV and do anything else you would be able to do if you had the media centre in your bedroom. Can connect it to media centre via wifi or cable...

[flamo_damo]

Okay thanks champ yeah because at the moment its connected to my laptop and im just wondering what the differences and benefits were hmmm sounds interesting.

[Niva]

basicly media center just lets you stream video to the xbox. were as normal xp with x360 utility only allows audio and pictures

[confuzion]

Are there any quirky pauses, or any often occuring annoying hiccups or anything like that with your system? I presume you only need to use your keyboard and mouse for when you change settings right? Otherwise for everyday use will the remote be enough? Can it be switched on and off with a remote? I presume it hibernates or something so start up would be a few seconds?

It's fairly reliable and you wont need the kb etc unless you like to fiddle. but if it does lock up you need to ctl alt del :) just like any other pc i guess its not 100%
The remote hibernates it and resumes from hibernation so it is very quick to turn on which is great

[Muppet_Guy]

Oh ok. Yeah I think I'm convinced, subject to $$$. Thanks for that mate, will let you know later on how I went.

[xr06t]

soarerguy, do you have one of those pana 1080p 108cm plasma's?

they seem really cheap considering there arent too many other full hd panels on the market, and defn none i have seen for <$2k..

also, confuzion do you find it necessary to have the dvd burner? i see that you dont have a dvd player or stb so this can probably work out alot cheaper than buying all the separate boxes!

thanks for the info

[Muppet_Guy]

Nah I bought this baby:

http://www.samsung.com/au/products/tv/lcdtv/la46f71b.asp

117 cm LCD, 1080p... this one's on sale at MYER atm for $4999 so they came down in price since I bought it.

Didn't know Panasonic did full HD plasmas though...

[Niva]

that fkn good for 5k, ours is only 42 inch. fortunatly it isnt a china screen.

[Muppet_Guy]

Well, the rumour is that prices will fall heaps in the next 6 months coz they opnened up two new factories or somehting and market will be swamped with TVs. I read somewhere that prices may be up to 40% lower by then. Meh, I didn't wanna wait that long though :)

[confuzion]

also, confuzion do you find it necessary to have the dvd burner? i see that you dont have a dvd player or stb so this can probably work out alot cheaper than buying all the separate boxes!

thanks for the info

I have never used the burner in it haha so not necessary :) But you may want to burn your media (pics/mp3s/vids etc) so i would still put one in.

so yeah no need for a STB or DVD player etc as it does it all

Games and SNES roms are bulk fun also :)

[Niva]

a media center really is the shizzle when u think about it, as u said access to basicly ever retro game ever made, new games, internet, unlimited movies, all in your living room. the real time it will shine is during a party, having a lovely screen and remote to sift through your 10's of thousands of songs, pc's being a hit with the bitches? what next

[Muppet_Guy]

Hey Confuzion, forgot to ask, I presume there is no problem networking them with other comps as normal?

[confuzion]

hey, absolutley not - its pretty much exactly like xp pro

[xr06t]

so what os do they have? do you just load windows onto him?

was looking yesterday after reading this thread and dvd-roms are almost extinct now anyways!!
seems like a real alternative for having stb's and dvd players and pvr's and **** everywhere!

think i might have to knock one up when im doing my theatre..

the pana panel was on the back page of the good guys catalogue that came last week.. couldn't believe how cheap it was!!

[confuzion]

ok well this is the thing,
you can installed XP Media Centre
Vista Media Centre
Or Normal XP Pro, and then install a 3rd party media centre application (like iMedian) or even there are some Linux ones

Yeah i saw that Pana panel, cheap as