Want to Build a Home Theater pc that is quiet.

[DDigitalguy06]

I want to build a htpc.
I know its easy as building a computer but i wanna use this in a home theater environment. for watching dvd movies, with digital sound useing via receiver and speakers. what i need to know is how much cpu power do i need? and how much memory do i need? i allready pick out a combo dvd/cd player,it supports the following codec, dolby digital and dts 5.1. also what sound card should i buy there are alot of them out there and i need some advice. I do have a sdtv but i will be getting a 22 inch lcd screen that will be hd ready.

any good advice would be appreciated Ps: my budget is about $400 dollars us.
thank u..

 

[pjviitas]

I am running a MythTV box on the following:
Antec Aria Case
Asus K8S-MX MB
Athlon 64 3400+
2GB Memory
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 150 TV-Tuner
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit (low profile)
MSI FX5200 TD128LF (low profile)
SysKonnect SK-9E21D PCI-Express LAN (low profile)
160GB HDD
LG DVD Burner

This configuration has worked out to be nominal as an HTPC. Keep in mind that as long as you dont use your HTPC for anything else besides HTPC stuff the demands are not actually that high. If you are surfing the web, downloading music, and trying to watch TV all at the same time then things change. Actually, I dont think I its possible to create a nominal HTPC setup which will handle everyday computing and HTPC duties at the same time.

Other things I learned along the way:

Cooling, Cooling, Cooling. The less fans and thus less noise you have the bigger the problems will be in cooling the thing. Be prepared to start spending money and time to trial and error your way to a silent HTPC.

Picture Quality. Be prepared to be disappointed if you think your just going to pump a signal from COAX into your HTPC. The HTPC itself will steal some picture quality so s-video is an absolute minimum capture source IMHO.

Set-top boxes and remotes. Be prepared to spend some time tinkering around with getting you PVR card remote to talk to your set-top box. In most cases you will need to have an IR receiver and IR transmitter. One to read from your remote....the other to transmit to your set-top box.

Signal from your HTPC to your AV receiver. Save yourself and get an HDMI receiver with digital coax inputs. You will thank me later.

With all this in mind, a well built HTPC will allow you to enjoy the following:
DVR-PVR player
MPEG, AVI, DIVX etc player
MP3 player

And DVD player if you wish...like I said in one of my other posts PC bases DVD player-software combinations are proving to have better quality than monolithic DVD players for home use. Thing is, if you have an HTPC already why not use its (supposedly) superior DVD playing capabilities.

Actually, if anyone can validate the PC based DVD player thing that would be great. It was posted on Slashdot one day and it seemed to make sense considering the higher quality that computer monitors had right out of the gate as far as a viewing medium as concerned.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards, Hedgehog

 

[DDigitalguy06]

thank u for the guide of htpc. I wont be doing any web surfing on that machine.
i have a main machine down stairs and its a mac. and if i have any issues i'll post some questions here. thank u.

ddigitalguy06