Eventually.

Of course, it'd kinda help to know what'd I'd be getting into as well for such a machine. I'd definately want one of those sexy Micro-ATX cases. They've become very attractive to me of late. Black, Silver, or a combination of the two would be perferable in color. Wireless input of course.... TV Tuner as I'd want to record to it. I'm thinking the output would naturally be to TV... Though I guess if I'm routing the Cable through the Computer, a monitor would work just as well. I guess that honestly, I'd want the Media Center PC in it's truest form.... The heart of my Entertainment Center. Run the music through it, movies, TV, consoles. You get the idea. I'd probably be inclined to want to dabble in video editing on it as well...

Meh.

Anyone interested in filling me in on some more details and such or building a mock up machine on NewEgg?

I've been looking at doing something like this for a while now. A good case for an HTPC would be the new Silverstone Lascalla 19 (LC19 ), paired with one of Aopen's new Pentium M boards. As for the TV tuner, i can't really help you as i'm still researching that myself.

Avoid Windows Media Center!

Linux is far more capable, and it's more responsive/highly configurable.

And I still want to be a giant robot.

[QUOTE=Cool Matty]Avoid Windows Media Center!

Linux is far more capable, and it's more responsive/highly configurable.

:D[/QUOTE]

But what about stability and a decent GUI?

Personally, my pick is still WinXP Pro running Meedio (even if you can't officially get the program since Yahoo bought it, making it completely redundant outside of the States).

[QUOTE=Cool Matty]Avoid Windows Media Center!

Linux is far more capable, and it's more responsive/highly configurable.

:D[/QUOTE]
Obviously. I don't want to be running WinMC. Of course, knowing jack all like I do about Linux, I find it to be a rather bad option as well.

There are quite a few distros focused around media center builds. Definately check it out.

And Windows has nothing on Linux as far as stability. Also, since the GUI is so damn customizable, it's beautiful.

[QUOTE=Cool Matty]There are quite a few distros focused around media center builds. Definately check it out.

And Windows has nothing on Linux as far as stability. Also, since the GUI is so damn customizable, it's beautiful.[/QUOTE]

Examples please.

TiVo

And I've seen many laptops that can boot either Windows or quickly into a media-center-thingy to watch TV or videos or listen to music, which runs on Linux.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KnoppMyth

Knoppmyth is the only distro focused on being a media center that I can think of off the top of my head. There's really nothing wrong with Windows MCE anymore, it'll be easier to set up and maintain (especially if you have no idea how to use linux). You should reconsider ruling it out.

Or you could just wait for Vista, Home Premium and Ultimate will have Media Center built in.

Heh. That's if they stop delaying Vista and release it before I decide to build my HTPC.

Is there anything specific hardware based that I'd need to know about? Like I said, I'd be going small form factor.

Oh, and this is something I've wanted to know for awhile... Any of you guys know what the best capture card/device on the market is right now? Idealy the one that'll give me the clearest and cripest picture possible.

You should use Vista Beta 2. It's extremely stable, everything works, and it just plain rocks


.....


*snicker*

But it IS. Pfft.

Seriously though, there are a few problems I've been having. I expect them to be worked out by RC1.

Anyways Media Center is included in the beta if you want to give it a test run.

That'd be awesome. It'd be the first Microsoft OS to do that.

[QUOTE=The Mega-ZZTer]But it IS. Pfft.

Seriously though, there are a few problems I've been having. I expect them to be worked out by RC1.

Anyways Media Center is included in the beta if you want to give it a test run.[/QUOTE]
Gotta download it first. Something I don't want to do over my wee little modem.

sounds like someone really just wants a mac.

It's on my rather lengthy list of things to buy when I have money in the bank. Mostly because I'm tired of having to share the family iMac.

Me and a friend have been playing ALOT with GarageBand and turning out some really good songs, most of my video editing has been in iMovie with some of it moving into Final Cut Pro. I've been trying to get used to Premiere, but don't like it nearly as much as iMovie or Final Cut.

Oh come on, it'd be fun! Leaving a download running for a week or so has always been my dream!

I would worry more about actual AV equipment than the PC. A media center PC is completely useless without some sort of existing home theater.

What's your budget, and what do you want?

wait. now people need software to make songs?

wtf?

This isn't a project I'm undertaking anytime soon, so there isn't any budget as of yet. And one could also say such a computer wouldn't be completely useless if you bought the rest of your home theater at the same time.

As for what I want.... Yeah.... I'm just going to start naming things and talk out my *** a bit.
-Small form factor case.
-Good TV tuner/capture card. Cable, Composite, and S-Video would all be ideal.
-Sound card that'll work with a really GOOD set of surround sound speakers. I can't see the need for anything beyond 5.1 channels.
-I wouldn't plan on doing ANY form of heavy gaming on it, so I don't need the latest and greatest GPU on the market.
-DVD burner is good.
-I find those "multi card reader" things to be a totally useless feature. Don't want it.
-Wireless keyboard/mouse
-Nice big Harddrive.

Just build something. That's what I'd really like.... just something I can reference later on when I finally make a move on this. I'm just imagining this wonderous computer I can record TV/etc. to, run the game consoles through, watch movies on, and playback my music from. I'm mostly ignorant and what exactly the definition of such a system is. My few google searches didn't help me much. Then again, this might be one of those things I just suck at searching for.


If you're musically impared like I am, and can't play any instrument worth crap.... yeah. My friend is just the opposite of me. He's really quite good. We toss around ideas, he starts composing and playing around, and I end up making suggestions and generally producing.

Yeah, it's pretty stupid (unless it's a program for hobbyests).

For just DVDs, and if you have any decent DVD software (e.g. PowerDVD), then you could use any soundcard with a bit-perfect digital out (like the Chaintech AV-710. Drivers are in issue, some people flash it and use VIA drivers). You don't need DDL/DTS encoding for surround unless you're doing gaming. DVDs already have DDL/DTS encoded data, so all you need is something to pass it through.

Don't get a prepackaged set of speakers, less you go with something like the Athena Micra or other comparable setups from real speaker manufacturers. Unless you're on a tight budget, avoid gaming speakers like the plague.

Go with a real HT reciever and speakers. The best bang for buck reciever this summer will be the Panasonic XR-70, which is due out in July. I have the older XR-55 model, and it kicks ***. They're both all digital recievers, i.e., actual digital amplification. Panasonic apparently has some amazing engineers, because these things have incredible specs, and sound great, too. THD is very low and response is super flat. If that doesn't mean anything to you, trust me when I say it's good. They do 100w per channel...but unlike most of their analog counterparts, they ACTUALLY put out 100w per channel. Digital amps are not the "best" but are extremely efficient. People have pushed the XR-55 over 100w on 4 ohm speakers, which according to the specs isn't even possible.

Anyway. It's fairly cheap compared to higher end recievers. The XR-55 has been known to stack up against very high end audiophile recievers from the likes of Rotel and such. The XR-70 is an improvement upon the 55, sporting better electronics and new things like HDMI support. If you're totally sure you'd never need the new features of the 70, get the 55.

Yeah, I really like my Panny reciever...google them, people have a lot to say about them. You can also get stuff under 100 that's still good. Onkyo is a favorite for that price range.

For speakers, it depends on how much you want to spend. Athena and Paradigm are popular choices for the low end. I have a pair of Paradigm Titan bookshelves. For a 5.1 system, you'd typically get four bookshelves (2 front, 2 rear) a MATCHING center channel (it's important that the center and satellites are voice matched otherwise they sound like crap. Basically a center channel in the same product line). And then a subwoofer. Athena is much easier to obtain (easy online ordering from many vendors), and is probably the way to go.

If I were going to build a "real" surround system on a budget, I'd get four of these, one of these, and this or this. That "generic" Dayton 10" subwoofer is considered quite an underdog, it's supposed to be really good for the price. There's also a 12" version. Same for the Athena sub. Check their site.

I can't really recommend anything for displays, if you even feel like dropping money on one. But I recommend the Ars Technica forums more than any other place for anything under this subject.

http://thebroken.org/

One of those 3 episodes, can't remember which, is a video tutorial on how to set up a media center via Linux.

psh, no. We need software to record songs because analog recorders are just like going to San Francisco with just a tub of Crisco and a pink hoodie.

recording, sure.

but whatever happened to actually writing scores?