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View Full Version : HTPC or $1,000 Blu Ray Player? You Decide...



chunkylover53
01-14-2009, 10:37 PM
I thought I would share my experience with building a Home Theater PC. On the MSPC site, Rob makes a compelling argument that a Media Center PC is impractical for most. He also lays out a list of what a Media PC might do, and I must admit that my PC does not do some things on that list. So for now, let's just call what I assembled a Home Theater PC. First, my final specs:

Case & PSU: Antec Veris Fusion http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129029
Motherboard: ASUS P5N7A-VM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131348
Hard Drive: WD7500AAKS 750GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136131
CPU (used stock fan): Intel Q6600 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017
Memory: Corsair 2x1GB DDR2800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145034
Optical: LG Black Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136133
TV Card: Hauppauge HVR-1800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116016
Remote: Anyware GP-IR02BK http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823166047
Keyboard: ADESSO WKB-4000US Mini http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16880121002
OS: Vista Premium OEM
Total Cost: $1,025

It's networked to my home server, and connected to a 55" Sony 1080p via a single HDMI cable in my family room. So what can I do with it? Essentially:

Watch my entire DVD collection stored on server
Ditto home movies
Play my I-Tunes library through TV speakers or receiver
Watch Blu-Ray in full 1080 (stunning)
Watch HDDVD (can probably get them cheap!):p
Stream from Netflix Watch Instantly
Stream XM and other internet radio
Surf the internet, plus everything else a PC can do

Why isn't it a Media Center? The two biggest issues are gaming and PVR. If you want the PC to look good in a family room setting, you will want a small form HTPC case. Putting a big hot graphics card in a small box is a big challenge that I was unwilling to take. Not to say it can't be done, but I don't really need it since I don't play games. As far as PVR goes, even though my HTPC can act as a PVR, so far I have come up short with getting clear QAM channels. Without getting into too much detail, I should be able to plug my cable connection into the TV tuner directly and get the same hi def channels that I get with the cable box PVR. I am still struggling with that, so right now I am going through the cable box. It's really only a true PVR if I can get rid of my cable box and not lose anything.

What makes it impractical? To perform the activities above, you could easily take the forum Budget Build less video card, swap the case/PSU and still only be at $600. The problem comes in with the last 4 components. Could you do without Blu Ray ($120)? Maybe, but it was important to me since I don't have to buy one. Add the wireless keyboard/desktop ($90, and that's cheap) and the TV Tuner & Remote ($115), and suddenly $600 turns into $925.

Overall, I'm very happy. I really just swapped my original build's parts into this case to make it look better in my family room. The Quad core is overkill for what I need, but I'm planning a new build soon and wanted to make use of the Q6600. If your one of those impractical people that MUST have an HTPC :o, I HIGHLY recommend the Antec Veris Fusion case and the LG Blu Ray.

The Wise Monkey
01-15-2009, 02:53 AM
Nice job - that looks like a killer HTPC. :)