PC with HDMI output for living room media centre?

poppy_f1

i got this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-1080P-Media-Player/dp/B002VAVR4A/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1264113433&sr=8-7

very easy to use, plug any HDD into it and works perfectly

nembot

Used the WD-TV myself, pretty decent bit of kit.

If you're after PC capabilities though, the dual core atom is the best way forward. Copes with 1080p rather well and only requires a 65watt powersupply.

My current HTPC consumes 160 watt at idle, more under load... eeek

jaydeeuk1

stef73 wrote: »

how about this
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/167153

Have to say, that is an absolutely cracking price. Probably more than whats needed for the OP.

ses6jwg

I forgot to mention I have a PS3

So I suppose I bung in a massive hard drive (500gb), and then get a cheap desktop also with large hard drive (1TB) to download and then stream wirelessly to PS3?

Fifer

jaydeeuk1 wrote: »

Have to say, that is an absolutely cracking price. Probably more than whats needed for the OP.

It is a good price for what it is, but I don't think a single core Atom really cuts the mustard as an HTPC processor.

radial_2

I just bought the dual core version of the Revo (R3610) from eBuyer and can say it handles my media collection, live tv from a usb diversity dual tuner, music, and everything else I have tried so far. It's a dual core atom 330, 2GB ram, 250GB hdd, and Windows 7 Home Premium (x64). I'm running all of the above through Windows Media Centre, that works perfectly well but does have a tiny bit of lag on the menus so you need to give it maybe a second more on a button push than you would on say a sky box, it was a little irritating at first, but have got used to it now.

Flash based HD absolutely requires the very latest nvidia drivers (download them from nvidia.com, don't rely on the pre-installed ones) and the latest beta version of flash 10.1. Once you have them installed it really will play everything, BBC iPlayer works grand too.

I've hooked the Revo up to my TV using the HDMI socket, that puts video and audio on the TV, I have plugged up the s/pdif socket to my amp and that will produce the required 5.1 dolby digital when required also.

All in all the Revo really is a fantastic little box, possibly a little under powered, but I've got used to that really quickly.

Hope that helps,

R.