Media Center PC - any advice? :)

ribenagirl

Hi all,

I'm looking to build myself a Windows Media PC with wireless broadband connection to go in the living room, to run the TV, DVD, stereo, off etc.

I'd be really grateful for any advice, tips or hints from anyone who has built their own (I should probably point out, I have built my own PC's before, but not specifically a Media Centre one). I'm assuming a top of the range sound card would be good, but how essential is an expensive video card - and is it true that you really need 2 digital TV cards so that you can watch while you record?

Thank you

Joe_Bloggs

Considering this kind of thing myself. A multiboot setup is probably worthwhile so reserve a few partitions on your hard disks for other operating systems that can do the same job. The ATI based 9800 (avoid SE = poor) is now medium range the 9600 is ok too. You can get VIVO versions where you can display video from video sources (Video In) and can drive a TV (Video Out).
Streaming is a big thing see VideoLan.
It sounds like you need an A/V amp rather than a high spec sound card.
J_B.

Doublespresso

CAn't help you with specific hardware but try these:

http://www.meedio.com/
(excellent currently on special offer)

http://mediaportal.sourceforge.net/
Also good and FREE!

ribenagirl

Thanks both of you for the help Given me some more stuff to think about - will post a spec once I've got my head together over it all !

urbanite

Advice: (IMHO)
1. Use a Pentium cpu cause they are cooler and therefore quieter to run.
2. At least 1gig of quality RAM. (Kingston / Corsair)
3. VGA via a DVB-T Card - Expensive but worth it.
4. Audigy 5.1 sound card.
have a look over at modshack.com (gotta register to see) or the PVR forum over at digital-forums.com.

Joe_Bloggs

I disagree with Urbanite about Intel pentiums being easier to cool. AMD Athlons 64 were always easier to cool, as they don't require as much clock speed to do the same amount of work Hence they consume less power. Intel were the best whist AMD was the enthusiasts budget option. The tables have turned.

A stock heatsink of a P4 or Athlon64 is designed to withstand transport without ripping the processor out. If you are making your own system you can get far heavier but more efficient heatsinks and employ larger but slower moving fans.

The audigy is very good but it has nothing much to do in a system that has digital audio in and digital audio out. This requires an external A/V amp with built in AC3/Dolby n.1/DTS decoder. Consider Richer Sounds as a souce.

A quality 450W plus power supply is desirable, especially if it is quiet at the same time. You won't be using 450W but the components will be under less stress and can get by with less cooling hence less noise.

Don't try and cram everything into a small profile 'bread bin' sized case. They are difficult to cool because of the restricted air flow and end up overheated and noisy.

Some claim you can get real time de-interlacing with the 9800 cards and higher. The effects are noticable on horizontally scrolling text. It is unreadable without de-interlacing.

J_B.

italiastar

Aldi have got one next week - on the face of it, it looks expensive, but the individual componants would cost you more to buy - and it comes with 3 years on-site warranty.

http://uk.aldi.com/

urbanite

Why will the components be under less stress with a 450w PSU compared to anything else?
Most PSU failures are due to overload, and if your going to run a multimedia box, then ther is going to be considerable less ussage of power compared to a 'day to day' pc running all the usual app's.

I agree that the 64 bit AMD will be cooler, but CPU usage over cost = pentium 4 in my opinion.

I'd also agree that porting sound to a HiFi Amp would be better than any 5.1 soundcard, but does the user want to take that route?
a good amp = £100 ish
good speakers = £100 ish

everything is starting to get rather expensive just to watch a movie and ( *poor quality) mp3's
*mp3 loses a lot of quality on conversion compared to the original.

wolfman

urbanite wrote:

I agree that the 64 bit AMD will be cooler, but CPU usage over cost = pentium 4 in my opinion.

I wouldn't go for a Pentium 4, especially not one of the Prescott chips. I'm not actually sure what you mean by above, but generally AMD64's are the best cpu's to get.

AMD64's run far cooler, and much faster. They're also cheaper. My brother and my housemate both have Pentiums (Prescott core), and I have switched (for the first time ever) to a none Intel chip. I couldn't be happier with my AMD64.

I agree with Joe Bloggs on most points apart from the case and psu. Ideally you want a media center to be small if it's going to be sat around the tv. In fact there's no reason for a large case. Many of the small cases will be fine. And a 450W PSU is more than enough. In fact a 380W psu would be a lot more realistic. That's what I'm currently running with my AMD64 3500 and 9800Pro and the voltages are very stable and well within the recommended limits.

If anything get a top end Pentium 3. They run quietly, are quite cool, and most of all, are cheap. Buy a nice case, possibly micro atx, wireless nic, and a reasonable sound and graphics card and you'll be fine. You just need one of Linux equivalents of Windows Media Center (such as MythTv) and you're set. Pentium 4's and AMD64's are way over spec for what you need. You could easily build a decent media center for £300-400.

I've converted my Xbox into a media center and it runs fine on the equivalent of a Pentium 3 733Mhz. Basically get something that's reasonably priced, and runs cool and quiet. Don't get sold into buying something over spec'd.

rogue_element

Aren't there nice FREE non-proprietary alternatives to media player?

http://viz.aset.psu.edu/ga5in/MediaCenter.html
http://www.mythtv.org/
http://freevo.sourceforge.net/

If I was going to set something like that up at home, I would not use windows. It just isnt stable enough and from what I've heard the windows media center lacks some features which you will probably require. I would suggest you read some reviews first. If you want me to, I will dig out that review....

Joe_Bloggs

@Urbanite and all.
The power supply is a critical device that is often the first thing to fail. To prevent this the components inside a power supply must be cooled adequately. Large heatsinks are used inside and their size and thermal conductivity has to be scaled up with designed maximum power.
Power supplies also need to have a significant air flow through them for the heatsinks to transport the heat away. Many power supplies have two fans often one is temperature controlled. If things get hot inside the airflow is increased and the power supply adds to the noise.

The source of air is more trouble tp the power supply. Often this air is drawn in from that blown through the CPU heatsink. The CPU got air from the video card.The video card got air that was heated by the motherboard components.

Squeezing things in too close concentrates more heat and requires more airflow hence more noise to get rid of it.

There are another major power supply components on the motherboard that typically convert 5 Amps at 12 volts to 20 Amps at 1.5V for the main processor. These components are mainly cooled in a small case by CPU heatsink exhaust. Components in this region are under high stress all ready. Often the capacitors fail, killing the motherboard and perhaps the main power supply.


AMD have made great steps to reduce power consumption and thermal losses compared to intel whilst maintaining comparable computing ability and adding 64 bit support. This allows their CPUs to operate in more confined spaces without excessively heating up the enclosed environment.

J_B.