Best "Living Room" Pc

Craig_THW

Hey Folks,

Looking for your help... at the moment I have a laptop which does me ok except for the fact the power bit in the back has now broken 3 or 4 times and the charger is now broke also.. i'll eventually get it fixed but at the moment it is lasting around 4 months before i have to get it fixed at a cost of around £50 a time.. Supposidly a common fault on Laptops especially my model..

Anyway.. I have reciently got myself a 32" LCD HDTV.. My Plan is to hook up a PC to this and use it for a PC Monitor which means i can watch films and basicly use it as a media centre and also surf the net etc..

So Im basicly lookin for a Living room PC.. Something small which can be easily put on my glass unit along with my Virgin etc..

Spec Wise Doesnt need to be great just good enough to surf the net download, look at photos etc, Dont need a big HD I have an external one just now which i use for all my Movies, Photos and Music which i'll be able to hook up to the new PC.. A Wireless Network card is preffered but not vital

Don't need a Monitor, Mouse, Keyboard, Speakers or anything like that, so just the base unit.. Price wise.. Below £400.. but pref around £300 I have found http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1519123729.1197298403@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccehaddmjmmjhdjcflgceggdhhmdfog.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=622059&category_oid=-27737 which will give you the idea of what im looking at.. although cant seem to buy the unit without the monitor..

Really like the look of http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/editorial/philips-freevents-pctv but cant find it without the TV..

Any help appriciated

Zagu

If you do a search for 'media PC', there are several manufacturers out there.

Heres one.

I think the main difference between a front room PC and a normal one is the case, as they dont look great in your front room, and trying to find a fanless one. I believe the Core 2 is very low power consumption, so theres probably a fanless cooler for that.

Would you consider building one yourself?

Craig_THW

Zagu wrote: »

If you do a search for 'media PC', there are several manufacturers out there.

Heres one.

I think the main difference between a front room PC and a normal one is the case, as they dont look great in your front room, and trying to find a fanless one. I believe the Core 2 is very low power consumption, so theres probably a fanless cooler for that.

Would you consider building one yourself?

I'd build one up for sure.. Im quite compitent at building them up only flaw is im not to up to date on what motherboard matches what CPU and what parts match what... But Give me the parts and i could build it up no problem..

If im building it up id require...

Case
Motherboard
CPU
Memory
Power Supply
Graphics Card?
Wireless Controller

I Already have a Hard Disc and i have a DVD RW i can put in..

Zagu

I considered doing the same a while back, using a mini ATX board. Some good info/products here. I was going to use Mythtv, as it seems to tick all the boxes.

fwor

Looks like I've gone through a similar process to Zagu, in that I looked seriously at the Epia mini-ITX systems. In fact I came very close to buying one as the basis of a fanless media centre.

I was persuaded not to by someone who had already built one, and recommended against because:

1. You get very little processing power for your cash
2. They run very hot and (incredibly) the CPUs have (or had when I looked) no thermal management, so you won't know if it's about to melt
3. Cases and accessories are all expensive for what you get.

I ended up building a MythTV backend/frontend on a Shuttle (which is too noisy for the living room but has the grunt and capacity for 2 tuners) and an Asus Pundit P1-AH2 for the quiet remote frontend. I was very happy with the latter, as it was quite cheap to build and the built-in graphics can drive a high res 22" widescreen monitor with no problems.

albertross_2

Assuming the lcd has a vga input, Fix the laptop, and buy a new power supply (maplin etc), and a wireless keyboard with touchpad (ebuyer), and it should last forever, because you won't be constantly pulling the power lead out.

(It sounds like the repair isn't being done properly if this has happened more than once)

ABH_3

I agree with Albertross, you could conceivably use the laptop as a media center unit, either using a vga to hdmi lead for upscaling to your tv's resolution.

You would then need something like this: http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/3273849/Hauppauge-WinTV-Nova-TD-Dual-DVB-T-Tuner-With-Diversity-Model-1175/Product.html and an external aeriel to feed it to give you freeview on your laptop. and something like the keysonic keyboard for control: http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=531870 you then have a list of frontends ranging from mythtv through to media center edition or Nero.de the makes of nero disk maker which you may already have on your computer.
http://www.team-mediaportal.com/
http://www.parker1.co.uk/mythtv_ubuntu.php all free.

Alternatively if you don't mind paying there's the following ranging from a little to a lot more:

http://8dim.com/
http://sagetv.com/
http://www.snapstream.com/

Alternatively, you could go the self-build route and there's alot of advice here: http://www.avforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=265 as an htpc\living room pc is nothing more than a pc with a tv card, and a remote control.

Alternatively, there's the mac-mini which is worth a mention as it's extremely quiet, though you do need to buy additional hardware from either miglia or elgato to get it to function as a pvr. http://www.elgato.com/elgato/int/mainmenu/products/tuner/compare.en.html http://www.miglia.com/ though I don't know if the situation is still correct, but I am told that the 'Apple TV' product isn't exactly ready for UK release as it's only 'half way there' but my mini functions quite adequately as a bedroom htpc for watching the occasional episode of tv recorded to dvd. But my mac crazy friends who have purchased 'Apple TV' tell me it's 'not worth the money maybe in the US, but not the UK'. (Cue huge backlash from the Apple community on these boards).

HTH

isofa

I definitely wouldn't bother with Apple TV, waste of tiny IMO. You could shortlist a decent MacBook or Mac Mini as a media "PC" though, with a TV tuner stick, they are a pretty effective solution.

Sony are also making one at the moment, it's in the shape of a circle, but I can't remember the model name/code.

I've tried Macs and PCs for this purpose, and neither really cut it, nothing, at the moment, beats a dedicated PVR/DVD recorder, silent (at least in standby), all in one box, stylish etc. But obviously they lack the PC element to surf and use as a computer!

nickcardwell

Recently did the same.

Bought this case:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-060-AN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=160

With this board
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-125-AB&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=326

With 2 *500gb samsung hard drives (samsung are the quietest hds )

Quiet heatsink and fan.
4gb ram (plenty of ram to stop virtual ram being used
windows vista
Motherboard with hdmi built in /optical connector
Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.
Machine is very quiet, and is hooked up to 2 lcd screens (one in the kitchen and one in the living room)
So if the mrs is watching tv i can go into the kitchen /dining room withthe keyboard and mouse and start working away.


The optical connector (for sound) is connected into my amp. Currently use it to view internet/ watch dvds (dolby 5.1 etc) /day to day stuff.

Very happy with it.

Blacksheep1979

apple TV is terrible quality and limited format support. Either have a look at a mac mini or there is a tiny shuttle that is the same size (although a touch pricier) or build one yourself with a decent case - can reccomend the antec fusion. It comes with a decent PSU several big but quiet fans to keep it cool and it looks like a piece of hifi kit.

Craig_THW

Cheers for your help so far folks..

Still not sure what im after as of yet...

Am i better with a dedicated TVR? This side of things aint that important at the moment but in the future its something id be intrested in..

Am i better getting something basic just now which i can upgrade.. My Thoughs so far are:

Case.. ??
Motherboard.. AsRock.. £50
CPU.. AMD Duel Core.. £40
RAM.. 1GB DD2.. £25
Wireless Network COntroller.. £15

So About £130 plus a case.. Any Recomendations for a stylish case to fit that motherboard and i need a quiet fan...

Would put my current HD in and use my current DVD-RW and i've got a wireless keyboard and mouse..

Plan to use XP Media Centre i think..