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building a media centre

lewisredfern001

lewisredfern001

Car  BG 182
ok guys i have decided that instead of plugging my laptop into my tv to stream dvds, music and go on the net i am going to build a media centre.

basically im a novice when it comes to this so need some direction. here is what i would like to acheive:

ability to stream blue ray/hd dvds from hard drive (or disc if my budget will allow, if not then just off HD will b fine)
play itunes via my surround sound
surf the internet
in time i would like to be able to stream to other rooms in my house.

i am thinking about using a desktop pc which is easilly upgradeable. any suggestions on what i could use would be great, i would prefer just something i can just plug and play with at least 50gb hard drive to start with, but will need space to upgrade to a couple of Tb's.

any more info on what i need would be great or if anyone knows of anyone selling anything then let me know. also any good software ideas would be great.

i am working to a budget around £200quid to start off with then upgrade as my collection gets bigger. hope this is realistic

cheers in advance

lewis
 
Have figured I may jus buy the bits and build a proper media centre now, apart from a case wot do I need, in basic terms please guys?
 
iv just spent about £340 on one, but the case was £100 without PSU.

spec is:

mATX motherboard with HDMI port
AMD2 x2 5000+
4GB RAM
1TB HDD
Twin DVB-T card
450WPSU
Antec Fusion case
Wireless keyboard/mouse in one
MCE remote
Vista Ultimate

prior to this i was running it on an old P4 tower with 1gb ram and 250gb hdd and it worked fine, i just wanted something nicer for the living room!

case.jpg
 
Last edited:
Remeber that it is important to get something with quiet fans. If you have ever watched a DVD on a PS2 and not been annoyed by the noise it made, then obviously you can ignore my advice.
 
i've just finished building my media centre pc but spent far too much lol

this is the case i used but in black.

i've got a mobo for sale that should be good in a htpc for £50 it's a gigabyte GA-EG45M-DS2H (as long as you don't want a graphics card that is)
 
isnt it easier to get a ps3? and stream to it from your desktop?
 
i did want to do that but i want something upgradeable and dedicated to audio and video, i had a ps3 and it never got played. plus i got a few hundred gig of media
 
just get a western digital media player and plug a usb hard drive into it and plug it into the hdmi port - sorted, under £100
 
Depend what you want! what does the WD box do? record tv?

media centre is a full blown media center, u can have all ur HD and Bluray movies on it, downloaded stuff, i-player and all the others, internet on a massive screen which is always handy, all your photographs, mp3's, gaming on a big telly, crysis on a 42" plasma in full HD isnt bad! etc, etc. possibilities are endless!
 
I have one of these, used for surfing on TV, had HD resolution off HD, records TV, good for watching iplayer, works a treat.

I have upgraded the RAM and thinking of doing the HD but its good and compact.
 
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