Can this set up be converted to a home theater pc????

G

gALOSAT

New Member
Hi guys I have a desktop with the following parts:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
Gigabyte GA-965P DS-3
G.Skill 2x1GB DDR2 800
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2 16MB cache
EVGA 7900GT KO
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Lite-on 16X DVD+-RW Burner with Lightscribe
Hiper HPU-4K580-MS 580w

Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2B

I wanted to convert this to a home theater pc so that I can play every format of movies right on my tv.
I wanted it to be able to play 1080P and have HDMI with sound out.
Is it possible to convert add this setup and do this?
Please help!
Thank you!
 
of course, please state you country and budget!
right you will need a graphics card with HDMI out, all hdmi carry sound. something like hd 4550 would probably be the least you can buy((but i would recommend using (if want proper home theater) and have the money the optical out from you computer into a av receiver, and do surround sound (i.e. have more than 2 speakers) ))
RAM might want to buy 4 GB so 2x2GB or 4x1GB
then you would want to buy a blu ray driver (you have sata ports on your mobo so that should be fine)
with the blu-ray driver should come powerdvd which would play the blu-rays, and many other formats.
i would also recommend upgrading to Windows 7 for better and faster performance.
so total cost (without the receiver and speakers and W7) would be around 150-200 pounds or 250-320 dollars, but thats tops.
 
Htpc...

Cameldude said:
of course, please state you country and budget!
right you will need a graphics card with HDMI out, all hdmi carry sound. something like hd 4550 would probably be the least you can buy((but i would recommend using (if want proper home theater) and have the money the optical out from you computer into a av receiver, and do surround sound (i.e. have more than 2 speakers) ))
RAM might want to buy 4 GB so 2x2GB or 4x1GB
then you would want to buy a blu ray driver (you have sata ports on your mobo so that should be fine)
with the blu-ray driver should come powerdvd which would play the blu-rays, and many other formats.
i would also recommend upgrading to Windows 7 for better and faster performance.
so total cost (without the receiver and speakers and W7) would be around 150-200 pounds or 250-320 dollars, but thats tops.
Click to expand...

I'm here in the USA.
I really don't want Blu ray for now but definetrely HDMI with sound out.
My main thing it's to be able to get this PC to play 1080P thru Hdmi out so that it's easy to send it to the tv.
My budget is $ 300 mx
Please help!
Thank you!
 
yeah, not a problem, but the 1080p movies only come on a blu-ray, so you would need a blu-ray. there is the mkv format, you would need a k-lite codec pack. as i said any hdmi cable 1.3 would carry sound over to the tv. no problems. i guess you would need the GPU and the ram. ok then dunno what others think but i would go for this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161315
and http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104008

that would be it i guess, but i would get the blu ray driver, this is the cheapest i could find http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151199
 
I'd recommend going with something like a Radeon HD 5450 as most of them are passively cooled. Not only does it have HDMI 1.3a but it can also decode H.264 and VC-1, the most common codecs used for 1080p material so there should be no stuttering.

I don't think you need to get any other hardware really, unless you want to get a remote.

I'd recommend using XBMC as the front end. You can set up a library for files on hard drives and you can also watch DVDs via the user interface. For 1080p material I'd look into setting XBMC to use Media Player Classic - Home Cinema as an external player or dsplayer. Both support DXVA (or GPU based decoding), so you shouldn't get any stuttering while playing 1080p videos.
 
Last edited:
Htpc

Thank you guys!

For now I will order the HDMI card and see how everything goes.

From there I might add the blue ray player once get it all worked out.

THank you!
 
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