My New Media Center

[Mapnapkin]

I have a new project, I want to get rid of all my components and speakers (I have a lot of big speakers) in the front room and run everything on a computer.

I was thinking of starting with the barebones at my local store.. here

then getting the new SoundBlaster ZS

with the ATI Radeon All-in-Wonder 9800 Pro

I will play a few games but not much.
mainly listen to music, watch DVDs, wonder through the intronet and also play my cable to my "regular" tv, soon to be hdtv.

I am also building my own tv stand and a see-through case that will fit under the tv behind a door. the case will have two sections, one for the motherboard and one for the power, dvd and two hard drives. there will be a 80mm air hole at the bottom sides of both sections and also at the top of each section.
The motherboard will be angled 45 degrees with the back panel at the back-top of the tv stand.

The only fan will be on the power supply
mounted on the wall between the two sections sucking the air out of the motherboard side.

My worries are..
1. I'm curious if it will work to plug my cable box into the computer and supply enough quality to the TV

2. "number two removed because it was stupid"

3. anybody have any suggestions on the cooling.. the goal is to keep it silent

4. which barebones system would be a good start.

thank you for reading this, I am very excited about this project and look forward to your comments..

Dm

 

[Lax]

Sorta like this?
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=150923

 

[Mapnapkin]

wow.. thats cheap.. pretty impressive.
thats is a good substitute, not quite a computer though.
I don't like the interface software.

I want to run XP pro on mine.
I also want a network to my home office and work office computers.
I also like building my own, that way the tech support is better..
also more powerful computer

thanks for the link I've been looking for stuff like that

Dm

 

[evilxp2800]

I have a new project, I want to get rid of all my components and speakers (I have a lot of big speakers) in the front room and run everything on a computer.

I was thinking of starting with the barebones at my local store.. here

then getting the new SoundBlaster ZS

with the ATI Radeon All-in-Wonder 9800 Pro

I will play a few games but not much.
mainly listen to music, watch DVDs, wonder through the intronet and also play my cable to my "regular" tv, soon to be hdtv.

I am also building my own tv stand and a see-through case that will fit under the tv behind a door. the case will have two sections, one for the motherboard and one for the power, dvd and two hard drives. there will be a 80mm air hole at the bottom sides of both sections and also at the top of each section.
The motherboard will be angled 45 degrees with the back panel at the back-top of the tv stand.

The only fan will be on the power supply
mounted on the wall between the two sections sucking the air out of the motherboard side.

My worries are..
1. I'm curious if it will work to plug my cable box into the computer and supply enough quality to the TV

2. then what, plug the video card into the sound card??

3. anybody have any suggestions on the cooling.. the goal is to keep it silent

4. which barebones system would be a good start.

thank you for reading this, I am very excited about this project and look forward to your comments..

Dm

There is No Possible way for you to plug your Video Card into ur Sound Card That Cant be Done you have to use 2 Pci slots or 1 Pci and 1 Agp ....

 

[Mapnapkin]

ya sorry..
that wasn't the most .. brilliant question.
I think I typed before I thought.
I will have to remove that number

so ya sound goes through the coax and out the sound card. but that will only be 5.1 surround right?

Dm

 

[spacedude89]

mabey insted of xp pro, get media center edition. i havnt paid any attention to what exactly it contains and what software it has, but it might be a better os for you...

 

[Mapnapkin]

I looked at it for a second but it looks closer to a WebTV type interface.
I want full OS functions.

I'm more curious about the cooling and quality of the computer components.

Dm

 

[Praetor]

I also like building my own, that way the tech support is better..

Hahaha well said

here is No Possible way for you to plug your Video Card into ur Sound Card That Cant be Done you have to use 2 Pci slots or 1 Pci and 1 Agp ....

Actually there is a connection between the AIW and the soundcard...

so ya sound goes through the coax and out the sound card. but that will only be 5.1 surround right?

Depends on (1) the source and (2) the soundcard

I'm more curious about the cooling and quality of the computer components.

Have a look at either a Zalman (if you dont wanna tinker) or a Thermaltake (much better heatsinks but requires some knowledge and product selection)

 

[691175002]

If you are getting hdtv, buy a tv tuner NOW!!!
I know that sometime soon (the first of july I think) all hdtv cards will have to support some DRM standard that will prevent you from recording and burning the shows and stuff like that.
If you google a bit you should be able to find a list of cards that dont have it yet.

 

[Mapnapkin]

hdtv cards will have to support some DRM standard that will prevent you from recording and burning the shows and stuff like that.

cool, thanks I'll look into that right now

Depends on (1) the source and (2) the soundcard

1.The source would be a Comcast DVR cable box
2.soundcard - SoundBlaster ZS (has 7.1)

I'm familuar with Thermaltake, I will check out Zalman

Thanks
Dm

 

[speedyink]

I looked at it for a second but it looks closer to a WebTV type interface.
I want full OS functions.

I'm more curious about the cooling and quality of the computer components.

Dm

Windows media center edition is almost exactly like XP pro, except it has a add on program which makes it "easier" to look at all your stuff. You can still run it like normal windows xp

 

[Mapnapkin]

Windows media center edition is almost exactly like XP pro, except it has a add on program which makes it "easier" to look at all your stuff. You can still run it like normal windows xp

Interesting, I'll have to look at it again.

Dm

 

[Lax]

Windows Media Center Edition (last I checked) was only available as a pre-loaded OS on certain "Media" PC's. Not too sure that you can go out and buy it from a store.

:edit: Looks like it's being sold now for ~150$ from ZZF BUT you need to "buy" a full system to be able to buy Media Center (Mobo,CPU,Ram,PSU)

 

[Cromewell]

Sometimes all you need to buy is a harddrive and get the OEM OS with that. I believe the System Builder license says you need to buy a componet that is critical to the PC to be able to buy OEM versions