Custom Built PC for Home Theater

[gcgreen]

I would like to custom build a pc for home theater/audio use. Any advice from experienced users on components? I feel comfortable working inside my computer, but have never built a system from scratch. I would like to stay around $600-$700.

Thanks for any help.

[videofan]

i'm afraid your budget is a bit too low for a "real" home theatre system. it also depends on your display device: crt monitor / 4:3 tv / 16:9 tv / plasma panel, etc and the surround sound system: built-in ac3 decoder / external av receiver and the speakers, of course. also playing dvd and audio cd it's not the same as playing divx, and so forth. so, start by defining exactly what you want to use your pc for.

[UHT]

i have one of these built

amd duron 850
epox mobo...dont remember which one
256mb sd ram
16x toshiba dvd rom
32x samsung cd rom (for 2cd movies)
sound blaster live 5.1
ati radeon 7500

[Deptmaster]

This is my favorite topic because it's what i've been planning on doing too. Thats a good setup you have UTH but I'd suggest some changes for someone looking to make an inexpensive standalone.

Case - My plan is to get a microAtx desktop and spray paint in black with a deap gloss. Same goes for the DVD tray. Also the Cool grey YY-A102 from YeongYang looks pretty slick too.
Motherboard - Try to find a MicroATX either Intel or AMD based your choice made by a decent company. Some motherboards do 5.1 dobly out but thats really only going to save you 20 bucks or so instead of getting a cheep sound card.
Video - Id stay away from the Nvidia cards if all your going to be using it for is tv out. The ATI Radeon LE SDR w/tv is around $40-45 does hardware Mpeg2.
Sound - Check around on this one, i was planning on using Sound Blaster 5.1 but i've heard some weird stories about driver problems.
CPU - you shouldnt need to go higher than 700Mhz for Intel or AMD. The Durrons and Celerons might work better if you do decide to use a smaller case because they produced less heat and use less juice. Get a high quality heatsink that doesnt produce alot of noise, I have a Millennium Glaciator and it's very quiet.
Memory and HD - Don't go above 128MB for SDR or DDR. Hard Drive Speed isnt that important and a 54k Hard drive is suprisingly cooler than a 72k. I'm planing on one or two 30GB Western Digital WD300AB so i can have a library of around 20 or 40 movies on hand at all times.
DVD/CD - I've basically decided to just go without either and just connect to the home lan i recently setup. But if you dont have a network anything will do, get an older dvd whatever you can find thats cheapest because this isnt going to be a bottleneck inless you want to copy the movies to the hard drive before you watch them.

Ventilation! Consider cutting a blowhole above the CPU and remember use all lower noise fans including the Power Supply, i.e. panflow.

I'm also looking into IR remotes but havent quite gotten that figured out yet. A Computer building project like this would actually be a good place to start learning, it has relatively few part none of which are very expensive. And remember PriceWatch is your friend.

[UHT]

its UHT!!

also check out papst fans, much better than panaflo
papst = 26.5cfm at 19dBA
panaflo = 24cfm at 21dBA

[Deptmaster]

Yeah i was trying remember papbst it was like 1:30AM and all i could thing of were the panaflow.

[gcgreen]

Thanks for the responses. I guess I should have been more specific. I currently have a Sony receiver (unsure about model) with digital/optical audio inputs that has a 5.1 decoder. Speaker system is Bose surround sound (5 speakers mounted on ceiling with subwoofer on floor). Current TV is standard 32" (4:3 display). Would like to get widescreen HDTV or plasma (when price comes down) in future.

Our house is wired with cat-5 network; have a jack in entertainment center. This computer will be used for playback of mp3 audio and divx movies only. I use GKnot package on one of my office computers to rip and encode to divx.

Has anyone read about the Xcard from Sigma Designs? It will do hardward decode of MPEG 4. Does the company have a good reputation? The card is priced at $99.

[Deptmaster]

Well I believe the SB5.1 does digital output which would go dirrectly to your reciever ,but you'd have to check on that. As for the TV thing, Just get a good video card with tv-out to use now and later when you upgrade to a HD you can connect it dirrectly to your monitor cable via a vga to component video converter.
As for the x card, Inless the video is alot better i just cant see paying a $100 for hardware decoding when a $40-$50 CPU can do such a good job at tv like resolutions. Now if it does Mpeg4 ENcoding thats a different story all together.

[videofan]

i've heard some people complaining about sb5.1 driver glitches. personally, i have a crystal dsp chip-based sound card with optical output and it works great.
ati has a good reputation about tv-out quality, and i subscribe to this optinion as i'm using a radeon-based one and plain tv set.
your cat5 wiring makes me think of the possibility to have your playback pc in another room and avoid the ground noise from the fans disturb your dolby digital pleasure. if you find the appropriate baluns, you may connect your video out (s-video better than composite) and use the utp to send the signal to the tv screen - i think it's not so difficult to accomplish. but you'll need a good remote control (radio, not ir) which fits your budget and the ability to control the playback software. a (software) programmable device would be the best, i think.
if you have the chance to test a plasma panel with your system, it would be great to drop a line - i'm chasing, too, the moment when the prices will drop enough to hang some bucks on the wall.
finally, yes, i've heard about realmagic xcard. i know it's brand new stuff, and never tested it. it may be not bad at all, but wait for at least 6 months or so, until next-generation drivers, faster and more stable, will be available. the price will probably drop, too, and you'll be able to read some decent reviews in order to decide if you're in or not.

[Delta-V]

The SB Live and Audigy Digital Out will go straight into the receiver. You have to install SPDIF output enabler available on this site. Then you can enjoy full 5.1 sound. This is how I have mine set up. I can encode my DVD's with AC3 sound and store them on the hdd, and never touch the originals (important with a child in the house). You have to use something like WinDVD or PowerDivx that can use the SPDIF output

This is the setup I've got:
Dual P-III 700mhz
Supermicro P6DBE (got it for free)
SB Audigy Gamer
ATI All-In-Wonder 128
140GB of storage
256mb SDRAM
Logitech Cordless mouse and keyboard

The ATI comes with software to do TIVO-like stuff, but it isn't quite made for satillite, with everything on the S-Vid connector, but I can work around it. When I go HDTV, I'm planning on getting one with a VGA input. There's a few available out there. Then get an HDTV decoder card for the computer instead of the set-top box.

The one thing I haven't found is a good remote control program. I've got an old Packard Bell remote with IR, but I'd like to be able to use the remote from the Pioneer AV receiver with it. I use it for all the rest of the HT system. The mouse just doesn't have the range.

[macdaddy]

Try girder...

The program is not for the faint of heart-many people get stumped. But it does work, and clever usage allows for damn-near total automation for htpc tasks. You might be lucky, and there might be a girder plugin for your ati and it's capture program that you are using. In that case, it won't be much more complicated than using winamp with a configurable third-party plugin...

Good luck. Let us know what you find out...

[rmatei]

Go to the avs forum (www.avsforum.com), in the HTPC section. It's there you'll find the most experienced people at this, and they have some good threads about recommendations for HTPC components.

If it's only for mp3/divx playback you can do it for $6-700. 2 important things are the audio and graphics card:
- Any sound card with DIGITAL (pcm/dd) output. Careful with soundblasters.
- Definitely a Radeon card. Say, the All-In-Wonder or even better the Radeon 7500. They rule the video playback / TV out market. It would have a TV-out for now and later you would connect with an RGB connection (to plasma/projector) to get much better results than S-video.
- Any decent, quiet hard drive, with enough space for whatever you want on it.
- Decentish, cheap CPU. About 800 MHz should be enough. Get an Intel if you want the PC to be quiet, so you can put a low-power cooler on it.
- About 128 mb SDRAM should also be enough.
- A good quiet PSU. Try Enermax, about 250W should be enough.
- Any mid tower case. The Fong Kai 603 (http://www.directron.com/fk603atxcase.html) is a favorite of mine.

I don't even think you'd need a case fan with this. As for building it, don't worry. I built a computer from scratch for the first time 2 months ago and it booted at the first try. Have fun...

(Now, when will people stop buying friggin Bose speakers...:()

[mban]

Hello All,
I have a question when playing a divx with a video card TV OUT give excellent quality when played on a tv such as on your computer monitor. The reason I ask is i have been debating getting a New video card with Tv out or getting a bigger computer monitor. The company I work for have decided to do away with there 32 inch computer monitor for $800 us dollars but I think Tv out is a cheaper method. quality? is my main concern.
ANY THOUGHTS

[rmatei]

Obviously, it depends what kind of TV you have. On the absolute, PC monitors give better quality (more resolution, progressive, higher refresh rates...)

[anarco]

600-700 is not enough I´d rather consider using a cheap laptop

there are some for € 1400 with dvd and tvout
and you don´t have to care about noise...
there are usually no large fans

and best of all the damn thing doesn´t look homemade, fits everywhere and can be taken everywhere :)

in my eyes setting up from scratch makes sense if you are able to construct a very-quick-boot OS for it and are not spending more than $500 ... networking from other machines is kinda pointless that way you could go for a good scart cable ...

(not sure about the length limit of cables - though camera cables easily do 50m and more - I bet scart does too... I got a cheap 10m cinch from pc to tv and it doesn´t harm the image quality)

... and plug it into your usual machine... since it would be running anyway.. that way you don´t have to care about noise either cause your usual PC is probably in a different room

minus of that setup.. no control from your showroom... but hey you could build a remote control for less than $20 by using a cheap keyboard limiting to the cursor keys or whatever...

at all that would be about 100$ if at all for a cable and a keyboard ;)

[Deptmaster]

A laptop could be cool, expecially if you could find one on clearance with a damaged display. My ideas have changed somewhat since i wrote my previous post, I'm using my old atx desktop case instead of a flex case, It's an enlight 7200, kinda big but i can use an old full size motherboard and it fits well in my tv stand. Circulation is pretty good with the 2 120mm low speed panaflo. I've also come to the conclusion that the Millennium Glaciator is not quiet enough without reducing the voltage to the fan with a rheostat. I've also added some dynamat Xtreme sheets to reduce noise. It was alot of work and i still have some left I'm very happy with the results even if i had to set my CPU back down to stock speeds. :(
I dont worry about booting slow as i keep the system on most of the time, Its so quiet that it doesnt bother me and the fans are spining so slow i don't worry about burning them out very soon.