Cheapest media pc?

[TheDingo]

I am looking into building a media pc that will be used as my home entertainment center (getting ready to move out). Me and my girlfriend are pretty tight for money right now and I was wondering how to get a good system for the cheapest price. That will be easy to upgrade in the future when I have more cash on hand.
I would like it to be small and sleek/nice looking (being a living room peice)
I will run windows xp media and it will be hooked up to a plasma flat screen. This will be where we watch all movies along with record and download movies and whatnot.
Remember cash is an issue.
Thanks for reading.

[Timoi]

You said you wanted a small case, does that mean you are looking into micro ATX cases/motherboards?

Do you have any preferance for either Intel or AMD CPUs?

Also if you want your system to be highly upgradable, you should go with the best motherboard and CPU you can affoard at the moment. Ones with technologies as recent as possible since upgrading these in the future may mean basically a completely new computer. (Personally, I still regret going with that AGP motherboard)

Other than that you say you are willing to upgrade later? in that case you could go for a lower end video card, not too much RAM (something like 256 or 512 Megs? you can always add more/change this later, just know that sometimes different brands of ram are not compatible and you may have problems if you try to add more later if you picked a cheap brand which will be hard to find again. Unless you want replace your ram when you upgrade it, I recommend you go for a big, well known brand.), and a fairly small HDD. For a media PC such as this, a plain dvd rom drive would do at first but for the difference in price I would go for a cheap DVD burner and upgrade to a blue ray disc and/or HD DVD capable drive when they become cheaper, you have more money, and blue ray discs and/or HD DVDs are more common.

[TheDingo]

You said you wanted a small case, does that mean you are looking into micro ATX cases/motherboards?

Do you have any preferance for either Intel or AMD CPUs?

Also if you want your system to be highly upgradable, you should go with the best motherboard and CPU you can affoard at the moment. Ones with technologies as recent as possible since upgrading these in the future may mean basically a completely new computer. (Personally, I still regret going with that AGP motherboard)

Other than that you say you are willing to upgrade later? in that case you could go for a lower end video card, not too much RAM (something like 256 or 512 Megs? you can always add more/change this later, just know that sometimes different brands of ram are not compatible and you may have problems if you try to add more later if you picked a cheap brand which will be hard to find again. Unless you want replace your ram when you upgrade it, I recommend you go for a big, well known brand.), and a fairly small HDD. For a media PC such as this, a plain dvd rom drive would do at first but for the difference in price I would go for a cheap DVD burner and upgrade to a blue ray disc and/or HD DVD capable drive when they become cheaper, you have more money, and blue ray discs and/or HD DVDs are more common.


Thanks for the response.
I dont really care about the CPU. I guess you are right about the mobo, buying a newer one now will actually save quite a bit in the future. And I think that we will be okay as of ram. I will shop around for good brands for the best price.

[Zephik]

Well, if your question has been answered, I think I am going to ask a question using your thread.

...commence thread hijacking, now.

What is different between a Media PC and all of the other genres of PC's other than how it looks?

-SnowFire

[TheDingo]

Yeah I dont care we can share it lol, but I was wondering some actual brands/names of parts that would make it the best for the best price.

[Kabniel]

i'd say:

media PC: focus on lots of storage and good video out, and has video in

gaming: focus on high RAM, high graphics, usually good sound, stays away from wireless (although we may be seeing this isn't as true anymore)

kiosk/terminal/work type thing: doesn't really use any expansion cards like vid or sound, the basic of the basic. probably used for internet/email/word processing most often.

Specialty: usually an editing machine. Sound or video. Has the appropriate ins and outs. lots of storage, high RAM.

umm. that's about it besides a laptop.

[Crimson Sky]

My HTPC (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/index.php?module=photoshare&func=showimages&fid=5), for an example has the following:

2.8Ghz Pentium 4
MSI Neo mATX mobo
1GB Corsair XMS Pro
2x 250GB WD SATA
250W Shuttle PSU
ATI Radeon All In Wonder 9800 Pro (vid out)
Haupauge PVR 250 with onboard MPEG Capture (S-Video in from cable box)
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Logitech Z-5550 THX speakers
Logitech Bluetooth Keyboard/Mouse Combo
Sony Double Layer CD/DVD writer
WinXP Home
BeyondTV 4.5 (http://www.snapstream.com/)
Beyond Media

The case was made from materials costing about $30 from Lowes and Home Depot. There is a full color worklog of the project in my book, the MaximumPC Guide to Extreme PC Mods (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789731924/thebestcase06-20/002-8841673-2223222?creative=327641&camp=14573&link_code=as1)


http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/index.php?module=photoshare&type=show&func=viewimage&iid=34&viewkey=


You could shave off costs in lots of areas, and save the cash for the much needed capture card, like the PVR 250. If you dont get a capture card with onboard MPEG hardware, you will need a more powerful proc to capture video. Just because a gaming video card has video in, it requires a powerful proc and relies on software to encode the stream. You could use the mobo's onboard audio instead of a pci card. Most inexpensive video cards have vivo (video in, video out) so you can get a low end.

Decide how you will output video. SVHS put or composite is the most economical, depending on your tv monitor. You will need input devices as well--a remote such as the one that comes with the Haupauge is good, although it doesnt have a mouse. A regular wireless keyboard/mouse is only good for about 4 feet, despite what the box says. I use a Logitech wireless Bluetooth combo, good for about 30 feet. Perfect for using at the sofa. I stroingly recommend at least a bluetooth mouse, you can always use the onscreen (crappy) keyboard in Windows or plug in a USB keyboard when you have to get into the system bios or anything else. Beyond TV and Beyond Media both have screens for typing with a mouse for searching programing info.

Why dont I just get a TiVo? First off, TiVo charges you for getting program info and lineups from your cable company. Beyond TV does this for free, according to my package and line up. This info is refreshed daily. I can also program remote recordings from anywhere in the world using a PC or my cellphone. I can also watch my live TV and recorded shows anywhere in the world with BeyondTV's VPN software. its a killer app for the price. With Beyond Media, I can acess all my music, photos and video right onscreen. There are dozens of plugins written for it by users, such as streaming broadcast TV content, weather, streaming radio stations, movies and showtimes for theaters in my zipcode, even how to mix a mean martini and thousands of other drinks. Beyond TV Link allows you to control Beyond TV from any PC in the house, or around the globe.

Beyond TV can capture in 2 levels of DVD Ready MPEG, Windows Media or DivX. It can compress MPEGs to any format once you've recorded a show to save space...it does this while you're idle so it doesnt use CPU cycles. You can pause and rewind live TV. I can also burn any MPG(s)to disk with one button inside BeyondTV, creating a DVD compatible with most settop players.

Save your money for the 3 most important elements in an HTPC. The capture card, storage and the front end software.

[Zephik]

i'd say:

media PC: focus on lots of storage and good video out, and has video in

gaming: focus on high RAM, high graphics, usually good sound, stays away from wireless (although we may be seeing this isn't as true anymore)

kiosk/terminal/work type thing: doesn't really use any expansion cards like vid or sound, the basic of the basic. probably used for internet/email/word processing most often.

Specialty: usually an editing machine. Sound or video. Has the appropriate ins and outs. lots of storage, high RAM.

umm. that's about it besides a laptop.

So there really isn't a difference between the different genres of PC's other than the components and software? Well that clears things up. I always thought that "Media PC's" were more like DVD players or something. But from what you say, then "Media PC's" are just computers with all the necessary components and software to utilize the media viewing experience.

So would a good graphics card be recommended for a "Media PC"? Or is that more for you gaming rigs because of the "real life" factor of movies and other related media such as that? Or I guess to put it in a simple question... What does a GPU do for games compared to what it does for media?

-SnowFire

[Kabniel]

SnowFire:
I can't really say what the main difference would be. I can make assumptions though. Such as the media format. Movie formats are prepackaged to be displayed one way. The requirements to display this info is less taxing to a system than something like a game. In a game, the GPU is constantly having to adjust textures, shaders, etc in relation to the point of view of the player. It's constantly having to manipulate what you see. Whereas the movie doesn't require any "thought".

again, i have no idea. but that'd be my guess. i have no background into what goes into game creation.

Crimson Sky: I havn't looked into it too much, but what do you know about MythTv? How similar would that be to BeyondTV?

*edit* also, the reason I say components determine the genre is because of what's required. You want your PC to do what you want. Sometimes you have to customize it to that purpose. I mainly just want to play games. I don't need really high sound, sound in, video capture, or lots of storage. So anything that resembled what a media PC or a kiosk wouldn't really do me.

[Crimson Sky]

MythTV, like any open source app is going to be a headache. If you enjoy spending hours trying to configure open source stuff to work with your hardware and sw, you're in luck. If you want to reliably record and watch LOST every week, get BeyondTV.

[Crimson Sky]

What does a GPU do for games compared to what it does for media?

-SnowFire

"If you dont get a capture card with onboard MPEG hardware, you will need a more powerful proc to capture video. Just because a gaming video card has video in, it requires a powerful proc and relies on software to encode the stream"

A dedicated MPEG capture card is the only way to fly. Gaming cards are all about framerates and performance, not video capture.

[Crimson Sky]

I mainly just want to play games. I don't need really high sound, sound in, video capture, or lots of storage. So anything that resembled what a media PC or a kiosk wouldn't really do me.


yeah but a high end HTPC is all about games as well ;)

[Crimson Sky]

Here's a good line up:

BeyondTV Package (http://store.snapstream.com/sssolution.html) $149

ASUS P3-PH4 Intel Socket T(LGA775) Intel Pentium D/Pentium 4 Intel 945G 4x 240Pin Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 Barebone (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16856110053) $184.99

Intel Pentium D 805 Smithfield (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116001)$91.99

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144701)$74.99

mushkin SP3200 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146219) $52.99

eVGA 256-A8-N313-LX GeForce FX5500 256MB 128-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130197) $55.99

NEC Black 18X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 18X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache E-IDE (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152076)$30.99

Microsoft Windows XP Home with SP2 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16837116193) $189.00

[Kabniel]

yeah but a high end HTPC is all about games as well ;)

point, but if i didn't want to spend more money than i had to, i could leave stuff out. :P

[Zephik]

What would be a good GPU for a combo system? Gaming and Media to be more specific.

or...

As most motherboards come with two PCI-E x16 these days, could you get two different GPU's? One for video capture and the other for FPS and performance? Is that possible?

-SnowFire

[TheDingo]

Thanks thats some nice stuff Im going to see if I can get my hands on some of it. Thanks Crimson

[Crimson Sky]

you're welcome =)