HTPC

[Yakov]

Anyone out there have a Home Theater PC? Share if you do (specs, what you use it for, etc.)

I have an old PIII 1GHz, 512MB RAM, 20GB IDE HD, nVidia geForce 5200 256MB video card. It was sitting around so I decided about half a year ago to convert it to an HTPC. It works pretty decent but the old hard drive was ATA 66 so it took a while to load Windows and it was slow sometimes when running applications. Recently, I replaced the 20GB ATA 66 hard drive with a 20GB ATA 100 and the speed improved. At the same time, I loaded Windows 7 RC and it runs great.

Watching DVDs is awesome, and in my opinion, the PC itself upscales the DVD resolution so no need for an upscaling stand-alone DVD player. The XBox360 doesn't upscale DVDs.

As far as the audio, at the time I put it together, I was using the onboard audio hooked up to the receiver using only stereo sound. Recently, for about $20, I added a Turtle Beach sound card with optical out to provide the 5.1 surround. Works great!

Newegg.com had a special on an Adesso ARC-1100 Vista Infrared Remote Control - Retail for $19.99 with free shipping. This completed the system since a few months prior, I purchased a Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse to control the PC from my recliner but the distance was too long where the mouse and keyboard lagged or did not recognize the input signals to the PC. The remote itself has a mini mouse cursor so no keyboard required and I can use the Windows on-screen keyboard to type.

So that's version 1 of the HTPC.

The pros are the DVD playback capabilities, a PC to use on the 50" plasma. The cons are online streaming like Hulu, it's too choppy due to the video card and processor speed.

Version 2 should be completed in about a week and a half. It will include a P4 3.2 GHz, 1GB RAM, 80GB Serial ATA HD.
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"The only way to measure intelligence is to stare at the sun." - Yakov
HTC Touch Diamond - Sprint