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Components for a Home Theater PC?

M

MrToilet

Senior member
I'm thinking about building a home theater PC. My question is how fast of components do I need? It would only be for Home Theater/Video use, no heavy gaming or anything like that.

I don't want to break the bank or anything like that, and I don't need top-of-the-line performance- enough to be solid. I've found a case I like, the SilverStone Lascala 10M, and I'm thinking about using 2 or 3 300 GB Seagate HD's.

I would appreciate any recommendations for CPU, mobo, amount and type of memory, video card, etc. I'm pretty new to Home Theater PC's, so any advice would help.
 
Well first off, budget? And when you say no heavy gaming do you mean you want to be able to run the games, but not on max settings, or you will only be playing older games that do not require a strong system?
 
sound is another big issue. Do you have good quality amp / receiver or you want to connect PC to 5.1. PC speakers? This can considerably affect price in both ways
 
I'm doing the same thing you are, I've gone with Logitech Z-5500 for sound (w/ nForce Soundstorm) and a Dell 2405 for display. One thing I'm still not sure about is DVD's. Can I use my standard DVD rom to watch DVD's? Or do I need something better...
 
a standard dvd-rom will play dvds fine. and Ghouler said, sound is a huge issue, it should be something that you spare no expense with. youd be suprised as to how big of a differance quality sound makes in a computer or movie experience.

as for video cards, without an exact budget in mind, i cant say for sure, but you cant go wrong with a 9800 pro, i believe they are down around 150 now, and they will play most games pretty decently, too, if you are so inclined.

as for memory, 1gb should suffice, unless you want to edit video or something like that, then go with 2gb.
 
I have Logitech Z-5300 speakers with an Audidigy 2 ZS. The sound quality is the best that you could possibly expect for the price range ($150 for Z-5300 and $75 for A2 ZS).

MSI k8n neo4 $85
athlon venice 3000 - $145
corsair value select 1 gig ram $90
nvidia geforce 6600gt $150
 
What's progressive scan for then? I don't need to worry about that if I'm using my DVD-rom on my PC?
 
Whoops, sorry, forgot to talk about budget. After thinking about it, I was thinking around $7-800. I'm willing to spend a little more, but not too much.

I have an Audigy 2 ZS in my computer right now that will probably go in there when I upgrade, unless there is another sound card I should buy.
I'm planning on eventually hooking up this HTPC to my home theater system. I have a pretty decent receiver and 5.1 speaker already that I'm using.

I guess an important thing is the video card. I'm buying a HD DLP projector with screen- what type of video input should I use? Component, DVI, etc?
I was thinking about either a 6600GT,FX5700 or something similar for the vid card (somewhere between $100-150), although I've heard that ATI's AIW cards are pretty slick.

 
Does your receiver have 5.1 analog input (6 channel direct)?

I'm using a 6600gt via component to my projector, but DVI should be better if you have an option to do that (I'd need an adapter for my 4805).

What projector are you thinking about?
 
The Pioneer receiver I'm using has direct 5.1 inputs, no built-in Dolby Digital, it's a little old but still does the job.

I'm thinking about buying either the Panasonic PT-AE700 or Sanyo PLV-Z3 projector. Good specs, and good reviews, relatively inexpensive for the performance.
 
Originally posted by: MrToilet
The Pioneer receiver I'm using has direct 5.1 inputs, no built-in Dolby Digital, it's a little old but still does the job.

I'm thinking about buying either the Panasonic PT-AE700 or Sanyo PLV-Z3 projector. Good specs, and good reviews, relatively inexpensive for the performance.
Click to expand...

Oh, so you meant LCD projector then?

As long as you have 5.1 inputs the Audigy 2 should be a good choice for you... no need to spend more on a card if you already have that one.

So no Dolby Digital decoding on it? So it's like a Pro Logic receiver?
 
I think both of them are DLP projectors...

And the receiver I'm using is "Dolby Digital ready"- I bought it right when Dolby Digital was released. The DVD player I have right now has a built-in Digital decoder, so it outputs all 5.1 channels to the receiver via RCA inputs.

So how would I hook up an Audigy 2 ZS to a receiver like this? I suppose I would have to get a whole new receiver and everything...
 
that depends, does your current receiver have 5.1 analog inputs? if so, that would be your best route.

if your going to get into the audio spectrum of a home theater pc, then you should consider putting some money into upgrading your receiver (if budget allows). youd be surpised how much a differance a nice receiver can make. and that goes for speakers, as well.

as for the sound card, the new creative x-fi is supposed to be increadouble, even compared to audigy 2's and 4's. it might be something worth looking into
 
Originally posted by: MrToilet
I think both of them are DLP projectors...

And the receiver I'm using is "Dolby Digital ready"- I bought it right when Dolby Digital was released. The DVD player I have right now has a built-in Digital decoder, so it outputs all 5.1 channels to the receiver via RCA inputs.

So how would I hook up an Audigy 2 ZS to a receiver like this? I suppose I would have to get a whole new receiver and everything...
Click to expand...

AE700 is an LCD projector

so is the Z3

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Ok, so your receiver has 5.1 analog in that you're using from your DVD player. If you intend to get surround sound from your computer, then using that 5.1 analog input would be the easiest way to do that.

If you plan to use both a real DVD player and a computer as an input and want true surround sound from both, it seems like you're going to need a new receiver.... or you could make yourself a manual switch to select between which set of 5.1 analog inputs your receiver is using as the source.

Depending on your budget, it might be a good idea to invest in a more modern receiver. You can then hook up your DVD player via digital and get surround sound since your receiver will be able to decode the AC3 stream your DVD player will output and you can hook up your computer too.

If stereo sound is ok for you for all your computer material, then you could just hook up your computer via analog 2 channel on a standard input and then either keep it stereo on your receiver or select prologic or whatever it has to play from all speakers.

If you want surround sound in movies and stereo for games/music from your computer, then you could hook up via a digital connection on a new receiver.

If you want sourround sound in movies and games from your computer, then
1. you'd need to hook up via analog to a 5.1 input like your DVD player is hooked up now on a your current receiver and use the computer's DVD drive to play movies
or
2. get a new receiver with 5.1 analog input and use that for your computer while a real DVD player is hooked up via digital
or
3. get a new receiver that doesn't have to have a 5.1 analog input and use a soundcard that does Dolby Digital Live and hook up both the computer and DVD player via digital to the receiver.


Sorry if this post is totally random in its organization, I stopped halfway through and ordered some b-stock Onix Rocket 550 risers that I was informed were in stock... woot!
 
Take a look at http://www.htpcnews.com/.

Beware of "special" non-standard power supplies. If it breaks, you're at their mercy.

I suggest getting a vid card with passive cooling.

If your reciever is fed with 6 analog channels, the Audigy 2 would do the trick. (omg, what did i just say??!!) To input the audio, you would need 3 sets of 1/8th inch (headphone) STEREO jack- to - stereo pair RCA adapters.

The first pair goes to Front Left/Right
The second pair goes to Surround Left/Right
The third pair goes to Center/Sub

Audio processing, like EQ or effects, would be best handled by the card. And for goodness' sake, put a wrap around those 6 RCA cables.


Edit: Hey Soundman, Welcome to Anandtech! lol
 
If you just wanna play DVDs, that's easy. Any computer can do that. However, there are a lot more stuff that a well built HTPC can do, such as playing HD material(HD-WMV, H.263, TS, etc), rescaling/sharpening/postfiltering of lower resolution sources, etc. All these require a FAST system. 🙂
 
Yeah, I'd like to be able to display HD and record TV/video. And play mp3's, I guess...
Not much more than that, I guess, now that I really think about it.

So I'm thinking about buying an Athlon 64 w/ PCI-E mobo and 2 GB memory (Let's say around $300 for those components)
HTPC case (~$100)
Geforce 6600 (I think around $100-110)
Seagate 300 GB hard drives (right now $100 @ outpost.com)
DVD-RW drive ($40)
$650 so far.

I haven't had much experience with the TV-tuner cards, HD-tuner cards, etc. What exactly do I need to buy for my setup, then, and what are the best brands?
Could someone give me info about that or a link? Thanks.

 
Originally posted by: MrToilet
So I'm thinking about buying an Athlon 64 w/ PCI-E mobo and 2 GB memory (Let's say around $300 for those components)
Click to expand...

I think that's going to be pretty tough to pull off.

EDIT: search for tv tuner or tuner and you'll get lots of threads.
 
Since you don't need top of the line performance, you probably need nothing more than a AMD 3000+ Venice, which is btw rock solid for a $150 price.
For the motherboard, you don't need anything expensive. Something like the Gigabyte GA-K8N nForce4 Ultra motherboard will do fine. Thats around $100.
For ram, you need no more than 1gb of it. Get yourself two sticks of 512mb of Corsair ValueSelect ram for $100. Hard drive, I don't know why you need two hard drives. Get a 200gb Seagate Barracuda hard drive. If you feel you don't have enough space, then get a dvd burner for $50 and a spindle of 50 dvds for $20.

Right now, you've spent $150+100+100+100. So you have 350 left in your $800 budget. You could get a Radeon X800XT AIW card for that price. But then I realize you won't have money left for a case. So get yourself a Radeon 9800 Pro AIW for $250 which has S-Video Out and a TV Tuner. Now you have $100 dollars left, which can get you a pretty nice case with a power supply.
 
so a HD-tuner card just inputs it, right? Then I'll need a Vid card to output the signal to the projector? I've found a couple HD-tuner cards for ~$80-$100.
 
Originally posted by: MrToilet
so a HD-tuner card just inputs it, right? Then I'll need a Vid card to output the signal to the projector? I've found a couple HD-tuner cards for ~$80-$100.
Click to expand...

Yes, you still need a videocard.
 
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