I want to build an emulator/DVD/DIVX/MP3 box

[tweakmm]

I want to build an emulator/dvd/divx/MP3 box. I am wondering if anybody has any good sites that has info on building one. I am wondering what the best videocard would be? Some sort of Radion? Does anybody know of any slim cases that I can use? What is the best controller pad?
Thanks,
Mike

 

[Burnt]

If I had money, I would. It all depends on how much money you want to spend on it.

 

[skypilot]

This is the one I have on my TV...

P3-800@1066
256MB PC133 RAM @ CAS2
ATI All in wonder Radeon
80GB WD 7200RPM HDD
Aureal Vortex 1 Sound
Cheapy 10mbps NIC
8x black CD-ROM drive
Black desktop case
Win98 SE

 

[tweakmm]

<< If I had money, I would. It all depends on how much money you want to spend on it. >>


maybe ~$300...

 

[Paul]

My StealthBox does those jobs extremely well.

I would probably get a ATI Radeon 8500DV though. It's nice to have a remote.

 

[Mingon]

Personally I would go for an nforce, a 1ghz duron and 2 x128mb of ram. Chuck that together in an matx case with a dvd drive and you should be sorted.

 

[pr0d2]

for a controler you can get some USB devices that let you use PS/PS2/N64 COntrolers on you're PC
i seen one that could do both PS2/N64 but i cant find it now..
PS/PS2 Controler to PC

My idea of a TV entertaiment system

A7V266-E or K7V Dragon Plus
1900 XP + Good Quiet HS/FAN
1024MB DDR Memory (ok 512)
Audigy Platinum EX (All youre audio needs)
Radeon 8500DV (All your vid needs)
2 x 50GIG+ 7200 Striped
16x Pioneer DVD
Liteon 24x10x40 CD-RW (To record those home video's that you got onto your system via the Firewire Audigy/8000DV
Horizontal Case, black? To match the rest of your components.
450W Quiet Power Supply
Window's XP (Some hate it, I love it)

No o/c'ing keep it keep it quiet/stable/cool
Other then the Audio and VIdeo card.. its cheap

 

[Bovinicus]

He said he wanted to spend around $300. You guys are building $1000+ hotrods.I'm not sure about a certain pieces of hardware, but I can suggest a few things.

CPU: 900MHz Duron, excellent price/performance ratio.
Motherboard: ECS K7S5A, again excellent price/performance ratio.
PSU: A 300W will do the job.
Memory: Crucial, wether you're getting DDR or SDR to save some money, Crucial makes excellent memory.
Sound: Stick with onboard to save money.
Video: I like the Radeon VE, others may suggest the MX cards. The GTS-V is also a good choice, if it has TV-Out.

You shold be able to find those things at good prices. Sounds like a cool project, have fun and good luck.

 

[Shalmanese]

Personally, I would go for a Via C3 processor for heat/noise reasons. Remember, its a DVD/MP3 box so it doesnt need huge amounts of speed. Probably an AIW Radeon or a Radeon8500DV if you have the cash or even a Radeon VE if you dont.

I would also go for a higher capacity 5400rpm drive again for noise/heat reasons as DivX's and MP3's dont require high bandwidth.

For mine, I chose an Abit AU-10 Soundcard which I dont know if you can get in the states easily but it comes with a Remote control and a copy of WinDVD for roughly the same price as a SB Live! Value. Go for a mATX Via Mobo with builtin NIC would be best I am thinking.

And you gotta have a Pioneer slot load DVD, just for the look. Chuck in some PC-133 and your set. As for the case, People have suggested 2U/3U rackmounts since it will blend in better with your Home stereo.

 

[thraxes]

finally someone talking some sense:

Fans in a Hifi system = BAD VERY BAD!!
So what do you do:

slower celeron or VIA C3 processor with a temperature controlled HSF
mATX board with integrated LAN
A graphics card with a good TV-Out, best is ATI and you don't need the fastest... get a slower one with passive heatsink for less noise!
256 MB PC133 (if you can get more than use the extra to make a ramdrive to load mp3s into it at startup so the HDD can power down afterwards - noise killer!)
a large HDD but as already said, only 5400 RPMs
Soundcard - SoundBlaster Live is OK

Now to the good stuff!
Remote: Do how Linuxers do it! They take a standard Infrared receiver for the serial port and have interpreter software find out the commands from any remote controll that you wish! This also work in windows, take any remote control and use the interpreter software WinLIRC. The commands from winLirc are then passed on to freeware control programms like GIRDER or IRassistant. These will command the media player to do anything you whish... even makros are programmable (eject the disk, shut down windows, convert disc to MP3, copy disk -if you have a burner built in- etc...)!!

Hre are a few links for the remote control subject:
WinLIRC
Girder
IRassistant

 

[Mingon]

Just get a matx nforce, on board lan, decent video (with tv-out) and excellent sound then as I mentioned chuck on a 1ghz duron (they run quite cool first of morgan core).

 

[gogeeta13]

Here is my LAN box, I am turning it into a emul/dvd/... box too

its the second one of the page..

I am swapping out the Vooodoo3 for a Radeon 64meg DDR VIVO, and will also be adding a bigger HDD hehe

 

[gregor7777]

Finding a TV-out daughter card for the Nforce is a pain in the nuts though. I still haven't found one for my soon to be built Divx box.

 

[Burnt]

Good idea on the black desktop case. I think when I upgrade my main computer to an Athlon XP, I'll use the 1ghz cpu and abit board in a divx box, I'll probably just have to buy a video card because I have everything else. But until that day when I upgrade...

 

[mrman3k]

If you want I can post the specs to Maximum PC's Dream Machine for a TV/Radio extra box.

 

[Frosty20]

Take a look at the Shuttle SV-24. It's got Firewire, TV out, onboard ethernet and a very small footprint.

 

[Spoon]

I just got done with my TV box last week and we haven't stopped using it since. See Talon in my rigs.

We opted for the RF keyboard that was used in the Shuttle review and so far it rocks.

 

[Psyber]

I'm in the process of building one myself. I went with an FIC Sabre barebones, put a 900 celery in it and 128 PC133 in it. I wanted to spend about $300 myself, but if u want it slim, quiet, and basically not ugly and bulky system- you're going to have to spend a minimum of $400, and that is if you buy all your stuff refurb - expect to spend between 400-500 on a decent system.

-Psyber

 

[jdurg]

Sounds like a very cool motivation for building a new computer. I'm kind of going in the same direction with the computer I'm currently building. Just two more paychecks and my dream machine will all be built! Anyway, onto suggestions for your computer. I currently run a bunch of emulators and have come to the conclusion that you need at the bare minimum, 256 megs of RAM and a 1.0 GHz CPU. I am currently running MAME, Nebula, ZSNES, VirtuaNES, KIAME1, KIAME2, and a few other emulators on a P3 1.0 GHz with 256 megs of PC100 RAM. On most games, the computer is powerful enough to run everything with no jumpiness. But on more CPU intensive games such as the Mortal Kombat games or the KI games, there is some choppiness that occurs. It sucks that you can only spend 300 bucks to upgrade stuff as a more powerful CPU would definitely be worth the money. Otherwise, everything sounds fine. Good luck on your build. Now I just hope that mine finishes up smoothly and without any problems.