Info On Building Media Center PC

[LostPersonality]

Im looking into building essentially a pc that will controll my movies music and pictures and in essence display it to my tv (through hdmi?)

so thats pretty much what it will be used for now all im really familiar with is building a computer for gaming and not so much well media. ive never even thought of buying a 1tb hd before this idea came into mind much less an hdmi card that would also accept a cable box input.

heh i think i need a bit of help : )

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

There's not a whole lot of difference on the hardware side. The case and a tuner card are the main things, any video card with DVI can do HDMI through an adapter or cable. Getting sound over it might be an issue without a native HDMI output. Be willing to sacrifice brute power for low heat and noise, and get an MCE remote & reciever. The things that really make an HTPC different are the software. Selection and setup are the real time gobblers. Zoomplayer w/ ffdshow for upscaling DVD's is the one program no HTPC should be without IMO. You can get a lot of good info here, including stickies for HTPC-related software and a buid guide that covers several different budgets.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=26/