Hi everyone,
I recently bought a 54" Panny plasma and am considering making a foray into the HTPC realm.
I have a Dell XPS M2010 "laptop" that I bought over three years ago, and is starting to show its age. (Actually, it's not really... but in my head three years sounds old.) It's got a 20" screen, a 2GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of RAM, a 256MB ATI Radeon Mobility X1800 graphics card, and a detachable bluetooth wireless keyboard. I'm thinking that once I get a new computer, I might try to dedicate this one to being a HTPC. It seems especially well-suited given its compact size, its built-in screen (which might help with troubleshooting issues), its gyration remote, and the fact that its bluetooth keyboard (with built-in trackpad) charges when attached to the laptop.
The only thing I have to figure out is the best way to run the audio/video to my TV. The laptop has a DVI video output and an S/PDIF audio output. My TV does not have these inputs, but of course it has HDMI. I've found various converters online that seem to be able to combine the S/PDIF audio and DVI video feeds into one HDMI feed. Here are some examples:
http://www.lightinthebox.com/HDMI-Co...9-_p29691.html
http://www.amazon.com/DVI-I-Dual-Con.../dp/B0015YYOQQ
These are about $50.
I'm just wondering how well these solutions might perform, and if anyone has any experience. Will the computer sense automatically that the TV is running at 1080p resolution?
I'm also wondering if anyone has an opinion on this whole idea in general. The computer was originally pretty expensive (about $3.5k) so repurposing it into an HTPC might be silly since you can buy/assemble decent HTPCs for under $500.
What do you think?
I recently bought a 54" Panny plasma and am considering making a foray into the HTPC realm.
I have a Dell XPS M2010 "laptop" that I bought over three years ago, and is starting to show its age. (Actually, it's not really... but in my head three years sounds old.) It's got a 20" screen, a 2GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of RAM, a 256MB ATI Radeon Mobility X1800 graphics card, and a detachable bluetooth wireless keyboard. I'm thinking that once I get a new computer, I might try to dedicate this one to being a HTPC. It seems especially well-suited given its compact size, its built-in screen (which might help with troubleshooting issues), its gyration remote, and the fact that its bluetooth keyboard (with built-in trackpad) charges when attached to the laptop.

The only thing I have to figure out is the best way to run the audio/video to my TV. The laptop has a DVI video output and an S/PDIF audio output. My TV does not have these inputs, but of course it has HDMI. I've found various converters online that seem to be able to combine the S/PDIF audio and DVI video feeds into one HDMI feed. Here are some examples:
http://www.lightinthebox.com/HDMI-Co...9-_p29691.html
http://www.amazon.com/DVI-I-Dual-Con.../dp/B0015YYOQQ
These are about $50.
I'm just wondering how well these solutions might perform, and if anyone has any experience. Will the computer sense automatically that the TV is running at 1080p resolution?
I'm also wondering if anyone has an opinion on this whole idea in general. The computer was originally pretty expensive (about $3.5k) so repurposing it into an HTPC might be silly since you can buy/assemble decent HTPCs for under $500.
What do you think?