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197 Posts
First off, I'm glad I stumbled on this forum. Not only did reading in here open my eyes to some potential problems/issues, but it also helped me curb the sales-person zeal from the local stores.
That said, here's what I'm planning on doing - for a few months now I've been planning on buying a HTPC, with the intention of purchasing a HDTV at a later date. Just today I hit a great deal on a Hitachi 51UWX20B that I couldn't pass up, so everything has been put into 'overdrive' on purchasing the HTPC.
I've got more experience than most with PC's, from building to troubleshooting, so I'm familiar enough with the ins-and-outs of performance and building. What I'm looking for is the experience factor with the HDTV end of thing - I'm really starting to second-guess my choices for hardware (but I'm glad I have before I bought the system!)
Here's what I'm looking at purchasing. Please give me any/all input/advise as to the pros/cons of what I'm choosing. I want to make the best choice I can here!
Case: CoolerMaster ATC-600-GX1
Power Supply: Antec True 380P
Motherboard: Asus P4T533-C
CPU: Intel P4 2.53GHz
Memory: 512M PC1066
Storage: Western Digital 120JB
Optical: Sony DVD-R DRU-500A
Sound: Sound Blaster Audigy 2 (This will probably change since reading in here!)
Video: ATI 8500AIW Pro 128M
Input: Microsoft BlueTooth Wireless Keyboard/mouse
I plan on hooking all of this up to the Hitachi via the DVI-I interface, so a video card with DVI out is important.
I'm really unsure about the video capture part. I want this system for the obvious PVR/time-shift abilities. Also for playing DIVx, DVD, MP3, and recording programs onto DVD-RW (thus the Sony drive). Internet surfing is also a nice feature - the system will be connected to a broadband i-net connection).
Price right now... I'm sitting around $2K (if you were to include WinXP). I'd like to keep it under $2500 for sure.
Thanks in advance for the advice... looking forward to a great experience!
That said, here's what I'm planning on doing - for a few months now I've been planning on buying a HTPC, with the intention of purchasing a HDTV at a later date. Just today I hit a great deal on a Hitachi 51UWX20B that I couldn't pass up, so everything has been put into 'overdrive' on purchasing the HTPC.
I've got more experience than most with PC's, from building to troubleshooting, so I'm familiar enough with the ins-and-outs of performance and building. What I'm looking for is the experience factor with the HDTV end of thing - I'm really starting to second-guess my choices for hardware (but I'm glad I have before I bought the system!)
Here's what I'm looking at purchasing. Please give me any/all input/advise as to the pros/cons of what I'm choosing. I want to make the best choice I can here!
Case: CoolerMaster ATC-600-GX1
Power Supply: Antec True 380P
Motherboard: Asus P4T533-C
CPU: Intel P4 2.53GHz
Memory: 512M PC1066
Storage: Western Digital 120JB
Optical: Sony DVD-R DRU-500A
Sound: Sound Blaster Audigy 2 (This will probably change since reading in here!)
Video: ATI 8500AIW Pro 128M
Input: Microsoft BlueTooth Wireless Keyboard/mouse
I plan on hooking all of this up to the Hitachi via the DVI-I interface, so a video card with DVI out is important.
I'm really unsure about the video capture part. I want this system for the obvious PVR/time-shift abilities. Also for playing DIVx, DVD, MP3, and recording programs onto DVD-RW (thus the Sony drive). Internet surfing is also a nice feature - the system will be connected to a broadband i-net connection).
Price right now... I'm sitting around $2K (if you were to include WinXP). I'd like to keep it under $2500 for sure.
Thanks in advance for the advice... looking forward to a great experience!