PC Peripherals HTPC/rig for dad

greenhorn

greenhorn

Patron
basic browsing, music /movie viewing

convenience & ease of use is #1 priority ( dad isnt a geek :p)

so far, this is what I've come up with ..

Processor AMD X2 3600+ 2.8k

Mobo Jetway M2A692 – GDG 3.5k

WS Monitor Viewsonic VG1930WM. 11k

Cabinet Antec Minuet Slimline 3.3k

TV Tuner Pinnacle PCTV 100i 4.5k

Keyboard + mouse Microsoft Wireless combo 1000 2k

RAM Transcend DDR 2 667 Mhz 2k

UPS + Stepup APC 500VA + local Stepup 3k

I have a spare HDD and Optical drives :)

not considering a sound card because its mostly the media center app bundled with the PCTV 100i playing the music / movies. If i find that sound quality is seriously lacking, then I'll get a card. Thinking about getting another GB of RAM... the TV tuner runs an incredible amount of bloat for the media center functionality :S

any recommendations?

ps , can i get a small horizontal cabby for media center duty cheaper/by a local co like the zebronics dhoom?
 
Nice HTPC Rig

Could you list all the available Slim Cabinets in the market, especially for HTPCs. You must have considered many different models before deciding this. Could you please list them along with prices

Also would the Hauppauge PVR-150 (non MCE) TV Tuner card fit in an HTPC slim cabinet?? Do you need their low profile version that is hard to find. I just bought a PVR-150. So pls help.

Have you considered Cabinets from VIP, iBall & Circle any good ones ?
 
techaditya said:
Nice HTPC Rig
Click to expand...

i havent bought it yet... need help perfecting it :D

well there are the slim cabbies by zebronics, and a few slim frontech ones, dunno their availability though.

size of the card you can fit depends on the cabby you have

EDIT: hey wait, look at the last but one pic in this review.... looks like those are half height slots on the back of the case.. can i fit a normal size PCI card :huh:

Antec Minuet 300 Slimline Case Review

further edit.... guess not :(

any other cabbies?
 
about the tv tuner make sure it supports vista like the leadtek winfast PVR2000 supports windows vista and microsoft media centre costs 5000 also has a built in hardware encoder and has PIP so u can watch 2 channels simultaneously.
 
wont be using the RF tuner. prolly will be hooking it up with tata sky, and dont plan to use windoze MCE ( i cant buy the damn remote for that :p) and no, not downgrading to vista :p XP will do fine TY, maybe linux one day ;)
 
adder said:
the remote that comes with it can be use for MCE.also video quality is better in the leadtek anyway it ur call.
Click to expand...

availablity is also an issue :(

besides, cant bother to get hold of MCE anyway :p . happy with my XP jack sparrow edition :D

i need some help with the cabby people!
 
Why to worry about slim cabinet if this is not going to be hooked up with a HDTV, and placed in the living room. If that's the case, increase your budget and go for NSK2400.

Also try using mediaportal or gb-pvr and see if they be better than the bundled software.
 
Good config Greenhorn :D

Me also thinking of getting my folks at home a similar rig.

Will go home and let dad have a look at the 19" (VG1930wm) i am buying for my cousin first ;)

If he likes it then will move forward :)
 
10k :O meh, no thanks :(

me looking south of 5 k :ashamed:

@ ms_mahu... tried to run both.. my card doesnt support hadware mpeg2, and media portal seems too buggy :(

rather stick the the one that comes with the 100i.. should work out of the box :)
 
I think the Antec Minuet seems to be the cheapest and a decent bet - but *do check* that they still have the model in stock, since they seem to be refreshing their cabinet lineup.

There's a Zebronics Marco that looks decent. The only issue is how well the Zebby PSU's hold up, even though yours is a basic rig.
 
um , question. someone said the intel DG965WH is kinda same , if not better than the 690G .. any opinions ?

@ ms_mahu... seems like it does. planning to go with a zebby cabby for now
 
I'd bought an M2A VM Based rig. but one gripe was the horrible sound. The one i got seemed to have one output channel dead on the rear line out. Used the Blue line out , and used the thing in 4 ch mode, as front line out wasnt working

Till now. My old Bios was 0804. Just flashed to 1604. Sound is comming clear on Front panel, and much better than the rear Out for Headphones. Seems there is a lot of work done on the Bios. For Folks with the M2A VM, Highly Recommended :)

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Support-

EDIT: just installed Foobar + SSRC+KS. Now its quite nice :)

Further Edit: just enabled multi streaming. Makes the front line out and Rear line out two seperate devices. Never Knew realtek had such stuff!
 
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