Media Center

[Fred Woogle]

Hey, I need to price up a media station for my front room :D

It need to be able to play Beef (on the TV), and take Sky Digital (preferably without the sky box), and yeh, any fancy things you can think of are good tooooooo.

yeh, so any ideas on a decent system?

needs to be as cheap as possible.

I'm thinking,

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40GHz 4MB
GeForce 7900GT
2GB ram
2 DVD Writers
350GB HDD

No idea which mobo, preferably one that can be upgraded top Sl.
A nice, discreet case.
Needs a nice sound card.

and remotes and all that fancy shit.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

ooh, thankyou, a challenge.


First thoughts.

you only need one dvd burner. any ripping will go to HDD first.

get a bigass HDD for storage, and a smaller one for windows etc.

core duo is good for performance, not for cheapness.

you're on the right lines for memory and GPU.

case wise, look at http://www.silverstonetek.com/product-case.htm - they do a lot of media-center-y cases.


edits:

For audio, will you be using analogue surround, digital surround, or stereo?

[eion]

Berk is spot on about the DVD writers and the storage.

The problem with the kind of machine you want to spec is the conflict between what you want in a media centre (quiet) and what you want in a gaming machine (performance).
Basically, noisy gaming machines sitting next to your TV are bad (trust me).

What sort of inputs does your TV have?

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Berk is spot on about the DVD writers and the storage.

The problem with the kind of machine you want to spec is the conflict between what you want in a media centre (quiet) and what you want in a gaming machine (performance).

Good point that man.

In this case I'd look at an artic cooling graphics cooler, and a big efficient cpu cooler - by no means perfect, but should be pretty acceptable.

TV card wise - I'm not sure you can get one that'll work with sky without a sky-box, so that may be a problem.

[eion]

Okay, here goes:

Case: Silverstone LC20M. Good-size case, will let you use a proper ATX motherboard and full-size PCI/PCI-E cards. Has a front LCD display thingy that works with the MCE remote. Also has reasonable-size rear exhaust fans - some of the older Silverstone media centre cases have ~60mm rear fans, which is less than ideal.
Power supply: Silverstone ST60F. 600W, fairly quiet, reputed to be reliable. A comparable Enermax would be fine too. I'd strongly recommend avoiding Antec.
Motherboard: Asus P5WD2-E. There isn't that much choice in 975X motherboards at the moment (and you said you wanted SLI, so 975X is what you need). The Asus board has 3 PCI slots, whereas all the other boards I can find have 2. It also has 2 PCI-E 16x slots, and two slots that'll do PCI-E 1x. Plus, I like Asus boards
CPU and RAM: your preference.
Graphics card: BFG 7900GT OC thing. This one has a separate dongle for YPbPr HDTV output, which is nice. NB: if you're using a new TV that has HDMI, then wait a while - 7900GTs with HDMI output don't exist yet.
Sound card: since you're gaming, an x-fi of some flavour is probably your best bet. One with a big break-out box with a good variety of inputs and outputs is a good idea for a media centre PC.
HDD: one 74GB or 150GB Raptor, add other big hard drives to taste.
DVD writers: whichever ones you like. I have a personal preference for Plextor drives, but they're not budget-friendly.

I assume you have a cordless keyboard and mouse already. If not, I'd recommend the fancy revised Logitech dinovo with the laser mouse - bluetooth gives you extra range, and I've had problems with non-bluetooth wireless desktops from both MS and Logitech at normal home theatre ranges.

For a remote control, well, that depends on your budget. I have a Sony RM-AV3100 that someone gave me, but there are newer and fancier universal remotes out there (Sony and Philips both make some really nice ones). Again, depends on budget. My AV-3100 works fine, and its range is *phenomenal*.

Berk - anything I've left out?[/url]

[Dr. kitteny berk]

not too much.

you missed tv cards.

the case has a remote.

i wouldn't say raptor for budget, but fi you can stretch to it. do

also, don't forget the possible lag issues with wireless.

[eion]

you missed tv cards.

So I did.
What I'd do for TV cards depends on a bunch of things.

Do you live in an area where you can get freeview with an antenna? If so,
the Terratec Sinergy 2400i DT/MCE has dual tuners on one card.
Do you just want the freeview stuff from Sky? I assume not... in which case, you'll still need your sky box, cos the DVB-S cards only pick up the free stuff AFAIK. For a DVB-S card, something like a Terratec Cinergy 1200 DVB-S will work. If you want to get the proper sky stuff, you'll need to go via your digibox, which'll probably involve using a capture card and an IR blaster to control the sky box automatically (you may be able to use a cable to the Sky box, but I'm a little out of touch with the recent Sky stuff having not been in the UK for a while).

the case has a remote.

It does, but it doesn't have very many buttons by the looks of things, and having one remote to control the PC, TV, amplifier, lighting etc. is a good thing.

also, don't forget the possible lag issues with wireless.

This is a media centre PC. Having a wired keyboard and mouse isn't an option, unless you're using a front projection system (and it sucks even then) or if you have a fetish for stupidly long keyboard and mouse cables. In my experience the bluetooth wireless stuff works best.

[FatherJack]

http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/ * seem to be the market leaders for TV-card type stuff, although I'd be quite surprised if there's a device which can decode encrypted Sky channels easily available. Having said that, the Sky+ boxes actually record the feed encrypted, decoding it using your Sky card when you watch it.

An alternate to having a potentially noisy box near to the TV is to have your storage served up remotely - tucked away in a cupboard somewhere, not on bare floorboards in the attic (it'll drive you nuts) - so you can buy fast-spinning noise-making disks without worrying about spoiling your TV watching. (Similar to the way Prof set up his Dad's Media Centre with the storage box locked in a cabinet.)

I'd be interested to know of possible solutions, my current Sky box is somewhat fucked, and my DVD recorder nearing the end of it's life. Not having a BT phone line (my existing provider's service has a bug where if the Sky box is connected redials my last caller indefinately) liimits my options.

* Edit: hadn't heard of TerraTec, but their stuff looks good, too.

[eion]

An alternate to having a potentially noisy box near to the TV is to have your storage served up remotely - tucked away in a cupboard somewhere, not on bare floorboards in the attic (it'll drive you nuts) - so you can buy fast-spinning noise-making disks without worrying about spoiling your TV watching. (Similar to the way Prof set up his Dad's Media Centre with the storage box locked in a cabinet.)

And here is where the media centre/gaming box problem comes in. Locking a nice warm gaming machine away in a cabinet is not a recipe for good happy success, unless by good happy success you mean seriously overheating components. Disk noise isn't really the main issue - for me at least, the fans in my machine make far more noise than my Raptors do (although my projector isn't exactly quiet either ). It's not really practical to do away with fans in a gaming box, and airflow is always going to be necessary where gaming components are concerned.

I'd be interested to know of possible solutions, my current Sky box is somewhat fucked, and my DVD recorder nearing the end of it's life. Not having a BT phone line (my existing provider's service has a bug where if the Sky box is connected redials my last caller indefinately) liimits my options.

Won't the Sky Plus stuff work over a broadband connection or VOIP line? There may be an adapter like there is for Tivo.
The best solution might be to get a new Sky box and a capture card. Alternatively, you could live with the crappy freeview stuff and get a DVB-S card.
Does Sky still work off of cards that you have to stick in the box?

* Edit: hadn't heard of TerraTec, but their stuff looks good, too.

Yeah, I have an irrational dislike of Hauppauge stuff, having had to deal with a very recalcitrant and possibly defective tuner card from them before. Also, I seem to recall that Hauppauge is an American company, and I suspect that European manufacturers do DVB-S and DVB-T stuff a lot better (given that those standards don't really exist over here in the US). Read the reviews and pick one which fits your needs and budget best rather than listening to me, though

[FatherJack]

I was only thinking of putting a storage-only server tucked away (doesn't have to be enclosed, just where you can't hear it) to minimize noise when just watching video on a media box assuming it's only set up for that, and not gaming. I'm not sure where it came in, but a joint gaming/media box would be far noisier, regardless of the disks, as you say.

Sky's encryption is still keyed to your Sky viewing card, and at some point has to go through an "official" box with your card in it - whether that's before or after you've recorded it doesn't matter much - only that you have some sort of Sky decoder registered with your viewing card in order to view it. I haven't seen PC cards which allow you to insert your Sky card, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. I also don't know how capture cards deal with the encrypted data stream, whether they record in a fashion similar to the Sky+ box that allows you decode it later, or if the pay-per-view channels prohibit this entirely.

In essence your Sky box+ viewing card should be a dumb partner in this - you register it with Sky to receive certain channels or PPV events - if you subsequently feed it with encrypted data, it shouldn't know the difference and just decode what you've paid for. However it is date-aware, and things like Sky Box Office grant you only 1-day licenses to view events.

[eion]

I'm not sure where it came in, but a joint gaming/media box would be far noisier, regardless of the disks, as you say.

Well, Ty said he wanted to play beef on it, and he said he wanted a 7900GT, so I assumed... the machine I specced shouldn't be too noisy, anyway.

Sky's encryption is still keyed to your Sky viewing card, and at some point has to go through an "official" box with your card in it - whether that's before or after you've recorded it doesn't matter much - only that you have some sort of Sky decoder registered with your viewing card in order to view it. I haven't seen PC cards which allow you to insert your Sky card, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

I had a quick rummage on the interweb, and apparently such a beast does not exist (doesn't exist in the US for cable systems yet either, but is in the pipeline as cablecard). Seems like it's not going to exist, either, cos Sky are apparently paranoid about people taking their content (not like they have anything new anyway).

I also don't know how capture cards deal with the encrypted data stream, whether they record in a fashion similar to the Sky+ box that allows you decode it later, or if the pay-per-view channels prohibit this entirely.

Presumably would depend on how you're outputting from the box. I don't know what outputs your Sky box has, but unless you're using HDMI or DVI w/HDCP, it's not going to have any encryption attached. Stuff ripped over scart/s-video/etc. isn't going to look all that good though, most likely.

Or you could always do what I do - cancel your cable/sky subscription and get all of your TV from the internet.
There are some downsides - you have to be proactive in getting content, or you'll have nothing to watch; it's harder to just stick the TV on to have something in the background; and live sporting events are pretty much out. On the plus side, no ads ever (which is a real bonus here in the US, where our TV is mostly riddled with commercials); and I've found myself watching a much greater variety of stuff, rather than the same old shit over and over again.