Log in

View Full Version : Home-Brewed Media PC: Trials and Tribulations


Jason Dunn
03-08-2004, 04:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.reed-electronics.com/ednmag/article/CA382777?stt=000&industryid=2811' target='_blank'>http://www.reed-electronics.com/ednmag/article/CA382777?stt=000&industryid=2811</a><br /><br /></div>"Five years ago, I built a multimedia-enhanced PC platform for the living room. Now for the encore: Just how much could I squeeze into one box, how small could the box be, and would the result meet or beat the multiple boxes it replaced?...This time, in the hope of potentially extending the system's living-room occupancy, I began the project with two admittedly stringent requirements. First, Spirit could be no bigger than the other components in my home-theater cabinet: an audio/video receiver, a Voyetra Turtle Beach Audiotron, an HDTV receiver, an Xbox, an analog tape deck, a DVD player, a ReplayTV 4040, and a VCR. It also couldn't be audible over the normal ambient room noise if I was farther than a few feet away from it. But I also wanted one box to encompass as many as possible of the functions those other components currently performed. Challenging? You bet."<br /><br />This is a wonderful article, written by Brian Dipert, that covers some of the trials and tribulations of building a home-brewed media centre-type PC. It's a hard-core article for the hard-core among you, and I couldn't help but feel a little thrill of victory as Brian worked through various challenges to get his PC to meet his needs. Ah, the thrills of being a geek. :D

mcsouth
03-09-2004, 01:31 AM
Very interesting article, although I will admit that a bit of it seemed over my head at times, and I question my ability to go quite the same route as Brian did in this article. I think I would definitely be tempted towards more of a conventional approach using an Athlon XP. The Pentium M approach looked interesting, though, and I would be interested in seeing more of this solution.

It is articles like this that are convincing me that it is time to get off the fence, and build my own "living room" PC to replace my stereo system, VCR, and DVD player, along with giving me the PVR solution that I don't have yet.

Just out of curiousity, how many readers out there currently have a "living room" PC?

Suhit Gupta
03-09-2004, 01:49 AM
Just out of curiousity, how many readers out there currently have a "living room" PC?
Since I live in Manhattan, my apartment is teeny-tiny. So I live in my living room ;-). Therefore I guess I would count under the TV/computer/all other cool accessories in the living room.

Suhit