Anyone convert a home PC to a Media PC

I'm thinking of turning my desk top PC to a media PC.
It's not state of the art but it's a dual core P4 with an AGP x8 video card
Sound blaster Autogy sound card.
I think All I'd need is a new case, Video tuner and a new OS

What do you think

J

 

I think you will need a better video card if you are wanting to go Hi-Def. I just picked up a Quad Core that is HDMI and PVR (Personal Video Recorder) ready. Are you wanting it to record off the TV?

 

My goal is to get ride of my current DVD player, VCR (why I even have it set up is beyond me) and maybe my Amp. then stream all TV through the computer. Have it as my entertainment centre.
So Yes I will be recording TV and perhaps internet content. I would also like the ability to serf the net during commercials.
I currently do not have a HD TV but it's on the sort list of this to get.
I want to spend as little as possible. I figure I could get a brand new Media PC for about $1100 and that would be a quad core with PCI-E graphics card and a 750GB HD.

I'm starting to think it would be better just to get anew PC

J

 

If you are going to record TV and maybe even HD later then you should at least get 1TB for storage because about 2 min of true HD will eat up about 128mb so you can fill a hard drive up quick.
Plus I would get one of these for graphics if your wanting this to feed the TV.
GeForce 8800 Ultra

 

why not get a barebone dual xeon and add the exactly what you want?

 

Dual core P4 is fine whats needed is Memory, Memory and more memory. Hard drive space is a must, I have 4 500 GB set up on a SATA Raid card and they are set up to span all 4 drives which gives me a total of 2000 GB.

Heads up on the operating system, Media Center Vista SUCKS! I bought it and went out and bought XP media center 2 weeks later. Tiger Direct has XP Media Center + remote for 150 bucks.

As far as a case goes if you can use a mini tower save your money. Media center cases are not cheap. I cleaned out one side of my entertainment center where the DVD's are stored and put it in there and spent the money on the Hard drives.

I also bought a Ge-force card with s video out, mine has 512 MB memory and It does a real nice job for me. Its not one of those really high end cards though, it only cost me about 160 bucks from tiger also.

Good luck

 

Thanks All. I might piece it together myself Like geek suggested. HDD are a dime a dozen so I think I'll build it small like 750G and upgrade as needed.

J