HTPC

[Guest]

Hi,

I've been planning to build my HTPC and did alot of reading about this subject; however, I couldn't find the answer to my concern which is: If the motherboard an HDMI and surround sound output, my question is: do I need to purchase a video card and a sound card? Does it affect the quality?

I am planning to spend about $1,500 USD to $2,000 on my system (including speakers and kewl case) and I am going to use my HTPC in the living room, from you guys experience what would be a decent hardware should i look at to allow me to:
- Record movies from different TV channels
- Play DVDs
- Storing Music and Photos
- Wireless surround speaker system (deliver enough sound for a 3mx5m room)
- Wireless network with Bluetooth
- to be used as a home pc too (web surfing, home computing... etc.)
- Last but not least I am not very big on gaming.

There are so many different products out there and your experience and recommendation is highly appreciated.

Thanks,
TH

 

[rwpritchett]

Onboard video such as the AMD 780G were made for HTPC use and the video quality is superb. You won't get any better with a discreet video card.

Do you plan on connecting to a surround sound receiver? If so, look for a 780G board that has optical S/PDIF out and let the receiver do the decoding.

 

[Guest]

Many thanks for your quick reply, i prefer not use a receiver as i am trying to minimize the number of electrical equipments and wires (my 2 year old son has a talent in pulling wires and sticking his fingers in the electricity outlets).

Regard,
TH

 

[NoIncentive]

Well, if your budget is that high, I will show you an HTPC that I plan on building soon. It doesn't include a tv tuner card, so you would have to account for that, too. But this system would do all that you want, and more.

https/secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=7541905

That includes 2 TB of storage for media center dvr, creating a digital dvd library, and storing basically all other forms of media. 9800GT for some decent graphic performance, and LG blu-ray player for the HD enthusiast. It has s/pdif/optical out for 7.1 surround, but you can't go wrong with a decent sound card with superior decoding ability. There are plenty of things in that setup that you can downgrade to improve the price. Also, there is a $1500 display in that setup, so ignore it.

 

[hellrazor]

I had the same type of questions. Although if I do decide to build an HTPC my budget would be much smaller. A question I have is do you really need a high end video card for superb picture from blu-ray or can you get the same thing out of something like this?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121259

Also, does the blu-ray drive make a difference other than load times?