Have media pc's died out? Can't find anything that actually "does what it says on the tin" for less than about £800!!!

I'm looking for something that will provide home theatre, blu ray, decent sound output to 5.1 amplifier, twin tv tuners, recording to hard drive, hdmi etc. My idea being that hopefully this would look after all my media needs for music, videos, tv, photos etc., but it's obviously got to do the job properly with decent software to control things, not horrible clunky interfaces that take 10 minutes to load & 3 weeks to work out how to operate! Most media pc's I've seen don't even include a tv tuner card - isn't that sort of defeating the object???

Am I looking for something that simply doesn't exist - if it doesn't, it's about time it did! Locost business opportunity???

Any ideas/info much appreciated.

Ta!

love them.

i use them for downloading my films from love film etc and then playing to my tv downstairs. then it holds my music etc.

and my old download films.

it will look around my network for new music n films.

i use my ps3 for cinema room which looks on the HTPC and pulls films etc there.

means i dont need to leave a proper pc on to download etc.


cheers


david j

I'd build one myself personally - that's the locost way

Just a normal PC with a TV tuner card will do, but to look less obtrusive in the lounge you could use a micro-ATX motherboard and a slightly smaller case, or even a mini-ITX motherboard and a tiny-weeny case. Any modern mobo that has/supports integrated graphics will give you all the HDMI and 5.1 audio outputs you need, then add a dual Tuner card. All the software you need comes with Windows 7, but I'm sure there are other options. I expect you could put one together for £500-ish or so easily.

as far as I can tell most of the extra money is in the fancy case

For example here's the sort of spec you can put together yourself for £500. And that's mini-ITX with a teeny-weeny trendy brushed aluminium mini-ITX case. You can get it cheaper if you dont mind a 'normal' PC sized case. There are also cheaper dual tuner TV cards, but to be honest I dont really know the difference between them, so picked the Rolls Royce just in case. Didn't include windows either - if you need it it's about £80 from the shops for Win 7 home 64-bit, but I managed to pick up a brand new sealed Win 7 Ultimate (about £160) for only £65 off Ebay, so maybe worth looking around.


Description

Thanx for all the info, particularly Liam (they nearly named that ITX case after you!), I'd be quite happy to put one together myself, have put several PC's together over the years, just a bit bothered that I then wouldn't have the right software to make it all run smoothly, or will windows 7 run everything without needing to resort to separate software packages?

Just take into account the noise produced by most standard PC's fans .... and the power consumption.

I've got a Humax HD PVR (about £200) which handles all the TV stuff superbly, then a small HTPC next to it under the telly. It's laptop spec basically, so uses very little power when left on all the time (which it is to handle downloading etc) outputs full 1080p via an HDMI cable and full 5.1 sound via an optical digital connector - all hooked up to an Onkyo amp. Runs windows 7 with Media Centre to play movies etc.

I wouldn't have it all built into a PC as the Humax manges all the TV stuff really well and cheaply with an excellent interface - turns on fast too.

I use the ASRock Ion HTPC, but there's a few on the market for about £300-400. And when it comes time to upgrade it's relatively cheap to do.

Separates is the way for me .....

Ha ha - if only I could afford a case by my almost-namesake company. Actually I could just about afford that one if I was building a HTPC - it's rather cheap for a Lian Li case afterall . They do more expensive even trendier ones if that's something you want from your HTPC.

Windows 7 purportedly comes with all you should need - see here...

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/windows-media-center

And I dare say the TV cards come with their own software if you prefer that. There are probably other alternatives too, but I'm no expert. That shopping basket is from my usual online shop - Overclockers.co.uk. They have a decent forum where you could get better advice, or other computer/AV forums maybe.

Jasper, yes, perhaps I'm being daft here, but just wanted to tidy everything up & get it all in one box. I already have a Humax PVR which, as you say does handle the TV stuff well, but obviously is no use when it comes to dvd/blu ray or handling pics & music - I had wondered about a laptop due to low noise & power consumption (you can get 0dB power supplies for desktops, but they are pricey), but wasn't sure about blu ray with a laptop ie would it have enough memory/video handling capability etc & didn't realise you could get the HDMI outputs & decent sound from a laptop. So far as I've been able to find out, the Asrock Ion looks good, but i can't find it available with blu ray - & I'm guessing blu ray will eventually replace dvd so trying to future proof a bit ...............

any other info/comments welcome

I still don't think there is a good enough all in one box solution - as with most AV gear separates are usually better.

Any reason you couldn't swap out the standard DVD player on the ASRock for a bluray one? And a laptop will be more expensive than a HTPC as you're paying for the screen as well.

And if you want 5.1 sound out of the Humax and the ASRock you'll need a separate theatre amp, get one with a built in Bluray - they just reviewed them on the Gadget Show and the cheapest one (Sony I think) came out best.

bear in mind if you decide to store all your data on one pc you should build some redundancy into it. I've built a couple of htpc's and in the end opted for a larger case that has given me space to fit enough hard drives to cater for future space requirements and has Raid to prevent data loss (if I lost the missus photos of our holidays I would probably have to live in the pc I built...)

My HTPC runs I tunes which I can control from my iphone and send to any room in my house which is nice. I can also watch films streamed from my HTPC on my Iphone when I'm out and about. They are ultra flexible imo and don't cost much more than a decent Bluray and hifi setup.

HTH

Hey Guys...


Just out of interest, if a certain someone was to build himself a prepreg carbon, or prepreg carbon/kevlar pc case, what size would it need to be?

I'm thinking for a media pc that would sit on the tv stand. (Along with Sky HD, Harmon Kardon DVD 7 Harmon Kardon Amp)

Cheers,

Steve

Hmmmm - I'd say about twice as long as half its length, or roughly as long as a piece of string .

All you need to do is fit all the bits in. You choose the bits and can arrange them however you want. Main choice would be what motherboard form factor you want to use - ATX, Micro-ATX or Mini-ITX (sizes on manufacturers websites or possibly online shops) then build it around that. Pretty much completely up to you!

[Edited on 30/3/11 by Liam]

What about getting one of these and putting in a Terra HDD

Linky