Legit Reviews

Anyone have any experience with using a PC as a home theater system? I was wondering about what the min. requirements might be to build a system to do nothing but play DVDs and record/playback TV programs. I also need to know about software. I know that a rather large HDD would be ideal to give you more recording time but that's all I know. I have lots of spare parts and I thought it would be cool if I could put them to use.

I know this guy named Tommy over at http://www.systemcooling2.com/forums/index.php is really big into HTPC. You might want to drop him a line.

The june 2004 issue of Maximum PC (pg 70) has an extensive article on what to use and how to build a homemedia pc. If you can't find a copy of the issue. i'll scan it and send it to you, if you'd like

Pastor Jay here on the forums built one... he never did finish the article on it though. He knows a bunch on them.

I use my Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum sound card and an optical cable to connect to a receiver --> Klipsch floor speakers... I can play music and watch DVD's on a TV if I wanted, don't know about TV though...

I built one for my Dad...

Got him a Shuttle barebones, 2500+, 512mb RAM, 9600Pro AIW, 80Gig HDD, and a DVD-Burner.

The thing I like about the 9600Pro AIW is that it has a TV-tuner and FM tuner built in.

We recently got Nero Ultra Edition for his capturing/burning software and I like it a lot... may not have all the editing features you would want tho...

Is an AIW card a necesity or can any card that has TV in and out capability be used?

AIW cards come designed for a HTPC... but theoretically, any card should work if you direct the sound source to the Line-In. The AIW on this has sound already in mind and actually has an audio cable that comes out of the vid card and you can easily plug it into the Line-In port. So it is easy to get sound out of something you may be recording off a cable-in line... where sound and video are all in the same cable.