| 22 January |
Home Theater PC |
Looking at buying a new computer can be tricky. The first step is to figure out just what exactly it is that you want to do with it. Once you have that established you have to ballpark the amount of doe you want to spend. Then once you compare the two you have to decide what hardware / software you now realise you don’t want, because it just shot the sub total through the roof. Once you have all that set, you have two choices. Buy a boxed ready PC, or a do it yourselfer. I’m not the biggest fan of going to the store or logging on to a website and picking from the vast amount of random model numbers. It’s amazing to me how many people still think they are getting something special because it has a streamlined case and a logo. It’s all the same pieces that come off the same line, except it’s shipped to different places. All the manufacturers do is put it together for you, and charge for their name. I know nothing I’ve just said is ground breaking, but thought that would make for a nice intro paragraph.
The girlfriend and I are in the market for a new PC. We have researched and researched, then researched the research. I am by no means a whiz at any of this computer jargon, but I learn as I go. Google is after all an amazing tool. Some of the things we want out of this new machine is to basically be able to run all of the home theater components from it, and use a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD drive to watch movie on the big TV. I also want to run AutoCAD, and a few other graphic heavy programs such as Photo-Shop. So in a nut shell we want a Home Theater PC that we can type papers with. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I thought it would be a simple plug and play operation, but man was I mistaken. Not only is it hard to figure out what we will need, it’s hard to figure out what it all means.
If I had a dollar for each computer based acronym I would be a millionaire…Well, I’d at least have a few extra bucks. You have the DVI, HDCP, DDR, and many others. Also, as I mentioned before the crazy amounts of random model numbers. It’s a good thing I already knew most of the TV related terms, like the 1080i, 1080p, HDMI and some of those or else I’d be completely lost. If this thing doesn’t pan out, at least I can say that I’ve learned a lot.
Basically I’ve boiled it down to this configuration. We will need at least a 2.66GHz processor, a super fantastic video/graphics card, a quantum mechanical sound card, a ginormous hard drive, DVI to HDMI cables, and a fine copy of Vista Home Premium or Ultimate. To put it in computer code that means, Intel® Core™2 Q6700 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.66Hz,1066FSB), Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium with Digital Cable Support, 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs , 500GB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache, 256MB Radeon ATI HD 2600 XT, Integrated Sound Blaster®Audigy™ HD Software Edition, Hauppauge HVR1250 Hybrid TV Tuner and Remote, INTERNAL SUPER MULTI BLUE BLU-RAY DISC™ REWRITER & HD DVD-ROM™ DRIVE and of course a keyboard and mouse. See what I mean? It’s nuts. By the way thank goodness for copy paste.
On my journey to find whatever it was I was looking for I found out some interesting things I didn’t know before. Some of you may have known for a long time, and others may already have this in their home. Vista has a thing called Media Center Extender capability. You can connect your PC to your home theater wirelessly. Of course this comes at the added cost of more hardware, but how bad ass is that! On top of all that, instead of buy an extender, which is basically a wireless card for your TV and receiver, you can use an XBOX as a wireless connector to your TV. Just another reason for me to get one. With this you can watch TV through your PC, and use your PC and/or XBOX as a DVR, and save all your shows to your PC. You can also view videos, listen to music, and whatever else you do with your computer on your TV.
It just seems that now a days the sky is the limit, and with the explosion of big screens, surround sound, high definition, and whatever else, it’s become very easy to integrate your entire house. Hell, I bet their is some sort of plug in so you can operate your toaster from your PC.
All this sounds like fun and games, but if your not careful you’ll end up with something you don’t need, or something that you can’t use. Be sure to take the time and research everything! It takes a while, but it’s better than “Geek Squad Brett” telling you what you need, when he hasn’t the slightest clue what he’s talking about. It’s also good to keep in mind that just because it’s the most expensive, or latest and greatest doesn’t mean it’s any better than last years model.
All I know is, our system better work. Guess I’ll find out just how much I’ve “learned”.