HOW to build a media pc for living room

[siuron]

the question is:
i want to build a media pc for the living room connected to the plasma with the ability of a normal pc, to record tv channels, record dvds(on the pc dvd drive and standalone dvd players), play files what a normal pc could, burn to cd/dvd, internet browsing, and play games like doom3/NFSU (3d intensive)

whats the difference between a media pc and a normal pc that we build?
is it the addition of a tv tuner card and runs Windows XP Media Center?

whats in windows xp media center?
do i NEED win xp media center with the remote?
or just win xp pro with a tv tuner card with remote is sufficient?

to play games i guess as long as my cpu, ram and graphics card are good, then its ok..

thanks all

[specofdust]

Ok, I'll say this much because I loathe Microsoft dominance, Media Centre edition is not the only, nor was it the first HTPC application.

There are quite a few others, including MythTV, SageTV and BeyondTV.

My advice would be to do lots of googling, and also look at the articles on wikipedia for HTPC, SageTV, BeyondTV and Microsoft Media Centre Edition(MCE). Learn alot, HTPC's are not simple, you have to have the right hardware, otherwise you can basicly guarentee it won't work, you need to know your hardware is supported, and you need to know about the relevent connections.

If you're really not a big techy though, as much as I hate to do it, I'd say look specicially into MCE, its a long way of being the best HTPC app, but it certainly is the simplest.

[siuron]

i have got the MCE software, so i'm planning to use it if i need it
the thing is i know ati all in wonder cards comes with a remote, and that remote supports MCE, any other tv card supports it?

or i can operate with mouse/keyboard anyway?

apart from that, i think i just need to find out what connections i need and make sure the tv card got them, right?

[dannyboy83]

I run mine with a DVI to HDMI cable from my HTPC to Samsung HD ready LCD, but you could probably just use a simple VGA cable.

[madmaca]

whats in windows xp media center?
do i NEED win xp media center with the remote?
or just win xp pro with a tv tuner card with remote is sufficient?

to play games i guess as long as my cpu, ram and graphics card are good, then its ok..

thanks all

Right fist off - XP MCE is pretty much XP Professional but with the Media Center dashboard built in. You can shut down the MCE dashboard at any time and it returns you to the normal XP desktop.

I have the Official MS MCE remote and would recommend it - not only is it great quality and great remote, but it comes with an IR Blaster, which allows your MCE PC to change the channel of a third party device (in other words you can use you MCE remote to change the channel of your freeview/skybox when viewing through MCE). This is particularly useful if you plan to schedule recordings. So you can be watching one channel and when it comes a scheduled recording start time, the MCE PC will automatically change the channel on your freeview box/digibox or whatever so that correct channel is selected. Without an IR Blaster you'd have to make sure the channel was set yourself BEFORE your recording started.

Basically all you need for a MCE capable PC (and to do what you are aiming for) is a normal PC (spec'd to whatever spec you need for other games etc.), with a TV Tuner (I would recommend the Hauppauge PVR-MCE range) some PVR capable software (I only have experience of Windows MCE) and a remote.

Good Luck!