Looking for a HTPC....

[chris_huh]

I'm looking at getting a HTPC. All i really need from it is:

At least 200GB HDD
Twin digital Tuner
Dual-layer DVDr player/recorder

And hopefully for as cheap as possible, maybe about £900 max, but preferably cheaper.

Most of the ones i have found are single tuners, but a twin tuner would make so much more sense. I currently have a pace twin PVR which is good, but doesnt have much space and cannot backup to dvd. Is there a particularly good place to look for them, most places only seem to have a few.

I have looked at the vaio becauve it should hopefully be a good setup but does the vaio only have a single digital tuner or does it have a twin one? And if it does only have a single one does anyone know if it would be possible to put in a twin one without voiding the warranty?

Thanks a lot

 

[Szgany]

I would think that the majority (I may stand corrected) of people who use this forum build their own MCE PC / HTPC's.

It would work out alot cheaper for you to do the same, plus you get to decide what you wish to go into your HTPC.

Would you want slimline or full height?

FYI - Adding PCI cards does not void any warranty unless specified. So replacing a dual TV tuner is possible.

A full HTPC build with the specs you've provided could cost you as little as £500 but this will of course depend on the main components (Motherboard, CPU, RAM). How future-proof do you want this HTPC to be and what would it be used for? Playing MP3's, watching / recording TV, watching DVD's, AVI, Mpeg, surfing the net.

You could do as I've done for a couple of HTPC's / MCE PC's and source your components from Ebay. A Socket A (462) XP1600 would be the minimum I'd personally use. Yet this way you can keep the costs very low and have a HTPC that will do all what I have said in the above paragraph.


Let us know what you prefer, selfbuild or prebuilt.

 

[jaymz]

Have a look at the forum sponsor www.mediapc.tv they do parts, self build kits and fully built systems.

If nothing else it will give you an idea of the price difference