Shola's Home Gadgets

In my last post I gave my views on the Home Theatre PC. In this post, I will continue with a few solutions for those who want to buy off the shelf, some pointers for those who would like to go the 'Do it yourself' route, and discuss my current plans for my HTPC.

In the UK there are numerous companies that provide off the shelf HTPC solutions, a google search will provide you a list from which you should be able to find one that will be able to supply a PC that should suit your taste and budget. While most off the shelf solutions will be able to supply PCs in different cases, and specifications they usually supply Windows Media Centre as the operating system/software for HTPC operations.

There is nothing wrong with Windows Media Centre, and for the majority of people it is more than enough for their needs. There are two flaws with MCE as far as I'm concerned, it is limited when it comes to customising it to one's individual use, and currently it only supports 2 TV cards and these have to the same platform (i.e. 2 digital or 2 analogue), you can not thus combine Freeview TV with your SKY digibox. If you are interested in using an alternative software solution check with the supplier, as some do install alternative media software, with a least one offering Linux as the operating system.

If you want to go down the DIY route, visit Quiet PC for articles and components that would help reduce computer noise as you want your HTPC to not only be pleasing to the eye but also silent and non distracting in the living room.
There are many barebones PC manufacturers to choose from, Shuttle, ASUS, with the remaining components available from the normal PC component outlets. For operating systems, the usual choice is between Linux and Windows XP, both having proved to be very stable. For a list of HTPC components including software, click here.

For my system I have decided to use a Pundit-R barebones PC, operating system will be Windows XP and my software of choice is Media Portal.



I'm currently evaluating this on my home PC, and will give my impressions in a future post, you can also look forward to some posts when I start my HTPC build.