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+--- Thread: Options for Living Room (/showthread.php?tid=87920)
Options for Living Room - kirota - 2010-12-19
I'm wanting an XBMC device for my living room. I've looked at everything from an htpc to an apple tv.
I cant afford to buy an Acer Revo, or anything like that. I'm only willing to spend around 100-150 dollars.
I actually have a pretty good computer in my living room, but my family needs to use it. I was thinking I could setup dual monitors on that but it would take work.
I would have to buy a video card that supports it. Currently it only has onboard.
Has anyone else done it that way, or is there an even easier way for me to do it?
- htpc guy - 2010-12-19
having 2 separate monitors with different resolutions is not an issue. My desktop has one 1920x1080 and a 1280x1024 and it works without a problem. You could always buy a long hdmi cable and try it out to see what you think. Then if the family likes it you can maybe budget a little more for a separate dedicated rig. You just have to give them a taste and they will be hooked.
- kirota - 2010-12-19
what video card would you recommend? just something that supports 1 PCI for the normal monitor, and 1 HDMI for the television is all i would need. 1080p output too.
- htpc guy - 2010-12-19
It depends on what OS you plan on using.
- poofyhairguy - 2010-12-19
kirota Wrote:what video card would you recommend? just something that supports 1 PCI for the normal monitor, and 1 HDMI for the television is all i would need. 1080p output too.
Honestly a GT210 can do that:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127454
- rbrohman - 2010-12-19
I had tried to run a dual-monitor setup a couple years back. Getting it setup wasn't too bad, but actually using it didn't work well for us if we tried to use both displays concurrently (like watching a movie while someone did general computer stuff at the desk). Performance wasn't atrocious, it was more screen control and that type of issue. My setup was a quad core Q6600 cpu and a 512MB 8800GT GPU.
I ended up taking home an old P4 from work, adding a video card and using that as the dedicated xbmc machine. You can find P4's on kijiji / craigslist or at local computer shops for $100-150, then just grab a cheap nvidia video card. Or you could pick up the video card first, see if adding xbmc on a secondary display will work for you, and only buy the rest of the P4 if it doesn't. There's a good chance that the issues I had have been resolved in 2 years worth of progress.
