2010-05-06, 15:13
Hi,
New member, long time lurker. Trying to decide on htpc requirements and components, starting to go crazy. Some helpful guidance is needed.
My Current A/V Setup
50” LG PK550 Plasma
Kenwood 5.1 VR309 Receiver (this will need upgrading in the near future)
Rogers HDPVR Box
Pioneer DVD player
HTPC
Needs:
• Beautiful front end, was leaning towards XBMC
• Play 1080p videos locally, flawlessly.
• Output 5.1 DD/DTS (receiver accepts optical or rca(digital), will be upgrading this receiver to HDMI)
• Family photos
• Music server
• Controlled by Harmony remote
• Fit in cradenza (no tower cases)
• Small form factor (no need to be acer revo small)
• Quiet (no need to be absolutely silent)
• WAF
Would like, but may compromise;
• Play emulated games, most likely SNES.
• Play some PC Games, nothing too fancy, although in the future Stracraft II and Diablo 3 would be nice. No Crysis or hardware intense stuff like that.
• Web Browse
• Blu-ray reader
Things I don’t need;
• Hulu/Netflix (I live in Canada)
What route should I take?
• Pre-built Atom/ion nettops (Acer Revo1600 or 3600, Zotac Mag, Asrock Ion330) (Prices haven’t really dropped since release, and I’d feel like I would be overpaying if I were to buy them now)
• Building an atom/ion setup
• Building a core i3 or core2duo setup
• Waiting for ion 2 (Zbox hd-id11 etc)?
Budget is $350
New member, long time lurker. Trying to decide on htpc requirements and components, starting to go crazy. Some helpful guidance is needed.
My Current A/V Setup
50” LG PK550 Plasma
Kenwood 5.1 VR309 Receiver (this will need upgrading in the near future)
Rogers HDPVR Box
Pioneer DVD player
HTPC
Needs:
• Beautiful front end, was leaning towards XBMC
• Play 1080p videos locally, flawlessly.
• Output 5.1 DD/DTS (receiver accepts optical or rca(digital), will be upgrading this receiver to HDMI)
• Family photos
• Music server
• Controlled by Harmony remote
• Fit in cradenza (no tower cases)
• Small form factor (no need to be acer revo small)
• Quiet (no need to be absolutely silent)
• WAF
Would like, but may compromise;
• Play emulated games, most likely SNES.
• Play some PC Games, nothing too fancy, although in the future Stracraft II and Diablo 3 would be nice. No Crysis or hardware intense stuff like that.
• Web Browse
• Blu-ray reader
Things I don’t need;
• Hulu/Netflix (I live in Canada)
What route should I take?
• Pre-built Atom/ion nettops (Acer Revo1600 or 3600, Zotac Mag, Asrock Ion330) (Prices haven’t really dropped since release, and I’d feel like I would be overpaying if I were to buy them now)
• Building an atom/ion setup
• Building a core i3 or core2duo setup
• Waiting for ion 2 (Zbox hd-id11 etc)?
Budget is $350