Home Theater Design e-Guide:
Building the Ultimate Home Theater PCbuild ultimate home theater pc
Are you ready to build the ultimate home theater pc? Great! It definitely requires a stronger technical aptitude and know-how to pull off the results you want, but in the end provides you with a greater level of flexibility over the scope and performance capabilities of your home theater system. Moreover, the DIY version of a home theatre pc will save yourself a ton of money in the long-run. Like anything else, a wide array of products are offered for each building block of the system -- invest some time researching the best products at the best values.
 |
Below, we've provided a fairly high-level overview of what's involved in building a home theater pc. At a minimum, this can serve as a basic checklist to help guide you through the design and development process.
Common Building Objectives
Before you begin constructing your home theater pc, you need to make a thorough assessment of your performance goals. What exactly do you want to get out of your system? Here's a few questions you may want to contemplate as you start to spec out your system:- What is my budget?
- What kind of usage will my pc need to support?
- Will it be multimedia (i.e., movies, music, gaming, etc.)?
- How much capacity will I need?
- What are my aesthetic preferences?
- Am I constrained by space for storing the unit?
The answers to some of the questions may lead you down one path versus another. For instance, if you intend on housing your entire library of music on your home theater pc, you may want to invest in more storage capacity. Make sure you don't overlook the importance of planning as part of the building process.
Benefits of an HTPC
HTPCs can offer several benefits over the conventional home theater system, which is driving the desire to build custom systems among enthusiasts everywhere. Here's just a sampling of the benefits you can experience from an HTPC:- Reduces the number of individual components in your system; typically an all-in-one unit
- Provides the end-user with a large degree of flexibility
- Convenient, large capacity storage mechanism for multimedia files (music, DVD, games)
- Supports many sound and video formats (DVD, VCD, MPEG, CD, mp3, etc.)
- Transmits high definition signals to HD televisions and projectors
Component Selection
CPUTo build the ultimate home theater pc, it needs to pack both power and speed. Personally, I would have a hard time recommending anything but an Intel Pentium-grade processor. In terms of stability, my own personal experience is that these chips don't crash as much.
Motherboard
Selecting a motherboard will be dependent upon, in part, on the size of the housing you choose for all of the system components. If you're working with a small unit, you'll certainly want to look at more compact motherboards. Shop carefully and make sure you buy one that will handle you current (and not-so-distant) home theater computing needs, as this is another significant component in building the ultimate home theater pc.
Hard Drive
Another block in building the ultimate home theater pc is hard drive space and it's dependent upon how you'll be using your pc. If you plan to house movies (which are around 5 mb at compressed levels) or your music library, you'll want to spend a little more on storage. Storage is fairly cheap and you can get some great deals if you keep your eyes open. 160 gb would work well for the average user and often can be found for less than $100.
Memory
Don't even try to build the ultimate home theater pc without packing in plenty of memory. This is often one of those overlooked pieces of performance by your typical user. Memory is just as (or more) important as clock speed in regards to performance, so don't be afraid to spend a little extra here. Since you'll be running some rather intense and resource draining applications in your home theater environment, you should at least have a gig of RAM in your machine. Like storage, memory is fairly cheap and every once in awhile you'll run across a bargain.
Operating System
This is not a significant element to the makeup of your home theater pc. I would recommend using Windows XP for stability and ease of use compared to other operating systems. While Microsoft Vista has some features that will be beneficial to your home theater environment, I wouldn't jump into using it as the platform for your unit just yet. I would wait for them to work out the performance problems (and bugs) that are always inherent in software releases to the consumer market.
Software
At a minimum, you'll want to have applications that support DVD and music playback loaded on your HTPC. Take your pick -- you've got many to choose from in this very competitive market. You may also want to invest in software that will allow you to mimic DVR activities, allowing for time-shifted TV viewing. There are also some programs available that you can use to scale and deinterlace images to desired resolutions.
DVD Hardware
DVD hardware is typically very cheap, so I would make sure to invest in a multi-format player that has read-write capabilities. I would ensure that the component will also support all variations of DVD blanks (i.e., +/-R, RW, etc.). Lightscribe enabled DVD writers are nice as they can incorporate a more professional labeling system to your DVDs, including images.
Video Card
A video card is essential if you intend on viewing television with your HTPC. Many video cards come equipped with a TV tuner. As HD programming becomes more commonplace and cheaper, in addition to the phasing out of analog signals, I'd recommend buying a video card that supports high definition signals.
Another important consideration to make when purchasing a video card is scaling. The card you select should be able to support the image resolution you desire to achieve. Lastly, you'll want to ensure the video card is flanked with the appropriate outputs to support your multimedia needs (i.e., composite, S-video, DVI, etc.).
Audio Card
The important thing to consider when buying an audio card is what sound formats (i.e., DTS) you expect your HTPC to produce. I love DTS encoded sound, so this feature is a must for me.
Cases/Housings
My first suggestion is to find a case that is sleek and looks to fit the part. Otherwise, it's like casting Rodney Dangerfield to play Peter Parker in Spider-Man 3 -- it just doesn't work. An HTPC case should aesthetically complement the rest of your home theater components, or at least look like one. Second, you want to make sure that you've assessed the amount of space that you'll need to house the various hardware before you make your selection. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and prices, so you shouldn't have any problem finding something that adequately suits your needs.
Also, you will want to choose a case that has a reasonable number of vents. You don't want a case that restricts air flow too much or you risk overheating. A good case will also insulate internal sound emitted from your HTPC.
Power Supply
Often, the case you select will be equipped with a power supply. If it doesn't, be sure to look closely at what power supplies the case can support. Like other hardware components, you'll want to choose a power supply that emits a low level of noise. Also, choose a power supply with a good cooling unit (especially quiet), since ventilation is such an important issue with HTPCs. As you spend more money on these units, you can find some that regulate cooling based on temperature.
Ventilation Kits
You'll want to invest in a ventilation kit to keep components of your HTPC from overheating. You'll certainly want to shop around for something that is quiet (we recommend reading user reviews) and compact enough for the available space you have in your HTPC case.
Cables
Utlimately, the types of cables you will need are dependent upon the components you select for your system. Often, the cables you need will be supplied with the component. From a system perspective, keeping all of the cables in the system neatly bundled and organized will help ventilation/cooling in your HTPC. Also, it's helpful to connect your components prior to assembly within your HTPC case -- you'll find that the space you're working with will quickly evaporate and make it difficult to get to manuever around.
Peripherals
You can't truly build the ultimate home theater pc without adding in some of bells and whistles. Integrating a wireless keyboard into your HTPC environment will quickly add value. The convenience of being able to control your HTPC from various locations in your home theater will make you feel like this is a necessity. Also, this should reduce some clutter where your main components are housed, especially considering the amount of wiring utilized within your system.
When choosing a remote control, first check to make sure that it is compatabile with various software applications that you'll be running on your HTPC. The remotes will either transmit and IR (infared) or RF (radio frequency) signal. IR is more compatible with your components, but at the expense of being able to project a signal through a wall. IR remotes will work for most home theater environments, but those who store their components in a separate room may want to look at using an RF remote.
Macros are a nice feature of some higher-end HTPC remotes. This capability will allow you to automate a series of tasks. For instance, you can program the remote to launch the proper application and play a DVD by pressing a single button.
Build Ultimate Home Theater PC → Home Theater Design e-Guide
