Planning a basic 'media' PC

[mal]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

I'm thinking about making a low end (can't stess that enough ) media PC to use in our lunch room* at work.

The idea is that people could bring in their own CDs, rip them and then play them back as they wish. Maybe later down the track when we get a better TV it could be used to watch DVDs too.

Going by racket's success with his dumpster PC (p166?), mp3s sound like they'll run just fine on a very old PC, but what about DVD software decoding for playback? How much grunt does that need?

Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

*to call it a lunch room really doesn't do it justice. It looks more like the inside of an old country pub in England. But that's another story

 

[IceDigger]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

First off start with a cheap duron 1.6ghz. Next get a cheap radeon video card, they have excellent dvd playback. The rest is up to you.

 

[gameboy900]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

If you want a media pc look into windows xp media center edition. It basically will do everything you want and more. Plus it acts like a system component and has remote control operation. IE. it's stupid simple to use. Might be a bit costly though.

As for the DVD playback with software only you'd need at least a high end pentium II. Better yet get a cheap realmagic dvd decoder card of ebay for little and that will let you use even a weak pentium system.

 

[mal]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

A 1.6GHz processor? I'm only running a 1GHz PIII myself. :lol:

I'm looking at low, low end. For now anyway.

 

[racketboy]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

if you can scrape up an only high-PII or PIII machine that should handle DVDs. (I think)

But if you can find a cheap Duron and mobo it won't cost you a whole lot more.

Durons are pretty cheap.

My P166 is scraping bottom. If you plan on doing anything at the same time as playing MP3s, it's pretty slow. Ripping MP3 would be pretty slow as well.

 

[mal]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

I know they're cheap but I just can't bring myself to buy a faster PC than I have now, just to use at work.

I think I'll look for a PII, PIII or K6II.

And yes, I am planning on a new PC for home, but it will be at least 4GHz, so you can tell that that isn't going to happen for a while.

 

[it290]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

Yeah, a PII or III would be a good choice. Don't go with a K6-2, they suck, trust me. An old Athlon or Duron would be a good choice as well. They're both hella cheap. You could probably get either one at about 1.5Ghz and a motherboard to go with it for a hundred bucks (USD) or less. For RAM, 1 cheap 256 meg stick should be enough.

EDIT: If you can't bring yourself to buy a faster PC than you currently have for use at work, then buy it for yourself and take the one you're using now into work.

I agree with the choice of an ATi card, however you might as well go for an all-in-wonder 128 or the like, cheaper and works just as well for what you're doing. Although you might be able to find a motherboard with integrated video and TV-out, that would work too (nforce2 chipset for example, although those are fairly new). Onboard sound should be fine, but just check what the audio chipset is, because some of them are pretty good and others are terrible.

As for the OS, Linux is the way to go. It's free, super customizable, and there is a lot of excellent free software for media pc type applications, including CD ripping, mp3 playback, DVD playback, and PVR stuff.

 

[Ape]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

if you're gonna be that cheap why not just grab a $50 apex, they play mp3s, too

 

[Curtis]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

You can get a cheap ATX Intel LX based motherboard (all the mod cons - even USB!) that'll support a decent sized HD (40gig no probs), AGP and includes P2-233 from eBay for about $30 (nobody wants these). The LX boards will run up to a Celeron 766 with a converter.

Rockby Electonics will sell you an ATX destop case with power supply for $11.50+postage. You should be able to pick up or scavenge a bit of RAM for next to nothing (PC-133). Just about any online computer retailer will sell you a 40gig Segate ATA-100 HD for less than $100. Get a cheap TNT2 or GF2MX with TV out, build the Direct Pad pro interface and presto - you've got some lunchtime fun!

Edit: The case I mentioned can be found in this pdf. If you didn't know it was there you probably wouldn't find it. Oh and it's only $11.

 

[racketboy]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

Originally posted by Ape@Dec 19, 2003 @ 07:18 AM

if you're gonna be that cheap why not just grab a $50 apex, they play mp3s, too

nice point

but then if you have more than 700MB of MP3s, you have to change discs.

Plus the navigation sucks on DVD players

 

[mal]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

Originally posted by it290@Dec 19, 2003 @ 04:22 PM

If you can't bring yourself to buy a faster PC than you currently have for use at work, then buy it for yourself and take the one you're using now into work.

Heh, I just got a whole heap of cash (overtime) paid into my account, so that now sounds like it may be an option.

It won't be 4GHz though...

 

[Jurai]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

as much as i hate xbox modding, it IS a good, cheap, media center pc, with mod

 

[mal]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

I hadn't thought about that. It's certainly something to keep in mind.

Does anyone here have a Radeon All in Wonder?

I'm just wondering what one of those is like.

 

[Alexvrb]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

The newer ones are good. But expensive! The older All-in-wonders aren't so great and ATI doesn't really support them with updates anymore. You may be better off with an inexpensive Radeon and a $50 TV tuner. If you've got a few bucks, I second Ice's suggestion for a 1.6 Duron rig. They are cheap and powerful - a 1.6Ghz Duron will totally smoke a Celeron at 2.6Ghz.

 

[mal]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

I'll actually have a bit more money, so I'm thinking about an Athlon XP 2000.

 

[Link Hylia]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

just make sure you cram as much RAM as you can, man, in there, just to make it easier on the computer, as well as having plenty of Storage for all the music you'll be ripping. RAM is cheap, and so are hard drives now. 80 GB for $55 now. heck, I remember when it was over $1 per Gig. now look. RAM is dirt cheap nowadays, $80 for 512 MBs DDR 333 Mhz

froogle.

 

[Alexvrb]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

Froogle is actually kind of ghetto right now. I get all sorts of garbage when using it... anyway, an Athlon XP 2000+ will do very nicely. As for memory, yeah you can get some mid-grade 512 stick for dirt, but I can't recommend getting a cheap HDD. You'll want good HD performance for a media PC like that though, don't skimp too much on that. I guess it depends a lot on what kind of parts you plan on getting, like sound card/tv tuner/video card. I mean you COULD have a good media PC for dirt, but if you've got a few bucks you can get a great one!

 

[Link Hylia]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

Western Digital and Seagate are reliable. 40 GB goes for $60, not too bad. I've heard some bad stories about Maxtor, however.

for RAM, Kingston is good, as is PNY

 

[ExCyber]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

BTW, on the software side you may want to check out MythTV and Freevo...

 

[Alexvrb]

Planning a basic 'media' PC

I'd recommend a WD or Hitachi 7K250 drive, 80/120GB ones are pretty affordable and they are great performers. The Hitachi drive is a little faster. They also have larger capacities and SATA variants. If your chosen board supports it, you can use SATA if you want. The actual performance isn't going to increase much at all, but you get to use one of them new teeny cables. You might want to check out this little review of the top SATA drives, their PATA counterparts should perform rougly the same.