Media Center Guide - Multimedia

Rounding out the hardware are the multimedia devices such as audio and graphics cards. You can use the onboard sound card, and it will work just as well. If you buy a cheap Audigy, it may work a little better. For a graphics cards, anything will work. If you plan on outputting the screen signal to a TV, you should research what kind of connection to your TV will give you the best quality. If your TV has DVI input, this would be the best way to connect the two. Just get a graphics card with a DVI output on it.

The other feature to look into for video cards is available on a 6 series Nvidia card. These have Purevideo built in. Purevideo allows some videos to be processed on the graphics card instead of laying the entire burden on the CPU. You can get a 6200 for a low price if you are interested in this feature.

Now we need a way to get the video onto the computer. To do this you will need one of a few devices. The first type of device is a TV tuner. These normally offer coaxial cable input, for direct feed from the cable. Many TV tuners also offer a way to get an RCA connection to the TV tuner. This is a very nice feature for recording your VHS tapes onto DVDs.

If you have a set-top box and want to run the TV signal through there, you can use this type of connection for this as well. Some of the higher end cards will also support a radio. If you don’t want this feature, you many be able to save a few dollars. Most TV tuners are PCI; a few are coming out that will be PCI-express.

There are a few solutions for those who would rather use USB. ATI makes a decent USB TV tuner. Be careful when buying USB devices when looking for a TV tuner. Many devices will support RCA audio and S-video. These devices tend to be troublesome to get to work with these software solutions. These types of devices are intended more for capturing video off a VCR or like device, and not decoding TV signals.

I chose the new ATI TV tuner with the new Theater 550 Pro chip. It offers a good TV tuner, a radio, and comes with ATI’s dongle for the RCA connections. It retails for roughly $80. It offers anything and everything you would need for a deluxe media center.

If you are going to have it next to your TV you may want to look into a media center case, or a Small Form Factor (SFF). These types of cases tend to cost a little more, but are more practical for media centers. The media center cases are low profile and look more like a traditional set top box. SFF cases are shaped like a box. They are taller but skinnier. In both cases space is at a premium. You may need to cut back on some of the parts. Some heat sinks for the CPU may be too big to fit in a SFF case.  

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