Hello all, I'm currently building my first HTPC and waiting on the following components.
Antec Fusion Black HTPC Case - 430HE Watt PSU
Abit AN-M2HD nForce 520 Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
AMD AM2 Athlon 64 BE-2400 Brisbane
Corsair 2GB DDR2 Value Select PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB)
Zalman CNPS7500-CU CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)
LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray Reader & HD-DVD ROM Serial ATA Retail Kit
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache
Terretac Cinergy 2400i DT MCE PCI-E
Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre Remote Controller
Netgear WG311 54Mbps Wireless Desktop PCI Network Adapter
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition
Belkin PureAV Blue Series HDMI to HDMI Cable - 3.6m
However, I need some advice on what software to install e.t.c I've decided to go with MP over Vista MCE as it seems a lot more customisable and better suited to my media library of TV Shows, movies and music. Here's what I need the HTPC to be able to do.
Play DVD's
Play HD-DVD/Blue Ray (I realize I might need a seperate GFX card for this but will try without first) at 720p
Play AVI's and DivX files
Play Music
Play H.264 files at 720p
Watch & Record Digital TV
Will MP do most of this "out of the box" or do I need a lot of separate codecs and plugins?
Antec Fusion Black HTPC Case - 430HE Watt PSU
Abit AN-M2HD nForce 520 Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
AMD AM2 Athlon 64 BE-2400 Brisbane
Corsair 2GB DDR2 Value Select PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB)
Zalman CNPS7500-CU CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)
LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray Reader & HD-DVD ROM Serial ATA Retail Kit
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache
Terretac Cinergy 2400i DT MCE PCI-E
Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre Remote Controller
Netgear WG311 54Mbps Wireless Desktop PCI Network Adapter
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition
Belkin PureAV Blue Series HDMI to HDMI Cable - 3.6m
However, I need some advice on what software to install e.t.c I've decided to go with MP over Vista MCE as it seems a lot more customisable and better suited to my media library of TV Shows, movies and music. Here's what I need the HTPC to be able to do.
Play DVD's
Play HD-DVD/Blue Ray (I realize I might need a seperate GFX card for this but will try without first) at 720p
Play AVI's and DivX files
Play Music
Play H.264 files at 720p
Watch & Record Digital TV
Will MP do most of this "out of the box" or do I need a lot of separate codecs and plugins?