Please help the Newbie (1 Viewer)

[BG008]

I'm looking to build a media PC to compliment my HD movie collection, brand new 1080p Plasma TV, and sound system for my house. Other than my using the PC my roommate in college built, who has done three different builds, I'm new to the game. Meaning, I need as much help as possible.

I really just need it to play 1080p movies with absolutely no problem. I just want to be able to watch the movies I have the way they were meant to be watched.

Things I already have:
Three (3) external hard drives
My TV
And I'll probably go with this case: Newegg.com - Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

I'm not looking to get extravagant with this. Would like to keep it in the $300 - $350 range is possible? (which I'm told it is)

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[geov]

If you only want to watch movies in HD why don't you just invest in a HD Media-Player that accepts external hard-drives?

 

[BG008]

Would I have the ability to access Hulu and Youtube? Do these HD Media centers access the internet so I can download my movies to the hard drives still?

If so, which would you suggest?

 

[umlaut]

If you want to paint yourself into a corner and purchase a mediacenter that just plays your movies, by all means do that.
But if you want something a bit more versatile, no a lot more versatile then it is in fact MediaPortal you want.

Mediaportal can be as little and as much as you want.

Moving pictures is a beautiful plugin that would show your movie collection the way it should.
If you have TV shows as well, the MP-tvseries plugin is a must.
I believe theres a Hulu plugin as well
Online Videos is a plugin where you can watch not just Youtube but just about all online videos out there.

The learning curve of MediaPortal isn't that hard, not anymore anyway with the latest versions.
I suggest, start out with "just" Mediaportal and then explore some of the plugins I have mentioned.

 

[pilehave]

If you do not need 1080i TV on your box, you could go for an Atom / ION II combo. $300 won't get you very far though, but I think that goes for all PC-systems...

 

[BG008]

I love Mediaportal. I have it installed on my PC right now and use it when I can. I also have Moving Pictures and MP-tvseries installed. I fully intend on running it with the new media PC. The problem is, that I am trying to watch HD movies off of a 6 year old Dell computer that the only modification I've done is upgraded video card and RAM. With 1GB RAM, video card that only puts on 720p, and a processor slower than my grandmother with a walker.

The route I want to go is to build a fully functioning media PC. So any help in that area is appreciated. My problem is knowing what is compatible with what. I know I would like to try and go with on-board video (which should cut on cost a bit).

 

[prometh]

If u you're looking for a cheap solution, I'd go for an AMD Athlon II X2 "e" processor and use a mainboard with a reasonable onboard video card, sth like an ATI HD 4250 or 4290.

 

[ryan20021982]

I would recommend something like this

$242 without power supply and case

Newegg.com - Once You Know, You Newegg