I want to make a multimedia PC

[rh100]

also, are you looking to record tv on it or do you have sky+ or cable alternative?

 

[rh100]

ok - will take a look later and get an idea of what connections you can make use of as it will influence the best pc bits to get

the thing is, with the right hdmi card which has audio on board, you can get rid of the sound card requirement altogether if you want the sound via the tv (hdmi to tv then analogue output to the hifi should work) or hdmi via a HDMI amp/receiver then onto the TV, this gives the full digital audio to the amp, and the video goes on to the tv from the amp. Other devices can also connect to to the amp such as sky hd, xbox ps3 etc and the amp acts as a video switch. It also has an auto lip sync function because they are all minimum hdmi 1.3, lip sync was a major issue for me before getting the hdmi amp and was relying on digital coax to the old amp for the audio.

Just to clarify - I can use the lip sync function because my setup is HDMI 1.3, if you think you may need it then make sure any equipment you buy is 1.3 or above, it should be. This is not to be confused with an audio delay setting you can select on the amp which most amps seem to offer - I assume the downside of this is that the audio delay may need to vary depending the source so not automatic.

If surround sound not required, then hdmi to the tv and it should have an audio output you can connect to the AUX of your amp, your tv should have an optical output also if your amp will take it.

Your current tv is HD, but not full 1080 HD. It also has a VGA input which is just as good as HDMI really but you will need a seperate sound input, or you could use a DVI to HDMI lead if your pc has a dvi output but again this will not carry audio.

Anyway, my video card is http://xfxforce.com/en-gb/products/graphiccards/gtseries/220gt.aspx which is a great performer for all but games but you may wish to find a silent model. This provides full 1080p video and digital audio over hdmi, but not all models have the audio chip.ing Cost about £50 when I bought mine.

You could have a Blu Ray drive http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-SH-...C46A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287087955&sr=8-1 for playing hidef films.

A case similar to this is ideal size wise:

which is full size, so takes your choice of quiet psu, cpu cooler, drives etc.

Rather than going for sound proofing, which is likely to add to heat problems IMO, go for quieter components instead. The quiet pc link already given will give you a good idea of whats available - but shop around.

As for software, I use Windows 7 (Home premium or ultimate has the media cenre front end), and for playing DVD's I use Total Media Theatre as this will upscale DVD's and decodes BluRay. Also the Media Browser free plug in is good for downloaded videos and ripped dvd's etc. Media Centres audio player is more than adequate for me.

Media center was great for recording tv on standard def' using a Hauppauge pvr250, but recording standard def and playing it back through a hdtv results in a very poor picture, I tried allsorts to fix it but it seems that upscaling that sdtv signal is a no go. I decided to upgrade the sky to sky+ for recording tv with a second hand sky+ box (free) and a dish upgrade kit off ebay (about £20 and an hours work to run the cable), a phone call to sky enabled the plus functions and now I get to record two channels at once. If you have a decent freeview signal then you will likely get good results with the right tuner card but that method is beyond my experience.

Media center also has a sky plugin which with the right sky subscription gives access to various programs over the web.

Some samsung tv's have the apps for iplayer and lovefilm via an ethernet port on the back of the telly, bypassing the need for the pc for iplayer and also have usb ports for films on a memory stick or hard disk.

Hope it helps

 

[rh100]

As for remote control, I use this http://www.btc.com.tw/english/2-7-21keyboard.htm#9039ARFIII except mine has a thumb stick instead of roller ball. It works in BIOS also before windows boots so ideal, has all the media centre control keys as well as the green button.

For volume - just set it to about 25 and use the amp or tv for the volume control.

 

[Crackle]

Thank you rh100, that is indeed very helpful. I think I need to give it some thought now about what is important to me and how much I want to spend. I had thought about running the sound output from the telly to an ordinary amp. Of course the issue with that is everything comes in at a different volume than if I ran the lot through an AV amp. Audio sound is also important to me and the AV amps still don't do well there from what I'm reading, so at the moment hiFi sound would be more important to me than surround sound. Telly is sorted on the Freeview box.

 

[rh100]

I have to admit that above a certain level of sound quality I stop seeing the difference, so long as it doesn't sound bad then I am happy I have read the same about dedicated amps v receivers, I have a modern but fairly entry level amp which sounds good enough to me - especially as all my music is played back from mp3 anyway so would never be perfect I guess.

If you do want analogue sound output then Creative's Sound Blaster range have always had a good name, just go from the Line out to Aux or similar on the amp. The lip sync issue I mentioned was apparent on DVD/Bluray playback, I've read this is due to the processing of the picture being delayed whilst the audio direct to the amp is instant, but you may find this is not an issue or find other ways around it.