kneeki

I'm looking for a media center to place in my bedroom so I can access my media on my server or any other PC on my network. I've thought about building one, but I really don't want to shell out $300 or so for it. I did find this though, which looks promising. Any suggestions?

DuckieHo

You want a Media Center Extender.... (They are discussed in the HTPC section).

Answer the following first:
Does it need to support HD?
Does it a hard drive or streaming only?
Does it need Wifi?
What codecs?

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To answer most of your questions: (1) a fridge cannot cool a PC (2) 64-bit OS for over 3.4GB (3) If a PCIe card fits, it should work (4) Resolution, not screen size (5) If you have a question, it is not news (6) Report, not respond to Spam (7) Single-Rail/Non-Modular PSUs are not always better than Multi-Rail/Modular

kneeki

Woops! I had a feeling I was air heading the thread choice.... To answer your questions though, the TV in the bedroom is only 720, so I'd like to have at least that high of playback. I'm not overly concerned about HDD playback, as I already have a media center that has all my media on the network. Wifi would be a plus, even though it is a bit slower.

Coma

For the sake of a good answer, I'll detail what this means: MPEG-2, H.264 and VC-1. It will need at least 512MB of RAM if you're hoping to play downloaded MKVs, since most of them have 16 reference frames, which is just over 500MB at 720p. The Xbox 360, PS3 and DXVA can't play them. You'll need more RAM to play 1080p videos, but luckily 720p is almost always available.

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When asking for help: state the goal, not the step.

DuckieHo

Hmmm... I've been meaning to compile a list of media extenders..... I'll get on it this week then.


Here's a quick list:
Western Digital WDTV
Popcorn Hour A110
Popcorn Hour C200
A.C. Ryan Playon! DVR TV
Asus O!Play HDP-R1
Buffalo LT-H90WN
Linksys DMA2100
Linksys DMA2200
D-Link Wireless HD
D-Link DSM-510
EZ Fetch Wireless HD

__________________
To answer most of your questions: (1) a fridge cannot cool a PC (2) 64-bit OS for over 3.4GB (3) If a PCIe card fits, it should work (4) Resolution, not screen size (5) If you have a question, it is not news (6) Report, not respond to Spam (7) Single-Rail/Non-Modular PSUs are not always better than Multi-Rail/Modular

kneeki

Hey, thanks fellas!

kneeki

Is that in order of best to worst? Your #1 doesn't have networking support, although everything else is fantastic!

andyroo89

Well if you have ps3 or xbox 360 or wii then you don't need a media center the xbox 360 or ps3 and wii does the same thing pm me if you have one of them and I will help you setting it up.

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DuckieHo

It's randomly ordered.


PS3 or XBox 360 don't support all codecs?

__________________
To answer most of your questions: (1) a fridge cannot cool a PC (2) 64-bit OS for over 3.4GB (3) If a PCIe card fits, it should work (4) Resolution, not screen size (5) If you have a question, it is not news (6) Report, not respond to Spam (7) Single-Rail/Non-Modular PSUs are not always better than Multi-Rail/Modular

Kamakazi

Yeah the 360s codec support is pretty limited if I remember correctly.

http://support.xbox.com/support/en/u...aybackfaq.aspx

There is the list. Hits most of the biggies unless your HD content is in .mkvs then you are out of luck.