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Original Message

Need advice: Building a home theater PC

Posted by soundnut on November 18, 2010 at 06:51:09:
Hey all.

I'm wanting to build a HTPC (home theater PC) on the dirt cheap to get me by for awhile 'til I can upgrade. Here's what I have laying around that I'm planning on using for the project:

1) 2.1 GHz Compaq Presario CPU
2) 1GB RAM
3) a couple of 1TB drives
4) Windows XP
5) DVD-RW drive

Here's what I want it to do:

1) Record one stream of 720p TV from the outdoor antennna using a PCI DVR card (which I haven't bought yet)
2) Stream NetFlix (requires Windows for Silverlight plugin. Otherwise, I'd be using Linux.)
3) Playback saved DivX movies ripped from my DVD collection.
4) Playback DVDs.

Will this system be fast enough to do this stuff on a fairly reliable basis? I'm kinda cash-strapped at the moment, so I can't afford to spend a lot of dough on this project.

Any recommendations on a good HDTV PCI DVR card with remote that would be a good fit and work under Windows XP and Windows 7? (I want to be able to use the card in a later system under Windows 7 with Media Center.)

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Cheers,
Bobbo :-)