Page 1 of A continuation of my HTPC questions... can you check this please?

As an HTPC, which I would I want to connect to (a very good projector) and obviously use to run a home theatre, would this do the job?

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/studio-xps-8100?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&ref=dthp


It appears to have an HDMI, so I`m assuming I could run this into an Amp, right? And for sound, it appears to have an optical out, so I`m assuming I could use that.

Do you think this could do the job?

Any help massively appreciated.

Yeah the graphics card HDMI output could run via an amp, and it does appear to have a SPDIF connector (hopefully output rather than input).

However, that looks ilke overkill for an HTPC. Wouldn`t you be better with something like this:
www.ebuyer.com/product/172706
(With an external BD drive)?

Would that comfortably play MKV`s etc.? I`m planning on setting it up through XBMC, as a `home theatre` experience so it plays trailers, Dolby/THX ads etc. before the film starts. I`d need to stream those directly (and seamlessly) from the machine.

I`ve read that it`s good to `discrete graphics` or something like that. Does this have that?

Sorry, bit out of the loop on PC`s now that I am Mac based!

Thanks for your help MilesR.

How about this as a second alternative HTPC?

www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-218-OK&groupid=43&catid=1446&subcat=

Cost isn`t a massive problem as it`s going through the business, so will be claimed back over 3 years etc.

Quote:
Would that comfortably play MKV`s etc.?
From what Ive read the £130 Acer Revo with 1gb of RAM plays mkvs no problems, so that one should be fine.

Not sure if youve looked at much on the Revo but you can set it up in the Bios that it automatically boots into an install of XBMC kept on an 8GB memory card, which is a lot quicker than loading full sortware and then loading XBMC as a program.  You can have it with XP/Windows 7 installed and that these boot is you choose through F12 when starting it up.

If main use is going to be as media player these seem brilliant option, think if you want the Blu Ray drive then definately worth going the route of the higher spec ones, but just thought Id let you know that for MKV side of things the lowest ones are apparently more than enough.  Unfortunately Im setting one up for a friend, but she doesnt have money at the moment so havent had a chance to have a blast, but pretty sure im going to pick one up myself afterwards.

Edit.   forgot to mention that the £130 one doesnt have optical out either, but there is one at around £200 that does have it aswell.

www.last.fm/user/1mills

This item was edited on Saturday, 20th February 2010, 17:51

Would that comfortably play MKV`s

dude, my mac mini plays all MKV`s, the dell pc would cream it lol...

From what Ive read the £130 Acer Revo with 1gb of RAM plays mkvs no problems, so that one should be fine.

yup, hardware decoding via the onboard 9400 based ION chipset, & has HDMI to boot...

& the asrok system is basicaly identical to the Zotac one i linked to in the previous thread, only the asrok comes ready with the drives etc (but still no OS) & at over double the price....

So assuming I was being lazy Ogster (because I don`t want to build my own machine), and don`t mind spending the money, you`d say that the Asrock is a good spec machine?

The Acer Revo looks great, but once I`ve bought an external Blu-ray drive and remote, I might have well as bought an Asrock or something similar, right?

Cheers for the help guys.

Ben - this is worth a read:
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/2792/asrock_ion_330_bd_nettop_affordable_overclockable_and_1080p_hd/index.html

£400 seems bloody good for what it is/can do (incl. the BD drive)

So assuming I was being lazy Ogster (because I don`t want to build my own machine), and don`t mind spending the money, you`d say that the Asrock is a good spec machine?

it should be a great little machine, but before commiting to it, try & find out the noise levels (fan/psu etc) if it`s passively cooled like the zotac, then it`ll do everything you need :)

one other thing to throw into the mix, i know i pretty much ruled out the ION mac mini for various reasons, but the fact it uses core2duo CPU over the dual core atom is still worth a mention simply because your edging upto the £400 mark, Excluding the OS, which brings it to around the price of the Mini, (tho, there are the obstacles re= sound/blu ray we covered earlier) but i do think the mini would be worth the effort installing a blu ray drive & using a USB sound adaptor, as opposed to spending around the same cash on the atom systems..

BUT.... I am heavily biased, being a mac mini owner for nearly 4 years, i just think they are an awsome & rock solid reliable bit of kit... (dont run OsX tho, just xp. & i`ll run Win7 when i eventually get the newer Mini)

hope this helps.... tho i think i just tied a couple of new knots into it for you lol...

Well the reason I am asking is because I am wholly Mac based, so I am completely out of the loop on PCs. I really want something out of the box, so modding anything is out of the question really, as is swapping OSX`s.

Cheers for the help guys!