Turning my current Rig into a HTPC....

[gruntLOL]

Hi all so I am thinking of turning my current "gaming" rig into a HTPC. I've got a 30" monitor in my room and my parents finally gave me back my Klipsch 5.1 system I lent them about 1.5 years ago. I'm getting a PS3 for Christmas and as a result buying a new amp that does HDMI video switching so I can seamlessly swap between both. But truth be told once I get the PS3 I won't play PC games very much, I play SC2 occasionally and that's really been it of late.

My current specs are:

E6300 Dual Core @ 2.80 GHz 2.27 GHz
4GB RAM
GTX275 (I think from memory it's like the 860MB version).

I'm considering also getting a HDTV Tuner, I've been reading that the Hauppauge HVR-2200 has some pretty damn good mileage. I won't watch TV heaps but will nice to have the option.

Also considering getting an IR remote for the PC if anyone can recommend a good one that is cheap? Preferably in black?

I'll probably use my HTPC for 90% of my media though to be honest I would really like to use the PS3 to watch BluRay content and will collect a small library of DVD movies for that (Discs annoy me though but eh). As the HTPC will be for recorded TV mostly I assume what software would you recommend?

I have legit W7 x64 which comes with Windows Media Centre but I'm not a huge fan of the GUI. I've heard good things about XBMC but not too sure how that handles capture cards. Oh also should I look at getting a sound card or just run SPDIF out off the mobo?

Cheers

[trevor68]

With graphics card you could run HDMI to the amp, otherwise S/PDIF will be fine for most stuff, its what I use.

For myself I use MCE with a few mods/plugins, so mine is themed the way I like, and plays all my media using MediaBrowser.

[gruntLOL]

Does the video card take Audio as well via HDMI or just video? I know that might be a stupid question but I just assumed it did video only >_<

[trevor68]

Radeons do, I believe you need to plug a sound cable into Nvidia's, though not sure.

[kreegor]

Originally Posted by trevor68

Radeons do, I believe you need to plug a sound cable into Nvidia's, though not sure.

Nvidia GT210 and 220's have an onboard HDMI audio controller.

[ndt]

for Os you could stick with Win7 MC and just use Media browser:




Its quite good.