Media Centre Musings (Part 3 – third time’s the charm)

This post is part one of a five-part series. Skip to related posts:

1. Media Centre Musings: Part 1 – The Theory
2. Media Centre Musings: Part 2 – The Plan
3. Media Centre Musings: Part 3 – Third Time’s the Charm
4. Media Centre Musings: Part 4 – Starting Implementation
5. Media Centre Musings: Part 5 – Putting it all Together

So, on the back of my previous posts, I have finally come to some kind of a conclusion regarding my plans for an HTPC and media centre solution.

The problem previously was that I didn’t have a home theatre to plug any HTPC I built into. However, there are some deals going down at the moment that I am finding too hard to pass up. Not only that, but I feel as though I am overwhelmingly dependent upon my computer for entertainment, which is fine for me, but doesn’t accommodate my housemates and friends very well in a social context. Four things have conspired to make me consider this purchasing spree:

• Harvey Norman currently has a 23-month no repayment deal going
• Sharp are offering an XBox 360 Elite and four games with the purchase of their televisions
• My lounge is rarely used because I find I have nothing to do there
• With a HTPC, I will be able to push all of my computer geekery outside of the computer room onto other people! Muhahaha!

Me being me of course, I would not be satisfied by spending money unwisely. In my eyes, spending unwisely also includes spending “just enough” to get something “good enough” – if I’m going to outlay a large sum of money on something, I might as well make sure it does exactly what I need, how I want it to, even if that means outlaying an even larger sum than what I could “get away with”. As the old saying goes, if you aren’t going to do something properly, you might as well not do it at all.

The components I have chosen are:

• Television: Sharp LC46D77X; a standard-fare 46″ LCD television. I don’t know if having an RS-232 port is standard for LCDs, but this one has one, which is important to me because it will allow me to control the television through my HTPC.
• Games: By redemption (and payment of a small postage fee), from Sharp I will receive an XBox 360 Elite with four games. I would never spend money on an XBox or PS3 if I could get away with it, and in this case although I am indirectly supporting Microsoft, I figure Sharp has already bought the consoles and I am not actually contributing anything directly to Microsoft. In any case, a home theatre without a social gaming aspect isn’t much of a home theatre at all. In the end, I can just sell it if I don’t want it.
• BluRay: I have a few options here, but all I really want is something that reads the disc and throws the data out a HDMI cable to my A/V receiver. The cheapest option should suffice.
• Home Theatre Speakers: Yamaha YHT-692AU or similar. It has 4 HDMI inputs, 2 optical inputs, 2 co-axial audio inputs, component and standard RCA. Everything I’ll need.
• HTPC: Will cost about $800 and be based on an Intel platform; either a dual-core Pentium or Atom.

I have two options here. Basing the system on a mini-ITX Intel/nVidia ION platform will ensure very low power usage, but also ensure a very limited upgrade path. The system is designed with one purpose in mind, so the lack of an upgrade path may not be a problem. However, it isn’t much cheaper than basing the system on a standard ATX mainboard with a dual-core Pentium and discrete nVidia graphics card. It will have an upgrade path however as mentioned this may not be necessary, but the option existing is comforting.

The two systems I’ve mocked up are as follows:

Some notes: the hard disk is meant to replace the hard disk in my desktop system which is a Western Digital Green Power 750Gb. I bought the Green Power because it was cheaper without fully realizing the difference in performance between the two which is substantial. Also, I already have a USB HDTV dongle so I may only need to buy one extra in case watching one channel while recording another becomes a necessity.

So, as you can see I nearly have everything worked out. My plan is to have everything plug via HDMI and optical cable into the Yamaha receiver and make use of the excellent Logitech Harmony 525 multifunction remote to control everything. Although it probably won’t be necessary to do so with the remote, I will still be able to use an RS232 serial cable from the computer to control the television. I might end up setting that up just for coolness factor. Perhaps it will allow me to fine-tune control of the television.

So, these are my plans. Any thoughts, opinions, input?