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( , Sun 1 Apr 2001, 1:00)
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but if you want a hand putting a media PC together, drop me a gaz.
Or the rest of the stuff. Home theatre is a hobby of mine.
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:12, Reply)

Even if I didn't die, I'd just dribble the wine and cheese right back out of the paralysed side of my mouth.
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:17, Reply)

I get a super home theatre system, the dog gets to eat some semi masticated cheese off the floor and you can go back to Slough happy that you did a good job.
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:19, Reply)

I've my laptop, xbox, tv, amp, record and cd players and that all hooked up together. But I need a decent set of wireless speakers and a computer for all the film and music stuff to stream from. That also needs to go in the study for ladypig to use for work stuff. Nothing strenuous, she's in publishing.
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:19, Reply)

without the need for lots of wires and shit
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:20, Reply)

done
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:28, Reply)

Your main issue's going to be bandwidth, since you're streaming. Depending on how you've wired it up, your laptop and amp will handle any processing/reproduction.
If Mrs Pig is going to be working on it at the same time, you'll need a decent chunk of RAM. If you're going to be hooking the media PC directly to the amp and running some AV software at the same time, you'll need a lot.
Don't try and stream film over wireless. It won't work.
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:25, Reply)

but not quite yet. It's an intermediate stage between your processor's memory (really fucking quick, but tiny) and the HDD (really fucking slow, but cavernous). The more RAM you have, the more stuff the machine can store there, meaning less time waiting for the HDD and so quicker loading/response times.
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:29, Reply)

What i meant, is it's holding the next gear/bit of data ready to be used so that changes are "instantaneous"
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:36, Reply)

If you imagine a PC like the hindu god... The CPU is the brain and the RAM is the arms... i.e. the more arms you have, the more tasks you can do.
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:49, Reply)

I might just get 2 small units then. One with all my gear and just run my media through the xbox, the other for her indoors.
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:30, Reply)

If you're going to have a PC, use that. Better software available, for one thing.
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:31, Reply)

Is there anything decent on the market that is exclusively designed to run media? If I have 2 units one will just be that, I've got the laptop for surfing on the sofa. I'm sure I could Google all of this though, sorry.
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:37, Reply)

you have a big powerful base unit to deal with music and movies and photos etc and small lightweight tablet for interneting on the sofa
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:39, Reply)

I have finally identified a use for a tablet reader.
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:40, Reply)

One basic unit for the Doris, and something media specialised for me downstairs.
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:41, Reply)

You can stream from a base unit to the Xbox, but once you see what XBMC can do, you won't want to.
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:45, Reply)

But a very good one. Makes it look like you've got some pro set up in your living room, rather than seeing your anime desktop and a shit load of files. Kind of ironically, it's developed from an XBox platform.
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:48, Reply)

( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:53, Reply)

i have music that will play on i-tunes but not on my ipod, getting rid of duplicates is a fuckin hassle etc etc etc
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:55, Reply)

i want it to do 2 things only, play music and put music on my ipod.
I loved my Rio, that had good software
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 17:00, Reply)

I'm working at the same time, so I have game-face on.
I'll have a look at iTunes tonight, if I get time, but I'm pretty sure there's a way of telling it to forget everything and rescan.
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 17:08, Reply)

Hardware not really, there are a few "media" PCs knocking around, but they're just standard components in a pretty case. You don't really need any particularly advanced gear to run media. A graphics card with an HDMI out is nice, but not essential. A soundcard with a COAX and/or TOSLINK outs for 5.1 sound (otherwise you have to fuck about with the multiple analogue jacks on the card, which is shit), both for flexibility's sake.
Software-wise, XBMC is the best I've found so far.
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:41, Reply)

I'll have a shop about. You cool if I gaz you questions if any come up? I know the basics, and should be alright, but you seem to know your shit.
( , Wed 9 Jan 2013, 16:43, Reply)
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