Drop, charge, and lose the cords
Community Newsletter: Q&A: Integrating my computer as part of the entertainment center
- 8/1/08 3:04 PM
The Screen Card :)
by Multi06 - 7/19/08 5:31 AM In reply to: Integrating my computer as part of the entertainment center by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hello & good after noon 
well it's depend on the screen card like vga pr super vga but the better one is the screen card with high memory like ati theater 256 mb. this one is for displaying the movies or making it. another screen card like gforce it's for gaming . also it comes with cables. connect them between tv and desktop pc or laptop pc. thats all what i have . thank you for reading this .
best wishes
tmulti06@yahoo.com
Using PC as part of a home entertainment center
by wawisan2002 - 7/19/08 7:49 AM In reply to: Integrating my computer as part of the entertainment center by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
It's really nice that computers and entertainment centers now are merging in ways we use to just imagine. I use a Sony Base Station to link my Satellite TV (you can also connect another component like a DVD )and watch it in your laptop wherever there is wi-fi access. It's fun!
HTPC's Don't Have To Be Expensive
by moviegeek65 - 7/19/08 9:02 AM In reply to: Integrating my computer as part of the entertainment center by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Phil,
Using a HTPC is an economical and convenient way of making your tv a media center.You don't need a highend PC to make a HTPC all you need is a DVD drive,videocard,soundcard and a keyboard.You could buy a secondhand PC and save alot of money or build it yourself from off the shelf parts.
Most HDTV's nowadays have a VGA port but S-Video will do for SDTV's.For a little more money you can add a Blu Ray drive and a videocard with a HDMI port so you can watch your movies in HD,add a soundcard with SPDIF and you can have 5.1ch surround sound.A wireless keyboard is a hassle-free way of accessing your media or you can buy a remote that can access your media files.
You can even have the HTPC in another room and send the media via ethernet or Wi-Fi,the possibilities are endless.
To be fair on the price issue....
by SparTodd - 7/27/08 3:41 AM In reply to: HTPC's Don't Have To Be Expensive by moviegeek65I built my HTPC not quite 3 months ago, and to be fair if you aren't spending $900-$1,200 I think you are short-changing yourself.
Integrated case/power supply $150
Quad core processor $200
4GB Ram $60
500GB Hard drive $100 (I already had a 1TB 10/100 drive)
Motherboard $100
Video Card $119
Sound Card $40 (optional)
Wireless keyboard $100
TV tuner card $80
Vista Ultimate $159
Wireless 802.11g/n card $50
Speakers $100
So, it adds up fast, but if you are going to built it, do it right or you might find yourself upgrading components in very short order. My advice, FWIW, is absolutely do not skimp on the processor.
IMHO, the money I spent building it the short time I spent assembling it (my first BYO project, btw) was well worth it.
Been using my PC as my "Entertainment Center" since 2004.
by Bubba_Gump - 7/19/08 10:58 AM In reply to: Integrating my computer as part of the entertainment center by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Phil,
In 2003, I was among the first to purchase a widescreen LCD computer monitor for my PC. I had already been using a standard (Analog) TV Tuner Card in my PC for years before that, but soon I began hearing about low-cost HDTV receiver cards to watch free "OTA" ("Over-the-Air") HDTV on your PC. I purchased one such card... with remote control... for just $99, just in time for the 2004 Super Bowl. (Most HDTV Cards also support digital recording to your PC, giving them almost TIVO-like capabilities without the monthly fee.)
I was spending more time watching HDTV on my widescreen computer monitor than my old TV Set that I soon moved my entire computer desk into the Living Room and made it my primary "Home Entertainment System", able to watch HDTV AND DVD movies on the same system.
A few months later, I purchased a "Surround Sound" capable soundcard for my PC that supported 5.1/7.1 Dolby Surround Sound. A few months after that, I added two *wireless* speakers that could be placed behind me without running wires across the room.
Last year I made the move "permanent" by mounting an HDTV Antenna outside (well grounded) to improve my TV reception. I even hooked my stereo up to my PC, not only so I can digitally copy my music (namely old LP's and tapes), but because the speakers I had on my PC were now better than those on my stereo.
I have fairly low speed DSL for my Internet, but if I had something faster, downloading movies from Blockbuster or Net-Flix would certainly be a possibility as well (my setup as-is is a bit too slow for that now).
Some caveats:
While I have the knowledge/ability to transfer my DVD's to the PC, this is something that takes quite a bit of time & skill to do properly, and is therefore beyond the reach of most users (and most DVD's are protected, preventing them from being copied anyway), so don't take the plunge expecting to rid yourself of all those old movies you have stacking up. But take solace in the knowledge that the size of your collection may grow at a slower pace if make your future movie purchases online (Amazon's "Unboxed" movies are a great option). I've even connected my old VCR to my HDTV Card and ported many of my old VHS movies to the PC. (Be aware that while you can copy movies/music you *personally* own, you are not permitted to copy media owned by others, nor can you give out copies of your own files to others.)
Also, not all HDTV TV software is alike. Some can be a bit complicated to set up properly, requiring a tiny bit of technical knowledge. And sometimes they crash or act funny. And others can be just plain bad. So don't expect the same "plug-n-watch" experience you'd get from a full HDTV-Set if you decide to do all this on your PC. Your computer is still a PC first & foremost. You are making it do something that it wasn't part of its original design, so expect a steeper learning curve setting it up (or pay a Geek Service to do it for you). If you are comfortable using a computer, you should have no trouble doing this stuff yourself.
Though it doesn't require a "tremendous" amount of horsepower, the modern PC, with its built-in DVD Player, surround sound speakers, support for giant wide screen TV's with a resolution higher than most old PC monitors, with all kinds of inputs/outputs and even remote controls, are quickly becoming the core of any modern "Home Entertainment Center". If your PC is more than four years old, you're going to want to upgrade to something a bit more powerful before putting such a burden on it. And if you plan on storing most/all of your media on it, you're going to want a LOT of hard drive space... 500GB minimum (once unimaginable, I have 1.5Terabytes on my PC).
By using an HDTV Card & antenna to watch TV on my PC, I get crystal-clear high resolution widescreen TV with theater-like surround sound without paying a monthly cable bill. That saves me a ton of money every month. The $99 card plus $75 antenna is a pittance compared to $45 dollars a month for Basic Cable. Money in the bank.
If you aren't making the move now, chances are you will in just a few years anyway.
TV channels
by nmharleyrider - 7/25/08 7:57 PM In reply to: Been using my PC as my "Entertainment Center" since 2004. by Bubba_GumpIf you are not paying for cable TV, what channels are you getting with that antenna? Do you get the HDTV broadcasts from just the local TV stations. Can you get HBO and all the HDTV stations that are out there or are you restricted to those the antenna can bring in which would be very limited I would think?
"Cable" does not offer free OTA programming.
by Bubba_Gump - 7/25/08 9:59 PM In reply to: TV channels by nmharleyriderUsing an HDTV antenna, I can receive all local HD broadcasts. Some stations include separate "digital only" stations not available to "regular" TV viewers (24-hour weather is the most common, though two local stations added 24-music video programming as well, not available to Analog TV viewers using rabbit-ears. And my local PBS station offers THREE channels of unique programming, so there is more to watch on HD than there is on "regular" TV.)
Movie Networks like HBO deliver their programming via "closed circuit" coax cable and do not "broadcast" their signal "over the air". To get them, you must subscribe to "cable". Many "OTA" HDTV cards do not support "digital cable" signals.
An OTA HDTV card doesn't allow you to receive "pay TV" for free. It's still just a TV receiver on a card.
Need antenna suggestion
by strayer2 - 7/26/08 7:15 AM In reply to: Been using my PC as my "Entertainment Center" since 2004. by Bubba_Gumpyou mention an outside antenna- I would appreciate knowing which one you have chosen.
I have recently installed the digital converter on my TV- and discovered the extra channels mentioned- even on an old vhf-uhf antenna, however, our church has an antenna in the attic and can't get anything on some of the channels I receive fine (even though very close). I am hoping to replace their antenna with something more appropriate for the new digital reception.
Thank you for any help you might be able to give.
UHF
by ned_11 - 7/27/08 1:04 AM In reply to: Need antenna suggestion by strayer2According to my brother in-law all you need is a good UHF antenna, you know the little round wire that use to come with a TV back in the old days.
Used my old Mac in 1997 as part of my entertainment and edit
by vicsflick - 7/26/08 8:45 AM In reply to: Been using my PC as my "Entertainment Center" since 2004. by Bubba_GumpI had the Mac in 1997 right before the G3. I watched TV on it and it also had the software that I could talk to and it would talk back. HA! The mac finally went by bye! I miss it. Now I have a PC. I had my Mac hooked into my TV and also the Radio and music and used it as an entertainment and editing Bay. I bought an external hard drive and even though it was slow, I had a ball with my Princess. HA! I have a PC now and want to purchase an older Mac G4 or G5 again. I still have all of my software from the older Mac. I was told by an IT guy that my Compaq Presario would communicate with a G4. Funny, I used to change all of my Mac files (art) into PC files for a website design class that I was taking in Californa and people would go, How did you do that? IN my opinion. Mac's were ahead of their time. LOL The thing is PC my Compaq is awesome, but Mac's are still great. It is that Apple is so expensive and it is easier to get a PC on credit than it is a MAC.
So my little entertainment center of 1997 in Cali is in the past. PC finally caught up. LOL! Just kidding~
WOW LPs and tapes
by adonnaru - 7/26/08 12:51 PM In reply to: Been using my PC as my "Entertainment Center" since 2004. by Bubba_GumpI have a HUGE collection of LPs and audio casettes (some of which are purely collector's items and some, in all probability might not be found anywhere else in this world) and have been wanting to hook my stereo up to my PC to copy all these into digital form. I haven't put in the right efforts to find out how to do it and also am not aware if there will be distortion / loss of quality in sound when (and if) I copy from LPs and casettes to digital form. I have a Laptop (with limited resources) with a 512 MB memory, Intel Mobile Centrino, Windows XP Media Center (with only a 40GB hard disk) but in addition, a PC with 1 Gig Memory, Core Duo Processor + XP Pro with a 160 GB hard drive and a 160 GB external hard drive connected to it. Can you please advice? Thank you in advance. Sri
WOW LPs snd Tapes
by as2786 - 7/26/08 2:15 PM In reply to: WOW LPs and tapes by adonnaruI would record them on the desktop machine. The main concern is disk space, but you can always add another internal or external drive. Other than that, you have all you need.
Our Vinyl-to-Digital software, VinylStudio, can record to (and work directly with) MP3 format. If you have a large collection and limited disk space, this might be the way to go, although I would record to WAV format if you can as you will be living with the results for along time to come.
Formulae:
- recording to WAV format, about 2 albums per GB
- recording to MP3 format, about 12 albums per GB
Hope this helps.
Paul Sanders
AlpineSoft
http://www.alpinesoft.co.uk
It's easier than you think!
by schlice - 7/26/08 3:13 PM In reply to: WOW LPs and tapes by adonnaruThe biggest hurdle with analog-to-digital conversions (ADC) is that for some of the older media (LPs and cassettes, for example), your PC doesn't have any compatible connectors to plug in the devices. If they did, you could use built-in tools in Windows or Macintosh to record those analog media to your PC in digital format.
Fortunately, there are some very easy tools available to do just what you're asking. One such device is made by a company called ADS Tech (www.adstech.com) and is called the Instant Music ADC. It contains the two most frequently needed (and two most frequently missing) connectors for your PC: RCA connectors (the white/red connectors from older components like LP and cassette players), and S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interconnect Format) connectors commonly used on newer stereo equipment.
For vinyl and cassettes, the process is dirt simple: Plug your components into the ADC, and plug the ADC into your PC (via a USB 2.0 connector). The ADC is recognized as a new audio device, and any software which does audio recordings off of an audio device on your PC can be used to do the recordings. The Instant Music includes Acoustica Spin-It-Again software, which is a simple tool for ripping your vinyl and cassettes onto your PC, but you can use any tool you may have.
Your concern about signal loss is certainly a valid one. Best answer I can give you: get it converted as soon as possible. Once it's digital, you won't lose any more music quality. If I were you, I would encode the music from its analog storage medium into a "lossless" format, such as AAC or OGG. The other widely-used formats (MP3, WMA, etc.) use compression algorithms which substantially reduce the filesize, but also result in certain frequency ranges (mostly outside the normal range of speakers or headphones) being chopped off to save space. These are called "lossy" formats.
I know that converting into a lossless format will take up more space, but once you have it in a lossless format, you'll always have it, and you can convert it into whatever lossy format you like in the future. If you rip it directly to MP3 or WMA, you've lost some of the audio in the conversion already, and you want to keep as much as you can, while you still can. Because there'll be some new device and some new format in the future, and you'll want to convert your whole library from its current format to the new format. If you're converting from an already lossy format to another lossy format, it's like a copy of a copy. If you convert from a lossless format to whatever format you desire, you'll only lose what the lossy format doesn't keep.
A long answer for a simple question, but I hope that helps.
It's easier than you think - Awesome. Hats off
by adonnaru - 7/27/08 11:50 AM In reply to: It's easier than you think! by schliceto the answer you have given, schlice and also the suggestions. Many people have tried to answer / suggest (including Paul Sanders of AlpineSoft who has started off being concerned about disk space - when I have not bothered about it since I do have a lot of it on the desktop and an additional drive and can always buy another one and also particularly mentioned the XP Media Center in case someone felt that XP Media Center was better than XP Pro) but most have missed the key point in the question about the physical connection details which is exactly the answer (to the first part of my question) that you have given. Fortunately for me, I seem to have the RCA connectors with me, yet will investigate the adstech and see their products also.
As regards the lossless format and the suggestion of Advanced Audio Coding / OGG formats, my gratitude again, since that is an excellent solution and was exactly what I was looking for. Hats off, once again, for a very appropriate answer however long it may be, even for a seemingly simple [You said it in your subject :)] question.
Digitizing your vynil and cassettes
by vin.bone - 7/26/08 6:38 PM In reply to: WOW LPs and tapes by adonnaruThe must have is a sound IN port on your computer. This is usually a mini-headphone size stereo plug or a red and white RCA connector. I've been doing this with my vinyl for a couple of years and hope to someday have it all on my computer just because. What I found is that NERO (as in "Burning ROM") editions 7 and 8 have a wizard for digitizing cassettes and vinyl. It begins the recording automatically when the record starts and pauses at the end of the side. You're left with a WAVE file (uncompressed so full audio fidelity) or the music. You can see the breaks between tracks because there are no peaks in those areas. The editing software allows you to CUT and PASTE into separate files to your heart's content. My vinyl looks just like my CD's on the computer: A folder for the artist, A folder for the album with the tracks inside the album folder. Nothing like hearing the white noise of the tone arm on vinyl coming through your digital system!
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