Community Newsletter: Q&A forum: Integrating my computer as part of the entertainment center

If you are a musician, or other audio professional, or the type of person who cares about the difference between vinyl and CD's, there is as much of a difference, as between cassettes and cd's.MP3 is a lossy compression,i.e. data is actually lost.It ignores 10 db or greater differences in information.This results in the lost of harmonic information which is clearly audible down to 5% with many being able to hear 1%.Compounding this is the fact that the average consumer doesn't understand bit rate vs. quality and goes for maximum storage at minimum quality.It may be capable of a higher quality but the manufactures nor the consumer seem to care.This is the crux of the matter.I have demonstrated to people many times that they can clearly hear differences between a $500.00 sound system and ones in the thousands of dollars.However many of them didn't care, which is a valid attitude.As a matter of fact many audio profeesionals(studio pro's)bemoan this lack of quality as a general attitude.This has resulted in a horrible abuse of compression(audio not data)to increase the apparent volume of a disc or file to the point of becoming unlistenable.Lossy formats,with the attitudes that come with it, are destroying the quality of the music being produced which in turn is destroying the whole music industry regardless the distribution technique.i.e. mindless music for mindless people.

well, most of your statement is absolutely right; especially your concern about the loss of quality (and the demand for quality!). but on the other hand i can not agree that mp3 quality is absolutely unacceptable (it depends -as you said!- on the sampling rate); and i am shure that 99% of all people can not hear (especially not with standard equipment, eg. computer (desktop) speakers, cheap 7.1 surround equipment aso.) the difference between a 320 bit mp3-compilation and a avarage quality wav-file on cd (most of the cds you can buy are of cheap quality, especially the dynamic range is very compressed). And yes, i have friends that can hear the percentage of oxygen in speaker cables...;-))
btw i use external audio card with 24bit/96kHz sampling rate, studio near field speakers and am quite happy with mp3...

What about .wav files? Back in the ancient past of 1999, when we first started ripping CDs to the hard drive, the first programs required us to first copy the CD's digital information uncompressed, and then we had to use a second program, or at least a second step, to compress to mp3.

Granted, .wav files lack any equivalent to ID3 tags, and they take up ten times as much space, but they should be identical to the CD itself in terms of audio quality, as long as your computer is connected to real speakers instead of a pair of monitor ears. And, you can still sort files by folders and subfolders, contrary to the latest OS marketing ploys that want to talk us out of it. iTunes and Windows Media Player may gripe about missing tags, but with Terabyte hard drives available these days, you should still be able to have your cake and eat it, too.

What a laugh! Ignore the Nervous Nellies and and feel free to copy all your movies to your computer, even rented ones. So long as you are not sharing with the world via file sharing programs like Limewire, you have nothing to worry about. Just being connected to the internet will not allow someone to connect to your computer to explore your hard drive. Sure the occasional hacker might get in if you aren't well protected, but these folks aren't the type that'll go tattle-telling to the MPAA & RIAA.

And the idea that you might brag about your system to a friend who'll go running to "the authorities" is really "out there". I suppose that someone will dig up some one-in-a-million story, but the odds of that happening to you are astronomical and silly.

Oh and the thought that you are missing something if you use the mp3 format is ridiculous. Use 128 kbs or higher and you will never notice the difference between mp3's and a CD attached to a multi-billion dollar stereo system. Mercy, these people who have their ears attached to a speaker in a desperate attempt to hear some petty little difference between mp3's and a CD really need to find something better to do with their time. Actually, for the most part, they are just trying to justify the boat laod of money they spent on their system. Want to really hear a difference in your music, turn up the volume a smidgen.

Further, regularly image your entire computer via Acronis True Image, to an external hard drive and even if your drive in your computer fails, you'll be back up and running in no time.

There, I've set the world straight again.

Al

HP makes an HDTV with the media center add-ons. It comes with software for your PC. It is very cool and way ahead of where I'm at technologically. You can purchase a TV tuner for your PC that allows you to pre-record certain channels and programs but you cannot put a DVD in your computer to play on the HDTV; there are copyright laws that prevent it. You can play your music; however, that's not much of a problem anyway.

A computer nowadays will be cheaper and more versatile as a media center than anything. (When considering buying a stand-alone DVD-burner, amplifier, tuner and all other media-related)

How far along is it, you ask. With a little handywork, you can have absolutely anything media-related in one box:

- Digital TV
- Internet
- e-mail
- Blu-Ray playback and burning
- Surround Sound that will make your neighbours angry
- Internet phone system
- Answering machine for calls
- Instant messages
- Storage for all things media-related
- Game station (emulators are found for most any game console, so with a media-PC with sufficient power, you can usually play any console game.)
- iPod/MP3/MP4-player dock
- Office machine
- The list can go on further

If you really want to, you can have everything you want to, in one box. Even a monitor. There are several people that have made media-center PCs, or media-servers with a built-in screen (only 7" though, and no HD), and integrated speakers. That's space-saving in the extreme. If you are one of the non-converts to CD (you have vinyls), you can even play that on a media-PC. You'll need an external turntable though.

With computers, usually the only limitations you will encounter is the size of your wallet, knowledge of the possibilities, and knowledge of how to make it all work together.

To give you a clue as to how expensive this would be, I can give you my setup with my pricetag: Server with 3,5TB space, 1GB RAM, Core2Duo 1.6GHz and built-in surround sound on motherboard - apx $1200
Media-PC with 1TB space, 2GB RAM, Core2Duo 2.4GHz, Digital TV-card, screen card, and built-in surround sound on the motherboard - apx $1000

These are self-built machines, and it isn't hard to do. You will have to read a few manuals though (Ouch!). Upside is that you get exactly what you want, how you want it.

You might now be thinking about how it would look like with a giant PC in your living room, but my guess is that you're thinking about a tower PC-cabinet such as this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8913510@N02/2682242978/
But there are possibilities other than tower, such as: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8913510@N02/2682243068/
(These are only examples, there are a plethora of others to choose from)

Basically, the question here is: How much money do you have, and what do you want it to do? Luckily, if you find that you currently don't have enough money to buy/make a computer capable of everything you want it to, you can always expand it later on.

My recommendations for this:
- A lot of space. Harddrives are cheap.
- At least 2GB RAM (even if you choose to use a Linux distro, which usually don't have as high hardware requirements as Windows).
- Blu-Ray burner.
- Motherboard with at least 5.1 surround sound (or a dedicated soundcard) and FireWire (for downloading videos from your video camera and hook up external devices since it's faster than USB).
- Videocard with at least 256MB, support for OpenGL and DirectX, and DVI-port (with an adapter cable, you have an HDMI-out port)
- Fastest possible processor you can afford.
- HTPC, Mini-ITX or Micro-ATX cabinet (these are most likely to be living room-/girlfriend-/wife-friendly)

A computer can be a media center, is my conclusion here. It isn't just a component in a media center, it IS the media center. And you don't have to have several remotes to do things. With the proper software on the PC, a child able to read or old enough to recognize pictures and use a mouse properly will know how to use it. You also get rid of the "How do I watch a DVD-movie from the DVD-player connected to the TV-tuner that's connected to the amplifier that's connected to the speakers and TV?"

If you have any questions about what to get, ask. I cannot tell you where to get it unless you're from Norway, but I, and others here, can give you more specific names to google at least.

This method is on the horizon, but has a way to go. You must have a fast Internet connection for it to be viable. You must have a big hard drive. You can't burn a DVD for use in other places. You must have another peripheral attached to your TV/home theater to be able to send by your network from the PC if your PC is not physically attached. You would be better served to wait until the TV manufacturers incorporate this technology, as Sony is going to do.

I have been using my PC as a simple storage device for a number of years. I go the low tech route, my laptop is plugged into the internet, plugged into the serial port of the TV and plugged into the electric outlet - its a bit messy, but I get to view all my images on a 32" screen instead of a 14" screen, plus watch movies and TV from different online sources. It's working so well that we are about to cancel our satellite TV hookup!
Looking forward to seeing what others are doing!

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!

I 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.

If 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?

you 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.

I 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~

I 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

to 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.