The Book of T.J.

Drives, Displays, Input, and Operating System

You'll need tons of hard-drive space to store all your media, plus an HD optical drive to play high-def movies. Here are the components for completing your HD PC.
Hard Drive

Compressed HD video recordings can eat up roughly 7GB per hour, so get a big enough hard drive to hold all those recordings. Nearly all current motherboards support the SATA bus, and the most recent models run at 3GB per second, although 1GB/sec models should be fast enough for this system. Pick a drive that runs at 7200 RPM or greater. While you could install multiple drives for the absolute best performance, a big, single drive will be sufficient. Go for at least 500GB. I settled on a 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 because of its speed and its capacity to hold 140 high-def episodes of Lost. If you add multiple drives, position them as far from each other as possible, so they stay cooler.

For PC World reviews of internal hard drives, see our chart.

Optical Drive

A few weeks ago, as of this writing, Blu-ray had pummeled its rival, HD DVD, into little more than a sad memory. Unless you're looking for bargain movies as they're discontinued, you should avoid the dead-end HD DVD format. I chose the Pioneer BDC-2202 for my system, because it plays back Blu-ray discs and burns standard DVDs. (You can find Blu-ray burners for about three times that cost.) Whichever drive you settle on, consider removing the front bezel when installing it in your case. This plastic lip isn't always needed, and some system cases even come with a replacement bezel that matches the color of the front paneling.

Video Tuner and Capture Card

I'd like to drink straight from my cable company's HDTV programming through a CableCARD solution, but those still aren't readily available to do-it-yourselfers like me. Instead, I'll have to get my over-the-air HDTV through an ATSC tuner card and antenna. Since the ATI TV Wonder 650 supports the Clear-QAM format for digital cable, I can use it to capture unencrypted digital channels directly from a cable feed. Analog component-video capture cards are available, but they're overkill for this project, running a thousand dollars and designed for high-end video production.

To capture HD footage from your own video camera, just stay digital with USB or FireWire. Antenna type and position will determine your channels. Look for one that advertises digital reception, and try aiming in different directions while testing stations.

Sound Card
Dedicated audio cards aren't nearly as essential as they used to be. Sound processing is rarely taxing enough to slow down a modern system, so I didn't use any add-on card for my project. Besides, Windows Vista's rewritten audio architecture takes even less advantage of sound cards than Windows XP. Unless you're building a recording studio or need specialized audio ports that aren't built into the motherboard you bought, skip the sound card altogether and save a chunk of change.

Input devices

If you're planning to use your PC with your home entertainment system, a Media Center remote is a must. You'll want something that controls mouse movement and can input key commands. I like to have a full-on wireless keyboard and gyroscopic mouse nearby for extensive input. But you can also get home-theater-designed devices that fill all these roles. For that universal approach, I picked the Logitech diNovo Mini Keyboard. This Bluetooth remote handles mousing with its trackpad, while the thumb-friendly keypad works well for entering URLs. But if you choose a different solution, be sure it uses RF--radio frequency--commands instead of IR (infrared). RF can work from as far as a few rooms away, while IR requires a short, direct path to the PC.

Display

Resolution and aspect ratio are critical when picking a monitor. For a living room, be sure to get something that's natively shaped in a 16:9 rectangle to match HD video. (A work-and-play office display might have a taller shape.) And pick a size that's at least 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p). Both LCD and plasma screens look great, although some plasma displays present brighter colors in exchange for a higher cost. I'm going to be plugging my system directly into my existing HDTV, but the 27-inch Samsung SyncMaster 275T makes a good desktop alternative because it includes a variety of inputs for analog and digital connections. Be sure that your display--like this one--supports HDCP for Blu-ray Disc and movies.

For PC World reviews of top displays, see our Top 10 chart.

Software
I based my system on Windows Vista Home Premium because Media Center comes bundled with that package (as well as with the Ultimate edition). If you can track down Windows XP Media Center Edition, that older OS is a good alternative, but it doesn't include the same native HD support, built-in MPEG-2 decoder, and overhauled interface as Vista's version.

Unfortunately, neither OS allows Blu-ray Disc playback in Media Center or Windows Media Player. Your Blu-ray drive will likely ship with bundled software, but if not, check out Nero 8 Ultra Edition.

Once your system is up and running, add it to your home entertainment center or set it up on your desktop to watch and edit movies, record your favorite shows, play all your music, and more.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 20 2008 and is filed under PC Support.