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  • Building a DVD/DivX/MP3 player

    Hi,

    I want to build a custom computer for playing DivX/DVD/(S)VCD movies and MP3/AudioCDs. I could ofcourse buy a DVD player but I wouldn't get DivX playback, and it's fun building yourself.

    I was thinking of having it under my TV instead of a VCR, in a MicroATX desktop case painted black.

    I need some opinions on my hardware I've chosen and some suggestions.

    This is the hardware I was thinking of using:

    Motherboard: ASUS A7V133-VM MicroATX SocketA with integrated sound and graphics (Savage 4), it has 1 AGP slot and 3 PCI slots.

    CPU: AMD Duron 800 MHz

    Memory: 256 MB PC133 SDRAM

    Harddisk: Don't know! I need a CHEAP, silent harddisk. 8GB is more than enough, 5400RPM, but the smallest I've been able to find is 20GB!

    DVD/CD Player: Pioneer DVD-106S 16x/40x Slot-in, has gotten great reviews.

    Soundcard: I could use the built-in, but I think I'll get a SB Live! 5.1, they're cheap now.

    Graphics: Here I don't know really. I won't use the integrated since it doesn't have a TV-out. I have a SIS 6326 AGP graphics card with 8MB memory and it has DVD acceleration. If it's good or not I don't know, and I don't know if it can handle DivX movies.
    Since I will buy a new card for my computer I have a spare G400MAX but I have no idea if it has good TV-out and DVD playback. Someone please let me know.

    CPU Cooling: I need a good fan/heatsink that make very, very little noise, if you know of a such cooler let me know.

    IR and Remote: Where can I get IR receivers for PC? How much do they cost?

    Finally, cabling: I've got two PAL TVs, I'll use just one.
    Both have SCART connections. For the G400 I have the TV-out cable with S-VIDEO OUT and VIDEO OUT.

    The SIS card has a S-VIDEO OUT connection on the back, just like the Matrox cable, I also got a short cable that has S-VIDEO on one end and it plugs into the S-VIDEO OUT and another type, like the Matrox yellow VIDEO OUT cable on the other end.

    Since they're really short I need new cables that are much longer.

    I also want to mention that my TV has something called "Cinch input sockets" (?) Those are looking like this:

    One is round with a couple of holes, it has a big S next to it.
    One is just a round hole, it has Video next to it.
    Then there are two more connectors that look just like the Video one, only they have Audio R and L next to them.

    I would like a cable that takes input from my sound card and graphics card that I can just plug into the SCART if that's possible. Please enlighten me on cabling! I'm completly lost

    That's all for now!
    QDI KinetiZ 7E, Athlon XP 1800+, 1 GB PC133 SDRAM, ATi Radeon 9600 PRO 128 MB, SB Live! 5.1, Memorex 40x CD-RW, NEC ND-2500A DVD-/+RW, 120 + 80 GB Seagate Barracuda, Windows XP SP1, 17" LG L1710B TFT

  • #2
    For HDDs, I'm currently running both Maxtor and Quantum drives (arent they made by the same people now anyway?) and they're cheap, quiet, fast and so far reliable.
    I've got a Pioneer DVD106 in my Duron based system with a G400max and DVD playback is perfectly acceptable - no lost frames, glitches or anything.

    I dont know about the TV out, I've never tried it.
    Athlon XP-64/3200, 1gb PC3200, 512mb Radeon X1950Pro AGP, Dell 2005fwp, Logitech G5, IBM model M.

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    • #3
      You should look into getting an "NLX" form factor case and motherboard. Think "Sun Sparc station." That's probably more the size you're looking for.
      Gigabyte P35-DS3L with a Q6600, 2GB Kingston HyperX (after *3* bad pairs of Crucial Ballistix 1066), Galaxy 8800GT 512MB, SB X-Fi, some drives, and a Dell 2005fpw. Running WinXP.

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