Home Theater PC
Microsoft is going to own the living room. That’s all there is to it. Maybe not for several years, while they refine the operating system and user interface, but they’ll get there. Anyone that knows me well, knows that I’m no fan of Microsoft. The fact that they mostly just buy up other people’s technologies, slap their name on it and call it their own is enough to consider them cheats, in my book. HOWEVER, MCE is something they’ve got (mostly) right. It’s a fantastic application that does a very good job of integrating TV, DVDs, digital photos, music and Internet content into one slick package. Think of it as a Tivo on steroids that took a hit of acid and reached enlightenment. It’s really that cool.
System specifications:
| Display: | 32" LG Widescreen LCD TV |
| Case: | SilverStone LC03 |
| Power Supply: | Allied 350W I had a nice 500W Ultra X-Connect p/s that I bought for this machine, but it didn’t work in this case (if I wanted to have the optical drives in there, that is…) |
| Motherboard: | Gigabyte GA-M51GM-S2G |
| CPU: | AMD Athlon 64 3500+ |
| Memory: | 1GB |
| Hard disk (system): | 200GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache |
| Hard disk (media): | 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache |
| DVD-ROM: | Lite-On DVD-ROM |
| Floppy: | Yes |
| Video Card: | nVidia GeForce 7100 GS |
| TV Tuners: |
(2) Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 |
| Keyboard/Mouse: | Logitech Cordless Internet Pro |
| Remote Control: | Microsoft MCE Remote (OEM) |
| Operating System: | Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate |
