Home Theater PC Installed

In the never-ending crusade for free (or near free) video content, the Home Theater PC has now been installed. Here's the list of what I needed:

1) PC with lots of USB connections, decent processor (i.e. no more than 3yrs old), and preferably a small form factor. Also check that the onboard video card supports widescreen (see the comments for a discussion on resolutions), which comes close to filling a 16:9 screen. Cost - $112 from PacificGeek.com

2) Wireless network adapter. Cost - $10 from Amazon.com

3) DV to VGA cable - my TV only had VGA available, so I had to make the adjustment. There's every cable you could ever need on ebay. Cost $4 from ebay.com

4) Wireless Keyboard/Mouse - I wnet optical, but suggest you go with a laser mouse for better tracking across flooring/coffeetables/legs AND check the rated distance. My setup said 15 feet, but I only seem to get 5-8 feet. Cost - $30 from Amazon.com

So, here are the pictures. The PC is 8x11x4 inches, very small, with a p4 2.4ghz and 256 DDR RAM. Connections were easy, and very clean looking. I could even put it behind the flat screen if needed, but figured it better to keep a Windows system within reach for any hard-resets.




Pros - lots of content from the network sites and Hulu, plus if you have Netflix (base $8.99/mo) you can stream some movies from your queue (about 12,000 titles) including full seasons of The Office and 30 Rock....very nice. Add Pandora radio and you have the full package.

Cons - wireless keyboard/mouse don't go the distance, network could be faster - we seem to be at the end of the range

Overall, for a one time cost of about $150 you have a very cool setup that in itself nearly replace pay-to-play cable/sat/fiber options.