HTPC / Meeja PC

phy2sll2

I know some of you guys are technically inclined! Can you buy one of these off the shelf? I want something that will do the following:

- iPlayer / ITV Player (for Le Tour, obviously) / 4od
- play & burn DVDs (no need for blu-ray ATM)
- play ripped / downloaded vids
- download torrents
- play spotify
- browse the web

Small enough to fit on the back / underneath the new TV my GF and I are treating each other to.

Can it be done? For 3 ton or less?

Edit: No need to play freeview / freesat. Completely given up on live TV.

dhope

Yeah, easy. Something like this if you're used to Windows
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zotac-ZBOX-ID31 ... B004DUMMTK

phy2sll2

dhope wrote:

Yeah, easy. Something like this if you're used to Windows
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zotac-ZBOX-ID31 ... B004DUMMTK

But I'd have to add CPU and memory to that though, right?

Also, is an Atom good enough for playing 1080p video?

dhope

Nope, the 'Plus' models come with CPU, RAM and HDD. The barebones ones don't.
This has
1.8Ghz dual core Atom CPU
1GB RAM
250GB HDD

All quite meagre but should do the job.

Does look like it might not come with a DVD writer though, possibly just reader (and CD writer)

Initialised

phy2sll2 wrote:

dhope wrote:

Yeah, easy. Something like this if you're used to Windows
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zotac-ZBOX-ID31 ... B004DUMMTK

But I'd have to add CPU and memory to that though, right?

Also, is an Atom good enough for playing 1080p video?

No, but the ION GPU is.

If you fancy going full custom try these: http://www.mini-itx.com/store/ otherwise the Zotac and Jetway systems are pretty good.

bobinski

This is a good place for tips and recommendations on running a net style machine as an HTPC.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/home-entertainment-pcs/

I use an Acer 3700 and a usb dvd drive for the rare use of a dvd.
I also use this to stream music to a squeezebox.

craker

I'm looking forwards to trying out a raspberry pi for £25 or so - I doubt it'll do HD but for alot of basics it ticks the boxes.

Otherwise the acer nettops (no DVD) or mac mini & clones.

Initialised

A bit of a poor price/performance ratio there I think: Rasberry Pi on eBay