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Re: Set top computers Posted by Justin Vanabrahams [Email] (#32) [Profile/Gallery] (more from Justin Vanabrahams) on Wed, 22 Jun 2011 21:56:12 In Reply to: Set top computers, OKSaabs, Wed, 22 Jun 2011 19:49:22 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
What are you trying to accomplish and how much are you looking to spend? If you just want to watch Netflix or Hulu, I'd buy one of the dedicated players that do this (Boxee or Roku), or better yet put that money into a new, "internet ready" TV with that functionality built in. If you want to do more, you need to define what "more" is before looking for a solution - do you want to surf the net? Receive OTA HD broadcasts? Use a cablecard to connect it to your cable provider? Have PVR/DVR functionality? There's a wide range of stuff you can do, but whether or not they're important will define the processor you need to run it, the video you need to display it, the storage you need to record/store it, the expansion you need to accommodate it. These considerations also tie into what environment will power it - Linux, Windows, some Apple OS - and what software might run on top of it - XBMC, Myth, WMC, etc.
For *most* applications even the slowest of the slow in modern hardware will do anything you want it to do, given the right video acceleration, enough memory, and fast enough storage but there are limitations and considerations. I've built a LOT of these types of systems, but unless you plan on dropping $600+ on a "do it all" machine, you need to be specific about what you wanna do.
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