HD Home Theatre + Your PC
Turning your PC into your very own Home Theatre is actually not that difficult and costs tons less then purchasing all the seperate home theatre components to do so. In this article, I will talk about what hardware and components you need, and the benefits that come along with turning your very own PC into a Home Theatre System.
Parts
Currently your PC already has many of the components you need. You already have half a home theatre. Now what you need to do is buy some new components. Here is a list of what you need:
HDCP-Ready with HDMI-Out PCI-E 2.0 Video Card
This can be a very cheap upgrade. You don't need a high performance card to just run media. It is also advised to not use your primary high end graphics card to run your home theatre as this may bog down important applications like online gaming. You can get this type of low-profile graphics card for only around $30-50 US. Use this card for your Television and use it for your secondary monitor if you have one of those also. If you prefer to run audio through your HDMI cable, make sure to connect your sound card's audio to the video card.
SPARKLE GeForce 9400 GT HDCP Ready Video Card
ASUS GeForce 9400 GT HDCP Ready Ready Video Card
ASUS Radeon HD 3450 HDCP Ready Video Card
GIGABYTE Radeon HD 4350 HDCP Ready Video Card
Digital Audio Cable
If you prefer to run audio independently from the HDCP-Ready Graphics card, then you will also have to purchase a Digital Audio Cable to run to your surround sound system. You can use either Toslink Optical, S/PDIF (Digital Coaxial) depending on your sound cards compatibility. Please note that Toslink optical loses it signal after a certain distance. If you have cable exceeding 25 feet, you will need a Toslink Amplifier. f you do a clean setup, you will need 3 HDMI cables. A short one to attach to outgoing wallplate, a lenghty one for distance, and another short one for incoming wall plate.
Toslink Optical Cable
S/PDIF Cable (Digital Coaxial)
HDMI Cable
Today, there are many different variations of HDMI cable. The bandwidth and quality of the cable gets upgraded regularly. Older versions actually do not support full 1080p, and unreleased brand new versions support over 1080p. You want to get 1.3a version or higher as this enables further distances and increased bandwidth. Also, make sure to measure the distance between your PC, the route you will be taking, and your television to get the right length. If you do a clean setup, you will need 3 HDMI cables just as explained above for the audio cables.
HDMI Cable
Blue Ray DVD-ROM Drive
To buy a Blue Ray DVD-Rom Drive is a lot cheaper then outright buying a whole Blue-Ray DVD Player. Why buy a whole Blue-Ray DVD Player, when you already have half the parts lying around in your PC? Just mount that sucker, and boom you have BLUE RAY HD for any HDCP ready Monitors and Televisions.
LITE-ON Black 4X Blu-ray DVD ROM
LITE-ON Black 6X Blu-Ray DVD ROM & 16X DVD±R DVD Burner
LG Black 6X Blu-ray Disc Burner & HD DVD-ROM
Mounting Plates and Cable Management
These are important if your PC is quite a distance away from your Television in another part of your house and you would like a clean setup. Routing cables can be quite tedious and exhausting, however you will appreicate the results. Routing includes drilling holes through walls, routing cable through walls and floor boards, pinning cables nicely with mounting nail clips, and finishing it off with nice wall mounts.
After all this, you will have a completely enabled and powerful HD Home Theatre. Setting up your PC for your HD Theatre creates HD entertainment not only for your PC, but also for your television. This saves from having to buy seperate components for both your PC and you Television. On a side note, if you are interested, BLUE RAY DVD-Burners are getting much cheaper.
HDMI Decora Style 1.3a Wall Plate
Additional Considerations
Software
UTRAMON - This is a mulit-monitor utility that allows you to mirror desktops. This is essential if your PC is in a different room then your Television.
Drivers - Make sure you upgrade your graphics drivers to the latest as they are always adding multi-monitor features
NVIDIA
ATI
Additional Components
Remote/Presenter - If you want more accessibilty if your TV is in a different room then your PC. This allows you to interact with your Television like a mouse would on your PC. You may need to get an extension USB cable so that the signal reaches.
GEAR HEAD Wireless Optical Presenter Mouse
Kensington Wireless Presenter
Any questions, feel free to ask!
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