hey guys.

planning to build a half-HTPC in the near future.

i want it to :

1. Play video files.
2. maybe music.
3...err..not sure loh

i was looking around for those Hard disk media players, but they dont really support ALL of the codecs out there, and media streamers are either too expensive, or does not exist in malaysia.

So, i was wondering about a few things:

1. where to get a somewhat slim and nice looking casing around here?
2. what brands to look for?
3. Any suggestions for a rig-list? ( have yet to look through the thread so ada sedikit malas ni )

i got this suggestion from someone - is it worth it?
http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en-us/t-seri...ion.php?S_ID=17

and are component out considered HD?

thx

After some consideration and finance juggling around, i have narrowed down my specs of my 1/2 HTPC:

Intel Pentium 4 2.6GHz Northwood
ASRock P4VM890 http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=P4VM890
1GB DDR400 RAM
Western Digital 80GB
Creative Live! value 24bit
Asus X1650Pro Silent Edition <--- the best thing about my system

....and that is it so far. Maybe in the future i'll add a tv tuner, but for now all i need is to play my Video files and music.

after going through the thread, i think i will install a copy of Win XP Pro + Media portal software to emulate the look and feel of Win MCE.
all i need now is to try and get a nice looking casing for the system.

Any ideas/suggestions?

btw, this is a truly budget system. i can say i'm getting all of the stuff above for less than 1K

.....of course, casing tak masuk lagi...

oh wow....a logitech harmony remote...O.O...

that must have cost you a bundle...