Advise on Media PC

Im trying to put together a very basic media pc for my parents. Leaning toward a intel 4500 processor with a nmedia micro atx case. Already have a 500gb hard drive and 2 gigs of ram for it. The reason for the case is cuz i want it to be small to fit and blend into the entertainment center and with a wireless keyboard should work for them. Im not used to doing build with a micro atx case so im running into some issues.

The issue im running into is finding a motherboard that is microatx and at the same time has svideo out onboard, dont want to spend extra money on graphics card. I see a ton of hdmi capable motheroabrds but unfortunitly they don't have a hdtv so im hoping the svideo will work decently on a 52" sony projection tv. Any suggestions or help will be appreciated.

Also I would like to stay under $125.

cheers

check out renethx's HTPC sticky at avsforum. you might get the info in one of the recommended builds, or just search for s-video in that thread. i did that and found a link to the gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H (rev. 1.0). scratch that.. it's an AMD mobo. still probably some good info over at avsforum

he might have to switch to get SVIDEO though, unless you dont mind a cheap graphics card with s-vid. something like the 7300gs or 8400GS around 40-50 bucks, some might have MIR's on newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127273
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150128

imo this is the only way to go. here is a list of boards i came across you might want to use to offset the cost of buying a addon graphics card for the s-video output.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188023
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138101
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186135
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128078
some of these have MIR's.

S-Video, with its 480i resolution limitation, from a HTPC to a TV looks plain lousy, I mean lousy. And if your parents don't have great vision........... Is the TV HiDef capable?

tuskenraider said:

S-Video, with its 480i resolution limitation, from a HTPC to a TV looks plain lousy, I mean lousy. And if your parents don't have great vision........... Is the TV HiDef capable?

Click to expand...

I dont think the tv is hidef capable.

Thanks for all the help so far guys, that gives me a few options to go from.

Im going to hook up my laptop through svideo to the tv and see how it looks, if it really is that bad then I may have to seek a different route such as getting them a nice tv.

Their vision is not the best so I do have that working on my side lol.

ProjectPSI said:

I dont think the tv is hidef capable.

Thanks for all the help so far guys, that gives me a few options to go from.

Im going to hook up my laptop through svideo to the tv and see how it looks, if it really is that bad then I may have to seek a different route such as getting them a nice tv.

Their vision is not the best so I do have that working on my side lol.

Click to expand...

Let me know if your still interested in a HTPC. I just finished upgrading my HTPC and have a few older parts (about a year old) and brand new parts that can be used to build a complete HTPC. Just need to know what your wanting to do. I'll make you a sweet deal on a nice system.

little bump... not intel but i think its worth looking into a amd setup..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138061
has on the IO panel S-vid/HDMI/VGA, the board comes with a HDMI->DVI connector.
then with this cpu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103198
not a bad little box.. sorry i thought you might be intereseted, have been looking at some AM2 boards...