Build the Ultimate Home Theater PC

The best of both worlds-now THIS is entertainment You love tinkering with technology. The digital lifestyle is your lifestyle. So building your own Home Theater PC just might be as entertaining as using it. In these pages, a couple of fellow tinkerers explain the components and subsystems of a Home Theater PC and help you choose and pur- chase parts, assemble and test the PC, install Windows? Media Center Edition, and get the whole thing up and running. Then, invite your friends over and watch 'em turn green. All you need to know Clear, step-by-step instructions, complete with parts lists, pictures, and diagrams What makes it an HTPC Choosing the CPU and memory Graphics, video, and HTPC audio Monitors and displays Networking your HTPC Remotes-and how many you can lose Installing MCE 2005 Your choice-P4, Pentium M, or Athlon 64 Maximizing your multimedia experience . . . and more!

Acknowledgments.Introduction.Part I: Meet the Modern Multimedia PC.Chapter 1: Basic PC Components and Elements.Chapter 2: Bringing Media to the PC.Part II: PC Pieces and Parts.Chapter 3: The HTPC Case and Power Supply.Chapter 4: The PC Motherboard.Chapter 5: The Central Processing Unit.Chapter 6: HTPC Memory.Chapter 7: Hard Disk Drives.Chapter 8: Optical Storage and HTPCs.Chapter 9: HTPC Graphics and Video.Chapter 10: Sound Cards and HTPC Audio.Chapter 11: HTPC Audio Setups.Chapter 12: Monitors and Displays.Chapter 13: Networking Your HTPC.Chapter 14: The HTPC Remote and Controlling Your Set-Top Box.Part III: Planning and Building Your Media Center PC.Chapter 15: Planning Your HTPC.Chapter 16: Assembling an HTPC.Chapter 17: Installing Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.Part IV: Media Center PC Projects.Chapter 18: Building a P4 HTPC.Chapter 19: Building a Pentium M HTPC.Chapter 20: Building an Athlon 64 HTPC.Part V: Appendixes.Appendix A: More about Media Center PCs and MCE.Appendix B: (HT)PC Hardware Information and Resources.Appendix C: DVD and Movie Information and Resources.Appendix D: Digital Music Information and Resources.Appendix E:Windows Radio: Finding Stations and Recording.Appendix F: PC TV and Related Hardware Info.Appendix G: Home Video Hardware and Media Info.Appendix H: PC Audio Hardware and Playback Info.Index.