Build Vs. Buy: Home Theater PC Edition

With all of this recent buzz about AppleTV, other WiFi/television enabled devices, and the lack of a digital tuner hard drive enabled recording device currently, I wanted to explore the world of home theater PC's. As they can be quite expensive, I wanted to specifically look at how much commercial versions were selling for, and put together some blueprints for what a decent one would really cost to put together. True to our great TechNudge tradition, we'll do it as a "build vs. buy" comparison.

First of all, I wanted to keep in mind that the AppleTV sells for $299, but that while you can listen to your iTunes content and view photos, it's really not a total solution because you would still need another box to serve the other roles. More specifically, I'm thinking about playing DVD's, and recording television which most people probably would get more use out of than the box with the Apple branded logo. Unfortunately, when we're talking about recording devices, those in the know would really want one with a hard drive, but there currently aren't any that we can buy with a digital tuner. Be that as it may, supposedly soon, Wal-Mart will be selling one with a hard drive of 160 gigs capacity that can handle recording duties, for standard definition digital television and it is expected to retail for $300. If you want a set top box with HDTV recording capabilities in 2007, well you're gonna have to enter the computer arena. So, if you want the full gamut of capabilities to your television, adding an AppleTV, and a theoretical hard drive recorder, the budget is $600, and we end up with two boxes (which may not pass muster with the significant other, but that's another story...).

Next we turn our attention to the preassembled side of things. For better or worse, there are few preassembled computer solutions out there in the home theater pc realm. First up, we'll look at the Gateway eMachines GM5420. On one hand, it seems to have some serious specs quite nicely done: a core 2 Duo E6300 processor, 2 gigs of RAM, a 320 gig hard drive, and both analog and digital tuners (NTSC/ATSC, but not QAM) as well as a 16x DVDRW. However, it uses integrated graphics which would not work to drive the many pixels of a large screen HDTV, although a free PCI Express x16 slot is available for the much needed upgrade. I also think that it looks far more at home in a dorm room or bedroom than in any living room, limiting it from being a true entertainment PC. While I like the flash card reader for digital camera pix viewing, the system is in dire need of a wireless keyboard and mouse so you can control it from the sofa. This is still a lot of pc for the $949 price tag, but after adding in even some cheap graphics card, and the wireless input devices, we're clearly gonna be north of a grand before tax.

Next stop is over at HP. I decided to custom configure one of their m8000y series desktops as they are phasing out their other line of entertainment pc's. While their retail configuration tips the scales at just under $1600, I decided to cheapen things up, and custom configured something that would be more cost competitive. For $1408, the specs are pretty decent. We're talking about the same Core 2 Duo E6300 chip, 2 gigs of RAM, 16x DVDRW and a NTSC/ATSC tuner, with a remote. The extra dough compared to the eMachines rig goes into a 400 gig hard drive, and an nVidia 7500LE, 256 MB graphics card which should be ok for video, although not for serious gaming. They also throw in the wireless keyboard and mouse that were missing from the previous system for that price. Both systems use the Windows Vista Home Premium as their operating system.

Two other items to bear in mind about the HP system. First, I had to drop the extended service plan to get the price down so when it breaks, you're on your own. I doubt most folks that would buy a prebuilt PC would think that would be a really good idea, and in the scheme of things, it's probably not. The other point is that the HP system with its upright tower case has the looks of a bedroom desktop, and not what one would want for their living room.

As they say, if you want to do something right, do it yourself, so let's see what I came up with. Here's the disclaimer: I'm sure that there will be a wide variation of opinion on the best parts to get the job done. My guiding principle was trying to make a decent home theater PC that would still be more affordable than the preassembled solutions. I was also trying to keep the price close to the set top box price of $600 (for the two $300 dedicated boxes as I explained above). Without further ado, here's what I came up with...

I wanted to start with a case that would fit in better in a living room, so we started with the Silverstone Lascala 10. Add in an MSI motherboard, a Core 2 Duo E4300 processor and 2 gigs of RAM. (If we went the AMD route, we could accept less performance and go with an Athlon X2 3600+ and an AM2 motherboard, but it would be less performance, and run a little hotter and louder so I went the Core 2 Duo route). For storage, I'm going with a Samsung 400 GB SATA drive which runs nice and quiet. The video duties will be handled by a Hauppaugue video capture card, the 1178, that supports ATSC signals, and a graphics card, the X1650 with 256 megs of RAM that has VGA, DVI and S-video out ports, and is designed for cramped cases. Completing the system are a Coolermaster 500 Watt power supply, a Pioneer DVDRW, a Logitech wireless keyboard/mouse combo, and a copy of Windows Vista Premium. You can see the whole list of parts here at NewEgg to see the actual specs of everything involved.

So, how did I do pricewise? Pretty good on this one as I was able to match the performance of the more expensive HP system, for a price below what the Gateway system sells for! My total is $876, and there are two rebates that I'm not even counting in there. This is one more example of building a system as the better route. Not only is is less expensive, but I end up with a case that really belongs in my living room, and is far more upgradeable down the road. However, compared to the two dedicated boxes, there is a premium involved, as well as some "sweat factor" for the assembly as it does exceed the $600 barrier.

Before you rush out and buy these parts for your next system build, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that HTPC's is one of the few areas where an Apple becomes a viable option. Bill has been exploring this, and will fill us all in soon on how his Mac Mini with an HDTV tuner is performing. While the Mini is a nice compact solution, it also is quite expensive so those looking for a better deal can stick with my system build.

--Jonas