Media PC components Annapolis MD

Set-top box PVRs are readily available for Freeview, satellite and cable. They're pretty easy to use and have some great features, but they also have their drawbacks. For a start, they're limited to the service provider, and can't be extended in any way. You can't use them to watch video online, or videos you've made yourself or have downloaded. Few will have built-in DVD or Blu-ray playback. And if they go wrong, all your recordings will be lost, as the supplier swaps in a new unit and takes the broken one away, along with its contents.

Therefore, there's still a good reason to build your own media PC. This month, to accompany our feature on how to assemble such a system, we've rounded up a collection of the core components necessary for building a media PC. Whereas a regular system involves specifying the fastest components you can afford, a media PC requires a different selection process.

The chassis has to look good in your lounge, but it doesn't need a huge amount of expansion potential, and eye-catching lights might be more of a distraction than a pleasure. We've rounded up four contenders. A well-designed media PC case will have its limitations, however. For a start, most only support micro-ATX motherboards, rather than full-sized ATX; therefore, our reviews include four micro-ATX motherboards, two each for Intel and AMD processors.

The chassis will usually be low-profile, and won't accommodate a monster CPU cooler, so we've tested three low-profile CPU coolers for our media PC chassis. No media PC would be complete without the ability to record TV programmes, so we've also included four of the latest and greatest TV tuner cards - again focusing on low-profile cards that will fit inside a small case. Read on to find out which kit you need to build the perfect media PC.

Author: James Morris

Media PC components