Date: October 2009

Purpose: A Novice's how-to guide on building a Home Theater PC (HTPC)

I recently built a modest home theater PC for the home.  My technie level of expertise is about average, so I thought I might share it with others who desire to do something similar.  The biggest advantage of the HTPC is the ability to see all our family's home movies and pictures on our large screen TV at home, while routing all the music (iTunes and MP3) and sound through our home theater system.  I have it up and running, and it is AWESOME!  And I put it all together for under $400 total.  Here are the essential elements of a HTPC:

1) Relatively cheap PC with decent memory & hard drive space - I used a Lenovo Desktop with 3GB RAM and 500 GB hard drive space with a Pentium Dual Core processor (~$270 New)

2) HDMI compatible Video Card (you can get other video cards with S-video out) - Sapphire 4550 512 MB DDR3 w/ HDMI out (~$40 New)

3) Wireless keyboard & mouse - Adesso 2.4GHz Wireless Keyboard with Optical Trackball (~$60 New)... this is fantastic - the mouse is a trackball built into the keyboard and I can sit on the couch and control all the media center functionality and even surf the Internet

4) Wireless Adapter - Netgear WN111-100NAR USB 2.0 RangeMax Wireless Adapter (~$15 Refurbished)

With those four elements, I have a fabulous HTPC that plays DVD's and stores all of our family's pictures and home videos for under $400.  Other people who want to play blu ray movies on this computer may consider adding something like a Lite-on Blu Ray ROM player for ~$80.  That way, you can even play Blu Ray movies from your HTPC for under $500.

For those who are interested, I have a 46 inch Sharp Aquos LCD TV at home.  I play blu ray movies using a PS3 and have a Sony soundbar at home.  Using these elements, I get breathless High Definition audio and video.  For those on the fence regarding making the leap to blu ray, don't hesitate any longer.  It REALLY is worthwhile to purchase a blu ray player, particularly if you already have a HD TV.  There really is a noticeable difference.