I want it all

[Dermbrian]

I want a PC that will work as a touchscreen jukebox.  But more and more I'm also thinking that if I have that then I might as well also have it be able to function as a HTPC as well, feeding our LCD TV for use with internet sites like Hulu.com and shows and movies purchased on iTunes.

An all-in-one such as the HP Touchsmart is nice, but retails for about $1400 for a 22 inch display without a TV tuner.  The new Asus eee Top would fit the bill for the jukebox, but might not have the power to serve watchable video to the LCD TV since they explicitly say that it has limited graphics abilities.

So....I'm considering slowly building a system that would first be a touchscreen jukebox.  But how do I do so in a way that lets me add the LCD TV and thus function as the heart of a media center without

A) breaking the bank
and
2) being underpowered when completed
and
III) Not drawing the current of a toaster oven

Any advice of where to start?   


Brian

[Barry Barcrest]

Well you need to work out what applications you want to run it and the look at the specs required to run those. That will then determin what you need in the way of a pc and you can get that built.

[Dermbrian]

Thanks for the reply, Barry. 

Since I posted, I've been doing some reading on avsforum and some other sites.  There are some people that share their 'wishlists' on newegg.com that show the exact components that they are planning to assemble for their HTPC.

Where I most lack the knowledge is on the whole dual monitor requirements.   I definitely want an LCD touchscreen for use as the primary computer screen but then I will also need HDMI out for the video and TV tuner uses.  I'm hoping that it all could be set up in a way that allows using the PC for general purpose computing while also watching a TV show captured by the DVR functionality of the same PC.  If I could educate myself on what hardware and software is needed to do that (if it is even possible) then we could really get by with one PC in the living room.

I'll probably join one of those other forums once I get to the point where I can ask the right questions instead of such a broad cry for help..


Brian

[Barry Barcrest]

The real issue is you want a do it all solution and usually what you end up with going down this route is a watered down version of everything. If you want to see what i mean look at the jukebox in xlobby. Yes it works as a touchscreen jukebox but compare the functionallity to freebox (My software) and it is very diluted. Of course XLobby does a lot more than be just a juke where as my software is just a juke.

[heffe2001]

For PVR functionality, I use a program called SageTV.  It's a great PVR/video media package, but leaves you wanting as far as it's music abilities.  You could use it for it's PVR functions (the back-end can run in service mode, so it'll record even if you're using the jukebox for example), and use whatever jukebox software you'd like for that function.   Wouldn't be too terribly hard to set up, you could even use something like MultiFE for the juke/front-end (it works as a game menu as well, just stick the Sage client on there as a menu selection).  I've not used MultiFE on a touch-screen, but I would assume it would work fine.  I'm pretty sure you can set Sage to come up on the large monitor for TV functions, although it's UI and everything would be there as well (unless you have the screens set to clone, but there you'd run into problems if your touch-screen and TV have different resolutions, they'd need to be run at a common size between the two in clone mode).  You might want to check out the SageTV forums for info on running it with a different front end (I know people use it with things like MediaPortal, so it should work like you're looking for).  The main sage page is at http://www.sage.tv, and their forums are located at http://forums.sage.tv/forums.

Just as a FYI, I'm currently running it with 4 or 5 client connections (2 of their HD-100 boxes, and 3 Media MVP's), as well as using Placeshifter from time to time (allows you to stream your TV through your internet connection when you're away from home, pretty slick too).  I'm recording with 7 tuners at the moment (2 connected to DTV HD boxes, 5 connected to SD boxes), and I'm in the process of my 4th server build in the past 5 years (getting my system ready to switch over to HD-PVR recorders from Hauppauge, and replace at least half my existing analog tuners with these).  I've tested the majority of the PVR software out there, and for my purposes, SageTV offers the most flexibility with the least frustration (the extenders just work, I've not had any issues with mine at all).  The client software works very well as well, but will probably require some tweaking if you're planning on going with HD...

[gonzo90017]

I was on the same boat as you a few months ago. I wanted an all in one machine. Game Machine, Jukebox, Movie Player, Internet TV.But I finally decided it was too much of a headache. So I decided to keep my jukebox as a seperate machine.
SKJukebox
15" Elo Touchscreen
400mhz Celeron
256mb ram
Windows XP (nlited).

I'm still going to build the other pc for the rest of the stuff. I'll be using mamewah as my htpc frontend.

[padstack]

why not look into a thin client solution for the touchscreen?

[Blanka]

You need the Nvidia ION platform .
As long as it does not exist, the MacMini (runs windows too) is a decent alternative, although full 1080p playback may still be dropping frames.

[Barry Barcrest]

You need the Nvidia ION platform .
As long as it does not exist, the MacMini (runs windows too) is a decent alternative, although full 1080p playback may still be dropping frames.

You could do that... Or just go with an Intel ATOM Dual core board and cpu setup.

[Blanka]

But Intels GMA950 with Atom stinks at HD playback. The 2Ghz Core2Duo of the Mini compensates for that defect, and The ION is an Atom board with decent graphics.