Finally got my home-brewed Media Center PC put together! I’m not sure if I would pay over a thousand buck for an OEM model, but since I was able to put it together myself, I’m quite satisfied. First impressions of the Media Center software are very good; I’m looking forward to trying out the PVR functionality and using it to watch DVD’s.

Here are the specs on the machine:

Intel D865PERL mobo
Intel Pentium IV 2.6c
256 MB RAM
120 GB SATA hd
80 GB Ultra-ATA hd
ATI Radeon 9200 SE 128MB (w/ DVI out)
SoundBlaster Live
Gyration Wireless Mouse + Keyboard
Hauppage WinTV PVR-250

Currently, I’m using my 19” monitor for the output, but once my new TV gets here I’ll hook it up via DVI. Then I’ll have 42” of goodness J. I’m probably a little bit overpowered in terms of the processor, but that’s never a bad thing, is it? I plan on getting another SATA hard drive once prices come down a little bit, to increase the amount of video I can store.

Here’s a couple of things I learned that are worth mentioning:

Obtaining the Windows XP: Media Center Edition
For those of you who don’t have an MSDN subscription, you’ll have a hard time obtaining the OS since it’s not available for download or purchase. But for you MSDN subscribers out there, all you have to do is download it. The download is a bit of a pain, since you have to get both CD’s of MCE 2003 plus the 2004 upgrade disc. Plan on paving your system from scratch to install MCE.

Obtaining the remote control
Media Center makes heavy use of the remote control. I’m waiting for mine to arrive, and I’m really noticing the difference. The wireless mouse is passable usable, but I think the user experience will really improve once I get the remote control. MCE seems to be pretty picky about its hardware (the remote that came with the PVR card didn’t work), but you can get the “official” OEM Media Center remote from NewEgg.com.

Picking a PVR Card
The single most important component of the Media Center hardware setup is the PVR card. Pay attention to the hardware list on the MCE download page; when they say it only works with the specified hardware, they’re apparently not kidding. From surfing the net, there are a few people who have made MCE work with other cards, but I made life easier and went with the Hauppage WinTV-PVR-250 card.

Installing a DVD Decoder
I ran into an issue when I started up Media Center for the first time. I got a “Video Error: decoder not found” when I tried to view TV or watch a DVD. I didn’t know that you had to download a DVD/MPEG decoder separately and install that as well. I grabbed WinDVD from here and then everything worked ok. I wonder how this works on the OEM PC’s – do they come bundled with a DVD decoder?

Other than a couple of original hiccups with the DVD decoder and PVR card, the whole thing went together pretty easily. I’ll blog something in the near future once I’d had a chance to play around a bit. Now, to watch a movie on my new Media Center PC…