Bringing the Cinema Home: The PC Integrated in the Home Theater   by Ritchie Smythe

A few years back everyone was amazed with the quality of picture produced by DVD videos. Then came the advent of high-definition picture technology that was definitely a revolutionary game changer when it comes to entertainment. And now, things are becoming a bit too much to handle with the mind-boggling clarity in picture brought about by Blu-ray technology. Everyone wants a piece of the pie and most would like to enjoy the benefits of these technologies from the comfort of their homes.

For a better overall experience, some folks choose to integrate a Personal Computer with their home entertainment system. Here are some tips for those who want to enjoy the full cinematic experience from the comfort of their living rooms through the use of a personal computer.

Just the Right Specs

Because of the fact that Microsoft has included a Media Center application on the Vista OS (Home Premium and Ultimate), some believe that this in itself could suffice as the computer’s all-in-one entertainment system. Unfortunately, this just isn’t the case. In fact, there’s more to it than just a standard general purpose PC. However, the good news is that power-wise home theater computers don’t have to be as sophisticated and cutting edge as most top of the line PCs. If the sole purpose of the home theater PC is just as an entertainment system, the only requirement is that it is able to output video to the TV and audio to whatever audio receiver one might have. Thanks to the emergence of CPU form factors that have ultra small designs such as the XPC X200M from Shuttle or the Apple Mac Mini, one need not install a conventional Tower Desktop in the entertainment room.

Two PCs for One Home

Those who have the intention of having a PC as part of their home entertainment system would be better off with a secondary computer at home. In fact, this would serve as the primary one with its own computer monitor. The home theater PC can be directly connected to and make use the TV screen as its primary display. Going through the downloaded TV shows and movies via Microsoft’s Media Center would be a simple task to perform on the TV screen. However, more standard PC tasks such as reading and replying to email or even surfing the net could prove to be more difficult, especially when one is sitting on his couch with the TV screen 10 feet away.

File Storage

As an added benefit, the primary PC could also serve as the storage space that’ll hold a majority of the media files. This would come in handy for those with home theater PC’s with smaller hard drives. As mentioned earlier, home theater PC’s need not have cutting edge technology and Hard Drive space is a feature that could be sacrificed. Window’s Home Server app is an excellent program that facilitates centralized file storage and should provide a Great Deal of help for this particular purpose once it is released towards the end of the year.

About the Author

About the Author:

ITC Sales is a leading supplier of cheap laptops and computers including HP and Dell Laptops.
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