Anyone who wants to have a theater experience when watching various types of video and audio can set up a home theater system. However, building your own home theater computer can offer satisfaction as well as a sense of pride because you put it together yourself. Some computers come set up to use for a home theater, such as a Windows Media Center PC, but you can also build one by following some general steps.
Instructions
1. Look for a computer case that will be suitable for your needs. A tower case is easier to work with and can be found at CDW or TigerDirect (see Resources). A computer case normally comes with a power supply, so be sure to read the description on the site.
2. Look for a top-quality motherboard with a decent processor and at least four PCI slots. ASUS is a well-known brand and works with both AMD and Intel chip sets and processors. Use a screwdriver to attach the motherboard to the case with the supplied plastic connectors and metal screws.
3. Purchase a minimum of at least 2 GB of memory for the computer. You can always add more at a later time if it's needed. Refer to the motherboard documentation for the type of memory you can use. Insert the memory chip into the slot on the motherboard and lock it in place.
4. Purchase a DVD drive to play movies. A DVD/RW drive is not necessary, but prices are reasonable for these drives. Look at Newegg or Best Buy (see Resources) for various brands of DVD drives. Insert the DVD drive into one of the open drive bays and use the metal screws to secure the drive to the case. There should be two screws on each side of the drive.
5. Purchase a modest-size hard drive. The standard size of a hard drive in most computers is 500 GB. You can also find a hard drive that has 1 TB of available space. Mount the hard drive on the inside of the case directly under the DVD drive. There should be an internal mount or some other attachment to secure the drive.
6. Purchase a high-end graphics card. This provides the best video quality when watching movies. Look for a graphics card that has at least 256 MB of memory. Insert the graphics card into an available AGP or PCI slot and secure it to the case using a screwdriver.
7. Purchase a TV tuner card. This is necessary to import video from sources such as a satellite or cable TV receiver. The best quality provided by a TV tuner card is one that is digital and not analog. An analog tuner doesn't always have a crisp picture and can sometimes be grainy. Insert the card into another available PCI slot on the motherboard and secure it to the case.
8. Purchase a sound card that will provide surround sound quality. A popular brand for sound cards is Sound Blaster. A sound card may need a 1/8-inch mini jack to RCA connector cable to connect to a home theater receiver. A sound card will also use another of your computer's PCI slots.
9. Attach all of the power and data cables to the drives, including the hard drive and DVD drive and any audio connections from the DVD drive to the sound card. Refer to the manuals for each drive for specific instructions.
10. Install the operating system onto the hard drive. If the installation requires a disk, insert the disk into the DVD drive and power on the computer. Follow the instructions on the screen to install the operating system.
Tags: hard drive, home theater, sound card, card that, graphics card