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created: June 04, 2003 updated: February 17, 2004

What is in this Overview?

My Goals (modified Feb. 2004)
Project Updates
Definitions
Audio Video Specs (separate page)
        HDTV and Digital Video
        Surround Sound and Digital Audio
        Video Connections
        Audio Connections
"Build Your Own PC" tutorials (some great articles)
Components reviews and vendor links to specific products
        Cases
        Motherboards
        Video Cards
        Audio Cards
        DVD Drives
        Flat Panel Monitors
Product Vendors, Reviews, and Information Sources - multiple products
Disclaimer
Credits

A Change In Direction

It has been several months since I did any updates to this site. My project hit a major roadblock that brought work to a halt. I have now slightly changed my goals. Instead of a media center PC, my goal is to just build a PC.

The Wall
My project stopped when I ran into a wall. That "wall" was the realization that I could not tune from cable through any card in a media center PC - I would have to keep my digital cable box, tune through it and only use the media center PC to record and playback. Programming and scheduling live program recordings would still be a major hassle. Building a media center PC primarily for recording to DVD was going to be an expensive solution. I think this is an issue that will always limit media center PCs whenever cable or satelite systems are involved.

The solution was to upgrade my Time Warner cable box to the Digital Video Recorder model. Another $10 a month on my cable bill. I feel like I sold my soul to the devil of Time Warner. I don't know which is worse; Time Warner or Microsoft. But that is another issue.

Anyway, with the DVR cable box it is easy to record and it can hold up to 40 hours of shows on an internal hard drive. It can even record two shows at the same time while watching a third show. I bought a RCA DRC8000N DVD recorder for $338 at Sam's Club, minus $50 for the rebate for a final cost of $288. With shows recorded to the cable box DVR, they are easy to edit and transfer to DVD. It records both DVD+R and DVD+RW.

New Goals

I am still interested in learning to build a PC. One of my computers that I still use is an 8 year old, 150 Mhz Pentium PC running Windows 98 SE that is on its' last legs. There is not really an upgrade path for that machine other than to replace the entire thing. Since I have learned a fair amount about building a PC, I would like to replace the old PC with a build-it-myself PC. I still want a powerful PC that can be used to edit multimedia files including photos, music and videos. So much of my past research is still relevant. I just need to update the research.

I have not totally lost the abandoned the idea of a media center PC. I just think that is less likely to happen, at least for me. I continue my research in motherboards, high capacity/high speed disk drives, audio and video cards and into HDTV displays. I may still buy a plasma or LCD HDTV display this year, regardless of my PC project.

My ORIGINAL goal was to build or buy a "media center" PC.

A media center PC is a specialized version of a PC. A few vendors currently make such machines. Microsoft even makes a special version of Windows XP operating system called "Windows XP Media Center". However, I am not sure that any of the current vendor offerings meet my needs. Therefore I am considering building my own Media Center PC.

This web page is a work in progress. As I gather and learn and make decisions, I am adding to this page. Initially I am gathering information and adding links on this page to tutorials, reviews and vendor product pages. As I make decisions on my project, I will add more details.

I expect this "media center" PC to be an intregrated part of my home audio/video entertainment center and provide the following features:

• DVD recorder and playback
  (hopefully with HDTV video record/playback and 5.1 surround sound capabilities)
• Music jukebox
• Full function PC with wireless keyboard, mouse, and remote control
• Integrate with existing A/V receiver, digital TV cable, DVD player, 27 TV
• Integrate with HDTV display (future purchase)
• Fit into existing entertainment center cabinet

A secondary goal is to learn more about audio/video and PC technologies.

The purpose of this page is to document my research and to make this information available to others. This should be useful for people wishing to build their own PC or those that are looking to upgrade various components such as a DVD burner, audio, and video cards. I intend to update this page as I learn more and hopefully actually purchase or begin building a media center PC.

February 18, 2004
I restart my project and change directions. I have re-written my Goals (above) and set out on a new path for my project. Much of the work is still relevant. I have already added some new links in the "Build Your Own PC tutorials" section of this page.

July 08, 2003
Today I have moved my motherboard research to a separate page. This includes my summary and choices, a comparison chart of four leading boards, and lots of links to reviews and vendor information on many boards and chipsets.

I have also added links to information about plasma and LCD monitors in the Flat Panel Monitors part of the Components section.

July 04, 2003
Spent some time today reading on AVSForum.com, especially about video capture (tuner) cards. I suspect that a separate video tuner card will only "tune" basic cable channels from my Time Warner cable. Therefore I will probably be tuning using my digital cable box in order to get digital channels and HDTV in the future. The input to my HTPC will then be s-video or component video and then a digital audio connection (S/PDIF RCA Coax or optical Toslink). I may, or may not, need separate video card and tuner/capture cards.

I have located a fairly good article concerning video capture. This is the first in a three part series titled "Guide to Capturing, Cleaning, & Compressing Video". I will be watching for the next two parts to this series.

July 02, 2003
Today I found a new article at eXtremeTech titled The State of Motherboard Audio. I placed a link to this article here and below in the Components section, under Audio Cards. Basically this article gives mixed reviews to on-board (on the motherboard) audio solutions. Mostly they either produce poor results and/or use a chunk of CPU to produce decent sound. It appears that the best solution on the market is Creative's Sound Blaster Audigy2 card.

I am wrapping up my motherboard research, for now. I have decided upon the Intel 865PE chip set as implemented by either the Gigabyte GA-8PENXP, the ASUS P4P800 Deluxe, the Abit IS7 or the Abit IS7-G motherboards. I am working on a detailed side-by-side comparison chart of these boards. In a few days I will move all my chip set and motherboard information to a separate page with my thoughts, decisions and the comparison chart. I say that I am finished "for now". The Gigabyte board is new and there are few reviews of this board. Also, I cannot find any web site that is selling this board - I cannot find a price. I will continue to watch for more information particularly on this board. Also, it is possible that other boards using this Intel 865PE chip set may come out soon to rival these boards.

My motherboard choice has also determined my CPU choice. I will be using an Intel P4 that supports the 800 MHz front side bus speeds and the new Intel Hyper-Threading technology. However, I do not need the fastest CPU, currently their 3.2 GHz processor. I am looking more for the bang-for-the buck, or price cut-off. The newest, fastest chips come with a price premium. Currently the cut-off point appears to be about the 2.6 GHz or the 2.8 GHz P4 processor.

Another Ah Ha - I may need a video card AND and a HDTV Tuner/Capture Card.

June 29, 2003
Today I found a good article at Virtual Zone that explains why some 865PE chipset motherboards out perform the higher priced 875P chipset motherboards. Virtual Zone's June 27, Intel PAT Enabled 865PE Boards Roundup is a good article. They give their highest marks to the ASUS P4P800 Deluxe and the Abit IS7-G motherboards. After reading these reviews and others (found below in the Component's section), I think my first choice is the ASUS P4P800 /deluxe motherboard.

However, I do want to look at the Gigabyte GA-8PENXP. This new board supports more disk drives (4 Serial ATA, 4 ATA 133 using RAID 0, RAID 1, or RAID 0+1, and 4 ATA 100 drives). It also supports dual power supply and has dual BIOS. It appears to have a better layout - fewer tight spaces. This is a newer board, so there are not many reviews or test comparisons. I will watch for more reviews and tests on this board.

June 26, 2003
My motherboard research is leading me to decide on a fast Pentium P4 800MHz bus using either the Intel 875P or 865PE chipset. I am looking at motherboards from ASUS and Abit. I have added many links for these products and their vendors below in the Components section.

June 25, 2003
I have reached a point where I have a better handle on my project and the decisions I need to make. I have made some changes to the structure of this web site to better support my project.

BACKGROUND: The impetus for my project is a desire for a PC that will also handle audio and video, specifically digital TV (DTV), high definition TV (HDTV), surround sound (5.1 or better) and DVD recording. To build such a PC requires knowledge about these audio and video technologies and then knowledge about the PC components needed to support these audio and video technologies.

The first major change to this site was to move the Audio Video Specs research to another page. As I focus on the PC components, it is likely these will also spawn separate pages. This page will remain the master index to all my research and links.

Critical components within the PC will be:
        Motherboard, CPU & chip set
        Video card
        Audio card
        DVD RW drive

My recent research has focused on the motherboard and chip set. The chip set determines the internal bus speed which determines how quickly data can move between components such as the DVD drive and the audio & video cards. Earlier this year Intel released their new 865 (Springdale) and 875P (Canterwood) chip sets that support 800MHz front side bus (FSB) speeds. This is considerbly faster than the previous generation 533MHz FSB. The latest Intel processor is a 3.0GHz Pentium 4. Later this year, Intel will roll out their next generation (code name Prescott) CPU technology with even faster CPUs to work with the 800MHz FSB.

What I have yet to determine is whether I need the latest, fastest chip set (800 MHz) to run my Media Center PC. This is likely the first major decision I need to make.

June 24, 2003
The Technical Specs section has been renamed the Audio Video Specs section and has been moved to a separate page. The overview index of this information remains on this page, to provide a sense of what is located on that new page.

As other sections grow, they too may be moved to separate pages. The Components Section is most likely mext.

More links have been added concerning CPU processors, chip sets and motherboards.

June 19, 2003
The heart of the system is the motherboard and the associated chip set and CPU. Motherboards are designed to use matched chip sets (northbridge/southbrdge, front side bus/back side bus(?)) with a processor and a set of memory slots, card slots and imput/output ports (USB, ethernet, keyboard, mouse, parallel, serial, firewire, etc.) Today I begin my research into motherboards, CPUs and chip sets.

CPU manufacturers:	Intel, AMD
Chip Sets manufacturers:	Intel, VIA, Nvidia
Motherboard manufacturers:	Intel, ABIT, ASUS, Gigabyte

June 16, 2003
I have added some additional HDTV video cards in the Components section below. Some of these cards are HDTV input for display on computer monitor. Other cards are HDTV input and output for display on a HDTV screen. Some cards have tuners built in.

June 18, 2003
Added links in the Product Vendors & Reviews section below. Thanks to Ted for these links.

June 12, 2003
I found a new article on eXtreme Tech's web site called "Build It - Extreme TiVO PC". A link to this article is in the "Build Your Own PC" tutorials section below.

June 06, 2003
So far I have determined the following:

• I need to use digital connections whenever possible. This means DVI for video if possible (S-Video and component video is analog and does not support digital HDTV), and Digital Optical connections for surround sound audio.
• Currently, the most common HDTV video connections are component video (3 RCA plugs). This is an analog connection. I am unsure about recording on a media center PC if using a separate digital cable box for the tuner. I may need to have tuner built in on the video card to record a digital signal.
• I need to select high quality, home theater speciality cards for audio and video.
• CPU processor speed is not real critical. I still want a good processor as I will use the PC as a PC.
• Likewise, the amount of memory is not critical. Still I want at least 512MB, possibly more.
• Motherboard bus speed and chipset is probably important.
• A piece of software called "PowerStrip" from EnTech Taiwan is important to control HDTV video from the PC.
• Something, possibly critical, which I do not know yet concerns the connectivity of a DVD+RW to the audio and video cards within the PC. Is all audio and video data through the data cable conenction? Is there direct audio connections from the DVD drive to the audio card as with CD-ROM drives? Is this type of connection a digital surround sound connection?
• PCs generate heat and need a fan or fans to keep cool. However, I want the PC to be quiet and not a noisy part of the entertainment center. Therefore I need to find quiet fans for this box.

I have found a lot of information about "building your own PC" (BYOPC). Some of this is specific to Home Theater PC (HTPC). Most of the HTPC information concerns playback (DVD and audio jukebox) and does not cover DVD recording. I continue to look for more recent information. I have added many links to this page. Some of this information is dated - two or more years old.

I keep tinkering with the structure of this web page. The major sections may change as I gather more information.

All about Home Theater audio/video connections

ATSC - This is the government committee appointed by the FCC to document the recommendations for digital television set forth by the ACTATS which is another government advisory committee.

DVI-I, DVI-D, DVI-A Digital Video Interface (connectors)

EDTV - Enhanced Definition TV (480p)

FSB - Front Side Bus - The motherboard chips that determine how fast data moves between the CPU, memory and other I/O components.

HDCP High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection

HDTV - High Definition TV refers to TV sets that display the highest resolution picture formats defined by the ATSC standard which is vertical lines 1,080 and horizontal pixels 1,920, or 720 vertical lines and 1,280 of horizontal pixels. The aspect ratio for HDTV is 16:9 (wide screen).

HDTV Compatible - These TV's enable you to hookup digital component inputs to the TV for viewing HD programming broadcast in the above resolutions. The TV must be connected to a DTV set-top decoder box in order to receive the signal. An external over the air antenna may also be required. This product may in the future be compatible with your cable system.

ilink / Firewire / 1394 iLink, Firewire, 1394

JBOD - short for 'just a bunch of disks' really isn’t RAID as you traditionally know it at all. JBOD simply combines multiple hard drives into a single volume.

MPEG-2 MPEG-2 Moving Pictures Expert Group - video compression used for DVD and HDTV

NTSC - The video standard in North America and other parts of the world for broadcasting video into the home and recording it on tape. Stands for National Television Standards Committee. Note: PAL is the standard used in Europe for video.

SDTV - Standard Definition TV, our current TV broadcasts.

SDTV Compatible - These TV's often enable you to hook up component video inputs to the unit for viewing standard definition programming broadcasts in either 480I or 480p formats. The TV must be connected to a DTV set top decoder box and switched to DTV mode. An external over the air antenna may be required as well.

SPDIF Sony/Philips Digital Interface Audio digital optical & Audio digital coax (RCA)

S-Video

HDTV and Digital Video
        HDTV formats
        HDTV aspect ratios
        HDTV display technologies
        HDTV references

Surround Sound and Digital Audio
        [ placeholder for future information ]

Video Connections
        Digital Video Input (DVI)
        Component Video
        RGB
        S-Video
        Composite Video

Audio Connections
        Digital Audio
                Toslink - Digital optical
                Coax Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
        Analog Surround sound
        Stereo Analog Audio

These are some great tutorials on building a PC from components. The article that probably best fits my goals of a Media Center PC is titled "Build It - Extreme TiVO PC" from eXtreme Tech. This is also one of the newer articles.

Build Your Own PC - GEN-X-PC - six pages with pictures
Building a HTPC (Home Theater PC) - RAM Electronics.net - 3 pages
Build Your Own PC - Hardware Central - May 31, 1999
            (If you cannot get to the original, here is a local copy)
Build Your Own PC - PC Mechanic

Building a High Definition Home Theater PC - eXtreme Tech - September 12, 2003 New addition
            (If you cannot get to the original, here is a local copy)
The ExtremeTech Performance System - eXtreme Tech - June 19, 2003
            (If you cannot get to the original, here is a local copy)
Build It - Extreme Personal Video Recorder - eXtreme Tech - June 10, 2003
            (If you cannot get to the original, here is a local copy)
Easily and Safely Installing a Motherboard - eXtreme Tech - December 6, 2002
            (If you cannot get to the original, here is a local copy)
Build It: Rolling Your Own "Tivo" - eXtreme Tech - November 12, 2002
            (If you cannot get to the original, here is a local copy)
Building a Home Theater PC - Parts 1 & 2 - eXtreme Tech - May 31, 2002 & June 10, 2002
            (If you cannot get to the original, here is a local copy)

Building a Home Theater PC - Part 1 - Home Theater HiFi - July 2002
Building a Home Theater PC - Part 2 - Home Theater HiFi - August 2002
Building a Home Theater PC - Part 3 - Home Theater HiFi - March 2003
Build Your Own PC - from Intel including an Integration Guide and information on motherboards, operating system, BIOS, chassis, heat sink, and power supply
My Home Theater PC - by C.M. Collins - links to other sources

The Complete System Building Guide - by Ars Technica staff (dated pre-Pentium 4)
            A good step-by-step assembly guide
Guide to Capturing, Cleaning, & Compressing Video - Part 1 - Video Capture by Ars Technica - 03-20-03
            A good reading on video capture HW & SW - 6 pages
Digital Video Cleaning without the Elbow Grease - Part 2 - of the Guide to Capturing, Cleaning, & Compressing Video - 07-23-03
            More good reading on video capture and cleaning - 9 pages

Case

ATX Black Low-Profile Desktop Case - Digital Connection.com
Accent HTPC HT-200 Gold Home Theatre PC Case - OcPrices.com
Clear Case - Clear Computer Case.com

CPU Processor

Pentium 4 High Performance Superguide - at eXtremeTech.com - lots of reviews and info on Pentium 4, chip sets, motherboards
AMD Motherboard Superguide - at eXtremeTech.com - lots of reviews and info on AMD Athlon processors and motherboards
Intel Pentium 4 3.0C - 3GHz 800MHz FSB reviewed by Anand Tech
Intel 800Mhz FSB P4 3Ghz With Canterwood 875P Review - 3GHz P4 w 800MHz FSB reviewed by Virtual Zone Hardware - 04/14/03
AMD Opteron Coverage - first of four part series - reviewed by Anand Tech
AMD 3200+ / VIA KT600 / NV Ultra 400 - AMD Athlon XP Procesor, VIA's newest chipset, and NVIDIA's newest chipset - reviewed by Hard OCP

Intel's future for 4Q 2003 and 1H 2004 - Yamhill & Prescott technologies
The clues for Yamhill - chip-architect.com - VERY technical discussion with pics - 3/26/03
Prescott Could Reach 5 GHz - announcement posted on eXtremeTech.com - 2/19/03
Prescott - HWextreme.com - Intel Prescott Processor Summary - 3/8/03
P4 3.2GHz Last of Northwood - Virtual Zone article - Intel & AMD future plans - 6/23/03
3.2 GHz Pentium 4 Review - End of the Line - eXtreme Tech article - 6/19/03

AMD's future - Hammer technology
Inside AMD's Opteron Processor - article posted on eXtremeTech.com - 4/22/03

Chip Sets

875P Chipset Review - Intel Hits a Home Run - Reviewed by eXtremeTech - April 14, 2003
Intel 875P (Canterwood) - Intel's new flagship 800MHz FSB reviewed by Anand Tech
Intel 875P (Canterwood) - Intel's new flagship reviewed by Hard OCP
Intel 800Mhz FSB P4 3Ghz With Canterwood 875P Review - 3GHz P4 w 800MHz FSB reviewed by Virtual Zone Hardware - 04/14/03
Intel 865 (Springdale) - Intel's new moderately priced 800MHz FSB reviewed by Anand Tech

Intel 845PE - Intel's 533MHz FSB with DDR333 support - eXtremeTech 10/7/02
      (review uses Intel's D845PEBT2 motherboard)

SiS648 - 400/533MHz FSB with DDR333 support - Virtual Zone 07/26/02

SiS645 - 400MHz FSB with DDR333 support - Virtual Zone 11/24/01

VIA KT400A - Preview - reviewed by Hard OCP

Motherboards (this section opens on a separate page)

Motherboards Overvew

Comparison Chart Gigabyte 8PENXP, ASUS P4P800 Deluxe, ABIT IS7, and ABIT IS7-G

Information Links

Pentium 4 & 875P 800MHz chipset
Pentium 4 & 865PE 800MHz chipset
Pentium 4 & SiS648 400/533MHz chipset
Pentium 4 & SiS645 400MHz chipset
Pentium 4 & E7205 400 / 533 MHz chipset

Memory

DDR400 - PC3200 - 400 MHz DDR

Best DDR400 SDRAMMemory - xbit labs review - 03/31/03
Buying the Right Memory - eXtreme Tech article - Sept. 30, 2002
Memory Terminology - at Crucial Technology
OCZ Memory - vendor's site
OCZ PC3200 EL DDR 400 memory - over clocker cafe review - 01/11/03
OCZ PC3500 EL DDR 433 memory - Hexus.net review - 01/20/03
OCZ EL DDR PC3700 Gold Dual Channel memory - Virtual Zone hardware review - 06/23/03
Cosair Memory - vendor's site
Corsair XMS 3200 (DDR-400) CAS2 Memory - Hexus.net review - 08/18/02
GeIL's 512MB PC3500 Memory - OC Addiction review

Hard Drives

Recording a "DVD-class" video bitstream is going to top out at a (non-)whopping 9.8Mbits/sec, which is roughly 1.25MB/sec, or 4.5GB per hour. Most DVD streams probably average 3-5Mbits/sec, or 2.25GB/hour at the high end, so you'll be able to get at least 90 hours of DVD-quality video on a 200GB drive.

Western Digital vendor's site
Maxtor vendor's site

DVD R/RW drive

Sony DRU-510A DVD+RW / DVD-RW 4X DVD & 24X CDROM recorder
Pioneer DVR-A05U DVD-RW recorder
Philips DVDRW228

DVD+RW Alliance
DVDplusRW.org - many links to info
DVD Recordable Standards, Drives Duke It Out by eXtreme Tech - 01/23/03

Sony DRU510A - vendor's site
Pioneer DVR-A05 - PC Mag review - 05/06/03
Pioneer DVR-A05 - ComputerVido.net review - March, 2003
Philips DVDRW228 - ComputerVido.net review - March, 2003 (not recommended)

Video Cards

HDTV Tuner Capture Cards

HiPix DTV-200 HDTV Card - Telemann video card - $399
Digital Stream HiDTV - pc-dtv video cards (standard $319 and premium $349 editions)
WinTV-HD - by Hauppauge - $299
Fusion HDTV I & II - by DVICO at manufacturer's site
Fusion HDTV II - by DVICO at Digitalconnection.com - MSRP $239, web site price $199
MyHD MDP-100 - by MIT at Digitalconnection.com - MSRP $349, web site price $229
MyHD MDP-120 - by MIT at Digitalconnection.com - MSRP $349, web site price $290
DVI Daughter Card for MDP-120 - by MIT at Digitalconnection.com
      MSRP $159, web site price $90 (DVI-D Loop-through Daughter Card for MDP-120 Card ?)
AccessDTV HDTV card - by iTech group at Digitalconnection.com
      MSRP $479, web site price $399
      record and timeshift HDTV

Audio Cards

The State of Motherboard Audio - article by eXtremeTech - 07/01/03
      makes a good case for buying a good audio card such as Audigy2

Sound Blaster Audigy 2 - by Creative (vendor's site)
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum eX - by Creative - review by eXtremeTech $210
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 - by Creative - review by eXtremeTech $130
Creative Audigy 2 Family - by Creative - long review by Digit-Life

M-Audio Delta DiO 24/96 - at DigitalConnection.com - MSRP $249 , web site price $189
      S/PDIF inputs/outputs on Coaxial (RCA) and Optical (Toslink) jacks
      however, only 2 channels input with 4 channel output
M-Audio Delta DiO 24/96 - at M-Audio
M-Audio Delta DiO 24/96 - at Musicians Friend - product discontinued
M-Audio Revolution 7.1 - at RAM Electronics.net - $99.99
      does support Digital/Analog 8-channel Sound
      does not support DVD audio
M-Audio Revolution 7.1 - at DigitalConnection.com - MSRP $199 , web site price $99.99
M-Audio Delta 410 - at DigitalConnection.com - MSRP $269 , web site price $179
      RCA Digital Coax input & output

Floppy drive

Power supply

Fans

AeroFlow by VanTec

Remote Controls

Stream Zap

Software

PowerStrip
Powerstrip software from EnTech Taiwan
using Powerstrip software information from RAM Electronics.net
Possibly the most important program today in the "convergence" market between computers and the high definition television (HDTV)

Media Center PC
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center

Video Tools
DScaler FAQ grabs analog, interlaced video, and deinterlaces it to make it a progressive scan feed
VirtualDub video capture/processing utility
Show Shifter Time shifting software

Flat Panel Monitors

Plasma vs. LCD from Plasma TV Buying Guide.com - 04/01/03
      longevity, burn-in and pros/cons of different use
Plasma TV Longevity from Plasma TV Buying Guide.com - 07/23/02
Plasma - Flat Screen Reviews from Plasma TV Buying Guide.com - Lots of Links
Plasma - Flat Screen Buying Tips from Plasma TV Buying Guide.com - Lots of Links
Plasma vs LCD from GizmoHub.com - feature comparison
Plasma vs LCD from PlasmaPlanet.com - feature comparison
Plasma vs LCD Viewing Angle from PlasmaPeople.com

Plasma City - Plasma and LCD TVs - Good charts for comparisons and specs
      Plasma displays - comparison chart with specs and prices
      LCD displays - comparison chart with specs and prices
TV Resources - Reviews and info from DTV City.com

Making Digital Flat Panels Better - from eXtremeTech - 07/09/03

Products and Product Reviews

Home Theater PC FAQ - at Digital Connection
Pentium 4 High Performance Superguide - at eXtremeTech.com - lots of reviews and info on Pentium 4, chip sets, motherboards
AMD Motherboard Superguide - at eXtremeTech.com - lots of reviews and info on AMD Athlon processors and motherboards
Motherboards.org - reviews & ranking 37 Intel & 25 AMD

Information Links - GEN-X-PC - links to lots of information
Products and reviews - PC-Arena.net
Products and reviews - HotHardware.com
eXtreme products - eXtreme PC Gear
Products - PC Mods
3D Sound Surge - Audio cards review and info
Anand Tech - Hardware analysis, news & reviews
      good info on CPUs, motherboards, chip sets and more
[H]ardOCP - Hardware reviews, articles and forums
      motherboards, chip sets, and CPUs reviews for gamers
Storage Reviews - Hard Disk drive reviews and info
Overclockers - reviews and techniques

Local Sales & Support in Austin, Texas

Valiant PC - an Austin retailer

Discussion Forums & Video Guides

Digital TV & HDTV Forum from HDTV Magazine
AVS Forum.com - Audio and Video forum
      Home Theater PC (HTPC) - forum at avsforum.com
      Home Theater PC (HTPC FAQ) - HTPC meta FAQ at avsforum.com
Guide to Capturing, Cleaning, & Compressing Video - Part 1 - Video Capture by Ars Technica - 03-20-03
            A good reading on video capture HW & SW
TV-Cards.com
Home Theater PC -simple guide and recommendations

In no event shall Chris Guinn or other contributors be liable for direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use information, softwares, bitstreams and other data found on or referenced by the Build Your Own Media Center PC Overview.

Permission to copy and distribute this document for non-commercial use is granted so long as the title, author's name, the Universal Resource Locator (URL)of the Build Your Own Media Center PC Overview, and this disclaimer are retained. Any additions or modifications made to the original should be clearly marked as such. The author welcomes and encourages suggested changes and additions to the overview. Contributors will be credited.

Format concept credit goes to John F. McGowan, Ph.D. for his AVI Overview page, a great resource and guide.

Additional assistance from:

John Kimbrough - build your own PC
Kirk Carpenter - DVD recording
Ted Gittinger - video card info and links