Building a HTPC became a necessity when I found all my digital media - photo, audio and video - became scattered over various PC's and storage medial like optical disks and external hard disks. Storing the media on an optical media is not reliable and looking for a particular audio, video or photo became more and more difficult every day with growing content.

My experiment with HTPC started with my need to organise my media. Once I successfully build my HTPC and showed it to my friends, it became an instant hit and I got the opportunity to build and play around with various types and forms of HTPC.

My HTPC

This HTPC is meant for those who want to use a singe box for everything. As a home theater, storage, audio/video processor, alternate desktop, etc. So, this is packed in a nice looking box with lot of expandability options. It may not be the best looking box in the series of HTPC but it is definitely one of the best feature packed box in its category. If you are like me, who needs to maintain only single box for all my need probably you must have a look at this page.

MoDT HTPC with Stunning Looks

As the title suggests, this is one of the most stunning looking HTPC I have made till date. If you need to have a perfect HTPC sitting in your living room this little box is the answer to all your needs. I am sure that this box is going to impress your mates and fulfil all your home theatre needs as this is well thought and designed HTPC for those who really crave for quality and outstanding looks.

Building HTPC from an old PC

Guys often want to reuse existing resources i.e., they want to make use of an existing PC at home and convert it to a HTPC. Is it really possible? Yes, it is quite possible and at a very low price. Probably, you only need to buy a TV tuner card with a remote which typically costs you around £30. I have converted couple of desktops into a HTPC by using such a card. This article talks about one of such experiments where I attempted to convert an old desktop PC into a HTPC (Home Theatre PC). I have tried to capture my approach in the article so that it serves as a guideline for the DIY guys to make some use of their old PC's and also serve a reference for myself for similar future projects.

Building HTPC from a broken laptop

In the series of reusing existing resources, I came across this laptop with its screen broken. A laptop with broken screen is unusable on its own right but can be used as a server. I hooked the laptop to my HD TV and was amazed to find that it supported the HDTV resolution without any issue. This laptop was a Toshiba EQUIUM M40X-189 with an excellent CPU and GPU to become a media centre.

Off the Shelf HTPC

For those who want to get away with the hassle of putting the components together and save their time in installing the software as well, EfficientPC is not a bad place to look at. Personally, I haven't bought one from there but I have heard good reviews about them. They preinstall even MythTV and provide you the opportunity to customise the components based upon your need and budget.