Nowadays when it comes to putting together a kick ass home cinema you will most likely need some form of set top box that is capable of playing the huge collection of movies that you have stored in a digital format on your PC computer.
There are several avenues to explore when it comes to choosing a home cinema PC and here we take a look at some of the most popular.
Using an Old Computer.
When it comes to home cinema PC computers the cheapest option is probably to use an old PC that you may have lying around your house. An old PC may be obsolete when it comes to everyday computing power but you will find that it is probably more than capable of and powerful enough to deal with playing digital video files to your TV.
You may need to install a larger hard drive in the old computer because video files do tend to take up quite a large amount of storage space especially if you are partial to high definition video.
You may wish to install a remote control to your old computer so you can control the unit from the comfort of your couch and you may even choose to install a TV tuner but these are optional choices.
The biggest problems that you are going to have if you decide to use an old computer for your home cinema setup up is noise and appearance. Firstly an old PC stuck under you television is going to look big and unsightly. For this reason you may wish to change the computer’s case to something more visually appealing. Obviously this is adding to the cost of using an old PC.
Secondly there is the subject of noise that will come from the computer. As you probably know computers, especially older ones, do tend to be noisy because of the fans inside them and the clunking of the hard drives. This may not seem like to much of a problem until you find yourself having to turn your home cinema up so it is loud enough to wake the dead in order to drown out the noise from the computer.
Apple TV.
The beauty of an Apple TV unit is they are powerful, cheap at only $100, and are tiny neat little packages which fit nicely into your home cinema setup without taking up to much space.
Apple TV allows the playback of HD video files but its main disadvantage is that it has no local storage for video files and no USB connectivity. This means that you will need a desktop computer or NAS (network hard drive) drive to store your digital video files and stream them to your Apple TV set top box.
Apple TV also supports Netflix and Airplay.
Build Your Own.
Building your own home cinema PC is definitely my favourite option but it is also the most expensive option.
Building your own home cinema PC means that you can choose your ideal case and decide which is the best hardware and software to best suit your needs.
Best of all if you build your own home cinema PC computer you can also try to use all the best parts to make the computer as silent as possible which will eliminate most of the problems that you encounter when trying to use an old PC as home cinema PC.
Other Options.
Apple TV is not the only set top box that is available for streaming video content to your home cinema TV. It is well worth a Google search to look up other options that are available.
Many people are also using video games console such as Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 to stream video content from the internet, their desktop computer or NAS drive.
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