OCMODSHOP decided it was about time to take a shot at building an inexpensive HTPC system.  In order to keep the costs down they opted to go with a system designed to either stream video from the web or from a DVD, BluRay need not apply.  In some cases, old tech from that system you were totally planning on using in the future sometime can be harvested, and there is always online trading and buying to pick up anything you don’t have for less than new prices.  The build isn’t finished, but the amount of cash it will take overall might inspire you to build one of your own.

“I can build a computer with no problem. I’ve been doing it for years. But a Media Center is a whole nother animal. It is, as the name implies, all about the media. Games are entirely possible, but why waste the drive space? I planned on ripping my DVDs of Rob & Big and hitting up Fancast.com on the regular. So obviously I had to make this thing WiFi enabled to access the web. It had to have a DVD-R on it. Lightscribe would have been cool, but who really needs more than one of those in their house? So the Lightscribe is out. I searched around my office for anything that would give me a decent start at a media center without having to dump a ton of money into it. (We are in a recession, after all.)”

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