Digital Home Thoughts: Building Your Own Media Center PC

Step 4: Buying the Operating System
This is where things get interesting. When Microsoft first released the Windows Media Center Edition operating system, it was only made available to select OEMs: namely Dell and HP. In 2004, Microsoft broadened this to include "white box" vendors, meaning smaller companies that built their own machines and re-sold them. This also meant, somehow, that online vendors such as NewEgg and TigerDirect could sell the operating systems to end users – but only if it was purchased with a piece of hardware to fulfill Microsoft's distribution agreement. The net result of all this is that you can purchase Windows Media Center Edition 2005 with a mouse pad, and it's all legal. Although this likely wasn't Microsoft's intention when they made this change, it has expanded the user base amongst people who prefer to build their computer rather than buy them, and the end result is a positive one.

In my case, I happen to have access to the operating system through the Microsoft Developers Network, but you can buy a copy from most online retailers for as little as $179.99 USD ($242 CAN) in a bundle with a remote control and IR sensor.

2007 Update: Now, thankfully, a completely moot point. With the purchase of Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate, you get the Media Center software. Nice and simple. It's least expensive to purchase an OEM copy of Home Premium when you're picking up the other hardware.

Step 5: Picking the right TV
You may already have a TV set or LCD monitor you're planning on pairing with your MCE 2005 computer, but if you haven't yet made that decision, here are some things to think about. First, you'll want to make sure that the TV is a true HDTV set – don't settle for EHDTV or any other half-measure. You want a minimum of 720p, 1280 x 768 resolution, and a DVI connection on the TV set. 1080p sets have been announced and I expect we'll see them in the market this year. Do you need the extra resolution? Not really – Blu-Ray and HD-DVD specs are designed to support 720p because that's what most HDTV owners have now. But if you're the kind of person that likes to be as future-proof as possible, 1080p sets are worth looking at.

2007 Update: Ah, how times have changed. 1080p sets are much more common now, although there are plenty of 720p/1080i sets out there and are still likely the bulk of what people are buying. Which TV to buy is a whole different discussion, one I'll side-step for now.


Figure 7: The Dell W2600, a 26" LCD TV running at 1280 x 768.

Step 6: Installing it All
Shuttle has an excellent installation manual that comes with the SN95G5, so I won't rehash it again here. The assembly was very simple – this was the fourth Shuttle XPC that I had assembled myself, so I was familiar with some of the quirks. Everything is a tight fight in a Shuttle XPC, so assembly requires patience and a willingness to endure a few nicks and scratches on your hands as you insert the components. Because the Radeon 9600 video card was passively cooled, the heat sink was on both the front and back of the card – meaning it was butting up against the Hauppauge TV tuner. I was initially concerned about this, but it hasn't proven to be a problem over the past six months. All other components were a smooth install.


Figure 8: Assembling the Shuttle SN95G5.

Once I finished assembling all the components inside the Shuttle SN95G5, and struggled with the frustrating optical drive issue, it was time to install the operating system. MCE 2005 is no different than any other version of Windows when it comes to being installed: you put in the CD and boot from it, set up your partitions, and let the install proceed. In my case since I had 460 GB of storage, I opted to create several partitions to help manage things: on the 160 GB drive (150 GB usable), a 15 GB operating system partition, and a 135 GB FTP/Web and data backup partition. On the 300 GB drive, 280 GB is usable, so I left it as one giant partition specifically for storing my video and audio files.

Configuring and Using MCE 2005
When you first start up the MCE interface, it will walk you through a configuration wizard that allows you to adjust your display settings, set up your location for the TV schedule, and configure other basic settings. The video wizard in particular is useful because it allows you to optimize the brightness and contrast on your display to show as much detail as possible.


Figure 9: The finished product: my Windows Media Center Edition 2005 computer.

Wrapping it All Up
The machine I built in 2005 served me well as a dedicated Media Center PC. It served the dual purpose of allowing me to watch TV/DVDs in my home office, and allowing my wife and I to watch content upstairs on the big screen TV using the Xbox 360 as a Media Center Extender. The quality is surprisingly good, and being able to access all of our photos and music is an added benefit. Now that Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate allow all PCs to be "media centers" you have even more options when putting together your system.

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys mobile devices, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He continues to be a Shuttle XPC fan.