Great Forum! I am looking to convert my HP Pavilion a6242n into a HTPC for my living room and go OTA HDTV antenna and stream video from HULU.com on my 47” widescreen HD Projection TV. The PC will be in the family room with the TV and the internet connection. The specs for the tower are below, and there is also a link to my mother board on the HP Site. Here is my question: I don’t think my graphics are up to snuff for an HTPC and I don’t have a TV tuner. My Goals are:
Be able to receive/record HDTV signals from OTA
Stream HULU.com content
Stream other online video etc to TV
Maybe stream Netflix??
Play Blue Ray with Upgraded Drive
Play stored DVD that is in media center from the PC
And last but not least still be able to use Vista as a PC with a wireless keyboard to check e-mail edit photos etc.
What upgrades should I make to do all of this? I am trying to cut my $90 a month cable bill with this project. I was thinking I could upgrade to the ATI All in Wonder HD card. What else do I need or should consider? I am not currently running a receiver, but would rely on the TV speakers. My goal was to use my existing HDMI connection on the TV for the connection. Do I need a new sound card as well?
What about wireless keyboards and remotes?
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard
Model name Pavilion a6242n-b
Processor model Athlon 64 X2 4800+
Processor speed 2.50 GHz
Frontside bus speed 2000 MHz
Ram 3.0 GB
Maximum memory capacity 8.0 GB
Memory speed PC2-5300
Memory type DDR2 SDRAM
Hard drive capacity 320 GB x1 and a 240GB x1
Video memory 128MB dedicated, 623MB total available
Video hardware nVidia GeForce 6150 SE with TurboCache
Audio hardware High Definition Audio, 8-speaker configurable
Included integrated drives LightScribe DVD±RW/DVD-RAM/DVD±R DL
integrated memory card reader yes
number of USB 2.0 ports 6
number of VGA video ports 1
Operating system Windows Vista Home Premium with Media Center
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