subject: How to Get the Best out of Your Media [print this page] There are more media options coming on the market all the time. It's easy to hook your computer up to your television and have your own personalised media centre. You can do your own home computer support and get the media benefits as well.
What's so great about it?
Well, everything. Maybe more. There is literally nothing you can't do with a media centre.
You can pause live TV if you want to have a breather or make a cup of coffee. You can skip through TV ads by recording the show a little in advance and getting some of your life back.
You can record live TV (and find out what it is you're going to record) just by browsing the TV guide.
You can record all episodes of a series, just by pressing the aforementioned record button twice. How easy is that? This means you'll never miss an episode of your favourite show again.
Show off your home videos and photos properly, on a good screen, at the click of a button. It's about as difficult as clicking a mouse. You can access anything on your media centre that quickly.
Download videos directly from the Internet. This is a big advantage, instead of going to the video shop, use online services like Bigpond Movies or iTunes.
What equipment do I need?
Almost unbelievably, hooking up a basic media centre is just as easy. You might even be able to scavenge everything you need from older computers, cables and peripherals. The media centre is really based on What's connected to what', and if you're an even slightly interested electronics buff, it's like LEGO.
All you need is:
A computer with the grunt to play the high quality of video you want to watch. Check the specifications, and if your computer is two years old or over, you'll need a good video card and good streaming capacity. You'll also need a hard drive with preferably more than 500GB of memory. It should be running Windows 7 Home Premium or Ultimate.
A cable connection from the computer to your TV. You need a DVI cable. Generally new desktops come with DVI outputs (DVI connections are usually white, RGB are blue). New televisions are usually fitted to take HDMI connections. You can get a cheap DVI to HDMI converter and just use a HDMI cable to connect to your television. Most computers now come with HDMI outputs.
Audio: Remember this: like the old AV cables, you'll need an audio cable to connect audio from your computer to your TV or a surround sound audio system.
A TV tuner card for your desktop (or laptop if that's what you're using).
