18. Test Build 2: Video And Radio, but no TV

An entire class of HTPC can be built around a media hub, such the Asour VPC 2000. These devices can play DVDs and audio CDs, without even requiring the PC itself to be turned on (an external power supply provides the media hub with the necessary juice). This is the route we took with our second system configuration, which we built in the Silverstone Sugo SG01 case. The other components for System #2 shown in the table below have been previously described except for the Labelflash vs LightScribe DVD/CD Labeling review.

The Asour VPC 2000 media hub fit neatly in a 5.25" drive bay, and looks very much like a car radio, right down to the inclusion of an AM/FM radio. However, behind the front panel is a DVD drive that the HTPC can access through an internal USB connection (but in that case, of course, the PC has to be running). With the PC kicked in, this system can also play DivX and other video and audio encoded formats. The media files can come from the hard drive or either of our two DVD drives.

But the VPC-2000 doesn't include a TV tuner, although other products, such as Tsunami's ICE1 Media Manager do, but they're not currently available in the U.S. Note that the PC and the Media Hub must share multimedia connections, which often requires installation of various expansion cards in an HTPC, to route audio (and where applicable, video) signals between the two systems.

Even though our second HTPC doesn't receive or record TV signals, it includes powerful capabilities (including DVD burning and labeling) and is especially quiet in operation. The media hub works autonomously and can even access the PC disk drive directly, but on the downside, isn't exactly cheap.