HTPC

Boy, it seems like everyone is doing one of these Home Theater Personal Computer projects now. I've been thinking about it for a while, and only recently have the accumulated spare parts from other projects reached a point where I might actually attempt this. I'm going to try and keep a log of my progress on this project.

We used to have an old Panasonic DVD-CV50 that was attached to our television that served as our DVD/CD player. It had a 5 disc changer that was nice to have back before the days of MP3s. About a year ago, we had to replace it with another player since it no longer seemed to want to reliably play DVDs. But I kept it around thinking that it might be the perfect case for a HTPC.

Recently, the power supply on my current system went out, but I ended up getting a new motherboard, processor and quiet power supply. However, the old stuff was still quite functional, so I kept it for future projects.

The final piece that fell into place for me was time since I'm currently between jobs. So I decided to embark on the project to create my dream HTPC.

I want it to be able to replace my current ReplayTV, and also be able to play DVDs, so that we can move the current stuff to another TV in the house. Also, I'd like it to be able to surf and play some games on it as well. And I want all the video to go through the component connectors on my television. Whew! I know it seems like a tall order, but I'm going to try and put the emphasis on the PVR and DVD functions, with the surfing and whatever else as a secondary function.

Here are some pictures of the old DVD player with it's guts removed, but reassembled for pictures:


Front View


Rear View

And here are the guts of the old player that I'll keep around for a bit just in case:


Miscellaneous Guts

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