Getting your home theater computer together is a little bit different than setting up a regular old PC, as you need to think about saving yourself energy, socket space, and the risk of tripping over the wires. Follow these steps and not only will you be familiar with how to assemble the best HTPC, but you will also gain the knowledge to keep it as silent as possible.
While finding your favorite HTPC software often comes after trying several options, here you will find what are the popular media center softwares available. This top 10 list will simplify your task by listing the most popular media centers. Continue reading to see how the Windows Media Center, XBMC, Boxee and others compare with each other.
For this guide, we sat down with a computer expert from a computer store specialized in the HTPC equipments to choose optimal components for living room use based on the technology available in 2012. We did not try to find the best performance or the lowest cost, but a decent HTPC that is suitable for playing 1080p HD video smoothly.