media center

[macsaif]

I want to build a media center based on PC. My idea is:
1.
CD, DVD-A, DVD-V playback
TV-tuner
FM-radio
5+1 audio out
display on the panel
TV out
Wav plaback from HDD

2. 5+1 audio
Is there any possibility to set-up the sound card to play everithing without any changes in the digital signal from CD(sample rate, volume...). I want to control the volume with WM chips(analog volume control chips) .
Is there any good external(USB2) 5+1 sound card with a good 2 channel sound?

3. PC
I want to use passive cooling if it is possible. What about VIA motherboards and processors? What is the minimum configuration I need to DVD, DivX.... and Wav playback. Also I want to make some records from TV to HDD.

4. Display
Do you have any experience with display panel from Thermaltake. Are there some similar products on the market. I need a little bit bigger display(remote control is OK)

 

[cowanrg]

for awhile ive been kinda toying with something like this. i didnt want or need video (dvd's), but the audio features i wanted.

1.) im not sure if you can do DVD-A. i could be wrong... maybe there is a way to get the computer to play them. everything else is pretty easy, but with ALL that stuff, its going to have a lot of connections and be pretty big.

my idea was to have as many cards integrated as possible, so there would be no cards standing up on the PCI slots, so it could be slim.

2.) there are good soundcards out there. however, it might be best to do digital out with an external dac. that would give best sound i think. but im not sure about this.

3.) for quiet pc, my idea was to use a heatpipe and custome case like an amp case with heatsinks on the sides. using heatpipes, you can transfer heat from the chip or PSU to the heatsinks and keep it all passive and quiet.

to play divx, dvd's, and wav, you dont need a whole lot. maybe 1ghz would be enough. but if you want to do tv recording, and possibly HD tuning, you will need more. maybe a couple ghz with a good amount of RAM.

4.) if you check out overclocking websites, you can find a few different LCD screens. ive also seen custom ones too.