home bar jukebox and media computer
After having many parties down in the k2 lounge, i decided that i probably shouldn’t impose my musical tastes upon everyone that shows up. Although, why someone would object to listening to the rat pack, is beyond me.
I had just replaced my main desktop computer, so I decided to build a jukebox out of my old machine.
Somehow, this simple goal turned into a monster project that now includes building an entire media pc that we can watch movies from.
home theater PC
To begin this project, I took my main desktop that i had just replaced, and moved it over close to the entertainment center.
Specs overview: athlon 2800+, 1 gig ram, radeon 9600
Nothing fancy, but enough to listen to mp3’s and watch divx movies on.
The radeon vid card had a VGA, Svid, and DVI output, so i was set there. I got myself a sound card with digital optical out, and i’m set for surround sound.
Once I got the system working well through my sound system and projector, it was time to make it look a little more presentable.
First things first, hide the media PC.
Decided to build the jukebox control screen out of a 15″ ELO touchscreen that I got off ebay. I was going to build an extension off my “water main closet” to house the touchscreen, more on that later, so I needed to house the pc somewhere close.
After many precise measurements using empty beer bottles, i figured i could put the PC inside the water main closet and run all the cords inside. So that’s what i did.
and here’s the step by step:
first cut a hole in the wall
then since i’m not really that great of a woodworker, and i’m kind of lazy and didn’t want to have to add all new studs, etc to do a cabinet door all proper like, instead of framing the hole, I put black duct tape around the edge. It actually looks pretty darn good and keeps everything flush to the wall. i have to credit my wife with that idea. thanks honey.
next i screwed in a stud going back from the floor stud to act as a center support for the drawer pull. attach the drawer pull to the center support stud and to the shelf itself and presto, you’ve got a pull out shelf.
next came the door.
for this i used a sheet of plexi, cut to size, to cover the hole. slapped some hinges on there, and a fancy schmancy cabinet handle and i had myself a nice clear door.
once that was all done i loaded in the computer, pulled the wires through, and turned on the beast with all it’s blue light goodness and sat back and admired my handiwork.
with beer from my tap in hand, obviously.
here’s a few shots of the finished product, with and without flash.
next step, build the enclosure for the touch screen….
So have you had any issues with dust and or cooling of the machine? Nice job!
the heat shouldn’t be an issue, i left the case sides off the pc, and there are a bunch of fans in there, turned all the way to 11.
plus the computer is about 2 inches away from the water main coming into the house, which is always cold. so therefore i have water cooling by proximity. i think i’ll start overclocking the beast.
and since it is enclosed in a closet (that i thouroughly vacuumed), the dust should be minimal. and actually should be less than out in the main living area where dust is being kicked up a lot more frequently.
the enclosure also has the added benefit of hiding the noise produced by the fans. which is nice.
[...] well, I haven’t got that started yet, so i thought i’d take a detour into the story of how i got the jukebox running on my newly enclosed pc. [...]
another wonderful addition to an already outstanding entertainment lounge.
[...] sub-subtitled: home bar jukebox and media computer – part 3 After getting the HTPC mounted in it’s built-in sliding shelf (shoved into a hole in the wall) and getting the computer running the jukebox software and running the touchscreen, the last thing that needs to be done is to build and mount the touchscreen into some sort of enclosure on the wall. [...]
[...] figured it was time to move majicjack to its permanent home, the jukebox we use to listen to mp3’s and watch divx/netflix movies on. general specs: xp sp2 (up to date), athlon 2800+, 1gb ram. the only bandwidth usage on that [...]