<p>I use HDMI over 2 x cat5e (using a box at either end to convert - I have a GT220 and have upgrade ALSA with the patches to get the audio over HDMI working) + USB over 1 x cat5e (with the wireless remote control receiver) running 1080p.</p>
<p>If you can run 3 x cat5e cable from your Backend to you TV, then this is a very good and cheap solution (IMHO), plus it is totally silent and takes virtually no space in the lounge.</p>
<p>Cheers</p>
<p>Douglas.</p>
<p>Quoting Phillip B <phillip.baird@gmail.com>:</p>
<blockquote type="cite">Hello everyone,<br /><br />Am just about to embark on building my first front end, and would really appreciate any advice on hardware components and config??<br />In terms of spec's it will be playing mostly satellite Freeview recordings. HD would be nice long term but for now the panel it will be driving only goes up to 720p. Sound and video out via HDMI would be preferred.<br /><br />Based on some previous posts it looks like I should be considering a Zotac ION ITX A Series 330(?), with 2GB of DDR2 800MHz. Is 2GB enough?<br />Would prefer not to have any hard drive so I've either got to boot from a USB stick or over the network. Any comments on which is easier? My googling suggests booting over the network requires reconfiguring DHCP which sounds a bit painful, so as I want to keep this as simple as possible I'm thinking a USB drive might be simpler way to go.<br /><br />Any suggestions?<br /><br />thanks<br /><br />/PhilB<br /><br /><br /></blockquote><br />