Many folks get a little overzealous when the project of setting up a home entertainment system comes up. The term 
computer home entertainment system implies that you can somehow play music and videos from a computer to stereo speakers and possibly the TV.
First of all, you don’t need to customize some monster of a gaming or entertainment PC. You don’t need the fastest video card or processing speed. You simply need to find the best way to connect a computer to your stereo speakers and/or TV.
Here is our suggestion on setting up a simple, but effective, home computer entertainment system:
- Buy a Mac Mini – cost ranges from $500 – $900 depending on how much you increase the speed and storage
- Buy a bluetooth keyboard and mouse (magic mouse) – this will avoid messy cabling in the living room
- Check your stereo/TV components for the proper connection – If your TV is new and has available HDMI ports, buy a DVI-to-HDMI cable ($20 from the Apple store) so you can directly hook up the Mac Mini to your stereo/TV. If your TV is older, you will have to buy a monitor cable, either DVI-to-DVI ($30 at Radio Shack) or VGA-to-VGA ($20 at Radio Shack) connection depending on the port. This is the hardest part – finding the right connection. You can ask your TV or stereo provider if you are not sure.
- Buy an audio cable. ($12 from the Apple store) This will allow you to connect a sound cable from the speaker port from the Mac Mini to the audio port of your stereo or TV component. Without this, you won’t have sound so this is definitely important.
- Navigate to the right input. Your remote control can have up to 5 inputs or more. Navigate past TV, DVD, Games, etc. until you find the right input for the Mac Mini video connection.
- Time to have fun! You can browse to Hulu or other movie streaming sites and you now can view movies from your TV. You can also set up iTunes for music. And iLife can be set up to easily show family videos, pictures, and other media presentations.
The hardest part of the tech setup is learning which connection you need for the video. Once you find that out and how all the rest of the components are set up, you’ll be able to set up the video and sound in a snap. By the way, if you prefer Windows over Apple, you can install Windows on the Mac for satisfy your comfort level.
Enjoy your home computer entertainment system! If you are stuck once you have all of the proper parts, feel free to call a computer expert in your area.
