A New Old Record Player HTPC Front Page

I’m really fascinated with vintage pieces of technology. There just something about that vintage look of old wood and brass. Well, a while back, my wife gave me an old Zenith record player that doubled as a radio. Most of the components inside were destroyed over the years but the shape of the physical wood and structure were in really good shape.

The problem with antiques is that other than their looks, they don’t really serve much of a purpose. I opted to try and change this notion by adding some functionality to this record player. Sure, I could have put a new turntable or even CD player inside this box, but let’s face it, that’s no fun. How about a computer?

I really liked the idea that with the right components, this vintage record player could act as a HTPC or media center. I began by dissecting the guts inside the record player and cleaning it up. There was a lot of broken glass from the vacuum tubes and spider webs to clear out, but I was left with almost a perfect box for a computer. My wife helped me refinish the wood by sanding everything down and getting everything re-stained. Next came the components.

The empty box of the record player didn’t leave me a lot of room, so I selected an Intel P35 Micro-ATX motherboard. Being a mATX mobo, it supported a lot of necessary integrated components like a gigabit Ethernet connection and toslink optical connection for my surround sound. While this machine has integrated video, I still opted to use a dedicated graphics card to ensure my high definition files would play without any problems. The full list of components is at the bottom of this post.

I started this project using Microsoft Vista Home Premium which has the Media Center software built in, but I’ve since upgraded this computer using the Windows 7 RC which has an updated interface for MCE and supports more audio/video codecs like H.264.

All of the components were constructed on a new base which ultimately would mount to the frame. I added some new wood to help keep the ATX form factor which helped fix the PCI cards in place. Next, it was just a matter of aesthetics. It took a while but I found some quiet 120mm fans that glow in an Amber color. I modified the controls on the front of the player to act as the power and reset buttons. To finish the project, I mounted the original record player hardware so the record player still looks like a record player even when the computer is on.

This baby, still had some life in it after all.

Component list

• Intel BOXDG45ID Motherboard
• Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
• 2GB of DDR2 800 memory
• Athena Power MicroATX 400W Power Supply
• Zalman CNPS7700-CU Heatsync
• 500GB Western Digital Hard Drive
• EVGA nVidia GeForce 9600GT Graphics Card
• External E-SATA BluRay DVD+R/RW Drive
• Cooler Master 120mm Amber Glow Silent Computer Fan
• MCE OEM Remote / Keyboard
• Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Surround Sound