Why get a HTPC?

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blade52x

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 9, 2006
Messages
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Just wondering, for all of those have a HTPC - why did you purchase one?

Is it your only desktop?
Not much of a gamer?
Have a console?
Sound card = better sound!?
Looks cool?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.
 
i don't have one,
but i can see it as a good investment to record movies or TV shows, stream music and movies off of a dedicated file server or off the HTPC storage, and to also display slideshows for family and guests..:cool:
 
I got one so I can record shows that I miss.. much more functionality than a Tivo as well.

I'm building another HTPC this summer that is Blu-ray and HDDVD capable for a 1080p theater I'm building in the basement. Its good to have a dedicated machine so you don't have to worry about 10,000 hassles of using your main computer for everything. Plus you don't have to move it from your theater/tv area if you want some privacy with the PC in another room of the house or something. ;) :D
 
CrimandEvil said:
Cause it gets you chicks :cool: (or guys if you're into that).
Click to expand...

ROFL
Its honestly true - all of my girlfriend's friends were very impressed when I told them they could record and pause n rewind Desperate Housewives.


Its nice to pause n rewind shows (I hate it when I watch TV without it, and say 'What did he say?'), and I now watch TV on my time (I watch Leno and Conan during lunch). It also nice to have all of my movies on live storage, so I can easily watch any DVD without using disks. I also use it as central storage for all my media, so I can access everything remotely over the network (Its nice watching last night's 30 Rock while on my front steps of my house).

Plus, its nice to surf the web from the living room. My roommate and I are taking a beer and wine course, and we watch the "Beer School" animations from herestobeer.com on TV through the HTPC.

Last but not lease, the box was cheap to make. I took my last desktop PC (P4 2.8, 1GB DDR, 9800 Pro) and threw in 2 550 pro's, a couple of hard drives, and a fresh copy of XP MCE 05. After having it for a year, I'm soon going to upgrade it to my current desktop when I buy a new one - A64 s754 3700+, 2GB DDR, and a 8500GT - it should be able to play x264 HD no problem (I hope).
 
Vette5885 said:
After having it for a year, I'm soon going to upgrade it to my current desktop when I buy a new one - A64 s754 3700+, 2GB DDR, and a 8500GT - it should be able to play x264 HD no problem (I hope).
Click to expand...

A socket 754... with a 8500gt? wtf?

Ok.. lol.

If you mean something else by mistake, a 3700+ will handle most of your 720p x264 stuff. 1080p x264 might play back if its lower bitrate, but don't count on it.

edit: hardware decoding might help with 1080p. =)
 
blade52x said:
Just wondering, for all of those have a HTPC - why did you purchase one?

Is it your only desktop?
Not much of a gamer?
Have a console?
Sound card = better sound!?
Looks cool?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

1) Nope, dedicated HTPC
2) Got a PS2 and Xbox for that
3) See 2
4) Onboard sound using SPDIF out (Digital to Digital)
5) Meh... It will eventually be hidden.

I use my HTPC 100% for movies now, I have converted all my DVD's to h264 it's nice to have simple access to all of my media, no looking for DVD's or scratching discs!
 
w1retap said:
A socket 754... with a 8500gt? wtf?

Ok.. lol.

If you mean something else by mistake, a 3700+ will handle most of your 720p x264 stuff. 1080p x264 might play back if its lower bitrate, but don't count on it.

edit: hardware decoding might help with 1080p. =)
Click to expand...

Well, its what I've got, I might as well use it, as I found a cheap s754 PCI-E board. if I can find a faster chip for dirt cheap before I upgrade, then I may change the socket (maybe 775 or AM2). I was thinking about that cheap 3800+ thats at newegg right now, but then I'd have to buy DDR2 memory.

My P4 2.8 does 720p fine right now, and the little added horsepower of the 3700+, plus 8500GT (with its on-board x264 processing) should be enough to carry me for a couple of years.
 
i built mine instead of paying a monthly service for TIVO or comcasts DVR...

also it interfaces with my media server to be able to watch my 150 dvds that are archived uncompressed on my server :)



and to play top spin 2 and MLB 2005 on my TV
 
I have an extra PC that I may use for a music and movie server.

If I am going to do it, I am also going to...

Get a wireless card to surf internet(no use running a cable through a floor)
Replace the sound card with a SPIF card
Wireless keyboard and mouse(prefer the pointer one)

My only thing is...

Can I transfer movies from my Direct TV DVR to a HD? How?
What about remote controlling the unit? Or should I just stick with the wireless keyboard and mouse?


Spare PC specs

AMD XP 2500+
1gb DDR
80gb primary drive
200gb 2nd drive
Sound card, don't knowyet
Video... I have three cards... Radeon 7500 AIW, X1300 Pro, 7900 GT(don't know if that motherboard supports PCI-e,probably not)
 
blade52x said:
Just wondering, for all of those have a HTPC - why did you purchase one?

Is it your only desktop?
Not much of a gamer?
Have a console?
Sound card = better sound!?
Looks cool?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...


- I have 5 machines I use, this is my media machine
- I am a heavy gamer, got a gaming rig for that
- Got a pile of consoles
- Sound is about the same
- Coolness is a factor


But mainly the reason we have HTPC's (at least for me) is that I can have a centralized entertainment center. I can watch movies, look at pictures, and listen to music from the comfort of my couch using Media Center. I can watch movies on command and also watch/record shows without leaving the couch.
 
Is it your only desktop? No, I have 9 computers
Not much of a gamer? I have played farcry on my plasma. But I mostly use it to playback AVI/movies.
Have a console? Yes, PS2 and Wii
Sound card = better sound!? Yes optical into my receiver
Looks cool? H*ll yes

I use to use a dvd player that plays all formats (divx,dvd, etc), but had problems because of new codecs coming out. Plus playing even a standard DVD, it looks and sounds better...
 
blade52x said:
Just wondering, for all of those have a HTPC - why did you purchase one?
Click to expand...

It started with leftover pc parts, once the frontend was worked out and I figured out what hardware was needed to make everything better, it became a separate issue with its own upgrade path.

Is it your only desktop?
Not much of a gamer?
Have a console?
Sound card = better sound!?
Looks cool?
Click to expand...

no. The desktop still has many functions that work better in the office instead of on the couch. Paying bills, doing spreadsheets, video/audio encoding or editing, etc. just seem to work better for me if I'm at my desk...especially if the wife wants to watch tv while I'm working.

Not much of a gamer, I only play one game, and the desktop handles that. Surfing the net from the couch does not have much appeal, wireless input devices are not giving me much price vs performance for gaming, especially since I only play one game. The htpc does handle emulators and those get a lot of use.

The consoles are for co-op gaming with the wife or party games. I rarely use them as much as I used to.

Sound card? for htpc it's all just spdif passthrough that the receiver decodes, so any onboard sound that does that is sufficient.

Looks? at the time I built mine, the fad was to make it unobtrusive - either blend in with existing entertainment center equipment, or be hidden away. I use an Antec NSK2400 and like it a lot. Plain, clean, unobtrusive looks, cheaper than the Ahanix/Dvine cases that look similar. Built in lcd screens and vfd's are of no use to me, and their looks are not worth the price and configuration headaches to me..

Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Why did I go htpc? The original goal (4 years ago) was to simply build a jukebox that could manage the thousands of music files we had in an organized fashion. It didn't take much to extend that to video files, add in dvd playback, and the other non-essential functions (weather, movie showtimes, picture viewing) had lots of appeal to the wife. Adding in PVR functions and gaming (emulators for MAME and older consoles) left me with something no other single device can manage. now it's the central component of the entertainment center, and other than watching live tv, it's in use for everything else. The family is dependent on it, and the wife is not pleased if it ever goes down (which nowadays is very very rare).
 
Quote:
Is it your only desktop?
Not much of a gamer?
Have a console?
Sound card = better sound!?
Looks cool?

1. No, I have a desktop and 2 laptops in addition to the HTPC
2. Desktop is good for current games, might upgrade once Unreal 2007 launches.
3. Have a Wii and I emulate everything else I want to play.
4. Pass digital to my receiver so it sounds great.
5. Mine is beautiful :) Silverstone LC-17.

I use it primarily as a way to upscale DVD's for my HDTV (looks so good, I am content to hold off on HDDVD and Bluray for now). It also is used as a movie on demand system, music jukebox, slideshow viewer, Tivo substitute if I want to (I have the tuners, but have a Comcast provided HD DVR right now), game emulator, and anime archive.

The HTPC is in my basement as part of the home theater. If I get more play money some day, I will build a server that will house the movies, music, games, etc. so I can access them easier from the network without needing the HTPC on all the time. As the price of HD DVD and Bluray drive drop, I will upgrade my system to a truer HD setup. Plus, it has been a blast learning and building.
 
Why? I had a leftover PC. Sempron 2800+, cheap ECS mini-ATX mobo, 250GB drive, 512MB RAM, with an ASUS DVD burner. I had put it together in a low profile Antec Minuet case. It's decently quiet.

I bought a low profile Happauge 150 card, another 512MB RAM, and a cheap low profile nVidia 5200 video card. Loaded up MythTV (MythDora), and now I use it all the time, both to record shows and to play DVDs. It's connected to my stereo via SPDIF coax. I built a homemade IR RS232 receiver, and set up LIRC using an extra remote I had laying around.

My son's favorite TV show (Magic School Bus) comes on at 5am. The BIOS supports wake on clock, so the PC boots itself at 4:55, MythTV records the show, and then when I hit my computer room at 6:30, I shut it down. At some point later (weekends) I can then grab the MythTV MPEG file, move it to my PC, and use DVD creating software to build a DVD with it. Considering the Magic School Bus DVDs are $10/ea for 3 episodes, or I can fit 6 episodes on 1 homebrew DVD (after DVDShrink), it works out well. ;) Doesn't take me but a few minutes to build the episodes in to DVD format (but then a couple hours for my computer to crunch them in to VOB files).

Considering it was roughly $500-$600 in equipment, yeah, I guess it's kinda expensive as a PVR. But it's been fun to play with. What can I say. I'm a nerd. :D
 
blade52x said:
Just wondering, for all of those have a HTPC - why did you purchase one?

Is it your only desktop?
Not much of a gamer?
Have a console?
Sound card = better sound!?
Looks cool?
Click to expand...

I converted my old desktop (AMD XP 3200+, 512 MB RAM, nVidia 5200) into a HTPC when I upgraded last year. The only components I bought for it were a SilverStone LC03 case and an Adecco wireless keyboard/trackball combo.

I mainly use it to play MP3s and videos in my living room. I have an Audigy 2 in the HTPC and have it hooked up to a decent stereo, so the sound is quite good. I have an old ATI video capture card in the HTPC, but I don't use it very often.
 
AKM said:
Considering it was roughly $500-$600 in equipment, yeah, I guess it's kinda expensive as a PVR. But it's been fun to play with. What can I say. I'm a nerd. :D
Click to expand...

Actually, considering TiVo starts at like $299 without rebates and something like $22 a month for the service fee, you aren't that bad off. If I wanted to play something like Oblivion and WoW on my HTPC what would be the minimum specs be? Could I get away with a low end s939 board/proc with SLI 7300GTs? I have my main rig in the office that I do just about everything on, and my old stuff laying around. I would really like to invest in one of these as they are much more scalable than our 80hr TiVo. Plus if I invest in a decent enough system I can replace my Sony Reciever and DVD player (well atleast the DVD Player).
 
blade52x said:
Just wondering, for all of those have a HTPC - why did you purchase one?
Click to expand...

Didn't have to purchase one. I had an old PC and some spare drives lying around and used those for my HTPC. Specs for my current HTPC:

866MHz Pentium III
512MB PC133 RAM
Nvdia MX 420 64MB Video card
8GB OS Drive
20GB Western Digital Hard Drive
2 x 80GB Western Digital Hard Drive

It currently serves up my anime, a few movies, and most of my music collection. Don't need a tuner card since most of the shows I like to watch can be seen online for free and legally. Thank you, ABC, NBC, and FOX for putting up Lost, Heroes, and 24 online for free. :)

Is it your only desktop?
Not much of a gamer?
Have a console?
Sound card = better sound!?
Looks cool?
Click to expand...

- No. I have a gaming rig and a laptop.
- Still a PC gamer. Was born a PC gamer, die a PC gamer.
- Just an Xbox (original) that I rarely play with.
- I'm using some cheap-o sound card and even then, YES!
- Not really. I'm using an old biege PC case. Don't feel like it's worth the money to hide the sucker in another case.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Make sure that you concentrate on getting low power parts. Electricity bills is a big concern these days. I only keep my HTPC on for only a few hours a day to cut down on electricity costs.
 
Danny Bui said:
Make sure that you concentrate on getting low power parts. Electricity bills is a big concern these days. I only keep my HTPC on for only a few hours a day to cut down on electricity costs.
Click to expand...

Does it seriously draw that much power? I have the following parts laying around, think they would make a decent HTPC

Athlon XP2100+
Abit NF7-S v2.0
512mb PC2100 CS2.5
2x 160 SATA1.5 drives
ATI Radeon 9500pro
Antec TruePower 430w

This make a decent enough system?
 
My HTPC (Sempron 2800, 1GB, 250GB, 5200, blah blah) draws 75-80 watts while working, and slightly less (65-70) while idle (per the Kill-A-Watt meter). While not a 'huge' load, I do turn it off when not in use.

I used a PIII-667, 512MB, 20GB as my Myth box for a while. It worked fine with the hardware MPEG encoder card (PVR-150). It did not work well at all with a regular tv capture card (BTTV 878 type card). It was weak on the disk space though... MythTV fills about 2 gigs per hour when recording...
 
blade52x said:
Just wondering, for all of those have a HTPC - why did you purchase one?
Click to expand...

Initial impulse was while I was watching Top Gear, and it cut to an ad break. I hate ad breaks with a vengeance -- they're composed of people with money trying to convince me to buy crap I don't need, and worse still they're taking up my leisure time while I want to watch my program.

Post-initial reasoning was that the quality of the average VCR tape sucks ass, even compared to SDTV, and it gets worse over time. Programming the VCR sucks ass, too. With a HTPC, I reasoned, all I'd have to do would be buy another HDD when I run outta space. (Worked for me so far.) Plus it'd give me a good excuse to fiddle with a pair of computer satellite cards.

blade52x said:
Is it your only desktop?
Not much of a gamer?
Have a console?
Sound card = better sound!?
Looks cool?
Click to expand...

No, everyone else in the house already has their own desktop (Some decidedly more elderly than others.) But it is the only one that runs 24/7.

It plays MAME, Tux Racer, and some other bubble game. KoF on a big screen is fun. I deliberately went with Linux and MythTV so other people couldn't install games, and quit out of the pvr program right before a scheduled recording.

Haven't noticed anything wrong with the onboard sound, beyond that if you go above 80% master volume, it goes to crap.

It looks like ass. I've posted a thread about it, and I have a case eyed up to replace it (a nice Silverstone one, full ATX), but I have other priorities right now like a car. Plus every other HTPC case I've seen doesnt have a fan over my hot running expansion cards like the one I've modded into my cheapie.
 
gregnash said:
Does it seriously draw that much power? I have the following parts laying around, think they would make a decent HTPC
Click to expand...

ehh not that much I think. Just giving you a heads up.

Anyway, your system should be a decent enough system. It's certainly better than mine!
 
Is it your only desktop?
No, I have 2 more computer and 1 notebook for each task.

Not much of a gamer?
I'm not a heavy gamer, just small games for my kids, and a few dvd games

Have a console?
I used to have ps2 and xbox, but I'm not a gamer, easily getting bored with consoles.

Sound card = better sound!?
Yes, the digital out connect to receiver to produce very good sound quality.

Looks cool?
Of course, my Silverstone LC20B-M always attract my friends coming to my house. And they interested in building one.

Regards,
LimLim
 
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