why htpc?

Lots of threads on this subject. Do a search.

I am not going to get in this argument again so I will abstain.

Yes, a HTPC, is at it's heart a computer that can connect to a television. You can hook up any old PC, or purposely build one that looks like an audio component. You can make it as simple or as complicated as you want. Depending on what you want to do, you can customize your build to include the components you want, so you can do things beyond just playing a media file.



If you are comfortable in building PCs, then building one is a hobby that most of us here enjoy. Even if you get a pre-packaged computer, be prepared to tinker with the software to get it to do what you want.

Both will work. In general, if you build it, better quality components, more task specific, lower cost, desired form factor and appearance.

For me, HTPC evolved.

I started with a laptop hooked up to my receiver to listen to music. I got tired of unhook/rehooking so I started looking at a dedicated PC. I shopped and shopped for something that would look nice next to my receiver, something that fit in, knowing the wife would never go for a tower sitting on the floor in the living room. In my searching I found HTPC cases and folks building their own. I got to also know about the video capabilities which, being tired of cleaning little fingerprints off DVDs, I also became interested in. Once tired of shopping for an off-the-shelf PC that would fit in my cabinet, I looked into building my own and eventually did. Now it's a hobby and I've built many many HTPCs and PCs for myself, family, friends and now, customers!

So, be careful -- it can become addicting

And, if I didn't answer, "why not just a tower?" -- well, a big box sitting on the floor -- it ruins the decor .

Yeah...beats the ugly big beige box we were used to back in the early PC days

EDIT: To add to his comment, I decided to get into HTPC building because I have always dreamed of the idea of housing all of my media collection in one system. Though I have always taken good care of my DVD's and Bluray discs (as I have no family nor kids) I sometimes got tired of having to swap discs each time, especially for multidisc collections like SW and LOTR.

I have always built my own PC's, even before getting into HTPC. I don't like nor will ever buy a brand name system mostly due to the fact of proprietary hardware and junkware they always include in their systems, plus the fact that there's little to no upgrade path. Plus, with so many options for building your system including the style and look, building an HTPC has endless opportunities.

Renethx's guides first got me into learning about HTPC building then later Assassin's guides was icing on the cake once I saw all the awesome images and pics of those who have built their systems so that's what got me going. As a bonus, I also read, learned and built my own unRAID server to house all of my media, video and audio. You can call it a unique PC niche.

So far I built 2 HTPC's and use my laptop part time for HTPC use. Yeah...I think I am getting addicted too!

Think of something you are good at, know a lot about, enjoy as a hobby, or do for a living.

Do the prices/qualities of these goods/services range from the very cheap to the incredibly extreme?

Why pay $1,000,000 for a picaso when I can get a picture that's already framed at Target? They both just take up white space on a wall.

Why pay $100,000 for a European sports car when I can get a used Geo Metro for a fraction of the price? The both just take you to the grocery store and back.

Why pay $10,000 for an aquarium when a WalMart fish tank includes everything for $59.99? They both just let me stare at my goldfish.

Why pay $1,000 for an HTPC when I can buy a Dell Inspiron (with HDMI!) for $300? They both just play videos on my TV.

Just the simple act of hooking up that theoretical Dell PC to your TV for multimedia/entertainment purposes effectively transforms it into an "HTPC".

Sure we can split hairs and argue minutia like case style, hardware and software but my point still stands, in a general sense at the very least.

Perhaps you should have worded the topic as "why build your own HTPC ?", now that's a question many here would have been happy to answer

Sure if you don't care what it looks like, how big it is, how noisy it is, and if you're able to add to it the components you want and need, then it can work.

I think most people here concluded they didn't want a big, ugly noisey tower in their AV equipment shelf.

I doubt you'll save money or much if any time doing it that way, so I'm not sure of the advantage.

Kinda reminds me of the Apple jacks commercial when a group of folks was asking why the kids like eating Apple Jacks so much.

Their answer: "I don't know, we just do!"

Firstly, you get a fully functioning computer with your htpc, that is always nice.

And then there are things like nvidia's hardware deinterlacing, or madvr, which are nice htpc exclusives.

That being said, I've recently looked at a boxee box, and it seems pretty nice for the price.

ofc, let me be clear that i would much rather have my htpc over it.

When I first started tinkering with HTPC years ago I ended up with 2 dell's and 2 pc's that I built myself. Does a Dell get the job done? Sure, but when you look at it you will just see a Dell. There's no pride or sense of accomplishment, it's just a piece of hardware.

A HTPC you build yourself is your creation. It will have exactly what you want in it, with top quality parts, not just the cheapest crap Dell can have some 2$/day slave throw together half assed. Once you start building you own you can never go back.

I liken the HTPC crowd to people who like to tinker with cars. Lots of us like to tweak the performance of their machines to make it do more with less. Others like to just throw massive hardware at it to make it do everything. Then there are some, just like you who don't really care and as long as it plays video files, they are happy.

You really don't even have to buy new. If you have an older computer laying around, you might be able to get a cheap video card with an HDMI port to connect to your HDTV and the video card will handle all the grunt work.

It's quite easy to setup a HTPC and then just enjoy it. You don't have to tinker with it at all. In fact if you just want to watch movies, it doesn't get any easier than to throw Windows 7 on it and run Media Center. Or if you want to do Linux then there are other front end alternatives for Linux.



VLC player? Really? Ok. It will do the job, but there are plenty of more "couch-friendly" players/front-ends out there.

Killdanzig:

You have answered your own question. If you don't like to tinker stay away from a HTPC.

Then you should skip any HTPC. The actual building of the PC is the quick and easy part. Making it work the way you want is the part that takes the most time.

I could build it an install Windows with VLC player in a couple hours. However, that interface will suck and I'll come back and install a better frontend (such as Media Browser) and make sure my codecs support all my filetypes. Then I'll try something new, tinkering. Then I'll try to have my HTPC do something else which will take up more time. In the end the building of the box will be such a small percent of the time that it will be negligible.

Bryansj is absolutely right. It takes a Saturday afternoon at most for even a novice to sit down and assemble an htpc and load Windows. At that point you are in essentially the same place as if you bought a standard tower (actually you're better off because you have the right components for what you need, don't have to add any more hardware, and don't have a bunch of bloatware to deal with). At that point, either way, you have to start loading, setting up, and integrating software. That's where the effort comes in, and the amount of that effort is largely independant from whether you bought or built (if anything it's less for the "built" because you know what hardware you have, and if you did any homework, it will actually do what you need it to do.) There's no hardware "tinkering" necessary, unless you choose to do so. I haven't opened the box on my htpc since the moment I first put the cover back on after getting it assembled. Software "tinkering" will be just as necessary with that Dell or HP as with the system you built yourself.

I'm not sure how "not playing blu rays" [I assume you're referring to disks] even enters into it. That's one of the easier things to take care of. It's the recording, ripping, organizing and playing video files that takes the effort to do well.

So if you're going to have one, why not at least put it together in a case that doesn't look totally out of place and doesn't make a lot of noise every time you turn it on?

An HTPC is simply any computer used for home theater purposes. I dont know why you would have to "tinker" with an HTPC, its no different than using your computer normally, instead of hooking it up to a monitor you are hooking it up to a TV and sending sound to a receiver instead of a pair of PC speakers. Both solutions require the same amount of brainless effort.

If you want your computer to blend in with your other HT components then you will need to get an HTPC case, but thats entirely optional and in no way affects the functionality of an HTPC.

Since all you want to do is run VLC on your TV there is no need to go installing codecs or a bunch of extra software, VLC works fine as it is. To get surround sound you just need to hook up your computer to your receiver using optical or digital coax and set VLC to bitstream audio. Not all Dell's are going to support digital audio though so you will be forced to buy the higher end models or get a separate sound card (if you build your own PC virtually all motherboards at any price point support it).

There are so many things I disagree with in this post that quite frankly its exhausting even thinking about replying.

So I just won't.

Just get a Boxee Box.

Building an HTPC is the last thing someone with your interests should do.

Theyre commonly known as the 'naysayers'. Those kinds of people you simply ignore.

I wasn't referring to your question. I was referring to the post I quoted.

A garden variety pc with an i3 and Win 7 is a very competent HTPC... I agree with the point that is the connecting the audio and video connectors (HDMI) to the display and AVR that make it an HTPC., one should probably include the remote. A 20 dollar WMC Remote and IRUSB of Fleabay makes it more so.

Making it do anything though requires content and this is where it enters the realm of activities.

I have more HTPCs than I can shake a stick at. Some in nice case with carefully chosen components. The one getting the most use at the moment is a Garden Variety MicroCenter i3 minitower, with a Ceton card, some HD Homerun software on there, a BD player... and an HP Media Center Extender Remote to control it.

The BD Player is not really to watch movies, I just used it to launch the AVS HD 709 media so I could calibrate is as a source. The HP Media Center Extender Remote gives me control of Win 7, my TV and my AVR in the familiar Windows Media Center Remote format with the Green Button.

I have the very nice custom HTPC sitting right next to the storebought unit. The custom HTPC has the intel board, i3 with SSD, Nvidia GT450, BD Player , Jriver Media Center, remote etc. It is not currently getting much use. It is the intended ultimate center of an idealized setup and the amount of effort to get to the end state with it is a lot of effort that in some ways has diminishing returns. I will finish it but there are always distractions. It is the true HTPC or is the easy, sqeezy generic PC, the real HTPC... I know which one is closest to an appliance.

Now would I use the generic PC if I insisted every box on my wishlist was checked off, not really. But as much of an advocate for madVR as I am.. I discovered the color gamut and grayscale of i3 iGPU require less work to properly calibrate to my display than the Custom box with the Nvidia.

Heck I have an i3 Dell notebook sitting on the floor in front of my rack that would pretty much work as well. The Ceton could sit in any PC in the house, the HD Homeruns are just devices on the network. So an HTPC is just a competent Win 7 PC with an HDMI port and and a remote that runs Media Center. Wow I think I have defined HTPC.

The generic box is just less fuss. I will get back around to the Custom PC after awhile, J River is now developing version 17 of their Media Center and it is and will be a huge move forward. I will do an Nvidia specific TV calibration for it and then I will focus my attention on JR and madVR and the custom box will be back center when I get the gumption.

I think for some kind of collective ego boost this forum has elevated what is really just a client PC into something special, even magical to our membership.. one can invest huge amounts of time into this hobby but the truth is.. no matter how much time and energy one puts into this in the end you just have a client pc, maybe one that can play music, movies, broadcast and cable tv with a remote, but ulitmatelyit is just a client pc. Maybe back in the past it was kind of a big accomplishinment to get a PC to do those things and we need to feel like we were high priest or gurus and THE HOME THEATER PC was a sacred thing... really guys it is just a PC



My Plain Jane store bough HTPC is working very well and requires no attention. Realistically because my TV set, Front mains, and subwoofers are all huge and black, an all black minitower just visually disappears anyway.

I don't know what it is on this foruum where functionality doesn't define what something is. Form is an esthetic choice but it is hardly part of the definition, function defines HTPC.


We are not a car forum where you need a subforum for Minivans and Roadsters. Here is is mostly about getting from here to there.