So I just built my in-laws a HTPC... - Page 2

Assassin, Just curious how it is going? Are they using it? Any support issues or requests? In general, I know you have built a lot more HTPC than I have, how are you supporting them all in the field at this point?

My own HTPC, since the first of the year, I have had to:
1)Reset the power plan, we had the electricity go out, the PC boots and then stays on clearing the sleep and hibernate all on its own, so they have to be reset.

2)Replaced the ODD. It would freeze while playing movies, very frustrating, seems my 2year old Samsung SH-S223 developed thermal issues, new Liteon solved that.

3)Pop-ups prompting windows update and Adobe Flash update.

My father laptop recently crashed.

It was an HP i3 with a 250GB HDD.

I replaced the HDD with a 120GB SSD I had, clean installed windows then set it back up how he had it.

He's been amazed at how wonderful it is. He thinks I am a god. (Thanks SSD)

And the one thing I noticed is he does not complain at all.

Before he used to click things more than once- and have it lock up all the time- then just hold down the power to reset it-

Now- It's a non issue because it works so well he can boot and reboot properly and keep it running nice.

6 months and no issues. I see him all the time. Love it.

He it a total PC noob. Still uses internet explorer.

There is hope for everyone.

moral of the story- A nice PC set up properly makes a difference.

A couple of years ago I showed my mum how to use facebook. She's in the UK, I'm in Canada, but she was visiting. Once she returned, she started tagging pictures of my friends on Fb, with the names of her relatives in India.
I called her to ask her why. This is what she said:

Mum: But the computer told me to do that!
Me: Huh???????????
Mum: Everytime I look at a new picture on your Facebook, it says right under it "Tag this picture".
Me: *Facepalm*

I just did the same for my parents. Bare bones and minimal internet!!!! That is what got my dad in trouble with their last computer.. updates, viruses..etc. Totally screwd it up. Boots directly into MB and I load movies onto a external drive for them.

Building HTPCs for the technically challenged is definitely dangerous territory. Instead of a full blown HTPC, I bought my rents a computer to use as a Windows 7 'server'. The server is headless, and I installed Windows Live Mesh on it so I can access the full desktop from anywhere in the world. I got them a SiliconDust Prime and then 360s to use as extenders. This saves them a bunch of money on their cable bill and offers them a much better DVR interface than that cable set top box. It's also much easier to add storage to the DVR of course.

The next step is movies and music, which is going to be much trickier. They have a huge closet of DVDs (and a few blu-rays) that they want to clean out. The problem is I don't think I can trust my dad to use makemkv because of occasional issues with multiple angles, subtitles, and multiple tracks that I have to resolve either by trial and error or by searching the internet. That pretty much leaves straight ISO rips. Mymovies for WHS is awesome in this respect, but that means they would need an additional computer to run WHS and devices to playback the ISOs. The Xbox 360s wont' cut the mustard. I'm thinking about Dunes, but they're kind of ridiculous because the hardware is two years old, the software is rudimentary, and they've actually gotten MORE expensive since they were released. Sigh, this should not be this difficult.