People Just Don't Understand HTPC - Page 2

I've seen it. Good analogy.

And this is a Clarkdale i3 (i5 too). The only SB i5 is my wife's machine. I've thought about doing a swap while she's at work but my i5 works just fine too for muxing and such so I won't bother for a slight performance increase.

I think your having a rough day. I apologize.

I never said "closed minded"

Your imagining that.

I also never called you anything.

What I said was "It's just narrow minded to assume that a HTPC won't see at least some small level of general PC type use"

I never said you were narrow minded.

I said "it's" meaning anyone that feels that.

If you fall into that category then I stand by my words.

Please don't take this so personally. It's just an opinion.

My opinion is any HTPC worth anything should be able to handle basic PC duties when called upon.

And- I believe most HTPC's or PC's that are used for Home Theater will at some point in their life see normal everyday PC related Tasks- and should be able to handle them.

I think your picking a fight- or carrying on additional battles from above or other threads- or reaching or a disagreement.

It's ok- Everyone has a bad day.

But what I said was not that inaccurate or even controversial.
And by no means did I ever mean to insult anyone personally.

Don't listen to Mfusick... He's lying!

Also this is the 4th time your bringing up overclocking.

I never said a word about that in months. Not here or other threads.

And the last time we talked about that I agreed 100% that for a HTPC overclocking is silly, not needed, and not worth it.

It's rightful place and application rests only in the higher end gaming and enthusiast segments- and even then it's value has deteriorated from past times.

I think your arguing with a ghost on most of this.

I am very sorry you took offense to my post. That was certainly not my intention. I wish I could in good faith prove that to you somehow. please forgive me.

I do feel a typical HTPC will see basic PC related tasks at some point more often than it would never see them - but I don't think that is what your upset about. I am confused.

I agree with all of this.

Not sure where the argument is. You chose it.

I was just pointing out that a HTPC should include PC capabilities- and that performance at such should be a consideration or requirement.

More than that- I was trying to make the point (and perhaps the only real thing we might disagree on) that most HTPC's do see PC tasks. It's more common than not.

The rest I am confused about what we are arguing about.

You either agree with my comments or disagree.

Sounds like you agree but were just offended because my words were poorly constructed and your sensitive to this.

To be honest I did not even read this whole thread.

I just saw your comment I quote and wanted to chime in I feel you often say that. Specifically:
"But this is a htpc forum (and not a pc forum) so if you are using it as a pc you just need to qualify that point when discussing your build, question, etc."

I did not realize your argument was about overclocking. I don't even care.

My point was your wrong about that quote. You should not specify anything because this is a HTPC forum and not a PC forum.

I feel you say this often and I don't agree with it. I think any reasonable and basic PC consideration should be automatically included unless otherwise excluded when talking about HTPC's.

You should not have to specify if you are "using it as a pc" and "qualify that point when discussing your build" It should be assumed and automatic.

I don't mean we assume people are gaming, encoding, or planning to overclock. Not at all.

I mean we should assume all HTPC's are going to be used as a PC.

Nothing more.

I should have read the entire thread before chiming in- I think you think I am saying more than I am based on previous posters context.

ok- we have made progress.



My mistake was poor choice of words- and chiming in without reading the whole thread.

I now see how my reply seemed- piggy backing on the previous posts I did not read- you took an argument with me I never intended to have.

I do feel you often say "specify your will be using as a PC" and it just gets under my skin a little because it should be automatically assumed.

Normal PC stuff anyways. (not enthusiast stuff)

My offense with your comment was also in regards to previous stuff and not that related to this thread. I don't disagree with anything you have said in this thread other than the quoted statement originally about that.

See my PM please.

Group Hug!

Mfusick.....
Assassin......

This is better:

"You're killin' me, Smalls"

Then count me along with assassin for being narrow minded. I have three HTPCs in my house that are used solely for the purpose of watching TV and movies, period. I don't use them for checking e-mails, surfing the web, ripping discs, or anything else PC related except to use Windows Media Center and XBMC. I have a main PC that is used for everyday chores. The wife also has a PC of her own and we both have laptops. I have two additional functional netbooks and a couple more laptops that I'm in the process of repairing.

I have a separate PC that I use almost entirely for editing videos and ripping movies on disc. I have a Hackintosh that pretty much sits there that was built as a fun project but generally gets zero use. I've got an old Pentium II PC that I used to use strictly for working on Tivo drives, but it's pretty much in retirement these days, as are all of my Tivos. I've also got an unRAID server with about 21TB of storage that should see an increase in capacity in the very near future. I'm currently in the process of upgrading my primary PC with a new motherboard and CPU, but it's still in the stage of having all of the software loaded before it can be placed into service.

Finally, I have a new micro ATX motherboard and SandyBridge CPU that I bought as another project, but haven't found the time to put it together and play with it. I've got several other older PCs that have been retired but haven't been gutted for any usable parts yet. I could probably build at least 2 or 3 additional working PCs with all of the spare parts I have on hand.

In a nutshell, a PC can most definitely be used for a specific purpose and not for general use.

I'm getting ready to build an ITX Pentium who's sole purpuse will be to be bolted to the back of a 15" TV in the kitchen for streaming and tuning Live TV.

What parts are you using ?

Heh... I got fussed-at by several people on this board, including Assassin for suggesting the same thing a few months ago in our iGPU vs dGPU picture quality thread.

I argued that people use their HTPCs for more than just watching video, but Assassin likes to frame his arguments in very specific ways like "there is no difference in 1080p playback". It's a disingenuous argument when it's pretty obvious that people play more than just 1080p video.

There's the grumpy Assassin I have come to love!

AVS drama = Entertainment.

Please do continue.

lol.

You two provide me with plenty of entertainment...

I'm sometimes confounded by the ignorance on the EGT blog comments, especially around media playback products and your options. One post in 2010 was all about are Windows Media Center's days numbered. With the wealth of options an HTPC offers, I can't see the current stock of smart tv's and stb media streamers/blu ray players that fit my needs.

Seems to me your options are maybe one Smart TV and a few STB's. You'll be leasing a box from Dish, DirecTV, Comcast, Verzion, AT&T, etc.

For gaming you'll need a Wii with emulators, a older PS3 that will play PS1 and PS2 games. The current slim PS3's will play PS1 games still (audio section is the old PS1 hardware) and a Xbox 360. At least that would cut down on how many consoles you have connected and HDMI ports being used.

For everything else, is a complete toss up. I have no use for Angry Birds so no need for the top of the line Roku box. Samsung Smart TV's have a browser but I wonder what's blocked on it, especially since it has apps like Hulu Plus.

Amazon and ESPN3 are on the Xbox 360, along with HD Netflix. PS3 has Amazon and Netflix. Rumor has it ESPN3/Watch ESPN is coming.

That's just many connections and a whole bunch of wall warts....

With the external drives (2) + pc + LCD + bridge + PS2 + DTV Box, I have enough plugs and wires running everywhere.

With the HTPC, I have eliminated STB DVR's, AVR's and with the server I hope to eliminate the external drives soon.

+1

I'm constantly surprised how much I can load up the i3-2100 on my HTPC and it just keeps chugging along asking "please sir can I have some more?"

I'm sure if I threw a decent discrete GPU in it I'd have a reasonable gaming experience.

I take it that no one here praising the i3's and Celerons use something like SVP or AVISynth?

I'm pretty sure Ben wrote that article. Well I can remember two that he wrote - one about consumers moving away from HTPC use, and one on his personal blog about how he intends to quit using WMC as new products from Tivo come out.

The htpc article was about how the eventual future is going to be towards streaming Ultraviolet and the like. A consumer stb is easier to use and will make more sense than interfacing something with a cable card.

His blog post about WMC was that although he likes it now, development on it is essentially dead. Tivo on the other hand is [slowly] continuing to develop things like ipad control and ipad viewing. That was written prior to the Ceton Q/Echo/Companion app announcement, but it is a fair point.

Keep in mind too that his writing on Engadget tends to focus on DVRs. His writings regarding htpc are mostly about it's use as a DVR, not about watching ripped movies.

It seems an understanding has been reached in which, HTPCs should handle everyday tasks and that a SB Pentium chip would handle those tasks without overclocking. Now that my curiosity is peaked, has anyone found common tasks that give a stock G6x0 heartburn?

Is this correct?

Can Do:
-1080p local/network
-live tv, recording
-chrome/firefox
-outlook/thunderbird
-itunes or other cd backups
-makemkv or other dvd/bd backups
-metadata scrapping cd/dvd/bd
-fancy photo viewers
-Adobe or other photo editing *
-nfs sharing while recording/watching etc.
-handbrake or other video encoding
-emulators and mmorpgs

Can't do
-OTF transcoding
-video editing
-current fps games online
-OTF 3D rendering (CAD, v8i, bentley)

Feel free to correct and offer experiences. That's all I could think of for PC tasks

What's wrong with overclocking? If you keep speedstep on, your idle temps will be just the same with it overclocked or not, and when it wants the extra power, it can have it. That's doubly true if you undervolt it as well.