The New Home Theater PC - Part 1

[admin]

I think it's pretty safe to say that the traditional Home Theater PC is dead... at least it's dead insofar as it has completely failed to reach the mass market in an accessible and easy-to-use way. There are many reasons for this, but let's just touch upon a few before we present some of the solutions for those wishing to get Internet content on their televisions without having to incur a ton of hassle or purchase a brand new set with integrated network features.

Discuss "The New Home Theater PC – Part 1" here. Read the article.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I don't think HTPC of any kind (laptop, desktop, custom PC) is made for your average Joes.

For example, I have a new HP Pavilion laptop that comes with HDMI & Vista-64 bit Premium.

The HDMI audio works sometimes, but not at other times. So how will your average Joes handle this problem? They can't.

I simply changed to Vista 32-bit Ultimate Edition and have never ever had another issue with HDMI audio.

Another example. I installed Windows 7 Ultimate. I tried both 32-bit & 64-bit. I also tried Windows XP 32-bit. When playing back blu-ray movies directly from my internal HDD, every single movie crashes the system after about 15 mintues.

Of course, I simply went back to Vista 32 & 64-bit OS, and everything is back to perfect normal.

HTPC is ONLY for computer enthusiasts who has time to tweak.

Computers are just simply weird. They are a different animal altogether. It doesn't matter if the PC is a laptop or desktop. They are still computers.

 

[jinjuku]

The problems of HTPC's use is not technical. It's political.

It's cable card, it's AACS+, it's HDCP, it's CSS, It's the broadcast flag. It's NBC/FOX/ABC/CBS/Hulu (not providing at least an open API).

It's companies protecting markets with artificial barriers instead of providing programmatic ways to leverage content into the HTPC arena.

Companies don't have to provide a direct plug in for MCE, Sage, MythTV, etc, etc, etc. They need to provide an interface that the various vendors can plug into.

Netflix is a good start as an example of plug in for MCE. Others need to follow, Microsoft needs to get off it's butt and license for playback native Blu-Ray. The Blu-Ray body needs to get managed copy out there. Government needs to allow for DMCA exemptions for making a copy of DVD/Blu-Ray. Everyone does it with CD's, come on!

 

[swspiers]

My experience using a laptop into my system has actually been pretty good.

About a year ago, I started plugging our Dell Latitude 600 into a Sony LCD via VGA to watch TV shows from the Network websites. We don't have cable, and reception is bad on the side of the hill we live on. It worked very well; even with the audio out of the laptop, the sound was OK.

Later, I began streaming video from my main PC, using PowerDVD 5. Again, I was impressed by the look and sound. VGA on the Sony looked better than some DVD players I've owned.

Lately I've been obssessed with getting content, video and audio, to my main system. For whatever reason, I didn't seriously consider the laptop as a HTPC because of its age, processor, memory etc. I've done hours of research on media tanks, squeezebox and other boxes. Come to find out, the ol' laptop has more computing power than most of the devices I was looking at. Sure, I miss out on the nifty Squeezbox remote- but that's about it.

Now, I think I'll just get a Musical Fidelity V-DAC and run audio via USB, find a solution for HDMI or DVI to the TV, and consider it a done project. Very little tweaking, reasonable amount of money and minimal time involved. And if I have to, I can live with VGA until I invest in a new laptop.


HTPC- it's not just for tweakers any more. I'm looking forward to more ideas and advice in Part II.

-S

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

HTPC- it's not just for tweakers any more.

Oh, but it will be once you get involved with HDMI, 1080p HDTV, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1, TrueHD, and DTS-HD, and lots of other things.

 

[lsiberian]

It's also not for married Software Engineers.

I'd love to build a new HTPC, but my wife aint allowing that anytime soon.

 

[Nemo128]

It's NBC/FOX/ABC/CBS/Hulu (not providing at least an open API)

PlayOn provides us 360/PS3 users with a swift boot to shove up Hulu's @$$.

 

[swspiers]

Oh, but it will be once you get involved with HDMI, 1080p HDTV, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1, TrueHD, and DTS-HD, and lots of other things.

2-Channel, Accu. 2-Channel; simple, elegant and amazing.

Since I left the world of multi-channel behind, I've actually been able to relax and enjoy music.

-S

 

[autoboy]

The HTPC is dead.

There are a few things taking it's place.

1. For tweakers, the new thing is the media extender. Nobody wants to build a HTPC for each TV. It doesn't make sense. And the MCE extenders are pretty limited in format support. So, the industry is moving on. The popcorn hour is great if I just want to play downloaded content on your TV or ripped movies. But, the real star of the show is the SageTV HD200. As an extender it is great at playing downloaded content, even BD rips, but also adds the capability to connect to a central headless server (the best run windows home server), and you can even take a HD200 with you as a placeshifter, accessing all your content on your server from the road. On the server, you can have as many tuners as you want to record TV, and with the new Hauppauge HD-PVR you can record component HD signals up to 1080i from your cable box straight to h.264 in real time via a built in hardware encoder. No CPU heavy lifting required. String two or three of those tuners together on a WHS computer, buy a $180 extender at each TV (7W of power each) and you've got a powerhouse of a system. You can rip your disks to the server (DVD or BD), rip your music, record your TV, store your pictures, host your website, backup your computers in the house, and bring an extender with you on the road to access your content. It is actually a really really really powerful system but it does require a bit of tweaking. Nothing a person who is confident with computers can't handle, but the average joe isn't that confident. If you ever consider taking your computer to Geek Squad, this isn't for you. Still the only hassle is setting up the server to record your shows and store your content. The big hassle with HTPCs used to be getting your content to play, fiddling with audio and video codecs, getting the right video card, making sure your CPU could handle BDs. Now with extenders, it just works once you plug in and configure the resolution and audio output. It has made it MUCH easier.

With PlayOn you can get access to Hulu and some other stuff but that requires a bit of tweaking.

They are also launching a version of the server that runs a version of linux off of a USB stick for non tweakers. You buy or build a small computer with the types of HD tuners you want like the HD-PVR, stick this stick in, boot, and it configures the harddrives for recording and runs the server from the stick. Pretty cool actually. It can even do RAID on multiple harddrives for backup and pooling of multiple drives. As much storage as you want...

2. The other big news in HTPCs is Boxee. An offshoot of the venerable Xbox media center that used to be so popular on modded 1st gen Xboxs, this software is aimed at the social aspects of entertainment. It is a media player that can play your downloaded content or ripped disks, but it will also connect to online sources like Hulu. I'm not an expert in it but I've played with it a little bit installed on my AppleTV. Boxee will run on Linux, Mac, or a PC. It will also run on an AppleTV but the appleTV is too slow for much of the content Boxee can play. If you really want to hook your notebook to your PC, then installing Boxee to access your content is probably the way to go rather than Microsoft Media Center or Front Row.

3. Integration into TVs and BD players is also big. Panasonic has Viera link where you can access Netflix and Amazon video rentals as well as YouTUbe and some others, and the BD players are also supporting the same kind of networked content access, but no standard has yet emerged that will make it easy for each manufacturer to get content. It is done with one on one dealing with each hardware making and software maker. This is terribly inefficient and so I don't think it will last too long. We must find a few 3rd parties who write the software to integrate these services and then the TV makers just need to support that universal software. 2 or 3 different systems are fine and lead to competition and innovation, each TV and BD manufacturer on their own is not. Boxee wants their software to run on these systems so it may be coming, but I don't see it yet.

 

[ChunkyDark]

I'm getting a kick reading this on my htpc

I agree that htpc is probably more than 'joe six pack' wants to deal with. Personally as soon as slysoft releases their media player the last of my problems with htpc should be solved.

 

[jinjuku]

The HTPC is dead.

2. The other big news in HTPCs is Boxee. An offshoot of the venerable Xbox media center that used to be so popular on modded 1st gen Xboxs,

Hulu made Boxee pull support. Unless that has changed as of late. Hulu instead came out with their own 'Hulu Player'

Guys at Hulu: Produce an architecture that developers can integrate with!

 

[Audioholics]

PlayOn provides us 360/PS3 users with a swift boot to shove up Hulu's...

And there is a 'beta' Hulu plug-in for Windows Media Center

 

[bombarde32]

I don't think HTPC of any kind (laptop, desktop, custom PC) is made for your average Joes.

I simply changed to Vista 32-bit Ultimate Edition and have never ever had another issue with HDMI audio.

I've never understood the point of a HTPC for most folks. For Joe Sixpack the desktop is adequate for storing music and pictures.

That being said - tonight I'm opening up a Dell XPS Gen4 to see what it needs to get it up to snuff. It has the DVI connector and processor in place. Ethernet is there.

Drop in some extra RAM, a couple 2 terabyte hard drives (LOTS of pictures), and a blu-ray drive and we are good to go. Of course, I'll likely need to upgrade the O/S since I'm on XP Home and find a reliable DVI to HDMI cable as well.

This is a lot of work and more than most folks will want to do. I can see why it never made it to the mass markets.

 

[jinjuku]

I've never understood the point of a HTPC for most folks. For Joe Sixpack the desktop is adequate for storing music and pictures.

That being said - tonight I'm opening up a Dell XPS Gen4 to see what it needs to get it up to snuff. It has the DVI connector and processor in place. Ethernet is there.

Drop in some extra RAM, a couple 2 terabyte hard drives (LOTS of pictures), and a blu-ray drive and we are good to go. Of course, I'll likely need to upgrade the O/S since I'm on XP Home and find a reliable DVI to HDMI cable as well.

This is a lot of work and more than most folks will want to do. I can see why it never made it to the mass markets.

A 120" projected screen, thousands of CD's and DVD's available with a remote (no getting the media back out). Add the Netflix plug-in for a library of thousands of instantly streamed movies, add multiple OTA tuners and media xtenders to get it through out the house.

What isn't there to get?

 

[bombarde32]

A 120" projected screen, thousands of CD's and DVD's available with a remote (no getting the media back out). Add the Netflix plug-in for a library of thousands of instantly streamed movies, add multiple OTA tuners and media xtenders to get it through out the house.

What isn't there to get?

I understand the potential benefits just from ripping/storing your previously purchased content digitally in a central locations (let alone net-flix, internet connections to grab ABC shows, hulu, etc). Add photo storage to that list as well. This is why I'm building my own machine.

But I'm also saying I don't think the public in general wants to deal with another computer, plug in's, patch management (will this service pack break everything?), etc. I believe someone already made a comment about different Windows O/S's giving different results. If you talk to "Joe" about 32 bit vs 64 bit you know they won't understand.

I think most people are familiar with buynig a media device (DVD player, Netflix set top box, cable box) and plugging it in. And they'd rather do what they already understand than deal with another computer and associated headaches.

So in my mind the HTPC doesn't make sense for your average person because they will have neither the inclination, nor the knowledge, to deal with the hardware invovled. And in that case, the benefits are not there for Joe Six pack. He's better off with his seperate players and physical media imho.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I understand the potential benefits just from ripping/storing your previously purchased content digitally in a central locations (let alone net-flix, internet connections to grab ABC shows, hulu, etc). Add photo storage to that list as well. This is why I'm building my own machine.

But I'm also saying I don't think the public in general wants to deal with another computer, plug in's, patch management (will this service pack break everything?), etc. I believe someone already made a comment about different Windows O/S's giving different results. If you talk to "Joe" about 32 bit vs 64 bit you know they won't understand.

I think most people are familiar with buynig a media device (DVD player, Netflix set top box, cable box) and plugging it in. And they'd rather do what they already understand than deal with another computer and associated headaches.

So in my mind the HTPC doesn't make sense for your average person because they will have neither the inclination, nor the knowledge, to deal with the hardware invovled. And in that case, the benefits are not there for Joe Six pack. He's better off with his seperate players and physical media imho.

That was my point exactly.

HTPC of ANY KIND is not for the average person (mass market).

The average person is probably scared to death of computers in general.

The average person is probably scared of Home Theater also.

Then they add computers + Home Theater?

No way, no how.

HTPC of any kind is not for the mass market.

Come to think of it, the average person doesn't even know what HTPC means.
And blu-ray? What's that about?