This could be the HTPC killer... maybe...

[itschris]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/20100406/tc_ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc1480

I've always thought that the ultimate marriage between A/V and PC would be just some simple slick touchscreen interface. HTPC's are great, but you pretty much have to have your TV on. If I'm going to have a marathon listening session, it'd be much better to just have a monitor to look at and better yet, a touchscreen, and better yet still, a touch screen that works like an iphone.

This things seems very promising. HDMI out, 1080p output, usb, it's looking good. I'm not sure about storage or how that would work, but you could easilly have a meda server in another room somewhere I guess. This mght be the ticket at some point. I'm anxious to see where this goes in the next several months.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I dunno, without nvidia gpu, atom cpu isn't strong enough to do 1080p (Yes,Even pine trail can't - only 720p).
They could have used a cheaper Broadcom decoder chip, but I doubt windows 7 aero or Flash could use it....
Best Atom based HTPC are already here, it's called ION platform and you can get pretty slick one, with hdmi/1080p etc for $300.
Run your favorite flavor of OS and XBMC/Boxee/or any other branch and you are all set with your HTPC needs

 

[itschris]

Yeah, I don't think this one is ready, but it's a positive step in the right direction which give me a lot to hopefully look foreward to. They claim 1080p playback. I'm anxious to see that output over HDMI to see how well it really does.

 

[lsiberian]

HP has been putting out some very good laptops lately so I'm not surprised. I like my HP laptop a lot and it cost about as much as the iPad.

 

[rumble]

I dunno, without nvidia gpu, atom cpu isn't strong enough to do 1080p (Yes,Even pine trail can't - only 720p).
They could have used a cheaper Broadcom decoder chip, but I doubt windows 7 aero or Flash could use it....
Best Atom based HTPC are already here, it's called ION platform and you can get pretty slick one, with hdmi/1080p etc for $300.
Run your favorite flavor of OS and XBMC/Boxee/or any other branch and you are all set with your HTPC needs

I just built a one, an Acer Revo 1600 running xbmc under ubuntu. Paid 200 for the acer plus about 20 dollars for the usb infra red receiver. Performance is better than I expected, atom/ion combination is killer.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I just built a one, an Acer Revo 1600 running xbmc under ubuntu. Paid 200 for the acer plus about 20 dollars for the usb infra red receiver. Performance is better than I expected, atom/ion combination is killer.

I built my htpc using Zotac Ion mini-itx board with Atom 330 Dual core processor, unlike Acer Revo 2100 which has the Atom 230 - single core,
I O/ced it to 2.0Gh from stock 1.6ghz
Windows 7 runs beautifully and fast and HDMI 1080p output is not an issue, however Ion board doesn't support HD audio, DD/DTS or upto 7.1 lcpm

 

[dkane360]

Apparently theres a rumor going around that the slate has been cancelled, and people seem to be pretty sure that the rumor has some credibility. But now that HP bought Palm, a tablet comp with webOS would be amazing!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100430/sc_livescience/anothertabletfallshpslatecanceled

 

[dalessandro12]

Apparently theres a rumor going around that the slate has been cancelled, and people seem to be pretty sure that the rumor has some credibility. But now that HP bought Palm, a tablet comp with webOS would be amazing!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100430/sc_livescience/anothertabletfallshpslatecanceled

That's what we need! I love webOS!

 

[Ulvinn]

I don't know if I would use it as a replacement for my HTPC setup, I don't see any other options than to use something like m2tech's hi face if you want a good digital sound output on them - and the m2tech would probalby not even work with it seeing that their drivers currently only supports a small number of USB chipsets. But, it could have made one hell of a remote control.

 

[itschris]

I don't know if I would use it as a replacement for my HTPC setup, I don't see any other options than to use something like m2tech's hi face if you want a good digital sound output on them - and the m2tech would probalby not even work with it seeing that their drivers currently only supports a small number of USB chipsets. But, it could have made one hell of a remote control.

At some point, you gotta think that something like the IPad or other similar device will have RF or other remote capabilities. It would be great to use something like that as the front end for a solid HTPC in your cabinet.

 

[Ulvinn]

At some point, you gotta think that something like the IPad or other similar device will have RF or other remote capabilities. It would be great to use something like that as the front end for a solid HTPC in your cabinet.

I just can't see what all the fuss was about on the iPad, appart from the fact that it could make for an awesome HTPC frontend had it not been Apple restricted, but with the reception it got it'll probably only be a matter of time before similar products will spawn left and right. Definently something to keep an eye out for. I don't know enough about the iPad to answer this myself, but one possibility could be to run remote desktop with windows, the iPhone can't do it, so the iPad is probably just as troublesome. Even if it is possible, it's still not optimal.

I've been working on a DIY thing with similar sized touch screen. The idea was to make use of a Logitech bluetooth stick with a reworked version of their software. I got it running, but the problem of getting it working as a second screen is still unsolved. You can send some screen information from Logitech's program, but it wasn't buid for that. I've left my work in progres status on a danish computer forum, hopefully one of the nerds there might be able to make it work.

 

[RaT]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/20100406/tc_ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc1480

I've always thought that the ultimate marriage between A/V and PC would be just some simple slick touchscreen interface. HTPC's are great, but you pretty much have to have your TV on. If I'm going to have a marathon listening session, it'd be much better to just have a monitor to look at and better yet, a touchscreen, and better yet still, a touch screen that works like an iphone.

This things seems very promising. HDMI out, 1080p output, usb, it's looking good. I'm not sure about storage or how that would work, but you could easilly have a meda server in another room somewhere I guess. This mght be the ticket at some point. I'm anxious to see where this goes in the next several months.

The Slate may well be exactly what I want, I'm still trying to figure this stuff out. I don't want movies BD or DVD on my hard drive, just music and pictures. Perhaps after reading from all the various posts here and figuring out FLAC's from MP3's to bitstream's versus analog type stuff, the Slate may be available. I like that it has USB, simm ability and is less costly then the iPad.

What does HTPC stand for?

 

[itschris]

The Slate may well be exactly what I want, I'm still trying to figure this stuff out. I don't want movies BD or DVD on my hard drive, just music and pictures. Perhaps after reading from all the various posts here and figuring out FLAC's from MP3's to bitstream's versus analog type stuff, the Slate may be available. I like that it has USB, simm ability and is less costly then the iPad.

What does HTPC stand for?

HTPC = fancy for Home Theater Personal Computer

To me, there are two critical pieces to HTPC's... the machine itself in that it has the horsepower through video, processing, and storage to push your data out to the tv or sound system quicly and with quality.

The second piece is the how you go about doing that... the interface. To me using an IPad like device would be the ultimate. It's big enough so you can actually see what you're doing and easy enough to use... hell... even it was a device running Windows Media Center that would be just fine for me.

There's just no connecting those to things though. I don't know how to have one computer tell the other computer to do something like that... meaning I don't know how to have the touchscreen tablet thing, i.e., Ipad or other Ipad like thing... tell the HTPC to run.

I know you can access a computer, like you would a media server, but it's tranfering the data through the computer your on.

 

[RaT]

HTPC = fancy for Home Theater Personal Computer

To me, there are two critical pieces to HTPC's... the machine itself in that it has the horsepower through video, processing, and storage to push your data out to the tv or sound system quicly and with quality.

The second piece is the how you go about doing that... the interface. To me using an IPad like device would be the ultimate. It's big enough so you can actually see what you're doing and easy enough to use... hell... even it was a device running Windows Media Center that would be just fine for me.

There's just no connecting those to things though. I don't know how to have one computer tell the other computer to do something like that... meaning I don't know how to have the touchscreen tablet thing, i.e., Ipad or other Ipad like thing... tell the HTPC to run.

I know you can access a computer, like you would a media server, but it's tranfering the data through the computer your on.

You and I could not be more on the same page. I was thinking I might be the only one thinking like this. I keep seeing things like WD live TV or Apple TV but I want the touch screen interface for me and also for those like my wife who will also utilize the convenience it offers. GLad you brought up the post.

 

[krzywica]

HTPC = fancy for Home Theater Personal Computer

To me, there are two critical pieces to HTPC's... the machine itself in that it has the horsepower through video, processing, and storage to push your data out to the tv or sound system quicly and with quality.

The second piece is the how you go about doing that... the interface. To me using an IPad like device would be the ultimate. It's big enough so you can actually see what you're doing and easy enough to use... hell... even it was a device running Windows Media Center that would be just fine for me.

There's just no connecting those to things though. I don't know how to have one computer tell the other computer to do something like that... meaning I don't know how to have the touchscreen tablet thing, i.e., Ipad or other Ipad like thing... tell the HTPC to run.

I know you can access a computer, like you would a media server, but it's tranfering the data through the computer your on.

I can do this with an app on my droid with the Boxee front end on a PC. All that is required is that you are running boxee, and your phone is connected to WIFI on the same network that the PC is on.

 

[RaT]

I can do this with an app on my droid with the Boxee front end on a PC. All that is required is that you are running boxee, and your phone is connected to WIFI on the same network that the PC is on.

I just can't easily see the screen or get my fingers to hit the small icons very well. Now if they made the screen bigger and larger icons...... that would be

 

[itschris]

I just can't easily see the screen or get my fingers to hit the small icons very well. Now if they made the screen bigger and larger icons...... that would be

Exactly. If the girls are gone for a few hours and I can sit have a solid listening session, I'm breaking out the tequila or the wine, plopping myself on the couch and having at the music. I don't want to squint or futz around. An Ipad or equivalent or just a wireless touch screen monitor you can hold would be the ticket.

 

[krzywica]

I just can't easily see the screen or get my fingers to hit the small icons very well. Now if they made the screen bigger and larger icons...... that would be

Exactly. If the girls are gone for a few hours and I can sit have a solid listening session, I'm breaking out the tequila or the wine, plopping myself on the couch and having at the music. I don't want to squint or futz around. An Ipad or equivalent or just a wireless touch screen monitor you can hold would be the ticket.

I keep forgetting how old you guys are....break out the trifocals.