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I'm ready to join the HTPC (home theater pc) revolution - what to get?
mouser:
There is an interesting evolution of emotions that one feels when you use something like XBMC with a zillion plugins to access different online media -- one can actually have the same evolution of emotions when using some radio-apps for mobile phones.
Stage 1 is you install some addons that have thousands and thousands of different radio stations (or tv shows or streams), and you feel an overwhelming sense of excitement and wonder at all your choices.
Stage 2 is you start looking for something that interests you and you realize how incredibly hard it is to find what you want amongst so much chaff, and it begins to dawn on you that maybe rather than 100,000 stations it would be nice to have a top 1000 that would help you find some good stuff. And yet you still have hope that you are going to find some good stuff.
Stage 3 is the frustration that makes you want to smash something into your tv that comes when you realize that no one is making any effort to cull out the non-working links and streams, and that almost everything you try to watch/listen to either fails after timing out, or hangs the software completely.
That's the point when you would give your right arm for an app with 10 working links to some mediocre media streams.
superboyac:
wraith, i'm having a hard time with your terminology. what is your difference between a desktop box and a settop box? i consider anything that runs normal windows or a user-installable OS a "full desktop". are you referring to just the form factor?
-superboyac (September 20, 2013, 10:48 PM)
--- End quote ---
What I'm using is the WD TV Live Hub (WD Link). There are several out there like it... before this, I used the Asus OPlay.
They're closer to cable boxes than any computer... thus set top box.
-wraith808 (September 20, 2013, 11:13 PM)
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I see. Yes, then I suppose these are the middle ground devices between a full desktop and those cheapo android media players. You're right, this is probably the best all around value for an htpc solution. easy, plug and play, plays anything, cheap but well made, no headache, no configuring.
superboyac:
mouser, since you are trying alternatives, give this one a short one:
get light alloy:
http://www.light-alloy.ru/download/
The reason why...if you want a file browser built for tv legibility, it has one built in. So if you open the file browser from the right-click menu, you will see it. It's a special browser built for large screen navigation. That's all, just check it out. I used this back when i had a tube tv and i couldn't read dopus clearly.
superboyac:
There is an interesting evolution of emotions that one feels when you use something like XBMC with a zillion plugins to access different online media -- one can actually have the same evolution of emotions when using some radio-apps for mobile phones.
Stage 1 is you install some addons that have thousands and thousands of different radio stations (or tv shows or streams), and you feel an overwhelming sense of excitement and wonder at all your choices.
Stage 2 is you start looking for something that interests you and you realize how incredibly hard it is to find what you want amongst so much chaff, and it begins to dawn on you that maybe rather than 100,000 stations it would be nice to have a top 1000 that would help you find some good stuff. And yet you still have hope that you are going to find some good stuff.
Stage 3 is the frustration that makes you want to smash something into your tv that comes when you realize that no one is making any effort to cull out the non-working links and streams, and that almost everything you try to watch/listen to either fails after timing out, or hangs the software completely.
That's the point when you would give your right arm for an app with 10 working links to some mediocre media streams.
-mouser (September 20, 2013, 11:25 PM)
--- End quote ---
lol...mouser. I wish this thread existing 2 years ago when i first started looking at these things. This is so refreshing (sorry!). It's weird because the xbmc forums, as good as they are, will never be this brutally honest, obviously. I'm reading all this and it's so exactly my same experiences.
A couple of months ago when I got my new desktop, that's when I first had the idea to use the old one for an htpc. But of course, my first reaction was, it's soooo overkill and ridiculous, surely i can think of something better. but I had already gone through all this xbmc stuff quite seriously.
but let me tell you, if i had a family, i would never get away with this. the setup is pretty damn ugly, very bachelor, techy geek looking.
superboyac:
one more post, here is a picture of my setup. very crazy. you can see the tube tv in the back, which was just replaced this year. That huge tower is the beast, previous to that was the 2002 xp computer, also just replaced this year.
and on the screen is the light alloy file browser i was talking about.
I'm ready to join the HTPC (home theater pc) revolution - what to get?
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