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I'm ready to join the HTPC (home theater pc) revolution - what to get?
mouser:
I do have some followup thoughts, but they're not very useful in terms of specific hardware.
I have an htpc computer that I bought used on ebay. It's basically a full pc, running windiows 7, in a case that looks and is sized like an audio component (though it is deeper than most). I don't even remember the brand except to say that they are now out of business. It has hdmi out and digital audio out -- but basically it's a standard pc just the form factor is different.
I run windows 7 with XBMC (now upgraded to latest Kodi edition).
What I can tell you is that I am really happy with it as a component of my media system. It is a very cool thing, and for someone like me with a ton of music, it's a pretty cool way to browse and play music.
It is also fun for playing things like youtube videos and other downloaded videos. And being a full windows machine it's convenient that I can run any program on it, whether it's burning or ripping cds, monitoring temperatures, or playing web streams of any kind with the browser.
It sleeps and wakes up perfectly with push of a button, which is really convenient, and a wireless mouse+keyboard combo makes typing full text pretty painless (much better than trying to do that with onscreen keyboard).
Having said that, here are a couple of other observations: I intended to use the htpc to play dvds/blurays but gave up and bought a standalone blu-ray player. The htpc/xbmc will play dvds but it's a bit slow and clunky and awkward, and blurays wont play without buying some software. in the end a standalone bluray player was just more convenient.
As for sound from the fans -- mine is ok but it's definitely something i would pay attention to when shopping for a device -- to make sure reviews said it was quiet -- as that could be an annoying thing to discover if you bought a no-name brand that no one has reviewed yet.
Anyway, those are my thoughts -- sorry I can't advise on hardware specifics. I can only say that an htpc is a pretty cool thing to have.
Here's my htpc:
I'm ready to join the HTPC (home theater pc) revolution - what to get?
mouser:
A couple more observations:
Modern media devices now are all coming with overlapping services. My tv has a netflix/hulu/amazonprime app, so does my htpc, so does my bluray player for that matter.
My stereo receiver and tv can play music and video files from usb sticks and from network connected devices.
So a standalone htpc is looking a little less essential these days..
If you have a modern hd tv and you use the tv as your speakers, then you may be able to play any audio and video files directly from the tv and a usb stick.
So a big question I think when deciding on something for a relative is, are they a very serious music/media person who is going to want to be able to browse and spend real time navigating through their media collection on a dedicated device (like me), or are they just going to want to watch netflix and an occasional video and audio file. If the latter, then your best bet might be to simply make sure they have a nice big modern hd tv (the samsungs has nice good fast apps for netflix, etc.), and a big usb stick, and they can let the TV be their htpc.
wraith808:
Looks like silverstone. For a build, I can definitely recommend them. But from a perspective of HTPC as standalone devices, yeah... they're going out in favor of devices that have that sort of functionality built into the firmware. So I've moved to having a WD TV. Haven't regretted giving up the HTPC.
superboyac:
I just went back and checked out dirhaels post, that is a very slick build.
The request right now is just to play back video. I checked the wd live box, and it can play all video including mkv. Nice. Perhaps I should avoid the whole building thing.
mouser, that is good advice I think at this point. And tbh, i don't really want to build a pc again.
I hate hearing about the death of the htpc, lol. I'll never give it up. I'll keep trying to make it smaller, and quieter, and more powerful, so that will never end.
wraith, can you give me an idea of the streaming power of the WD TV? Does it have a hard time with anything, large mkv, bluray files? How is seeking back and forth, pleasant?
wraith808:
I just went back and checked out dirhaels post, that is a very slick build.
The request right now is just to play back video. I checked the wd live box, and it can play all video including mkv. Nice. Perhaps I should avoid the whole building thing.
mouser, that is good advice I think at this point. And tbh, i don't really want to build a pc again.
I hate hearing about the death of the htpc, lol. I'll never give it up. I'll keep trying to make it smaller, and quieter, and more powerful, so that will never end.
wraith, can you give me an idea of the streaming power of the WD TV? Does it have a hard time with anything, large mkv, bluray files? How is seeking back and forth, pleasant?
-superboyac (July 23, 2015, 12:59 PM)
--- End quote ---
Right now, I have the 1TB version in all locations but one. I have my less used stuff on my NAS (and all the music) and my more commonly used stuff on my the Box. Now, they're all over the house, so I get different response- it's based on reception.
I don't rip blu-ray, only DVDs as I'm trying to maximize space.
Within those constraints, the only time I've seen it have a hard time is if my other devices are having a hard time in the same location getting to the router. It does take a bit to buffer if I'm on the NAS, but inherently it's fine and browsing is fine... so much so that the rest of the family who wouldn't touch the HTPC (too much work for watching a movie) are using it all the time and asking me to rip more DVDs.
I use MakeMKV for the rips, and it works fine.
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