Has the HTPC time passed

L

lone wolf

Gawd
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Feb 4, 2003
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With all of the streaming media boxes (apple TV, roku, etc) and services like iTunes, amazon prime, has the use for a HTPC come and gone?

I know that there will be some that disagree, just to put it out there, I still own one, I have over 1500 movies on it, my music and pictures, but I find that it is easier to just login to amazon prime and watch a tv series or movie that I want. Most of the movies I want to watch now ie, Godzilla, I can rent from iTunes or amazon, and do not have to worry about ripping it, I can watch it on my ipad, or laptop or anywhere I choose.

how many out there really still rip their movies, or in fact actually buy movies anymore?
 
Possibly. Roku and Netflix user here and have all I need. I rent my movies off Amazon and use Netflix for free stuff so I'm good. But then I don't watch that much TV so maybe if I watched more I'd want a HTPC but I kinda doubt it.
 
For me, the HTPC has always been more than a media consumption box, it's been a lightweight living room gaming system as well.
 
It depends on what you're looking for. If the purpose to consume media through hulu or netflix then yes.

I use an HTPC because I save money not using the receivers from the cable company. I actually I rip blu rays and watch them. I also use my HTPC to play games as well. So an HTPC is the only way to get all that in one box.
 
as I mentioned, I have my movie collection on mine, as well as music and pictures, but it is getting a little overkill, as I find myself only watching movies on prime and Netflix, I do get the occasional movie shipped from Netflix but it is getting fewer and far between,

I have found that I am going more to ipads, and laptops for surfing the internet and pretty much everything else
 
Is there a streaming media box that will run MPC-HC and madVR? If no, then...well, no, at least for me.
 
At some point, it's probably more economical to just put movies on a small NAS and stream them to your TV on local network using something like Plex (works with phone, iPad, connects to Chromecast, etc.), although, I know a lot of people don't like Plex.
 
kirbyrj said:
At some point, it's probably more economical to just put movies on a small NAS and stream them to your TV on local network using something like Plex (works with phone, iPad, connects to Chromecast, etc.), although, I know a lot of people don't like Plex.
Click to expand...

That's actually what I'm in the process of doing -- going from a NUC system + external in the living room to a compact NAS in the office pushing via plex. Just one more step in removing extraneous noise (totally the external's fault as the nuc is passive) from the home theater.
 
I'm still using SageTV since nothing else is like it, and my HTPC which years ago used to be my frontend is now just a server in the basement. I use their HD300 extenders for the TV's.

Best DVR product made. 'Shame they were bought by Google.
 
I have an HTPC with 9 prime tuners and 6 extenders (4 ceton echos and 2 xbox360) throughout my house. Although the HTPC/Extender setup was awesome for a whole home dvr solution I wasn't really happy with the personal media playback on the extenders. I decided to try Plex about 6 months ago since I saw that they made a native Samsung app. Playback on the Samsung TVs doesn't require transcoding and the app works well. Way better than my extender experience with Media Browser. Then Tivo decided to stop (at least temporarily) raping with their Tivo Mini lifetime fees so I decided to pick a few up to play with since I already had a Tivo Premiere 4 with lifetime service that I used as a backup in case the HTPC decided to not play nicely (will say that in the 3 years since I built the machine I never had an issue). 4 of my 6 TVs are Samsung Smart TVs so they already can use Plex and there is word that eventually Tivo might actually create client apps for Xbox One, Amazon FireTV, and Smart TVs (link) so these Samsung TVs might be able to become clients themselves. I am at the point where I might decide to order a Tivo Roamio and 2 more Tivo minis since the setup works so well. I haven't seen how well the Plex app works with a full home theatre systems since my Samsung TVs either use built in speakers or a soundbar but if it works well with passthrough I might end up saying goodbye to my HTPC by the end of the year.
 
This thread really got me thinking about how I use my HTPC. The only things I really use it for is NAS, DVR, Netflix and keeping movies. I have music on it, but we hardly ever listen to it. If I wanted to I could go back to a cable company DVR(gain on demand), a dedicated NAS and a Roku(gain easy way to use HBO GO), I would miss nothing. Except the noise and heat maybe the ability to run a VM.

It's a pretty cool time right now as far as media consumption is concerned. IIt's amazing how a few disparate devices integrate together so well to create a user friendly experience where a PC was once a necessity.
 
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Valnar said:
I'm still using SageTV since nothing else is like it, and my HTPC which years ago used to be my frontend is now just a server in the basement. I use their HD300 extenders for the TV's.

Best DVR product made. 'Shame they were bought by Google.
Click to expand...

Another SageTV user here ;) Just can't bring myself to give it up. The big thing for my household is that we still watch a lot of TV (kids channels, Syfy, primetime channels, etc.) and being able to start/stop/restart the shows in multiple rooms is the main thing that keeps us using it. We have a SageTV HD200 or HD300 in the living room, master bed, gameroom, and one kids room. Plus I have a HD300 I take on business trips, a client license installed on my office system as well as my daughter's computer, and a placeshifter license on my laptop. Yeah... I heavily invested in the SageTV realm over the years :p

However, if it wasn't for TV... we could probably move over to Roku's and Plex. I've been toying with it (as well as an AppleTV, a Chromecast, and a Raspberry Pi running XBMC) and looking at the various Redbox/Hulu+/Amazon options to see if we could get away with "cutting the cord". They problem for us is digging through what all is covered by which streaming service, and which aren't carried at all (Big Bang Theory for example). Then it feels like it becomes a "cat and mouse" game of trying to figure out where your shows are, what services you need to subscribe to, and what devices you can watch on. The last one is a big issue for us also because unless we are on a trip or away from home, our media consumption is always on a large TV... not some small tablet/phone/etc. Watching anything on my laptop or iPad for more than 30 minutes (Daily show for example) drives me nuts....
 
Can SageTV access the tuners provided by a Ceton card or play copy protected content that was recorded on the host?
 
The Lurker said:
Can SageTV access the tuners provided by a Ceton card or play copy protected content that was recorded on the host?
Click to expand...

Only thing I know that does copy protected content is Windows Media Center. If you have a HDHomerun Prime you can view the protected channel live through DLNA.
 
For people who just watch online services? Sure it's dead. A Roku or a Chromecast takes care of almost everything a normal person would watch. If you like to experiment with things like 10-bit encoding, HVEC, or MadVR a PC is the only way to fly.

DVR wise, I think the one thing that will kill it is if Comcast successfully kills off Cable Card. That's more likely than people like to admit.
 
The Lurker said:
Can SageTV access the tuners provided by a Ceton card or play copy protected content that was recorded on the host?
Click to expand...

Protected programs and channels... no it can't. Luckily I have Comcast and they don't flag most channels except for the premium ones (HBO, Showtime, etc.). They did disable QAM over the summer, which makes my regular HDHomerun Prime (without a cable card) useless now, but I still have one with a cable card to provide 3 channels of recording.

As mentioned, if Comcast kills of cable cards, that will be the last nail and I'll probably switch to Plex+streaming for everything....
 
For the casual home user, yes, or more accurately they never had a HTPC in the first place. A Roku is perfectly capable.

For me, I expect to have an HTPC for the forseeable future. 8TB of space for storing uncompressed blurays so I don't have put up with crappy streaming quality and can have a collection of the movies I want without being locked into multiple subscriptions. An i7-3770k for fast conversion to lower bitrates when I want a file to travel where I can't get wifi. And I don't want to be dependent on a 3rd party for support of whatever the latest service/technology is. A full HTPC is the most flexible and reasonably futureproof.
 
Emulators and Console ports are great fun to play on my HTPC with an XBOX 360 controller.
 
I do not have any playstations or xbox's. I just started streaming to my tablets and laptops, I'm not a gamer or anything like that.
 
Ripping is only part of an HTPC, actually I hardly use mine for that. An HTPC is a consolidated entertainment device. Now days we only turn on our TV for 2 things. HTPC and cable, nothing else. You can do everything on the HTPC, game, listen to music, surf the web whatever. And all of this beats the heck out of a pile of devices which all have limitations and try to force you into someone's ecosystem and or pretty much suck for navigation etc....

Almost anyone I see who doesn't have an HTPC has a pile of devices that is ridiculous scattered around their entertainment system.

Also the only reason I get cable is because its only $5 more, when they jack up the price I cut the cord again. then they come back later and offer me a deal. Its a nice dance I do with Comcast that they never learn on.

Here is the trick you have to have a smidgen of dignity in order to do this. If you sell out in a split second to some exclusive content then you are going to be screwed into a pile of devices 4 feet high. Entertainment now days is so low quality I don't know why so many people sell out so easily but they do. Sometimes we have to wait for something to hit Netflix or amazon prime, sometimes we don't get to play certain console exclusive games. But even with that their is still more than enough content and top quality entertainment to last us 10 lifetimes.
 
Valnar said:
I'm still using SageTV since nothing else is like it, and my HTPC which years ago used to be my frontend is now just a server in the basement. I use their HD300 extenders for the TV's.

Best DVR product made. 'Shame they were bought by Google.
Click to expand...

I dumped Sage years ago. The WAF was low.

Sold most of my license keys for a pretty penny on Ebay :)
 
rudy said:
Ripping is only part of an HTPC, actually I hardly use mine for that. An HTPC is a consolidated entertainment device. Now days we only turn on our TV for 2 things. HTPC and cable, nothing else. You can do everything on the HTPC, game, listen to music, surf the web whatever. And all of this beats the heck out of a pile of devices which all have limitations and try to force you into someone's ecosystem and or pretty much suck for navigation etc....

Almost anyone I see who doesn't have an HTPC has a pile of devices that is ridiculous scattered around their entertainment system.

Also the only reason I get cable is because its only $5 more, when they jack up the price I cut the cord again. then they come back later and offer me a deal. Its a nice dance I do with Comcast that they never learn on.

Here is the trick you have to have a smidgen of dignity in order to do this. If you sell out in a split second to some exclusive content then you are going to be screwed into a pile of devices 4 feet high. Entertainment now days is so low quality I don't know why so many people sell out so easily but they do. Sometimes we have to wait for something to hit Netflix or amazon prime, sometimes we don't get to play certain console exclusive games. But even with that their is still more than enough content and top quality entertainment to last us 10 lifetimes.
Click to expand...

Once a person has a server setup for local media, its $50-$100 to equip each TV in the house for local media and streaming. How much is the cost to setup a second TV under your scheme?
 
valve1138 said:
I dumped Sage years ago. The WAF was low.

Sold most of my license keys for a pretty penny on Ebay :)
Click to expand...

My wife loved it. Commercial skip, integrated EPG, access to local movies I ripped, etc. About the only thing we had to deal with is using a separate input for watching TV vs watching something recorded on an extender. I agree that timeskipping live with Sage isn't as fluid as a TiVO or cable-owned DVR, so we simply don't do that.
 
I would say I just sold my HTPC, and pretty beefy i7 4770k, 16gb Ram, AMD Radeon 290 ssd and mechanical drive. I used to play games on it like bf4 and steam stuff. Pretty much just went to watching movies --> setting up a plex server and streaming to a roku 3 via plex. So I no longer look at the web from tv or game as I had all the emulators setup and we played them a bit but for me the HTPC is pretty much dead :( . Moved basic emulator junk to a hacked wii and have that and a roku sitting in the living room.
 
With Smart TVs getting much more affordable, and the TVs becoming much "smarter" (better on-screen keyboards, installing apps that are actually useful, etc), the TV is starting to become it's own all-in-one device, instead of the component to an A/V system like it was for so long.

Something I'd consider if I was designing these devices is the option to load an image via an SD card. This would allow one to add their own apps, provided a standard for apps came about. I'd love an android powered Smart TV for example, and it'd likely be powerful enough to do everything short of 3D gaming, which a gaming specific PC or console could be used for. Even that may be implemented some day, market allowing of course.

I just recently got a smart TV and it's replaced my A-10 based HTPC for all my online streaming needs (Hulu, Neflix and Youtube are all handled natively on the TV). I already use a tablet for web surfing at home, so pretty much I just use my PC to game and for network storage now.

I built my first "entertainment" PC back in 1999, when I stuck a TV tuner card into my gaming PC so I could watch and record shows without a separate television. It's interesting to see how media has gotten so internet based that the PC is now being removed from the equation.
 
MadVR renderer.

Jinc etc. make a huge difference in scaling non-native content. To get that equivalent in dedicated hardware... well, I'm not sure you can or you're going to pay a lot for a high end video processor.

None of the streaming devices do a particularly good job with scaling, and I don't watch 1080p content solely.
 
mustang_steve said:
With Smart TVs getting much more affordable, and the TVs becoming much "smarter" (better on-screen keyboards, installing apps that are actually useful, etc), the TV is starting to become it's own all-in-one device, instead of the component to an A/V system like it was for so long.
Click to expand...
That can be a bill of goods. What happens when those services fail out and are replaced by new ones. Your stuck with a half-smart TV. Or the TV screen is damaged and that premium that was paid for the 'smart' part get thrown in the trash with the screen.

Its neater and if you're made of money where you'll replace a 40"+ screen if the netflix app won't update to the latest. But otherwise seems like a waste and inflexible.

I've had my current main TV screen for 4 years and probably at least 4 more before its demoted to another room until end of life. By the end of that life cycle, probably any 'smarts' will be obsolete.
 
I keep thinking this is the case, but until these little boxes can play any format you throw at it and not hold on to MP4 then no.

Go look at the PsuedoTV Live add-on for XBMC. It basically takes your content and creates channels. You then you integrate Live TV (OTA or HDHomerun Prime) in that and make a premium cable experience for much less money.
 
My HTPC has always been strictly a playback machine. My main rig stores all the media and the HTPC just plays it back on my plasma.
I was using a PC as playback machine before they started calling them "HTPC"'s when I had my projector setup a long time ago.

unreal.jpg
 
HTPC to me:

- video playback with unbeatable PQ and customization
- music playback + visualization
- gaming (ancient games, new games, emulated...)
- general PC use
- DVR

Smart TVs, streaming services, Chromecast/Roku etc. are laughable in comparison, so no, HTPCs are far from over for me.
 
Meeho said:
HTPC to me:

- video playback with unbeatable PQ and customization
- music playback + visualization
- gaming (ancient games, new games, emulated...)
- general PC use
- DVR

Smart TVs, streaming services, Chromecast/Roku etc. are laughable in comparison, so no, HTPCs are far from over for me.
Click to expand...

This! Right Here! Im currently Rebuilding Mine! Theres no replacement, those cheap junk boxes are a joke in comparison to a well designed HTPC!
 
All depends on what you use it for. Chromecast does everything I need it to do.
 
jpm100 said:
That can be a bill of goods. What happens when those services fail out and are replaced by new ones. Your stuck with a half-smart TV. Or the TV screen is damaged and that premium that was paid for the 'smart' part get thrown in the trash with the screen.

Its neater and if you're made of money where you'll replace a 40"+ screen if the netflix app won't update to the latest. But otherwise seems like a waste and inflexible.

I've had my current main TV screen for 4 years and probably at least 4 more before its demoted to another room until end of life. By the end of that life cycle, probably any 'smarts' will be obsolete.
Click to expand...

That's why I'd like to see a standardized app format and an SD card slot to add apps. That would help with future proofing the apps side.

If the screen is damaged, then just replace it and not fret about the potential change in apps....then again, if my first statement happened (the standard and card slot), it would also be a fairly moot point.
 
Valnar said:
My wife loved it. Commercial skip, integrated EPG, access to local movies I ripped, etc. About the only thing we had to deal with is using a separate input for watching TV vs watching something recorded on an extender. I agree that timeskipping live with Sage isn't as fluid as a TiVO or cable-owned DVR, so we simply don't do that.
Click to expand...


I missed out on any HD300's and having full blown sage PC's everywhere didn't work space wise. Plus all that Phoenix add on extension stuff always ate itself every few weeks. I was over it.

Switched to DirecTV DVR's first as we were already subscribers, with an XBMC box for everything else. Then when cable was finally available, we went with an MCE/Mediabrowser setup with MCE Buddy for commercial skip.

Already had two Xbox 360's to use as extenders. We love the setup.
 
I am ripping movies now as I type, so I guess I will be using mine for a while longer. I am just starting to have a heck of a time with the HTPC. having to add more storage for movies, music, the case that I have now not fitting that many hard drives and having a big tower sitting in my living room. Now I have my ceton tuner in the computer, while that is a plus I can record my shows, I am finding myself not watching that many tv shows. I have the entire new season of Sons of Anachry and have not watched an episode yet.

I have had to re-rip some of my shows because my handbrake decided to rip the movies in some sort of zoom mode, so I found about 10 of my movies are like this. Its just becoming a never ending battle, the battle between what I need and what I can pay for. This is why I am wondering about this, if you even still need something like this.

How much is too much? I am down to 2 TV's in my house, with 3 laptops, 1 HTPC, which also doubles as a media server, picture server, and sometimes internet computer, 2 Ipads, 1 Samsung tablet, 3 apple TV's. good lord, how much I have spent just to watch a couple of channels.

And the sad part is that I don't think I will stop, I need to add more hard drives...
 
HTPC's only advantage, to me, was the ability to stream flash content from the internet. If the content no longer requires flash...
 
Not dead, depends on how you use it. Mine has multiple uses that couldn't be replaced without using multiple devices, though I have considered getting the amazon fire TV.

  1. Pretty much all services work easily on the PC. I have a compact wireless keyboard/trackpad combo as well as a remote control. With the PC I can play any NFL streams I don't have access to over my cable, can play all amazon prime content, etc. It's an all in one
  2. PC has MadVR support and things in DVD format (even 720p) just look better. The lower the resolution the better it is in comparison generally
  3. The problem with streaming services is that they (or atleast amazon prime) don't have good surround sound support. I have a 5 speaker (no sub, in apartment) setup and playing rips is much preferable to streaming on that TV. I've read that it supposedly works sometimes on the amazon fire tv.
  4. Until I cut the cord (which I may in this upcoming year), using an HDhomerun prime and a WMCserver server is much more economical than paying Comcast $19 a month per HD-DVR box. It works great too. You can use cheap hardware (or stuff laying around) and XBMC + the mediabrowser 3 plugin for movies and the serverWMC plugin for live TV.

Lots of posts mentioning PLEX which works well, but I switched to MediaBrowser3 which is free and much prefer it. It's come a long way very fast.
 
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I reinstalled windows 7 64 bit last night on my HTPC. Put on MadVR in MPC-HC, and it looks amazing! I forgot how good MadVR was! Definitely HTPC with MadVR if you want the best visual quality!
 
Got rid of my HTPC running Media Center and cable card tuners two years ago. Got rid of another running XBMC over a year ago.

An Apple TV and WDTV player work just fine for me now and just work, nothing to setup and configure and tweak.
 
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