Pros and Cons of HTPCs?

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fubak

Supreme [H]ardness
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I am just now starting to get interest in these systems and I would like a list of the Pros and Cons of getting an HTPC rather than just building a component system. What are the advantages of using a HTPC?
 
been a while since I have seen this thread topic. lets see...

Pro's -
consilidates multiple devices
higher Image quality
flexible user interface
easily backed up PVR files
convenience of movies on hard drive
cool to play with
impressive to friends/family
plays any format
web surfing
plays PC games
price

Cons -
setup can be overwhelming
price


Basically, the HTPC is only worth the money if you use it for several pruposes. If not, you can save money by getting high quality components, so don't do it for money. I first built mine because i didn't want to run all the cables up to my projector. now I love the flexibilty of the PVR apps and the convenience of not ahving to get off my butt to watch a movie.
 
I don't have one yet, but I imagine another con will be more maintenance
 
redd38 said:
I don't have one yet, but I imagine another con will be more maintenance
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depends. I have to occasionally reboot. maybe once a week. haven't changed hardware in a while.
 
gotta have a bad ass TV that accepts some high quality inputs to get any type of a decent signal
 
EchoMatrix said:
gotta have a bad ass TV that accepts some high quality inputs to get any type of a decent signal
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Not true at all. Often times S-video is just fine on smaller to medium sized TV's.

For example, my 24" I have in my living room looks pretty good with S-Video.
 
I agree. I run an HTPC on a 27" Sanyo TV that I got for $160. It looks fine. just as good as a straight cable signal or diretv signal. Now if you expect to enhance the image quality or read web text, you need an HDTV. but for TV watching and movie watching an SDTV is fine. most PVR apps use large fonts and images to make them usable on an SDTV.
 
sorry if this sounds daft, but what is a HTPC? never heard the term before
 
Generally speaking svideo out on a PC is indeed horrible at times, the cause of it comes from the resampling (is that the right word?) of a high PC resolution down to 480i. The resampling process isn't perfect and can easily introduce issues with the image quality, the way around this is to use a hardware based TV encoder like Sigma's Xcard. Personally I feel the quality of most modern video cards is acceptable but I have been thinking of atleast playing around with an Xcard, the problem with that is that software support for it is very low (although SageTV supports it IIRC).

Anyways...

Everyone has a different reason for building an HTPC mine was mostly one of curiousity. I use my mostly as a highend movie player using FFDShow to upconvert my DVDs and video files. If I where to buy a video upscaler prices would start somewhere in the thousands just to do the upscaling, the difference with my HTPC is that it does that and much more. Hell I could even wire a few X10 dimmer switches up and use my HTPC to control the lights.
 
Wally said:
sorry if this sounds daft, but what is a HTPC? never heard the term before
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Home Theater PC- A PC built for use as a "digital home entertainment center." This can include watching movies, listening to music, recording TV shows, playing PC games, etc.
 
I have relegated all Media Entertainment to a PC based system for a while now.

What I really love is putting all my DVD's in image form on a server in a bedroom or closet.
As long as you are networked via at least 100Base to the HTPC you can stream a DVD across your home network. And it only costs ~$2-3 to store a DVD on Disk without any re-authoring or recompressing. You never have sort through your stacks of DVDs or Binders again!!!! Only problem is I keep having to buy new Hard Drives...
 
J-Mag said:
I have relegated all Media Entertainment to a PC based system for a while now.

What I really love is putting all my DVD's in image form on a server in a bedroom or closet.
As long as you are networked via at least 100Base to the HTPC you can stream a DVD across your home network. And it only costs ~$2-3 to store a DVD on Disk without any re-authoring or recompressing. You never have sort through your stacks of DVDs or Binders again!!!! Only problem is I keep having to buy new Hard Drives...
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Since when is buying more gear a problem! :D
 
I compress mine to xvid using autogk. I can fit 3x more movies, and I batch them up overnight.

Also, I never use menus or extra features anyway. :) I keep the files at 1400MB in case I ever desire to burn them to CD's (which I never have... but I still make them 1400MB, but whatever).

Here's a con:
Those too stupid in your family to understand how to work a universal remote and a simple menu system on screen will always doom themselves to watching only what is running live on the broadcast system. Doh!
 
if you simplify it enough, it's not too bad. no worse that managing multiple inputs for mulitple sources. I was able to type a single page set of directions and my mother in law was able to work the system while we were out of town. also my babysitter picked it up with no problems. and neither of them are very tech savvy. same with the wife. trick is oicking the right software.
 
IDversusEGO said:
depends. I have to occasionally reboot. maybe once a week. haven't changed hardware in a while.
Click to expand...

Well rebooting once a year is still more maintenance than not having an HTPC, I've never had to reboot my DVD player.

Rebooting once a week seems pretty frequent too.... if i reboot my desktop machine once a month then it's a been a bad month.
 
Con:
Playing with video modes for hours trying to make it look right on our HDTV only to find out later that full screen video sucks/doesn't work/or too choppy on a fast computer. Get mad at the drivers then quit the project for another month. *Affects only HDTV HTPC users.
 
redd38 said:
Well rebooting once a year is still more maintenance than not having an HTPC, I've never had to reboot my DVD player.

Rebooting once a week seems pretty frequent too.... if i reboot my desktop machine once a month then it's a been a bad month.
Click to expand...

have you ever turned your DVD player off? Rebooting once a week is no more mainteneace than turning off the components or switching sources. it's one button press. I don't even consider it real maintanence.

I am running a whole network of HTPC's. server and 3 clients, co my "maintanence" should be more than most. It isn't even that I need to reboot, it's more that my wife or whoever calls me and says "I did something and it doesn't work now". I just have them reboot because it is easier than trying to figure out what happened. plus you have to seperate an HTPC from any other type of PC. it is entirely different. my HTPC's are always doing soemthing, even if it's just running commercial skip processes. that combined with Sage being an entirely Java based app, you get occasional hiccups that are easiest to solve with a reboot.
 
CrimandEvil said:
Home Theater PC- A PC built for use as a "digital home entertainment center." This can include watching movies, listening to music, recording TV shows, playing PC games, etc.
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but i don't understand why we need to distinguish, in my experience most regular pcs can do this anyway?
 
Con

Restrictive case increases temperature and leads to premature failure of lesser quality components, case in point, capacitors.

MD
 
Wally said:
but i don't understand why we need to distinguish, in my experience most regular pcs can do this anyway?
Click to expand...

because the normal PC is not integrated into your living room. that is the big difference.

MD_Willington said:
Con

Restrictive case increases temperature and leads to premature failure of lesser quality components, case in point, capacitors.

MD
Click to expand...

that can be a con, unless you spend $$ on a good case. then your choices are limted, but my case temps are the same as my workstation.
 
kleptophobiac said:
I
Here's a con:
Those too stupid in your family to understand how to work a universal remote and a simple menu system on screen will always doom themselves to watching only what is running live on the broadcast system. Doh!
Click to expand...

I find that anyone even slightly tech-savy (or under the age of 35) can pick up SageTV which is what I use, and figure it out very easily. Trial and error for about 5 seconds can teach you all the basics.

My father however, despite the fact that he's been using a VCR since their existance... picks up my PVR remote and cant figure out what you press to fast forward commercials (Do I press this up arrow button?)
lol
 
IDversusEGO said:
that can be a con, unless you spend $$ on a good case. then your choices are limted, but my case temps are the same as my workstation.
Click to expand...

My case is custom wood, but slow fans on PSU and CPU, no fan on videocard, nowehre for air to escape besides through the PSU, and its like 44C under load on stock HSF. Then again its only a Sempron 2200+ though.
 
I use mythtv, but the menu systems are similar enough.

when my buds come over, they have no issues just figuring things out. At worst I tell them once. Older people (mainly parents and other visitors) just don't get it.
 
I gave my dad a 5 minute lesson on SageTV and he was fine. I think the current HTPC front end offerings are pretty good in that respect.
 
^^^ That worked with my mom, my dad on the other hand is a lost cause (he had to keep a post-it note on his dresser for 6months, so he coudl remember how to program the vcr to record his shows each week)

oh well, he's good at everything non-techy
 
In my opinion the threshold had been crossed a couple of years ago

If you aren't using an htpc then you're missing out on some major aspects of home entertainment. Of course some people could give a crap, but we aren't most people ;)

One day i decided to combine a secondary rig with my leadtek TV card and boom, i had the beginning of my first htpc. A file server was always there to feed it, it was a natural fit :)
 
one more pro I forgot. recorded shows are available for viewing on any PC on the network, not just the one you set the recording on. I always hated having to watch the shows on the TV that had the TiVo hooked up.
 
IDversusEGO said:
one more pro I forgot. recorded shows are available for viewing on any PC on the network, not just the one you set the recording on. I always hated having to watch the shows on the TV that had the TiVo hooked up.
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I agree. When I got my first ReplayTV over 3 years ago it was pretty slick, except for the fact that I had to watch my shows only on that TV. Now, with my SageTV network I can watch anytime, anywhere. Well almost, I'm not done building the client boxes. :p
 
My favorite part is SageTV recording downstairs, and then watching the program through my xbox in my bedroom.
 
n64man120 said:
My favorite part is SageTV recording downstairs, and then watching the program through my xbox in my bedroom.
Click to expand...


What are you using on your Xbox to do that? XBMC and just playing the MPEG2 file?
 
My Biggest Con:

The software sucks badly. Integrating a thousand and one half-assed programs that sometimes do and sometimes don't work correctly and have minimal documentation causes much frustration and wasted time.

My Biggest Pros:

Flexibility
Price
Performance

You can build a HTPC that rivals high-end processors and audio equipment for a fraction of the price. But sometimes the quirks and software limitations are painfully annoying. For example, trying to get things like bass management and digital room correction. If nobody puts it in the hardware drivers and nobody writes working software, you're just out of luck.
 
I find that the biggest drawback to my HTPC, other than the nightmare of initially setting it up is that I have to live with people who simply won't try to learn how to make it work.

They look at it, see that it isn't a normal TV, and ask me to shut it off and make the regular TV come back.

The other major drawback is that none of the software that's currently available for this purpose is all that good, or the drivers for the hardware you're using are kind of shady, and it ends up with some stupid quirk. Like, my HTPC for some reason requires you to restart mythbackend when you boot it up. The vidcap cards simply refuse to work right until mythbackend is restarted.
 
valve1138 said:
What are you using on your Xbox to do that? XBMC and just playing the MPEG2 file?
Click to expand...

Exactly correct. Power on Xbox, to go Videos, go to the HTPC Share, and all the mpeg's are sorted by date.
 
RazorWind said:
I find that the biggest drawback to my HTPC, other than the nightmare of initially setting it up is that I have to live with people who simply won't try to learn how to make it work.

They look at it, see that it isn't a normal TV, and ask me to shut it off and make the regular TV come back.
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Bingo

Some call it the "wifey acceptance factor" and many a poor fella has to deal with it ;)

I find the brute force method works well, where you overwhelm wifey with your pet projects, then reality begins to dawn on her :D
 
n64man120 said:
Exactly correct. Power on Xbox, to go Videos, go to the HTPC Share, and all the mpeg's are sorted by date.
Click to expand...


Cool, I'll have to give that a try.
 
SJetski71 said:
Bingo

Some call it the "wifey acceptance factor" and many a poor fella has to deal with it ;)

I find the brute force method works well, where you overwhelm wifey with your pet projects, then reality begins to dawn on her :D
Click to expand...

That means you have to deliver content available via only the htpc. I have the same problem, but by putting my dvd library in mythvideo, the acceptance factor rose dramatically.
 
I got lucky. I thought the wife was going to axe he idea, but she is in lvoe with it now. I don't really get the complaints about horrible software. Sage is way better than the software on most PVR boxes from comapnies like replayTV, comcast, etc. I used the PVR box from comcast for a couple of months and hated it.
 
SJetski71 said:
Bingo

Some call it the "wifey acceptance factor" and many a poor fella has to deal with it ;)

I find the brute force method works well, where you overwhelm wifey with your pet projects, then reality begins to dawn on her :D
Click to expand...
Yeah, but what happens when it's either your dad, who just doesn't care, and your sister, who's able to bitch louder than you are?

Thankfully, I only have to deal with this one month out of the year, when I'm home from school. My non-techie female roommate was able to figure out how to operate my HTPC, even if she didn't use it much. (I can't imagine why this would be any different from my hypothetical wife)

Edit: LOL@ my title.
 
RazorWind said:
Yeah, but what happens when it's either your dad, who just doesn't care, and your sister, who's able to bitch louder than you are?

Thankfully, I only have to deal with this one month out of the year, when I'm home from school. My non-techie female roommate was able to figure out how to operate my HTPC, even if she didn't use it much. (I can't imagine why this would be any different from my hypothetical wife)

Edit: LOL@ my title.
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LoL @ most of the above, too bad you can't sell your family though :p

That non-techie, htpc-loving, highly adaptable, female-roomate of yours sounds too good to be true. She can't be gorgeous right? :D
 
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