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redd38 said:I don't have one yet, but I imagine another con will be more maintenance
EchoMatrix said:gotta have a bad ass TV that accepts some high quality inputs to get any type of a decent signal
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.Wally said:sorry if this sounds daft, but what is a HTPC? never heard the term before
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...
IDversusEGO said:depends. I have to occasionally reboot. maybe once a week. haven't changed hardware in a while.
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.
valve1138 said:Since when is buying more gear a problem!
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.
Wally said:but i don't understand why we need to distinguish, in my experience most regular pcs can do this anyway?
MD_Willington said:Con
Restrictive case increases temperature and leads to premature failure of lesser quality components, case in point, capacitors.
MD
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!
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.
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.
n64man120 said:My favorite part is SageTV recording downstairs, and then watching the program through my xbox in my bedroom.
valve1138 said:What are you using on your Xbox to do that? XBMC and just playing the MPEG2 file?
BingoRazorWind 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.
n64man120 said:Exactly correct. Power on Xbox, to go Videos, go to the HTPC Share, and all the mpeg's are sorted by date.
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
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?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
LoL @ most of the above, too bad you can't sell your family thoughRazorWind 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.