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Reason for HTPC

C

Candell

n00b
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
Messages
39
I've been wondering to myself what's the advantage of a HTPC when watching high definition movies? I'll admit that I don't know much about the innards of Blu-ray disc players or high def players. But, I'm puzzled as to why people prefer using HTPC to BD players when watching high def movies or when it comes to multimedia entertainment I suppose.

Is it because what the HTPC has to offer (all-roundedness I presume, I think I'm wrong here though) which makes it a cheaper option than buying a BD player/ CD player/ DVD player at exorbitant prices yet it offers similar picture/ sound quality?

I'm also not too sure what else a HTPC can offer other than watching high def movies/ tv/ playing music. I hope someone here can let me in on the "secret" as to why it's so appealing that would entice someone to venture into the realms of HTPC.
 
Uh, I'd highly suggest buying a Blu Ray player into building an HTPC with a Blu Ray drive. The software support is still kind of immature and we need to wait for AMD to either release the lowend 5000 series video cards or to release a new IGP that supports the features that the 5000 does for Blu Ray media (still doesn't solve the software problem but it helps).

I have an HTPC for 98% of my media, I have a PS3 for Blu Ray.

I'm also not too sure what else a HTPC can offer other than watching high def movies/ tv/ playing music. I hope someone here can let me in on the "secret" as to why it's so appealing that would entice someone to venture into the realms of HTPC.
Click to expand...
Honestly? If you can't see a reason to have a highend media player that would work as a total frontend for all your media then you don't really need one. For me, the best part is having all my media accessible to the rest of the people in the house through a simple, friendly and attractive frontend.
 
Candell said:
I've been wondering to myself what's the advantage of a HTPC when watching high definition movies?
Click to expand...
none that i know of
Is it because what the HTPC has to offer (all-roundedness I presume, I think I'm wrong here though) which makes it a cheaper option than buying a BD player
Click to expand...
its because what the htpc has to offer that a blue ray player cannot do. What that happens to be is really up to you.

Some people just use their htpc for extra media like netflix and hulu

Most enjoy networking their htpc and allowing it to stream media from other computers.

Some also enjoy gaming on their htpc's.

Many hate keeping all the dvd and blue ray's because it takes too much space so they just rip them onto drives.

The possibilities are truely endless
i think that last line needs to be read with morgan freeman's voice...



... hell, read the whole thing with morgan freeman's voice for good measure.
 
I use my HTPC for HD-DVD, BD, HD mkv's, and divx/xvid movies and shows.

I use my 360 for Netflix and HD-DVD's. Netflix doesn't seem to have an HD plugin for streaming to Windows Media Center so I use the 360 for Netflix since it looks much better.
 
Candell said:
I'm also not too sure what else a HTPC can offer other than watching high def movies/ tv/ playing music.
Click to expand...

Mine also vacuums and does the laundry.


What else exactly do you WANT it to do? The three things you've listed are a lot... :confused: You can have thousands of movies, tv shows, and music albums available to you (and your guests), all easily browseable with a remote control.
 
Having instant access to ~6 TB of Blu-Ray Rips, DVDs, Music and HDTV shows hooked directly to a 1080p TV and 7.1 system over HDMI is all the reason I need. Plus when it comes to home theater, I've found I'm a lazy fuck some days and hate having to get off the couch to swap movies in and out of my Blu-Ray player.
 
Hamish Campbell said:
Having instant access to ~6 TB of Blu-Ray Rips, DVDs, Music and HDTV shows hooked directly to a 1080p TV and 7.1 system over HDMI is all the reason I need. Plus when it comes to home theater, I've found I'm a lazy fuck some days and hate having to get off the couch to swap movies in and out of my Blu-Ray player.
Click to expand...


This is a great reason, but also they are just so much more customizable than off the shelf video streamers and what not.
 
serpretetsky said:
none that i know of

its because what the htpc has to offer that a blue ray player cannot do. What that happens to be is really up to you.

Some people just use their htpc for extra media like netflix and hulu

Most enjoy networking their htpc and allowing it to stream media from other computers.

Some also enjoy gaming on their htpc's.

Many hate keeping all the dvd and blue ray's because it takes too much space so they just rip them onto drives.
Click to expand...

You can do all this on a slightly modified "PC".......so, the question is, and remains, why an HTPC?....that's the question.....

Could it "truely" be?:

- cost?
- power consumption?
-proximity to TV, hence, another "unit" is needed?
- what else?....I have no idea.

There's alot of nice "boxes" out there, like the Roku, that are reducing the need for an HTPC....no?

.
 
dekruyter said:
You can do all this on a slightly modified "PC".......so, the question is, and remains, why an HTPC?....that's the question.....
Click to expand...
Yes and no. An HTPC, generally, is a PC with a case that fits with the aesthetic of a home theater. In addition, it's suppose to be a quiet and relatively low power PC. Sure you can hook up your gaming PC to the TV and watch HD content from there. You can call it a HTPC as well. But most people don't want a loud or "ugly" tower case next to their TV while watching movies or TV. So while there are many things you can do with a HTPC, IMO, a HTPC is mostly a quiet and aesthetically pleasing PC heavily geared towards watching media.

dekruyter said:
There's alot of nice "boxes" out there, like the Roku, that are reducing the need for an HTPC....no?
Click to expand...
Not really. The Roku doesn't support 1080P content. Nor does it record TV like a HTPC can. In addition, its video quality is worse than a DVD player. In addition, you're totally reliant (AFAIK) on Netflix for your content. So the Roku isn't reducing the need for a HTPC.

If you can find a box that does all of this:
- Blu-ray content
- Plays content off a server or another PC
- Hulu, Netflix and other online TV services.
- DVDs
- Record TV
- Plays music

Thats when a HTPC would not be needed.
 
dekruyter said:
You can do all this on a slightly modified "PC".......so, the question is, and remains, why an HTPC?....that's the question.....
Click to expand...
you lost me right there. We clearly have different defintions of htpc's.

My definition is any pc used for home theatre purpose usually used to centralize the media experience to a single peice of equipment. Majority of people i know generally have some dedicated pc hooked up to their home theatre system (tv, sound system, etc) and refer to them as htpc. I don't see any reason to require an htpc to do any more than that.
 
dekruyter said:
You can do all this on a slightly modified "PC".......so, the question is, and remains, why an HTPC?....that's the question.....

There's alot of nice "boxes" out there, like the Roku, that are reducing the need for an HTPC....no?
Click to expand...
Show me one box that does every (basic) feature an HTPC can do and I can tell you what's wrong with your suggestion.

The short answer to all these threads is that if you have to ask "why an HTPC?" then clearly you don't have the need for it. Clearly, you live alone cause anyone with a family knows how much they've benefited from an HTPC. Anyone that has a ton of media knows how they've benefited from an HTPC. Anyone who enjoys having one device to take the place of three or more media players knows how they've benefited.

Cause, otherwise, they would have never been turned onto HTPCs in the first place. If you have the need for one you wouldn't have to ask the question cause you'd already know if you need one in your life.
 
Hamish Campbell said:
Having instant access to ~6 TB of Blu-Ray Rips, DVDs, Music and HDTV shows hooked directly to a 1080p TV and 7.1 system over HDMI is all the reason I need. Plus when it comes to home theater, I've found I'm a lazy fuck some days and hate having to get off the couch to swap movies in and out of my Blu-Ray player.
Click to expand...

What software so you use to playback Blu-Ray rips?
 
I think there is just so much you can do with HTPC, that it really depends on how it would fit your lifestyle. I used to think of an HTPC as a box with all your movies, music, and media on it. But after I started using one and frequenting this forum, I saw a lot of cool stuff people have done with there HTPC. The low-power, and aesthetics are part of it. But also the ease of use of a Media Center interface. Being able to do everything from the remote is golden. That way the less tech savvy members of the household can deal with it. I currently just use one box hooked up for Hulu, Netflix, and DVDs. But being able to have media extenders is very appealing for the future when those mini-me's are running around. Everyone's goals are different. I decided to get rid of cable and utilize it for Hulu and eventually a PVR for local channels. Other people decide to index all of their movies, and want to be able to watch them from any TV in the house.
 
My home stereo is attached to my HTPC of course. I currently use it more for music than I do movies but that is rapidly changing.
 
I don't play discs at all. All of my movies are on my server. Over 300 of them. I browse them on my HTPC and with the click of a button i'm watching a movie or tv show. I just built a 2nd HTPC for the kids as all their DVD's are scratched and unplayable. This way there's no discs lying around to be damaged and there is a very large selection of content available.
 
lbwarped said:
I use PowerDVD 8 that came with my Blu Ray player.
Click to expand...

I'm talking about playing a Blu-Ray that is ripped to your hard drive. Last I saw, PowerDVD no longer has the feature to play Blu-Ray movies off the hard drive. At least that is how it was when I first got my Blu-Ray player that came with PowerDVD.
 
KapsZ28 said:
I'm talking about playing a Blu-Ray that is ripped to your hard drive. Last I saw, PowerDVD no longer has the feature to play Blu-Ray movies off the hard drive. At least that is how it was when I first got my Blu-Ray player that came with PowerDVD.
Click to expand...

If you want to playback rips don't bother with powerdvd. If you have an nvidia card you can install coreavc w/haali.
With Intel or ATI you can install the standalone MPCVideoDec.ax w/haali.

Or you could install Haali by itself as win 7 has a hardware accelerating AVC decoder built in.

Install media browser for movie management.

Any of these methods will allow you to use Media Center to playback MKV's.

You could just use Media Player Classic Home Cinema as a stand alone player. But I do it all within media center.

Lot's of different ways to do it.
 
screw htpc's. hEpc's are where its at (home entertainment pc). mawr power is always better, low idle current draw, and make sure sleep mode works well:p

the way my living room htpc/hepc/pc, whatever you want to call it, is i presume i can do anything with it that any seperate electronic device can do. any functionality i want can be added onto my entertainment pc while in most homes people have to find more shelf space.
 
I built my first HTPC back in 2003 because I had some spare parts after doing a moderate upgrade. I didn't want to throw them out or let them collect dust. Therefore, I decided to buy a case (Antec Aria) and a capture card to record stuff rather than using my VCR. I also encoded my DVDs to DivX to store them in my HTPC along with encoding my music to OGG. Thus, my journey down the HTPC path has begun.

Due to another PC upgrade back in 2008 I basically gutted my primary PC (mobo, CPU [E6600] and everything else, except video card) and dumped into a new HTPC case. Nice to have my movies and music all in one place for easy access. Plus since I have a passively cooled 9600GT I can play games with it too if I wanted (reasonable graphic settings).

I also stream Netflix movies to my HDTV as well using my HTPC. However, I have two monitors hooked up to my primary PC so I have the option to watch movies and surf at the same time (which I have done before).
 
rhouck said:
Mine also vacuums and does the laundry.


What else exactly do you WANT it to do? The three things you've listed are a lot... :confused: You can have thousands of movies, tv shows, and music albums available to you (and your guests), all easily browseable with a remote control.
Click to expand...

I'm not really interested in getting a HTPC. Just trying to understand why some would, that's all.
 
Its not rocket science, an HTPC is one multi-purpose device that can do everything and anything. You can switch between ten specialized devices, or just do everything on one device, its that simple.

The only thing that really makes it an HTPC is that it can do theater stuff and is hooked up to your big living-room screen, and it doesn't even have to be in a receiver style case.

I can watch blu-ray, hd-dvd, online videos, downloaded content, record TV, play video games, browse the internet, print stuff out, manage stuff on the network, get some work done, go back to watching TV, play some more games, watch a youtube with a walkthru of a particularly difficult level in that game, etc. all from the comfort of my rocky-chair in front of my nice big 50" plasma. :D

I have a PS3 Slim as well, and there is no difference between the bluray playback between it and my computer, and unlike my computer it can't rip. Its also an inferior gaming system to my HTPC. However, its a necessary purchase if you want any of the great exclusive titles unique to the platform. :)
 
Ducman69 said:
Its not rocket science, an HTPC is one multi-purpose device that can do everything and anything. You can switch between ten specialized devices, or just do everything on one device, its that simple.
Click to expand...
Uh, that's totally wrong. For one thing you don't want an HTPC that can "do it all" when all of us who know what we're doing always recommend getting a receiver along with an HTPC. If we stuck to your "one ring to rule them all" thing then we wouldn't do that.

Most of us also recommend gaming consoles or a gaming PC instead of trying to do it on an HTPC.
 
CrimandEvil said:
Uh, that's totally wrong. For one thing you don't want an HTPC that can "do it all" when all of us who know what we're doing always recommend getting a receiver along with an HTPC. If we stuck to your "one ring to rule them all" thing then we wouldn't do that.

Most of us also recommend gaming consoles or a gaming PC instead of trying to do it on an HTPC.
Click to expand...

ditto
 
Obviously there is no right or wrong answer here. It all boils down to personal preference.
 
One simple rule of thumb - if all you want is to watch bluray, it is simpler and cheaper to get a standalone. If all you want is to stream netflix, get an xbox.

Most people with an htpc will use it with large media collections (local or server), rip their bluray's/dvd's, and use a ton of other features. Its cheaper than ever with motherboards that do everything.
 
MrCrispy said:
Most people with an htpc will use it with large media collections (local or server), rip their bluray's/dvd's, and use a ton of other features. Its cheaper than ever with motherboards that do everything.
Click to expand...

my reasons exactly.
 
MrCrispy said:
One simple rule of thumb - if all you want is to watch bluray, it is simpler and cheaper to get a standalone. If all you want is to stream netflix, get an xbox.
Click to expand...

Personally, I don't want or need a console so that is out for me. And, I have tons of extra hardware sitting around with which to build a cheap HTCP and also a media server.

MrCrispy said:
Most people with an htpc will use it with large media collections (local or server), rip their bluray's/dvd's, and use a ton of other features. Its cheaper than ever with motherboards that do everything.
Click to expand...
Very true and 1TB+ HDs are dirt cheap.
 
One box for OTA HD tv, internet browsing, gaming and music on my 110" projector. I use my ps3 for blu-ray and dvd watching and some gaming, though the htpc could do that as well if you didn't care to play ps3 specific games.

Low power doesn't factor into my htpc as I use it for sim racing and it's not on all the time. Quiet helps depending on how your theater room is set up. regarding the case, it all depends on your taste, it's just what you decide on when you build it as there are full ATX htpc style cases. If you put the tower behind your entertainment center, it doesn't really matter. I don't think there's a set definition for htpc other than it's usually hooked to a large screen of some sort in front of a couch instead of sitting on a desk.

Now that the ps3 has a netflix client, it can do pretty much everything except record tv, though it can even do that in the UK with that playtv thing.
 
I really enjoyed my HTPC for playing videos streamed/copied from my main desktop.

I got really tired of doing updates anytime I bought a new blu-ray. I'd sit down with friends and family and have to fiddle with updating it while they sat there and twiddled their thumbs.

I broke down and got a ps3 recently and it's been a lot more simple doing updates. I got a media server installed on my desktop and so far have easily played everything I've thrown at it. So for the moment I am totally regretted building the HTPC but it did fulfill its purpose until I got the ps3.

I am more of a PC gamer so I may still play some games on my plasma or I may just sell the HTPC.
 
A proper HTPC can become the center of all your home entertainment. LiveTV, DVR, Hulu, Netflix, DVD's, Blu-ray, archived TV, music, and all videos. All on demand with the click of a remote. Being able to "extend" (most of) those features to other TV's around the house. And now you can put one together for <$500, super quiet, and in a Mini ITX size. Take a look at anyone of my setups over the years.

SH1FT 2.0 http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1463881
SH1FT 1.0 http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1252288

dsc6319.jpg
 
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