Ummm XBOX vs HTPC?

M

mi1stormilst

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 6, 2001
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I have gone down the HTPC route before and it was slightly disappointing. Problem is my primary display is a 10 year old 27" Hitachi TV. I realize to get the full experiance I need a quality display...but that will come. It seems to me the a HTPC would be much more flexable then an XBOX. However the XBOX would be easier to set up and use and take on the road with me...any feedback?
 
yeah - HTPC will give you more options, even if you decide to get your XBox chipped... but get the XBox if you enjoy console gaming...
 
A friend of mine bought an xbox for $200cdn, put in a 120gb hd and a modchip, and just uses it to play anime stuff off his main computer

It certainly can't record video or do anything close to what a htpc can do, but the xbox route is far cheaper, and you can play some ok games on it too

it's a tough call - if you can salvage an old p3, and an All-in-Wonder, and a decent hard drive, that's all you really need for a htpc
 
HTPCs are alot of fun and very versatile, but the XBOX is straight up cheap. Pick the one you want and go from there. The main thing I love about the XBOX is the controller - I use it for my PC - what a wonderful controller - I used to prefer the Dreamcast one over this, but then my hands grew. Sorry about the OT.
 
The HTPC would give you more flexability but the cheapest would be the Xbox, if you get it modded and install a larger HD that is ;).
You could do the HTPC on the cheap tho, it will cost more then an xbox but think of what you get. The rumor is that by summer the xbox will be cut to $99 USD.
On controllers- I never got use to the xbox controller, like how I can use one with my PC. I've had a PS2 for sometime and have gotten use to that controller although I REALLY perferr the Gamecube controller, still trying to find a way to use that with my PS2. It just feels nice in my big hands and I like the button placement.
 
Originally posted by Mad_Pyro
The main thing I love about the XBOX is the controller - I use it for my PC - what a wonderful controller
Click to expand...

If you decide to go HTPC, but still like the xbox controller like ^ said, it's a very simple mod...
 
I'm looking into making a HTPC system. Any tips to start my search like software (Linux? Windows?), good shuttleboard, video card?

I'm just starting to do some research and would love your input.
 
I did a trial run tonight with the following components:

Shuttle SN41G2
ATI 64MB 8500 S-VIDEO
2 X 128MB PC2100
80G SAMSUNG HD
NEC 1100A
AMD XP 1700
Aluminum 3.5 Enermax Rheobus
MS XP PRO

I was playing NFSU, RALLY SPORT, MCM2, BARBIE HORSE ADVENTURE (-:

WOW! It looks hella better then XBOX! Played just fine too. MOst settings either MEDIUM OR MEDIUM HIGH. Now I just gotta buy another TV TUNER and find someway to mount my steering wheel and still be able to sit on the floor.

KIDS THOUGHT IT ROCKED!
 
This may sound like a noobie question but when people talk of a HTPC, are they talking about an OEM PC with Windows Media Center 2004 or just a DIY system? I have been checking out the Media Center PCs and the features look really great except that there are only a few brands of them and they are all crappy. I want a Dell or better, not a cheap HP or no name. I think MS will start authorizing others in the future and when better systems come with it, I will probably buy one.
 
HTPC simply means HOME THEATER PERSONAL COMPUTER. Whatever you are using for a HTPC constitutes a HTPC. So if it is store bought, home made, or half and half it may still server the purpose of a HTPC (-:

PS: I have not done much research on the WMC OS Yet...might be time?
 
I've been hear and reading from users and reviews about some problems with the MCE HTPCs, mostly things like how it doesn't work out of the box but that a complete reinstall fixes nearly all of the issues after that its just the regular grips. I hear it's really good but I won't be going down that road anytime soon, I like a DIY HTPC and I don't like many of those OEMs like dell. Oh for tuners try one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-122-132&catalog=47&manufactory=BROWSE&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-100-109&catalog=47&manufactory=BROWSE&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-116-306&catalog=47&manufactory=BROWSE&depa=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-116-602&catalog=47&manufactory=BROWSE&depa=1

The Leadtek one has a lot going for it, most people here rave about them, I haven't add a tuner to mine yet but I'm either going to go with the Leadtek or put up the cash for a Hauppauge.
 
I use an old Dual P2 450 as my HTPC.
Plays SVCD's, DVD's, Divx, and pretty much any media file just fine.
It currently has one 18gig SCSI drive in it for WinXP Pro and some programs. All the movies & tv shows are stored on the P3 450 which now has most of the drives in it.

playback is at 1280x1024 into my Electrohome ECP-4500 Digital CRT projector.
I don't play many games, so having a powerful HTPC isn't needed for me.
Sometimes I'll load up Unreal Tournament and play a few rounds of that,
unreal.jpg


Oh, I forgot to add that the Dual P2 450 came with 512megs of ram, 10/100 NIC, SB Live, Adaptec SCSI card, 2x 9gig drives, case, motherboard, vid card All for $110 shipped from a member here. I think it was a good purchase and I use it every night to watch a film.
 
I think I would want a HTPC to connect to a TV video SVIDEO and to the speakers via the stereo RCA jacks. The audio part is not hard at all. A switch box and a spiltter wire will do so you will not have to replug the PC speakers in all the time. As for the video, you will need a video card which has an SVIDO out.

I have been thinking of getting a HDTV for the past 6 months but I'd like to know if any video card can output a 1080i or a 720p signal. I thought these ATi cards could but it looks like mine (9700) can only output 480i which doesn't seem weird since SVIDIO standard is only capible of the default 480i. How about the All in Wonders? Do they support output of 1080i? If so, through component wires?

Also, what would really make a HTPC a HTPC to me is some sort of TV guide where you can select and record a program in one little step. I know ATi All in Wonder have the Guide + (same thing RCA TVs have) from which you can do just that but are there any program you can get that will do the same thing with other TV card software? I believe those are the only cards that come with anything like it.
 
Try myHTPC. If you can do without gaming the best TV out card is a Matrox G400 Max, if you want HiDef out I think the only AIW card is the 9800AIW.
 
I have figured out about the HDTV out issue. Apparently ATi sells an adapter that plugs into a DVI out and then transcodes the signal to a set HD signal. The price on their website is $30. Seems nice.

If I were to buy an 80gb WD Special Edition drive and use that as the only drive in the PC, how would performance be if I were to record something and watch something that was previously recorded? Can those drives handle that kind of abuse? I will be using I guess an AIW card which do do some minor bit of decoding.
 
Make sure what ever components you use that they don't require excessive cooling. Last thing you want is a noisy HTPC. I have to turn my volume level up way to high on my speakers to drown out all the noise it makes )-:
 
A few months ago I decided that I wanted something in my home theater to play all the digital media (mp3/avi/mpg) that I had scattered on PCs all over the house.

I looked into some of the DVD solutions from KISS and others and couldn't find anything that quite met my needs.

I researched building an HTPC. My best guess at the time was that it would cost about $800 - $900 for the basic PC hardware. Then I'd have to find and configure software for it.

So, I looked into console alternatives. The PS2 has some software that allows it to play video and mp3 over a network but from what I could tell the PS2 just doesn't quite have the processing power to pull it of.

Then I found the XBox Media Player site on sourceforge. I found a few demos of the software on TechTV and was blown away. It's under very active development and they add new features constantly. They've basically started the project over from scratch with XBox Media Center and it's progressing very nicely.

So, after a little more deliberating I decided to go with the XBox. From what I could tell it would do everything I needed with the added advantages of being able to play XBox games. I figured I could get the entire system together for around $500.

I ended up getting an XBox modded and equipped with a 120G WD HD and a Samsung DVD drive. I got the remote kit, the 802.11g wireless adapter, and the xbox AV adapter for SVideo and digitial audio.

Setting it up was a complete nightmare but I managed to get through it. Once the initial setup was complete it got much easier.

I tracked down the latest build of XBMC and XBMP and compared them. XBMP has a few features that haven't been implemented in XBMC but XBMC is much better in most respects. The main things that are missing from XBMC are video playlists and shoutcast internet radio. The main advantage that XBMC has is that it does windows shares very well. I have no doubts that they'll have playlists and shoutcast radio implemented very soon.

I'm very happy with it, though. I can browse MP3's, movies, and pictures anywhere on my network or on the local drive. There are tons of excellent utilities out there for the xbox and I'm having a blast with it. There's even a version of Linux available for it that I'm sure I'll get around to trying some day.

So, all-in-all I'm happy with the route I took. If I had to make the decision again today I wouldn't change a thing.

My next project is to create a NAS (network attached storage) server using an EPIA Mini-ITX motherboard. :)

AllaXul
 
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