Would I benefit from a HTPC?

[EviL-aLphA]

Hey everyone,

I am considering building my own HTPC, but I am pretty clueless when it comes to this area. I have had my PC connected to my receiver & TV for the past few years and have always just used my TV to watch movies located on my PC. All of the audio already goes from the PC to the receiver.

What kind of advantages would I get from building a HTPC? All I do now is use my TV as a second screen to watch movies or TV shows that live on a 3TB HD in my PC. Mostly 720/1080p Bluray rips w/ Media Player Classic. I also have a 2TB HD full of music, mostly 320/FLAC used with Foobar/Itunes. Isn't my PC technically a HTPC?

There are a couple of options I am looking at, either get a NAS (QNAP TS-451 or similar) or build a small HTPC out of decent parts (i3/i5, gpu, 8gb ram) or build a HTPC + NAS.

NAS sounds like a good solution, where I could always have my data backed up, could use it technically as a cloud storage, and always able to access my files from other locations. But the downfall is that some lack power to stream 1080p or higher bit conversions.

I don't know if im missing the point, but I guess I don't really see the advantage of building a whole new PC to do what I already do. Could anyone elaborate and maybe point out some advantages of a HTPC or a NAS as opposed to what I currently do?

My current setup:
PC:
Xeon L5639
GTX 770
12GB Ram
10TB Total Memory (2x 3TB / 2x 2TB)

Receiver: Onkyo TX-NR709 (7.2 surround)
TV: 37" LG

Thanks

 

[Zepher]

you have an HTPC. Any PC hooked up to a TV to watch media on is technically an HTPC.

In this really old pic of my desk, the dark PC on the left side of the desk is my HTPC. It was hooked up to my CRT Projector.

I was using it like this long before they came up with the HTPC name.

 

[Nenu]

^this

My gaming PC has been hooked up to my HiFi, TV and PJ for years.
I dont call it an HTPC, but theres no difference other than its more powerful than most HTPCs.

 

[EviL-aLphA]

I guess this leads me to the next question than, would it be beneficial to install something like XMBC or PLEX? All I do now is just find the folder in my HD and play the file as is without any interface. Also maybe I'm better off purchasing a NAS for my media hard drives mostly for redundancy & other features that come with getting a NAS.

 

[Zepher]

I know XBMC makes it easier to find and play content from your couch or recliner.
I have never used it but my brother uses it with his setup and it looks pretty cool.

 

[Nenu]

My PC is used from the sofa with keyboard and mouse. Works great for me but have found some sofas and mice that dont track together very well.
I play Hi Def audio with bit perfect output (WASAPI exclusive mode) to expose as much detail as possible.
This limits the players I can use.

For movies I use the free Media Player Classic Home Cinema (MPC-HC) with Smooth Video Project (SVP) to bump framerate to 60fps (needs a pretty quick PC to run it at max quality).
The SVP installer installs Reclock, this gives the option of WASAPI audio output for movies which is not very common.

For music I use the free Foobar2000 with WASAPI.
Other players can use WASAPI, but some of them still manage to influence the sound.


A NAS is not a bad idea but it is another thing that can go wrong.
If you have no need to play media on other devices when your PC is off and you have space inside your PC to fit more hard drives, do that.
Set them to power down when not in use.

 

[rhansen5_99]

Just throwing it out there bc of kids and wife but a roku hooked up to the tv and running plex back to a computer in the other room is priceless for me. Mainly because it is super simple to operate.