Ok well ehh i dunno what im talking about but uhh here goes aight so whats the point of htpcs, just for video and music or somethin? and there used to display stuff on tvs? or what? cuz u cant really go on the net and read stuff on tvs (unless there nice res ones) so what exactly is it? cuz ya my computer can hook up to the tv so is it an htpc?
Most people use them to record / pause tv. Playback DVDs, recorded TV, MP3s, videos etc. I don't many people use them for actually surfing on the web.
The way I think of it, HTPC takes several components you find in a typical home entertainment center and condenses it into one little box + TV. Besides PVR, HTPCs can serve as digital audio jukeboxes, DVD player, reciever, photo slideshow and maybe a few others I'm missing. All you need is a TV and, depending on just how powerful of audio you want to get, a seperate amp and speakers.
That's what I meant to say, I just explained it badly. Of course if the spec was good enough you could aways game on it as well.
If you are under 20, HTPC is a foreign concept. HTPC is your Dad's fancy stereo/big screen driven by an intelligent PC. Some people, young and under budget, attempt to build HTPC with PC speakers and regular TV, and u can do that but it doesn't make it justice.
I agree and disagree. With cable companies encrypting even basic cable HDTV broadcasts the only way to get HD on your PC is by using an antenna. The antennas supplied with most HD tuners are little better than nothing, so if you want OTA HD you're looking at a big antenna on your roof, and then adjusting it to get optimum reception for the most networks you can. Therein lies another problem: you can only get HD from network television. That means no HD HBO or ESPN, or Discovery, or blah, blah, blah. The only way you can get an HD stream into your PC other than OTA is if your set-top box has firewire out, and those are few and far between. Call me cynical, but I think the cable companies don't offer those for this reason. Now, DVD's are only 480p. So even if you have a 1080p Samsung DLP it's downscaling it to standard definition. It just hardly seems worth the extra money to go for the HD components (TV, tuner card, service) if when using the PVR function for HD turns it into SD. The whole point of having a PVR is to set your own watching schedule. There are all kinds of issues with the hardware as well right now. As for the set of "PC speakers" being substandard, I contend that most people have more--much more--than they need. A 750W+ speaker system is hardly neccessary in the average-sized living room. You can get some excellent-quality 5.1 or 6.1 PC speakers that are also plenty loud. Run it through a good soundcard or, for the budget user, a soundstorm board, and you've got great sound. Right now, the cheap HTPC is just what people need. There is speculation that cable companies will have to unencrypt all HD signals on the basic services tier once they switch over to DTV completely due to FCC regs about basic tier services. Of course, then there will be braodcast flags in place to screw us out of it anyhow. Until I can run my cable straight into my PC, it's uneconomical. The only thing a top-quality setup is good for are HDDVD's, and how many of those have you seen? Sorry this was so long, you just seemed kind of elitist about the whole thing and I needed to show you why there's no better reason to spend all that money than to win the proverbial pissing contest. Edit: Also, I'm 20 and your sweeping generalization pissed me off. No hard feelings though.
Pardon Moi! If your entry level htpc is so spiffy, why do u need to defend it so forcefully I wonder. Broadcast HD contents is still evolving and an open issue. I just know front ends look a lot better and more useful on an HDTV than on a SDTV. I tried to use a front end on a SDTV and almost broke the remote after so much scrolling to get where I want it. See, the Original Poster asks, "why an htpc if I can already do these on my desktop screen." So I answered, so u can see the action in all of a big screen glory and listen to beyond what your desktop speakers can offer. If these things aren't better, why would anyone bother.
I realize my post was o/t, but I think it goes to explain the actual pros and cons of an HTPC. I own a 27" Zenith HDTV. It only supports 480p and 1080i on the component input. I know what a pain in the ass it is to scroll at 480p, not to mention it's still a bit difficult to read. My roomate and I are going to be purchasing a 47" Samsung DLP when we move into our new apartment in a few months. I did quite a bit of research on the topic and deemed an HDHTPCs real-world capabilites almost nil. We decided we're just going to spend the extra $15-20/month and order from the cable company. We most likely will buy a 750W home theater package. I never said I don't do a bit of prick waving myself, just that it's dumb. Once you remove the HD element, you don't require more than an entry level system. You could output to a receiver and expensive speaker system, I'm just saying PC speakers will "do it justice" if you get the right kind. As for video, (not regarding OTA transmissions) it will output the same quality to both the 47" DLP and the 47" SD CRT. I want more than Network HD programming. I also work 4 nights a week 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. and I wasn't going to have a PVR that couldn't record in HD. Ergo a HDHTPC wasn't worth it for me. I'm not saying OTA is bad, and neither am I saying that it's impossible with a set-top box, just that it takes more work/money than people initially realize. I think a HDHTPC is a great idea, it's just not worth spending the money on at the moment. Give it a year or more and the hardware will be down in price, there will be better software, more options, and hopefully unrestricted access to basic-tier services. As for "so u can see the action in all of a big screen glory," what is this action of which you write? HTPCs are used to output TV and DVD video to the "big screen." If you're gaming on it, you probably already have a beast of a video card/proc combination to support resolutions at 720p/1080i resolutions. Go ahead and spend the extra $100 on the HD Tuner. I believe I already addressed TV and DVD video. To answer the original poseters question, a HTPC is usually only labeled so when it is dedicated to Home Theatre uses. It's really just a PC, as others have said, that replaces the DVD player, CD changer/carousel, and sometimes the cable box. If you use your PC to output video/audio to your TV (like to watch Divx files or DVD's) it would be performing HTPC jobs, but wouldn't really be considered a HTPC because it's not its sole purpose.
well no i meant i can use my computer on the regular tv, not monitor also i have a big STEREO amp connected to my pc. Im only using like one of the 5 sound ports on the mobo, which connects to the amp, and i have 4 stereo speakers on it, it also has a radio lol
Not satisfactorily I don't think. Ever tried to surf with your regular TV with its 40 characters x 16(?) lines of text? Able to do it, and using it regularly are two very different things. Right, most people already have the different components. BUT a TRUE HTPC set up is where everything is integrated SEAMLESSLY so that your grandma doesn't have to know how to operate Windoze in order to use it. Just like any other family appliance. A big piece then is a user-friendly "front end" (software) that let the user choose the media he/she want to watch/listen/access to via an IR remote, and for the most part not needing a mouse/kb.
For anything and everything you'd ever want to know about HTPCs, go to www.htpcnews.com -- for enthusiasts, by enthusiasts. An HTPC is a very versatile beast, and really quite the antithesis of the OC'd high-end gaming PC. I've spent over a year building and tweaking mine and it's still not quite there (mostly a question of time). So what can an HTPC do? Multiple-tuner PVR: I have two Hauppauge PVR-250s (www.hauppauge.com) in my machine. Combined with SageTV (www.sage.tv), I can time-shift, record, program, and watch TV, as well as organize my recordings. DVD Player: I use TheaterTek (www.theatertek.com) as a software DVD player -- fantastic output quality. Front End / Media Jukebox: I like Meedio (www.meedio.com) for its powerful user interface and plugins. I have most of my 250+ CDs ripped to my hard drive, both as lossless APE files for playback and 160kbps for transfer to my iPod. I'm also planning on adding a 400GB drive to rip my DVDs to, again uncompressed. Video Processor: Look into ffdshow (http://sourceforge.net/projects/ffdshow) to handle upscaling and video processing that will rival Faroudja et al. Watching a DVD upscaled to 720p and processed is breathtaking on an HDTV. An HTPC is built to be quiet, stable, and pretty much a set-top box for these tasks alone -- enthusiasts really look at an HTPC as an A/V component more than a personal computer. We don't intend on doing much websurfing on a 60" TV... that's what PCs are for, right? Basically, the HTPC community is all about taking that $20,000 rack of gear, putting it all into one box, adding a whole bunch of other integrated functionality, and having that performance delivered to you for about $2,000. Hope this helps you better understand what we're all about.
I agree and dissagree with both ends of the scale. Im building what i call an htpc, that is a home theatre Personal computer, and unlike taking it all and replacing components i already have and are happy with im creating one to seamlessly sit with my stack and do what my old pc did. ie surf the web (quite usable on my panasonic 32" 100hz tv at 800x600, and fine for playing older games at 1024x768) and watching divx movies, having a pc catalogue of all my dvds and playing music. so you dont have to have the world in one box - i for example love my other bits n bobs, but i want sommit that looks the business - but it would be nice
My P.C has a Hauppage T.V card and a T.V output, so i could just hook it straight up to my T.V and i'll have a HTPC? But when i capture T.V in MPEG1 2MBit the quality isnt great. I've also got my hi-fi which has two 4 inch and one seperate 8 inch sub.
I've got a shuttle which is linked up to the TV. Its primarily for video but I've added a 54g card and use it for my girlfriends email and websurfing. The only thing you have to remember is when you watching TV sit far away and when your surfing sit close like you would a monitor otherwise its a bugger to read
