I'm deployed, and will be coming home with some money that I plan on splurging on myself. One of my favorite hobbies I guess is collecting DVDs. I love technology, and computers are just fascinating - you agree? So here's the questions... 1. Why an HTPC? 2. Where is a great source of information on HTPC? If you had to sell someone on buying a HTPC what would you say?
Mine is sort of an HTPC. I don't have a tv card in it, so I don't do Tivo type of recording on it. But, if I pop a dvd in the drive, it IS a 5.1 surround system. If my wife doesn't want to see the movie I'm about to watch, I'll go in the computer room, and watch it in surround, while she watches something else in the living room. A lot of games now, are in surround, if you're into gaming. Some folks hook the computer up to the big screen tv, and use the it as the monitor. Play a dvd in computer, but watch it on big screen tv. Stuff like that. If I could only have one HT system, I'd rather have a nice component home system. But it's nice having the PC as a backup also. Good luck! Thanks for your service! )
I guess I really don't understand what a HTPC is indepth. What I think a HTPC is would be a one station computer that you can use to store all your dvds, use for tivo sorts, and stream HDTV? Am I on the right track here?
For me it's the advantages of its media center functionality that make my HTPC useful. I have several hundred CDs on mine, and at any given point in time between 20 and 50 TV shows or movies on it in XviD and AVC format. I also use it for streaming movies from Netflix. That allowed me to watch the second season of Heroes in higher quality than I would have gotten from my satellite service. Once I enter the 21st century (some time in the next 2 years) and get a HDTV I plan to add DTV capture capability as well. I love that I can keep video and audio in the format of my choice, and generally don't have to buy new equipment to support new standards. The downside is more work to setup than standard home theater equipment and potentially more maintenance time as well. For me the added flexibility is worth it. For others it's not.
I love my HTPC, I am not a big fan of tivo so i didnt bother with a TV Tuner Card, plus most channels now stream all their big name show or you can just download episodes from torrent sites. But I love movies and right now i have a 750GB HD with with over 300 movies on it. complete video on demand. and it is hooked up to a projector so i get the whole theater right in my living room. I also networked the house so all the laptops and 2 other cheap very old pc hooked up to tvs in other rooms can connect to it and play the movies, both only having 10gb of storage.
