Noob HTPC-type question

jakobjkraft

Member
Mar 11, 2009
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Ok, I've got my nephew staying with me for the holidays and he's going through my DVD and Bluray collection like mad (already broke 2 discs!) He likes to watch a lot of the same stuff so I was thinking maybe I could connect a hard drive running a basic OS to my tv so I could rip some stuff and he could just watch it off that? I have an idea of what the HTPC's purpose is and I think I need a very simplified version of that.

My set up is stupidly simple. I have a 40" HDTV and a Blu-ray player. I have the Netflix Roku box (my super cheap cable solution) and a wireless router giving internet to the Roku box, and my desktop pc and my wife's laptop, both in other rooms.

I was browsing newegg and saw these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...n=htpc&x=0&y=0

Is this where I should start?
Again: what I want is just a basic (and preferably small) hard drive which I can connect to my TV, running a basic OS (Linux? Windows XP?) with enough power to run ripped movies.
Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated -- thanks in advance!!
 

jakobjkraft

Member
Mar 11, 2009
77
0
66

jakobjkraft

Member
Mar 11, 2009
77
0
66
That's probably what I'll end up doing, then.
Just out of curiosity, approximately how much more would it be to get something that requires an OS, so that I could browse online through my TV? I can't tell which boxes are capable of that and which aren't...
 

WaitingForNehalem

Platinum Member
Aug 24, 2008
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that's probably what i'll end up doing, then.
Just out of curiosity, approximately how much more would it be to get something that requires an os, so that i could browse online through my tv? I can't tell which boxes are capable of that and which aren't...

$300