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Sorry, but what the hell is HTPC??

Josh

Lifer
I seemed to have missed out on this new invention, can someone explain to me what HTPC exactly does/how much it costs/benefits to it/etc?
 
HTPC=Home Theater PC.....plays video, music, dvds and so on your big screen or projector. Catalogs music well, plays games and so forth....one of the first steps towards an all in one solution.
 
How much does it cost? Is it better than regular tv or a tv card in your computer? is it that crap where the computer is in the tv so you can surf the internet on your Tv/watch tv ......im confused. Can you download crap on the HTPC and play it through your TV?
 
AFAIK it's just a name for a type of PC... like a gaming PC or workstation or server... you can build your own, or you can find a place that makes em. They have custom cases that are more like other items commonly found in living rooms and better suited to an entertainment center setup
 
it is a computer

that does stuff like TIVO and some other stuff

plus its a computer, so it does computer stuff
 
It's just a regular computer that you use for movies/music/tv etc. Nothing special about it, except maybe a TV tuner.
 
HTPC = home theater PC, think of it as a much more sophisticated way to handle all your media; basically it's a one-stop shop for music, DVD (playing and recording), PVR functionality, etc.

As a bonus, with a (fast) computer you can run sophisticated upconversion and deinterlacing filters to improve the way low quality sources and DVD look on big TVs.
 
It's just a general reference for a PC dedicated for use in a home-theater configuration. Whether it is an old P2 hooked to a 19" tube or a uber system in a eleventy billion gigawatt, 5 million inch plasma home theater setup it counts as a HTPC. For example, I use my AXP 1800+ system right now as a HTPC for watching divx on my tv and listenting to MP3's in the living room. I plan to build a more 'typical' HTPC by putting the pc in a smaller box and making it alot faster and able to record TV.

I believe HP and a few other makers market actual pre-built HTPC's running Win XP Media Center Edition so the idea is getting more common. The concept is nice and is a pretty cool setup when done right. If you have the money to spend you can make a really quiet and fast HTPC for recording, encoding, and playing video and music files as well as gaming on your TV/Plasma/LCD etc...

-spike
 
so basically it's useful for people to watch movies/play music that they *ahem* purchased on their computer on their home theatre?
 
Originally posted by: Josh
so basically it's useful for people to watch movies/play music that they *ahem* purchased on their computer on their home theatre?


Actually people rip their legit movies to the hdd for easy access via touch screen remotes. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Josh
I seemed to have missed out on this new invention, can someone explain to me what HTPC exactly does/how much it costs/benefits to it/etc?
you should check out my thread on the HTPC I built for myself.
 
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