My father went through several stages before finally ponying up for a true HTPC. First, he bought one of those glorified external hard drives (MediaGate), which suffered from an horrible interface, limited file support, and weak processing ability. Then I convinced him to try an Apple TV. With a bit of hacking, it was able to do 90 per cent of what he required, but it was still underpowered (a
1 GHz cpu isn't really sufficient for 1080p H.264) and a little awkward for the pater to use (this was pre-
Boxee). The fatal flaw was dodgy non-English subtitle support on its hacked MPlayer, even after several days of efforts on my part. And there was no way the pater would be able to modify anything himself, given Apple TV's dependence on the command line.
So eventually he bit the bullet, and I assembled a Windows Vista HTPC for him round the AMD 780G platform (see my signature rigs). I got him an MCE remote, but he feels more comfortable controlling the HTPC from a wireless keyboard and LCD monitor connected to his Antec Fusion case. The case itself sits in one of his home theatre racks, where it fits in quite well, physically and aesthetically. Video playback gets displayed on a big rolldown screen (somewhere around three metres diagonal) via three-colour CRT projector. He has a dedicated home theatre in the basement where all this kit goes. I was a little surprised how miserly he was about the whole 'media centre' business, given that he's spent tens of thousands of dollars on British speakers and American vacuum-tube amps (yes, Anglo-Saxons still make consumer electronics -- but it's the sort of kit most of us could never afford). If he'd just bought an HTPC from the beginning, he would ultimately have saved a few hundred dollars and several months of grief.
Despite the fact that he normally controls the HTPC from a desk a few feet away, he still uses a wireless Logitech keyboard and mouse (2.4 GHz freq). There are quite enough cables in his home theatre stacks already.
If you're simply going to watch movie discs and 'broadcast' TV (via cable, etc), then you don't need an HTPC. But if you intend to watch a lot of, well, 'computer' files (whether streamed, ripped yourself, or stumbled upon in the shadier corners of the Intarweb), you'll probably want a computer. Arguably, non-PC consumer electronic kit out there can do a fair job at this (media extenders, Xboxen, the Apple TV). My ex-girlfriend has resisted the HTPC idea, so I've wound up burning discs with XviD files which her Philips DVD player is usually able to recognise. Many TVs and players can input files through USB... But by its very nature, a true PC is going to have the most flexibility in terms of file support, customisation, expansion, etc.
A future Apple TV running Boxee on an nVidia 'Ion' platform (Atom cpu and GeForce 9400M) looks like it could make a near-perfect media centre, if only Hollywood would acknowledge reality. We all know that
isn't going to happen. The XBox 360 and PS3 also make good candidates.
In a couple of days we'll be receiving a Pioneer KURO plasma for the family room. The electronics stack there needs to be simpler and less obtrusive, so I'm probably going to connect the Apple TV there and give Boxee a spin.
