What is a HTPC?

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fumbduck

Diamond Member
Aug 21, 2001
4,349
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I see people saying that want to make an HTPC, and its usually a small computer in a small case or something..


what is it?
 
F

fumbduck

Diamond Member
Aug 21, 2001
4,349
0
76
HTPC.. is there really any point? can someone just give a small summary?

is that to watch computer movies on your TV or something, and have sound with computer speakers? like some nice klipsches or something?

i read the faq on the link provided and it told me nothing
 
M

mpitts

Lifer
Jun 9, 2000
14,732
1
81
M

mpitts

Lifer
Jun 9, 2000
14,732
1
81
Originally posted by: fumbduck
HTPC.. is there really any point? can someone just give a small summary?

is that to watch computer movies on your TV or something, and have sound with computer speakers? like some nice klipsches or something?

i read the faq on the link provided and it told me nothing
Click to expand...

Basically it allows you to use a computer to view DVD/MPG/DiVX/etc on your TV.
 
F

fumbduck

Diamond Member
Aug 21, 2001
4,349
0
76
i'd rather view it on my LCD, seems a lot more clear, plus I can use the klipsch 4.1s without a whole extra computer
 
M

mpitts

Lifer
Jun 9, 2000
14,732
1
81
Originally posted by: fumbduck
i'd rather view it on my LCD, seems a lot more clear, plus I can use the klipsch 4.1s without a whole extra computer
Click to expand...

Then it sounds like HTPCs aren't for you.
 
N

notfred

Lifer
Feb 12, 2001
38,241
4
0
Originally posted by: fumbduck
HTPC.. is there really any point? can someone just give a small summary?

is that to watch computer movies on your TV or something, and have sound with computer speakers? like some nice klipsches or something?

i read the faq on the link provided and it told me nothing
Click to expand...

It's so people can watch all the movies and stuff they download illegally on thier TV instead of a little computer screen. There's really no point to it at all if you buy (or rent) your movies on DVD and buy your music on CD. You'd just get a CD player and DVD player and save the extra money.
 
C

conjur

No Lifer
Jun 7, 2001
58,686
3
0
Originally posted by: mpitts
Originally posted by: fumbduck
HTPC.. is there really any point? can someone just give a small summary?

is that to watch computer movies on your TV or something, and have sound with computer speakers? like some nice klipsches or something?

i read the faq on the link provided and it told me nothing
Click to expand...

Basically it allows you to use a computer to view DVD/MPG/DiVX/etc on your TV.
Click to expand...

And...HDTV! :D
 
M

Murphyrulez

Golden Member
Mar 24, 2001
1,890
0
0
I have an HDTV projector at home. I feed it with an HTPC, using a HiPix DTV200 HDTV receiver PCI card.

I could have bought a $600 HD receiver, but now I can watch HDTV, DVD, cabletv, my Tivo, MPGs, surf the web, play PS2, Gamecube, Xbox, all on my 8 foot wide screen.

:)


And the HTPC only cost about $500.
 
K

Kev

Lifer
Dec 17, 2001
16,367
4
81
Originally posted by: Tyler
Originally posted by: fumbduck
HTPC.. is there really any point? can someone just give a small summary?

is that to watch computer movies on your TV or something, and have sound with computer speakers? like some nice klipsches or something?

i read the faq on the link provided and it told me nothing
Click to expand...

It's so people can watch all the movies and stuff they download illegally on thier TV instead of a little computer screen. There's really no point to it at all if you buy (or rent) your movies on DVD and buy your music on CD. You'd just get a CD player and DVD player and save the extra money.
Click to expand...

not really...there are many other reasons to use HTPC's... you can learn a lot over at AVSForum
 
S

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
With a HTPC costling less than 3K you can have the equivalent of 25 thousand dollars of equipment in one box.

Seriously.

DVD player rivaling the audio/video quality of a 5K player
Analog/Digital scaler rivaling some of the best out there (good scalers aren't cheap...they start around 5000)
Analog/Digital CD player with quality approaching a 2000 dollar one.
High Definition/Standard Defintion tuner/scaler with digital recording/PVR and timeshifting functions. Right now its the onlyway to record and timeshift HD content

The list can go on but these are the 5 big ones. Basically if you get into home theater and have an good display a HTPC is the answer. It is one of the most powerful components in my home theater (mitsubishi, krell, aragon, adcom) and puts out one of the best DVD pictures out there simply because of the superb scaling.

-edit- the silly comments from the doubters obviously have no idea what they are talking about. Especially the "illegally download stuff" comment. :) We're talking about top quality sound cards here with external DACs, HD video cards, etc. Not just slapping together a PC.
 
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MainFramed

Diamond Member
May 29, 2002
5,981
1
0
Originally posted by: Red Dawn
What is a HTPC?
Click to expand...
Something that will be common place in every Home in 5 years
Click to expand...


Why? I have a sweet Home Theater system, why wouldnt you want your computer set up for one? (i would much rather have an awesome set up with a 72inch flatscreen tv rather than a sweet setup on a 17inch flatscreen LCD)

Just my thoughts....
 
M

MainFramed

Diamond Member
May 29, 2002
5,981
1
0
Originally posted by: Red Dawn
What is a HTPC?
Click to expand...
Something that will be common place in every Home in 5 years
Click to expand...


Why? I have a sweet Home Theater system, why wouldnt you want your computer set up for one? (i would much rather have an awesome set up with a 72inch flatscreen tv rather than a sweet setup on a 17inch flatscreen LCD)

Just my thoughts....
 
7

777php

Diamond Member
Jul 17, 2001
3,498
0
0
I agree, I dual boot XP/Linux so I can play games on XP and use myhtpc on linux. Basically i have a pvr/console/dvd/web tv and mp3 server all in one box.

I spent under $800 and everything works beautifully. The setup was a pain though.

I watch all my movies and play all my games on a regular TV, if you know how to tweak your interface there should be no problems visually.
 
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