Do HTPC's become obsolete?

just so I understand better. HTPC's are basically desktops, in a tiny box without a screen/keyboard/mouse...?

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Not so.

HTPC hardware is optimized for audio/video playback and ergonomics (low noise, good looks, fits in a HT rack, etc.) A corollary to that is low power to reduce noise and heat. A gaming PC, for example, usually makes a lousy HTPC for the living room, though some people into gaming go that route.

Software is optimized for ease of use on a HDTV and easy playback of video and audio, both from local or internet sources. Design goals are good visibility from a distance, easy navigation (probably with a remote, but mouse and keyboard or other interfaces are possible) and access to a number of media sources.

Optimal hardware and software can be debated indefinitely, especially since it changes every few months. The best HTPCs I have built are based on Gigabyte mATX boards with ATI 4200 graphics and low power (45w) dual core AMD processors. These are a single board solution and very reasonably priced. The best case solutions are lightweight aluminum, low profile mATX cases with relatively small power supplies. Throw in a 2TB low power drive, 4GB RAM a BD-ROM player and Win7 Premium and you have a basic HTPC. Add a TV tuner or video capture device and Bluetooth mouse/keyboard (for configuration chores), MCE remote and it rounds it out. If Windows Media Center is inadequate, install MediaPortal, XBMC or SageTV for the interface.

HTPCs are basically PCs that have (some of) the following characteristics:

- Input devices for "living room" style access. Remote Controls, Wireless compact keyboards, or (my personal favorite) The Loop.
- They often have access to a TV Tuner and provide PVR functionality. Sometimes they are internal (PCI Express card), external (USB), or a network device (Silicondust HDHomeRun).
- They often use some sort of case that emulates the design/style of AV components. Here is an example.


There is a sub-category of HTPC (or some might call it a totally different category) of "Network Media Player" which would describe single purpose devices/products like the Boxee Box or Apple TV. HTPCs have a superset of that functionality, and are often designed to be "do everything" devices. They can play Blu-ray discs, watch all streaming media over the internet (where network media players are often blocked from certain sites). Another differentiator between network media players and HTPCs is HTPCs can bypass GeoIP restrictions since modern operating systems have built in support for VPN networks and you don't need any fancy networking hardware to do it.

I am of the opinion that streaming video via the web "is the future", and you want to make choices that allow you to effectively use a browser from 10 feet away from your HTPC. For browsers, good mouse control is important. Google Chrome is particularly good as a HTPC browser since (in the latest beta versions) you are able to set a default "zoom" setting for all web pages. Another good browser is Kylo (based on Firefox).

Windows 7 is the OS of choice for HTPCs because Windows Media Center is excellent, and it lets you scale the UI (Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Display). This keeps everything nice and readable from your sofa.

Mac Mini's have been used as HTPCs by Mac enthusiests. The hardware is fine (provided you don't care about Blu-ray support). The only issue is that the hardware costs the same and is a lot less capable than the ASRock HTPC I linked earlier. Oh, and Mac OS X isn't very good as a HTPC OS. It doesn't have anything comparable to Windows Media Center, and last time I checked it doesn't support the interface scaling features that Windows 7 does.

Maybe I should verify that last point. I have a Mac, but I don't use it as a HTPC so I may be out of touch on it's lack of interface scaling.

Windows 7 is the OS of choice for HTPCs because Windows Media Center is excellent

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No it is not the OS of choice, for several reasons. For one thing, look up the digital and analogue "Broadcast Flags" and related Digital Rights Management garbage found in Windows to see the various ways in which Media Center takes away your rights to record what you want, when you want. How dare they make those choices for you, especially when there are no such laws or regulations in existence? Another problem is that Microsoft does not allow you to add Canadian OTA TV stations. You would need to use the extensive workarounds developed by pnear that Microsoft has never bothered to fix after years of complaints here. The object of building an HTPC is seriously eroded when the OS is tying your hands.

and it lets you scale the UI (Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Display)

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Screen scaling, transparency, PIP, captioning, and a variety of other visual effects are done excellently and routinely by MythTV on Linux, and with a choice of many, many UI themes too. Streaming, transcoding, ripping, video capture/authoring/editing, web browsing, archiving, widgets, program guides, signal analysis tools, and much more, are all in there.

Having said all that, Linux/MythTV is the OS of choice for HTPC, but if it is too exotic for you then look for a Windows-based HTPC app or solution that properly supports Canadian OTA and that respects your consumer rights.

Since the topic of the thread is "Do HTPCs become obsolete?" the answer to that question is no, because the consumer always has good options to adapt and improve their hardware and software.

When a person is building an HTPC they need to be honest with themselves as to whether or not they are computer-savvy and/or are willing and able to learn how to do it properly in order to meet their requirements. Saying that Windows is the OS of choice is misleading and incorrect. MythTV runs on Linux, Mac OS X, and on Windows too, and there is a great deal of support on how to make it all work. Linux driver support is not only commonplace but is also irrelevant to an HTPC builder who follows the MythTV hardware guide. It is a moot issue.

Does MythTV have support for something equivalent to Media Center Extenders/SageTV Client/BeyondTV Link, so that you can watch TV and schedule recordings from TVs other than your "primary" HTPC?

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MythTV can be setup according to your needs, such as in a Mythbackend (server) capacity, a Mythfrontend (client) role, and in other permutations that allow what you asked for. MythTV also streams to a variety of UPnP client devices. Anyone can find all that out about MythTV with only a bit of reading, so we're not in need of a "can your OS do this?" discussion.

Now that we're past all this, the topic of this thread is about whether HTPCs become obsolete.

I would say that yes, HTPC's do become obsolete, if you are changing your usage patterns from OTA to streaming video.

My Pentium Dual Core T3200 laptop struggles to play 2200kbps Flash video (Leafs TV Interactive) unless I shut down every other program running. If I don't, the video is choppy.

In one experiment, I was running my Core i3 370M laptop on a screen with a resolution of about 1900 x 1200 (don't quote me exactly). The output of the 2200kpbs Leafs TV was choppy. So my 4 month old Core i3 laptop struggles with that.

My Pentium e5200 (2.5GHz) HTPC also struggles when recording 2 streams, the variety of background programs and the high res Flash video is playing. If I overclock to 3.0 GHz it handles it no problem. With the price of the e5800 (3.2 GHz - overclockable to 3.5 to 3.7?) at only about $70 and the resale value of an e5200 at about $35, I may put in a $35 upgrade - the last CPU upgrade for this HTPC until C2D processors drop in price on the resale market - if it even makes sense to upgrade again later..

I don't know what the e5200 or e5800 will do with Blu-ray, but hope to get that in the next year or so as the budget allows.

I don't know if I want go C2Q or discrete card because of the heat. Having said that, I hope to get a number of years out of my current HTPC build. It was done on a budget, but now that my wife is sold on the idea completely, as soon as this one gets sluggish, I am confident that I'll get authorization to build a more powerful machine.

HTPC software becomes obsolete as well... Then there is software that never worked well or needs hacks to overcome design flaws.

Either Win7 or Linux can be used for HTPC. It all depends what the builder and maintainer is comfortable using. For most people, that is Windows. I tried Mythdora and Mythbuntu. It was just too much effort and some third party apps that only run on Windows were missing. Win7 is definitely more stable than Windows XP. Windows also provides several good choices for HTPC interfaces. With Linux, the choice is smaller.

I don't know why some people go with such overpowered hardware. I play back BDs at 1920x1080p on a regular basis with no problems. That's using a 2.8GHz AMD 64 X2 CPU and ATI 4200 graphics. I've also done it with a 2.5GHz AMD 64 X2 and ATI 3200 graphics. How about an AMD 5200+ (2.7GHz) and ATI 2400 or ATI 4550. That works like a charm too. An nVidia 7600XT that played 1024x720p would not play 1920x1080p so it needed upgrading. Before that, I was playing HD with a 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 (not even a true dual processor) and an ATI AIW 9800 Pro. Building HTPCs, or any PC, is about building a balanced system that works well. One the one hand, you can overcome shortcomings with high powered CPU or video card (as in the P4 example.) On the other, you can build a balanced system that performs well with moderate spec components.

All you need is a typical PC at your local retailer (like an Acer for $379). Spend more, and you'll get a HTPC that may be more reliable, will last longer, be more powerful, or contain a BluRay player.

The Acer comes with HDMI, Win 7 Home Premium (comes with Media Center), 500 GB HD, DVD Drive, etc. Add an Infrared Receiver and remote control (you can find these on-line for about $30). Now you have a HTPC.

Windows Media Center will play your DVD's, or you can rip them with some software. It will play your music, and photo slide shows. You can add some free software, like Media Browser that will catalog your DVD's, get you movie trailers, and allow your to set up video podcasts for streaming.

Later you can add more hard drives (you can get an internal 2 TB drive for $60 right now) or a $120 TV tuner to grab cable or Over the Air (OTA) TV and make it a Personal Video Recorder (PVR).

Grab software called Remote Potato, and your iPad/Pod can see those Recorded TV shows, movies, or play your music from anywhere. The possibilities are endless. Start simple.