Why would you want a Home Theater PC?

So, why would anyone want a Home Cinema/Home Theater PC?

As an Industry Veteran that helps design and develop solutions, I am often asked why would anyone want an HTPC. After speaking with the great folks at Maingear, I was asked to provide a little write up on the topic.

So, here you go!

There have been many attempts at putting a Home Theater PC (HTPC) into the living room over the years, but these systems have never enjoyed the success they have strived to achieve. One can’t help but wonder why? Life is stored digitally, everything from vacation videos and photographs to music and movies are all stored in digital formats and easily accessible by the PC. There is a wealth of high quality content on the internet. Why not marry the PC to the TV where you can enjoy all this wonderful digital content from your living room couch on your high definition, big screen TV?

There is no, one reason why these types of systems have never achieved glory. For some it may be price, others may not like the idea of a PC in their living room. For most, they were just too big, ugly, hot and loud. The short answer is that the technology was just not mature enough to handle the tasks required…until now.

So what has changed? Over the past few years, different technology vendors have looked at this market and tried to understand how they can develop technology that addresses the shortcomings of previous generations of systems. Improvements in chipset technology, chassis designs, HDD designs, Blu Ray optical players, cooling technology and s/w are all coming to fruition to meet the demands of Hi-Def content.

Do you take a lot of pictures? Do you like watching movies or enjoy listening to music? If so, then an HTPC might be for you. With a properly configured HTPC, you can do all of this and much, much more.

Pictures
Many people have digital cameras, in fact, more pictures are taken now than any other time since the invention of the camera. However, people rarely go back to view them more than once. They might share them via an online service or email a few pics around to friends/family, but the majority of them sit on a computer and never get viewed. With an HTPC, you have an easy way to access those pictures from the comfort of your couch. You can easily play them back in a slide show, with your favorite music in the back ground while you have friends over. It really is a great way to share those memories.

Music
With an HTPC, you can store your entire music library onto the HD with a simple click of a remote control. Imagine, every song you own on one HTPC that can be easily accessed anytime you want.

Videos and Movies
You can easily store your vacation videos and play them back anytime you like. You can even rent the latest movies online and stream them over the internet without ever having to leave your home. Add a Blu Ray optical drive to your system along with a s/w player like Arcsoft’s Total Media Theater and you can even playback Blu Ray movies with your HTPC, again all without keyboard or mouse.

Internet TV (IPTV)
You want to see the latest Viral Videos? No problem. You want to see trailers for the latest movies playing at the theater or coming out on DVD? It’s a few remote clicks away. You want the latest news and sports info, piece of cake!

You want HD content? There is a great deal of HD content out on the internet. Applications like Hulu, TV Tonic, Brightcove TV, etc provide some great, professional level and even broadcast content over the internet. Likewise, the major broadcasts networks make much of their content available online as well. You can find cooking shows, woodworking shows, technology review shows, travel shows, etc. much of it in beautiful Hi-Def. and best of all, much of it is FREE! Many of these programs are ad based (like regular TV) while other sources of internet content are subscription based. To see just how much content is out there, click here:

http://www.maingearforums.com/showpo...2&postcount=13

Broadcast and Cable TV
If you add a TV Tuner to your HTPC, you can even get your local broadcast television channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, etc.) in full, high definition, again…FREE.

Add a Digital Cable Tuner (aka OCUR) and you can even access many of your favorite Premium Cable channles like HBO, The Movie Channel, etc. right on your HTPC. A digital cable tuner and a cable card from your cable provider can turn your HTPC into your Cable like Set Top Box eliminating the need of a STB from your cable company.

Digital Cable Tuners and/or OCUR solutions are only available from OEM vendors and System Integrators (like Maingear) and not available to the DIY community.

DVR/PVR (aka Time Shifting)
Do you like to watch TV but don't always have time? With an HTPC, you can use it just like a Digital Video Recorder (DVR). Record your favorite shows for later viewing. Pause TV, Rewind TV, Skip Commercials, etc.

Internet Radio
With an HTPC, you can access thousands of internet radio stations. You can find just about any type of music and genre you could possibly imagine. Programs like Microsoft Vista MCE give you access to thousands of internet radio stations and again, most of it is free with your HTPC.

Extend that Experience
With an HTPC and an extender (like Xbox 360 or other DMA device), you can even access the content on your HTPC on a second or more screens in your home. An extender provides remote access of the content on the HTPC over your home network. Similarly, with the right home network setup, you can access much of the content on an HTPC from your other PCs in the home.

Amplified Audio
Now, you can even turn your HTPC into a high quality stereo amplifier. With the inclusion 5.1 amplfier card, you can enjoy the complete home theater experience in glorius, booming surround sound. Having a great video experience on your HTPC is one thing, but when you combine great video with a high performance integrated amplfier, movies explode off the screen and music rattles the walls.

Home Control/Automation
With an HTPC, you can even set it up for Home Automation and Control. There are few competing technologies that enable this type of functionality, but by adding Zigbee, Z-Wave, UPB, etc type devices, you can control lighting, HVAC, Alarm Systems, lighting, etc. all right from your HTPC. Typically, these devices require some s/w application support in addtion to h/w, however it is rather impresive the type of advanced things you can do with an HTPC.

Place Shifting
Typically known as "Place Shifting" your HTPC can even serve you content while you are at a remote location (i.e. traveling, etc). Similar to things like a Sling Box, your HTPC can serve media to you while you are outside the home from just about any internet enabled system. Perhaps you are on vacation overseas and want to catch the local news. If your HTPC is set up to record the news, you can access that info from a local internet enabled system.

Syncing to your Personal Media Players
Take your content with you. Sync your PMP to your HTPC and you can transcode your favorite content on the HTPC (including recorded TV, etc) to your media player and take it with you when you travel.

Some of the things mentioned in this write up require a more advanced type set up and are often better left to a professional installer, however all of it can be done on an HTPC when properly configured and installed.

HTPCs a great way to access and enjoy digital entertaiment content and the technology is now much more mature making these solutions availalble at an affordable price. All of it controlled with a single remote.

Add a keyboard and mouse and guess what? You have a fully functional PC that can do all that stuff as well.

Imagine, one HTPC that is your STB, Amplfier, DVD or Blu Ray player, music jukebox, video jukebox, internet TV box that can hold all your vacation videos, photos, music. One box, in a simple to use form factor that is remote operated to meet all your entertainment needs!

See what I am talking about in this thread on my blog. I have screenshots, etc showing many of the features listed above. I will also have more details on h/w and s/w that are changing the way we use our PC's to consume entertainment content.

http://links.amd.com/sl6w