HTPC OS - Advice required

Lumeycom

Lumeycom

Lumeycom

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31 Jan 2008
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Hey guys :)

I'm going to build a HTPC soon to play encoded DVD's (I hate having to find dvd's etc so they come out of the box once to be put on storage). I've been using a XBOX and XBMC for a very long time and I love the simplicity of it but i'd like to get ready for my move to HDTV so will need to move to a HTPC as the xbox just cant cope with anything aside from standard tv :(

I've reasearched what i need spec wise but I'm a bit stumped on what os/front end to run. I dont need any pvr abilities, just something to play video content from remote storage on my little home network. I'd like to not have to spend ages faffing around configuring and updating week after week, just something thats gonna work as well as XBMC.

Apologies if this has been covered before, i've tried searching to no avail.

Thanks!
 
I've heard lots of very positive things about the media centre that comes with Vista Premium/ultimate.
If you want to get your hands dirty you could use Myth TV on Linux
What I personally would recommend is to get a Mac Mini as your HTPC and use the Front Row as a front end or install Vista on and use that. The advantage with the mac is that its very quiet as well as small and good looking, has a remote with it and can run any OS.

If you only want to watch videos and listen to music you might want to consider a dedicated box such as the Apple TV or the Pinnacle AV streamers.
 
Avoid vista if you want bit perfect digital sound, have a look into Linux if you don't mind tinkering. I'd probably go for XP personally...
 
MikeHunt79 said:
Avoid vista if you want bit perfect digital sound, have a look into Linux if you don't mind tinkering. I'd probably go for XP personally...
Click to expand...


Why avoid Vista for bit perfect sound? It's far better than XP in that respect.
 
MikeHunt79 said:
Well it's fiddley to say the least, you have to use Foobar and ASIO drivers...
Click to expand...

You have to do that for XP without any "hacks" to get around kmixer.sys.

Vista has built in bit perfect sound, as it's sound setup is brand new, no longer is all audio resampled to 44khz 16bit...
 
Hxc said:
You have to do that for XP without any "hacks" to get around kmixer.sys.

Vista has built in bit perfect sound, as it's sound setup is brand new, no longer is all audio resampled to 44khz 16bit...
Click to expand...

email me in trust

pieman109 said:
I'd like to know this as well or do you have to use summat like power DVD "ultimate" (or whatever its called)? this is using XP professional as an operating system:)
Click to expand...

You too...
 
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