Why do people build HTPC?

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

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Ok, I am a little bit confused here...

Intel i3 CPU is like £100, add in the rest of the stuff, i am going to guess you need at least £300 all in for the tower, or even more if you have no spare parts for things like keyboard or mouse.

Apple TV 2 (when it was on sale) was £99, JB and put on XBMC, point it at your files.

Same thing? Comes with remote, job done for 1/3 or 1/4 th of the price?

Or other media streamer like WD Live?

What am I missing?
 
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So it's not strictly a HTPC then?

I am guessing HT stands for Home Theatre.

Technically my iMac is close enough to my TV to be connected with HDMI so I could play games with the i7, 680GT in it but its not a HTPC to me :p
 
Raymond Lin said:
So it's not strictly a HTPC then?
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It is as I also use it for movies/Netflix/music etc


And I don't think calling it a desktop PC would sound right...;)
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chaparral said:
It is as I also use it for movies/Netflix/music etc
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Yours is slightly different I guess. I mean those who buy an i3 processor or similar and build it from scratch, not quick enough for latest games gaming and the purpose of Home Theatre.

This was the original question. The question wasn't why spend over a thousand on an i7 gaming machine and use it to watch movies too. :)
 
Raymond Lin said:
The question wasn't why spend over a thousand on an i7 gaming machine and use it to watch movies too. :)
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If someone going build an HTPC only for watching movies
then you can build one for really cheap out of low spec secondhand parts

I first built my HTPC from my old desktop PC Components when I upgraded my main desktop PC..
 
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My 'HTPC' is more my everday PC than it is an HTPC, now that I've taken the freeview PCI card out of it & put a satellite PCI card in it instead. only to discover that the manufacturer has not released any windows 8 drivers and the windows 7 drivers don't work in windows 8. FTR the freeview PCI card doesn't work properly in windows 8 either. :rolleyes:
 
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What puzzles me is when you get people putting in a i5 CPU, 4GB RAM, maybe more and a fairly powerful GPU into a HTPC, that is used solely as a HTPC. Makes sense if it also serves as a gaming machine; but for just HTPC use, that's some serious overkill. Maybe some people like using a hammer to crack a nut. :p

It can be costly though to build one from scratch, given that a there are many media players that will do as good a job for a fraction of the price; so I can see why Raymond is puzzled why people spend a few £100 building a HTPC.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Yours is slightly different I guess. I mean those who buy an i3 processor or similar and build it from scratch, not quick enough for latest games gaming and the purpose of Home Theatre.

This was the original question. The question wasn't why spend over a thousand on an i7 gaming machine and use it to watch movies too. :)
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An i3 sandybridge or ivybridge is more than adequate for any games out there- even bf3 which is meant to be more optimized for quad core runs gravy on an i3 with a good gpu.

I built a htpc as imo its the slickest pvr solution out there. If I could legally get some kind of tivo or sky card which worked with windows media center, I would be all over it! My tivo box is so slow and clunky in comparison to my htpc and if I decided to go back to freeview than I would use a htpc without any hesitation.

Combine that with a blu ray player and decent gaming performance, its an all in one box :)
 
Next thing are the accessories like the case it needs to go in, quiet fans and reliable PSU. it all adds up. Best to go 2nd hand if your on a budget, if not then buy all new and spend spend spend!
 
If you say buy secondhand parts for HTPC...I saw a WD Live box went in MM for £30. Don't think you can build any PC for that little cash, a BR player new is like £50 so for £80 it pretty much have everything covered. Granted it won't play any games but its not a gaming machine.

So I still don't get it, if you just want a HT box...why go HTPC route? Fair enough if you use it for something else.
 
Speed, reliability, full blown options for networking, customisation, Bluray, looks, being upgradeable, format support, web browsing and its more satisfying than just sticking a crapple TV under the tele.

I love mine but I do have a WDTV Live Air in the bedroom and would never replace my HTPC with one.
 
Raymond Lin said:
So I still don't get it, if you just want a HT box...why go HTPC route? Fair enough if you use it for something else.
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I think you've pretty much answered your own question there. Most people with a HTPC will use it for something else, whether it be as a way of browsing internet on their tv, playing games (maybe even the odd bit of solitaire), being able to use bbc iplayer, itv player, 4od, and being able to play ANY format of video.

I know that some boxes like the WD Live, etc are very good at doing the majority of these but there are always some limitations such as on file types it can play or only being able to access some of the online services.

I personally have a Synology NAS connected to my PS3 which does enough for me.

To throw a curveball in there, Raspberry Pi as a HTPC?
 
This is a very interesting discussion. I have a WDTV, a Pioneer AV receiver and an Xbox. I want an Apple TV now. Although my receiver can pass audio through airplay, I want to be able to play video over airplay also. I wish I had initially spent the cash on a HTPC as this is not restricted to firmware updates. It gives you the freedom to play music/video through your tv without all of this "app" bs. The Xbox will allow me to watch iplayer (on wdtv also), 4OD, Demand5 etc but I have to pay a subscription to Xbox live for the privilege, something I've not yet done. An Atv2 with XBMC is probably what I want to avoid paying a subscription to watch iplayer etc though I wish I had just built a HTPC in the first place. I'd have a lot less cables behind my tv too!
 
A lot of the streamers you are taking about Raymond don't support all time types, ATV doesn't do 1080 iirc and I don't think it also supports the HD audio codecs like Dolby MA.
I personally use a boxee box which has handled pretty much everything I've thrown at it. Apart from an annoying issue with clipping on HD audio files it's brilliant.
Now as soon as someone gets HD audio working on a raspberry pi, I'll be switching to that as my "htpc"
 
I am planning to build myself a HTPC as I don't like the pre-builts. I want a freeview tuner or two and bluray.

Better not cost me much over £300.
 
A masochistic desire to strive for the unobtainable??? :D

Seriously though, it's only relatively recently that the technology and the internet services have been available to make small cheap boxes a viable alternative to a HTPC build. It's the same with any advancing technology, and it's easy to stand on the shoulders of giants and forget the efforts and investment made by the pioneers so that you can now have a cheap bit of "nearly does it all" technology by the side of your TV.

The price gap may be growing between HTPS and small boxes, but there are still things that a HTPC/games machine can do that are either too complex or that require multiple boxes when using off the shelf solutions.

A HTPC isn't for you. That's fine. For that reason it will be hard for you to understand why someone goes down that route. Equally, your choice wouldn't be right for them. Swings and roundabouts. Live and let live.
 
I agree. If it's just for movies I'd get an all in one or something

Mine is a gaming unit too (7850 and I3 2120)
 
I built an HTPC , so I can play any of my media , record tv shows and also have client PC's in the house connecting to it to watch tv
It has freeview HD and freesat HD cards so I can to all the usual pause live tv /record etc
 
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