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Hardware Hacking

The Year of the HTPC 295

Posted by CmdrTaco from the still-waitin-for-mine dept.
An anonymous reader writes "While home theater PC hardware was once limited to a few specialized companies, those days are long gone and home theater computing is now big business. At this year's CES every hardware company, no matter their size or area of interest, brought a some cool new products too and no one forgot about the burgeoning home theater market. This fervor for home theater PCs was evident all over the show, but it mainly manifested itself in computer cases. This article goes over an extensive list of the products seen there."
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The Year of the HTPC More

The Year of the HTPC

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  • Myth TV is the way to go for HTPC (Score:5, Insightful)

    by IntelliAdmin ( 941633 ) * on Thursday January 12, 2006 @04:17PM (#14458148) Homepage
    Any discussion of home theater PCs needs to start with the open source solution Myth TV [mythtv.org] It works with open standards - unlike the Media PC from Microsoft that keeps you from doing just about anything with your recorded shows.

    • Re:Myth TV is the way to go for HTPC (Score:4, Informative)

      by dada21 ( 163177 ) * <adam.dada@gmail.com> on Thursday January 12, 2006 @04:23PM (#14458210) Homepage Journal
      unlike the Media PC from Microsoft that keeps you from doing just about anything with your recorded shows.

      Except watch them.

      I've run MCE from day 1. I have a great HT-LAN at my homes, and it never fails. I'm very happy, so is the wife.

      I've tried Myth on 7 platforms over the past 2 years or so. Ugh. Frustration on top of anger. No thanks.

      I hear they've come a long way, so I'll try again soon. I'm a geek, and the problems I've had were commonly found on forums -- without solutions.

      MS' MCE tech support has fixed all my glitches over the phone in a day or less.
      • You must not have actually tried MythTV, and only thought you did. I generally only have junk equipment around, bad tuner cards, and other weird crap. Every single time I install MythTV, from KnopMyth [mysettopbox.tv], it works like a charm -- no compiling of kernels, no wacky config changes. MythTV recommends the PVR-250, which I haven't bought yet. Still, it works using one of those El Cheapo ATI tuner cards, even if it is a little slow. And you had trouble?

        You can always talk to Microsoft technical support!
        • Admittadely, I was trying to install onto a Debian installation, but I spent a weekend trying to get MythTV to work with my Hauppauge DVB-T card. In the end, it kinda worked, as long as you didn't want to change channel more than once between reboots. I'm not a professional sys-admin, but I do manage a handful of servers as part of my job, and have nearly a decade of Linux experience, so it's not just me being a newbie...

          Personally, have had great success with the EyeTV (Mac) hardware/software combination,
        • What an irritating post.

          MythTV (from Knoppmyth) gave me plenty of trouble installing it. I solved all the problems I had (with help from the forums) but the total installation was about a day. Your implication that MythTV installation is simple enough that you have a right to insult those who had trouble with it makes me doubt whether YOU have actually tried MythTV.

          I will say this: MythTV is incredible for something you get for free. I hope it continues to develop to the point that I would use it instead of
          • If you have the *right* equipment, a knoppmyth install takes less than an hour. (on my 700MHz P3)

            Start with a PVR-250 and go from there.

            I can easily imagine being similarly frustrated with the MS equivalent if you have unsupported hardware... so, I think it really depends on matching the software and hardware.
            • Unless you want to do something useful. Like watch more than OTA or non-digital programming. In which case you'll have to set up an IR blaster. That's going to quadruple the 1 hour estimate at least. Then if you want to add a second tuner which you also want to do something useful add another couple hours.

              Don't get me wrong. If you want a single tuner MythTV box which only needs to capture non-digital cable or OTA broadcast you can have it inside an hour. But the learning curve is steep after th
      • I love my MCE as well but I wish MCE would handle Divx better. I finally got around to upgrading the CPU from an Athlon 1000 to a Semperon 2400 because it was running a little unreliably at such a slow speed. Generally worked fine but would cock up in certain circumstances.

        My only issues are that it doesn't like divx playback (no FF/RW), the music playlist selection is crap, and the OEM remote is total crap. I'll occasionally have to pull the batteries to short the terminals because it stops working and t

        • I've been using the niveus remote for mine, was a bit of a pain to get it configured, but usable for the tv, stereo etc.. I am using digital out to my receiver, and have the vol at 100% in mce, then mapped the volume/mute on the remote for all devices to use the receiver's volume.. works well..

          running an athlon 64 2800+ (754, got it cheap) with a last-gen nvidia motherboard, using an mx440 and the evga tv card, was mainly a cheap test to see if I would like it. Honestly, love it, upgrading to a more a/v
          • I don't know about MCE - requisite Windows won't install properly on our designated PVR box. However, MythTV works fine. A couple of observations. MythTV uses XML formats to build its on screen displays, and has hooks for displaying external data as well. So the artwork and menus can be changed suitably. I assume you knew this, and therefore are referring to UI functionality, and not "slickness". Because I can't review MCE, I wouldn't mind a run-down on the features that are slicker.

            Ratboy
        • If it makes you feel any better, XBMC on Xbox has problems FF/REW MPEG4 movies, too. Granted, that has a P3-733...
      • Here's all it took to get it working for me with a DVB-T card in australia:

        1. install ubuntu (default preferences, all it asked me was for a username and password)
        2. add (via gui, easy to do) the "universe" and "multiverse" repositories (a click list is already there)
        3. go to software installer, tell it to grab "mythtv"
        4. run mythtv-setup, give it the names of my channels and so on
        5. enjoy
    • Bah. MythTV hasn't had a release in over 6 months now, and I'm not very familiar with the Linux internals to make it all work pretty.

      In the meantime, I'll save the cash from my time by downloading and running SnapStream's BeyondTV: http://www.snapstream.com/ [snapstream.com]

      Ok ... it's not a Linux solution, but it runs well out-of-the-box with a large number of tuner cards and is a pretty slick-running device. Records to MPEG-2 and DivX, which is really pretty nice.
    • MythTv and cool new cases are great but IMHO it won't be "The year of the HTPC" until someone comes out with a cablecard v2 capable, hdtv capable capture card. Right now you're basically SOL if you want to capture anything but over the air HD content (which rules out a lot of great programming). If you want to view digital cable (all channels are digital in my area) or satelite you need a STB and some sort of IR blaster (none of which are elegant). And you can't get HDTV that way, even if the STB decodes

  • XBMC (Score:5, Informative)

    by resonance ( 106398 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @04:18PM (#14458161) Homepage
    Microsoft sure missed the boat on this one - a chipped xbox with Xbox Media Center blows away any HTPC setup I've ever seen. Plays every format, runs happily on your network, simple to use, great interface....

  • Mini (Score:4, Interesting)

    by mysqlrocks ( 783488 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @04:18PM (#14458164) Homepage Journal
    Most of those are pretty big. I think I'll stick with my Mac Mini as the controller for my home theater system. It does the job quite well and is quite small even with an external 250 GB HD.

  • MediaPortal (Score:5, Interesting)

    by charnov ( 183495 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @04:19PM (#14458167) Homepage Journal
    Build your own. MediaPortal is great and coming along fast. OpenSource MCE.

    http://www.team-mediaportal.com/ [team-mediaportal.com]

    • Re:MediaPortal (Score:2, Informative)

      by Mr._Galt ( 608248 )
      MediaPortal is written by the same guy(s) that did XBMC for the xbox. No suprise that its shaping up to be another great app.
    • Pardon my ignorance, but what is the difference between MediaPortal and Myth TV? And Freevo?

      • Re:MediaPortal (Score:2, Informative)

        by enrico_suave ( 179651 )
        "Pardon my ignorance, but what is the difference between MediaPortal and Myth TV? And Freevo?"

        MediaPortal is on windows. The other two are linux based.

        All are OSS.

        The main difference between mythtv and freevo is approach/architecture. Mythtv has a larger feature set (which some would call bloat) than Freevo. But I think it depends on what features and approach is important to you.

        e.
      • MediaPortal is native to Windows, MythTV is native to Linux. As for Freevo, I can't honestly say I've heard of it.

  • MythTV for me! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by drewzhrodague ( 606182 ) <drew@zhroda g u e .net> on Thursday January 12, 2006 @04:22PM (#14458196) Homepage Journal
    In spite of the ever impending arrival of computer set-tops, I have yet to see even 10% of my coworkers with a Tivo (and I work with some pretty hardcore software developers). Personally, I find more functionality from an actual PC with MythTV, that I have seen from an actual Tivo, one of those Panasonic PVRs, or the thing Comcast has been pushing on us. How come few of these manufacturers 'get it'?
    • Because they ALL want to lock you into "their format". And will do anything to avoid playing "the other guy's" format. See DiVX and XViD support.

      In my mind, anything that CAN'T play DiVX or XViD is already dead on arrival.

  • Oh, no! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Barbara, not Barbie ( 721478 ) <barbara.hudson@gmail.BLUEcom minus berry> on Thursday January 12, 2006 @04:23PM (#14458217) Journal

    ... one more remote for the men to play with ...

    I already count 7 remotes. TV, VCR, DVD, AC, Stereo, and a couple others that I don't even know what they're for. I know - I'm not supposed to know what they're for - its a "guy thing" ... right :-(.

    ... next, you'll be wanting a remote so you can turn me off instead of talking to ... *click*

    • Re:Oh, no! (Score:4, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 12, 2006 @04:27PM (#14458249)
      ... next, you'll be wanting a remote so you can turn me off instead of talking to ... *click*

      Ummm, most men want the remote to turn women ON. No off.

      • Ummm, most men want the remote to turn women ON. No off.

        ... not when you say "Can we talk?"

        ... and expecially when you say "We have to talk."

        Men definitely want an OFF button for that ... Its the women who wish men would find a way, any way (but not a remote, please - I saw that movie) to turn us ON.

        • Re:Oh, no! (Score:3, Interesting)

          by geekoid ( 135745 )
          Find a better man.
          I listen to my wife, and have 1 remote that control me dvd/vcr/tv.

          I am not the only guy like that.

          So, get someone who respects you.

          Not to be confused with "obeys your every thought and wants to listen to an endless amount of trivial yammering".

          And as far as a remote to turn you on, well there is the science of teledildonics to hold you over until you get a good man.

          • Re:Oh, no! (Score:2, Informative)

            by Barbara, not Barbie ( 721478 )

            Find a better man.
            I listen to my wife, and have 1 remote that control me dvd/vcr/tv.

            I am not the only guy like that.

            So, get someone who respects you.

            ... as you pointed out, there are men like you ... the problem is, while they come with only one remote, they usually, like you, have another accessory - one wife. Unfortunately, there aren't enough men like that.

            Maybe I should look into this HTPC thing and search the shopping channel for one?

      • Re:Oh, no! (Score:2, Funny)

        by IAAP ( 937607 )
        Ummm, most men want the remote to turn women ON. No off.

        But a mute button would be nice!

    • Seriously, get a Harmony remote. The 2nd best electronics purchase I've ever made. (Tivo was my first).

      It will make you (and wife/gf?) very happy.

      They really do work as well as advertised.
      • Seriously, I just got a Harmony 520. I have programmed Pronto remotes before, and if you are really hard core there are some shortcomings to the Harmonies, but for most people they work very well and are pretty painless to set up.

        A few advantages:

        1. My entire family can use it. Most of those people are very non-technical
        2. Activity based with smart state: Have a stupid cable box that doesn't have discreet on and off commands? The remote remembers what it has turned on and off so that when it goes from
    • you should probably pony up for one of those cool harmony remotes and integrate all the functions into one remote. Plus it handles things better. you hit "watch TV" button and it will send all the IR commands to turn on the TV, select the appropriate input, turn on cable box, audio receiver, set that to the right input, etc... instead of fumbling with 3 or 4 remotes *shrug* I don't have one, but that's my understanding.
    • I have it all setup under 1 remote including media center... the volume works off of the receiver irregardless of which device you are using (mce, vcr, xbox etc).

    • Re:Oh, no! (Score:3, Informative)

      by slaker ( 53818 )
      There is a wonderful and beautiful thing made by Logitech, called a Harmony Remote Control. They seem very expensive (I think they start at about $75) at first, but unlike all the crappy "all in one" remotes you might've seen before, Harmony remotes really DO let you go from 7 remotes down to just one.

      They attach to a PC with a USB cable, and rather than screwing around with a book of device codes, the Harmony software does an interview with you to find out what hardware you have and how you have it hooked

  • This all looks good, on the outside ... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by 2TecTom ( 311314 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @04:28PM (#14458264) Homepage Journal
    Hey, don't get me wrong ... it's looking good. However, what about the inside? I mean, when do we get software that actually works as advertised?

    Thank goodness for open hardware standards. Now, if only the software industry had some integrity. After all, if cars crashed as much as software, people would walk.
    • I'm not sure your point. I've not used MythTV, but people seem pretty happy with it. I'm using Meedio, which works exactly as advertised. Once their Meedio TV software can handle more HDTV cards, I'll be looking at getting that as well. It's flexible software with an open interface that allows anyone to write plugins for it (in a variety of languages). Sure, it runs on Windows, but if you're comfortable enough running linux, you should be comfortable enough messing around with MythTV.

  • Cases? That's the innovation this year? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Red Flayer ( 890720 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @04:29PM (#14458269) Journal
    "This fervor for home theater PCs was evident all over the show, but it mainly manifested itself in computer cases."

    You're kidding me, right? That's like people buying cars based on how cool looks like, or people buying gaming rigs based upon how their l33t ca53 pwns... oh wait. Never mind.

    Seriously, though, I want my home theater PC to be invisible. A remote control and an IR receiver on the wall next to the screen. My wife heartily agrees (I think she's the one who convinced me) -- any electronics need to be in the cabinet or in the wall.
    • Seriously, though, I want my home theater PC to be invisible

      Its innovative case design that makes visual and auditory blending possible. Small footprint, etc. Which is the main attraction for HTPC cases, not the flashy doodads of the "l33t" rigs, which you are envisioning. So yes, case design is a legitimate criteria to use in purchasing a HTPC.

    • Re:Cases? That's the innovation this year? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by TheFlyingGoat ( 161967 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @04:45PM (#14458405) Homepage Journal
      So build your HTPC in a normal case and put it in another room. Get a RF remote and run the wires to your TV and receiver through the wall. Since most HTPC software has really good OSD messaging, you really don't need it in the room for any reason.

      I'm remodeling my basement right now and will be building a second HTPC to be located in the laundry room behind my home theater. It makes sense since the projector will be back there too. Since I'll insulate that wall, I won't ever hear the HTPC and I won't ever see it.

      My current HTPC is in a Coolermaster case. It looks really nice with the rest of my home theater equipment, and I've actually gotten a few compliments just on the case. It was only $100, so it's around the cost of any other well made case.
    • This [xyzcomputing.com] unit is larger than *any* computer I have ever owned! We were complaining about the size of the media labeled "clunky" HD-DVD players that were "showcased" this year and somehow these are popular?

      IMHO, my Mac Mini is still a little too large for my media center. I want something TINY, super tiny, and super slim.

      Sorry, these behemoths just won't cut it.
    • Yes what was it?
      that my friend, was the sound of the whip....The pussy whip.

      Crraaaaack!

      • Sure I'm whipped. But one's gotta have pussy in order to be whipped -- so I don't mind so much :)

        Seriously though, it's much more peaceful for me in my home since I've put all the wiring in the walls, all the electronics in cabinets (mostly built-ins I made), etc. My projects are in the basement, where the wife is not allowed (that just means she doesn't want to go down there at all).

  • I've been commercial free for 3 years now with my SageTv and haven't looked back!

    http://religiousfreaks.com/ [religiousfreaks.com]

  • Overhead projector + LCD panel = home theater (Score:4, Informative)

    by Nick Gisburne ( 681796 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @04:32PM (#14458294) Homepage
    I don't go for all this integrated malarky. I bought an overhead projector, added an LCD panel with video input, connected up my DVD player, and used a white bed sheet (oh yes) stretched out on a wooden frame (knocked together in minutes). There you go, a 6-foot wide screen, with REAL theater feel. And it only cost me £170 in total ($US 260?). Integrated my arse, I like to have hulking great machines for each and every task! I could hook up a games console but being attacked life-size creatures in shoot-em-ups would probably scare the crap out of me!

  • Various Options (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TheFlyingGoat ( 161967 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @04:35PM (#14458315) Homepage Journal
    There's a number of options for frontend and OS. There's obviously MythTV on Linux, Windows Media Center on Windows XP, etc. I'm personally running Meedio [meedio.com] on Windows XP.

    Before people start talking about how a Tivo and DVD player will do all the same stuff, keep in mind that there's far more applications for a HTPC. There's plugins to check weather, play games (emulation), look at traffic reports, get sports scores and highlights, and much more.

    I built my HTPC for around $400 plus hard drives (I'm around 1.5TB, which holds all the TV shows I want and the movies that I own). I just built one for a friend for $1000 which included 600GB of hard drive space and 2 wireless controllers (Logitech Rumblepad 2's work great for controlling the system and playing most emulator games). The really cool part is you can upscale movies if you want. I'd like to see someone get a Tivo (+ lifetime subscription) and DVD player capable of upscaling for $1000, completely ignoring the fact that it can do so many other things.
    • Wait a minute, you actually pay for your PVR software?!!?
      • You mean you've never paid for software before? Sure, there's plenty of free software out there, but nothing that I liked as much as Meedio. I tried out various software and decided on the one I liked most, regardless of cost. I got it on sale for $20, so it's negligible compared to the rest of the cost of the project.
    • Since most people haven't forked out $3000+ for a HDTV set, and won't, upscaling isn't very important in the near future. It'll take quite a while for prices to come down to reasonable levels, and by that time, upscaling DVD players will be cheap anyway.

  • mythtv (Score:2, Interesting)

    by pulse2600 ( 625694 )
    Anyone know what is going on with MythTV and Digital Cable or HDTV support? If I go myth I would like to know that I can get full res HDTV or to be able to get a "digital cable card" (does one even exist?) No sense in setting up a mythtv box if I don't know if I will be able to transition to these other technologies but companies like Microsoft can or eventually will.
    • MythTV works great with my HDPC3000 card for HDTV, and my Hauppauge 350 for old-school low-res cable.

    • Re:mythtv (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mrchaotica ( 681592 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @05:08PM (#14458593)
      Better start donating to the EFF, then, because the media industry and Microsoft aren't going to let a CableCard get anywhere near a system that doesn't support Treacherous Computing without a fight!
      • from what i've read internally, the Cable Companies are a much bigger slice of that problem than Microsoft.

        MS is only pro-DRM in the sense that, without any DRM, content providers wont get onboard with PCs, and if there is going to be DRM, Microsoft might as well make it so that it at least works right in windows (and beacuse nobody could possibly write software worse than media companies...)

        Think about it from MS's perspective. Anytime something doesn't "just work", a user is potentially going to call for
      • Wrong. I have a CableCard right now.

        It looks like a PCMCIA card and may even have the same pinouts. Nonetheless, I learned from my CableCard installer that the Cable Co's are required by law to supply them.

        I have also recently seen an HDTV capture card with CableCard support. (can't find the link). Plug that in and voila -- you have your HD-PVR.

        • Re:WRONG! (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Jherek Carnelian ( 831679 )
          I have also recently seen an HDTV capture card with CableCard support. (can't find the link). Plug that in and voila -- you have your HD-PVR.

          This is at least the second post you have made with this claim. I challenge you to put up or shut up. Find that link. Then read the details on the other end. You will find that it doesn't work the way you think it works. The output of the card is encryped and locked up with DRM and will only play back on the systems the OP specified, i.e. treacherous computing sys

  • What about HDTV ? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Tiger4 ( 840741 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @04:37PM (#14458336)
    Now that HTPC has finally taken off, one more curve ball is coming: the final HDTV conversion in the US, this coming Dec! There are not that many direct HDTV capture cards out there, and there aren't many homebrew software packages that work with them. Not MythTV, not WinMCE, not any of the others. A year from now we'll have the coolest pices of obsolete hardware on the block.

    And while we're at it, who is working on the digital cable capture and the DVB dish problems? Proprietary hardware, encryption and signalling, means we pay the $$$ to see and record what they want us to see.

    • Re:What about HDTV ? (Score:5, Informative)

      by The Salamander ( 56587 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @04:44PM (#14458399)
      Myth works great with HD. Two cards that I have used are the air2pc and pcHDTV.

      I've had a PVR-500 (dual NTSC) and air2pc (single ATSC) server running for quite a long time now.

      I actually found HD (digital) to be much easier to setup than regular analog.
      • What about with non-antenna HD sources such as cable/satellite? (i.e. what most people that are making a HTPC are going to be using)

        Actually I am curious if there is anything like that out currently.
    • CableCard support is coming soon from ATI. See the AnandTech preview of ATI's OCUR [anandtech.com].
      • Actually it's not -- at least, not in any way that's actually useful. You know how I can tell? This paragraph from the article:

        Microsoft had originally promised to fix the HDTV support issues in the latest update to MCE, but concerns over DRM protection on HD content was raised and Microsoft's hands were forced into delaying the support until Windows Vista.

        That means that the HD won't work unless the OS supports Treacherous Computing, which is fundamentally incompatible with Free Software. This is beca

    • Although one irritating quirk is that in the current builds (MCE 2005 w/ Rollup #2, code named "Emerald"), MCE will not detect an ATSC tuner card unless an NTSC tuner is also installed.

      Multi-tuner HDTV from disjoint networks was a core scenario for Emerald. (i.e. MCE knows what your SD tuners have, what channels your HD tuner have, when shows show up both places that you prefer HD, etc)

      A co-worker tells me it works well, looks fabulous.

      CableCard is happening this year. Also, DirecTV has struck a deal with
    • One thing to consider: Cable Co's HAVE to offer a CableCard. By law. (at least, according to my cable guy who seemed VERY well informed)

      And a cablecard is the key to "decrypting" all of those cable signals. Think of the CableCard as a substitute for the cable box. It looks just like a PCMCIA card and may even have the same pinout (hacks anyone?). I've even seen HDTV capture cards with CableCard support built in.

      So that's how we will have some level of interoperability. I noticed the TiVO 3
  • Just buy an iPod and the upcoming Griffen Tunecenter [griffintechnology.com] - it finally does the one thing I've wanted from the video iPod - display a menu on the TV.

    Seems that most of the HTPC's I've run across just run into odd complications (usually because they won't just let me rip my DVD's to the hard drive, for fear of having the crap sued out of them). Which leaves either MythTV, or this iPod solution.
  • No, 3 years ago was the year for HTPCs. Back when a good CPU was 35 watts. When a Micro ATX case had a 150 watt power supply. Back when a single 80mm fan was good enough. Look at the rigs they are promoting now: a 430 watt power supply (a DVD player is probably 100 watts). Two 120mm fans. A full-size desktop case. Integrated LCD displays (none of my home theater equipment has or needs an LCD display). These things don't look or act at all like "home theater" devices. They are more like high-end gam
    • > The year of the HTPC will return when I see reasonable-priced PCs that are 2" tall, use 100 watts, and work with my existing universal remote control.

      In other words, the year of the HTPC will be the year of the car PC.

      Rant: It's 2006 already! Why is it that I'm still having to grab a cheap-ass $20 "SD-based player" with minimal/no support for playlists/etc, cut it up into little bits, solder some extension wires to a SecureDigital card slot from Digikey, and spend a weekend or two applying wood o

  • come on now please, I don't want to hear fans kicking in during a quiet passage of dialogue... where are the cases with passive heatsinks where the sink forms most of the case? fans are just a way of chugging the thing out quickly and cheaply without having to go to the trouble of actually designing a proper solution...
    • How about a Shuttle SD11G5 [shuttle.com]. It has an external power brick, heat sink on the CPU and a single fan.

      It uses the Pentium M chipset, so it doesn't draw a lot of power. Built-in Creative 7.1 sound, SPDIF in, SPDIF out, 1 PCI Express and 1 pci slot, and VGA/DVI onboard output. SFFTech Review [sfftech.com]. Shuttle's tests say that it's noise level is 24 dB.

  • The year of the big clunky HTPC? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by tji ( 74570 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @04:44PM (#14458401)
    Wow, all of those cases were huge. My preference has always been to put the minimal possible system connected to my display device, and put all the storage and other backend hardware in a cheap beige-box somewhere else.

    With MythTV, this works great. The backend houses the disks & receiver cards, the frontend just does display output, and they talk over the network.

    Some people have set up cool mini-itx type systems for the frontend, using either flash storage or network boot, to get the MythTV front end in a small quiet form. A really cool project is MythRoku [blogspot.com], which runs the MythTV frontend on the Roku HD Media Player (Linux based, embedded MIPS platform with hardware HD decoder). It's small and silent, and fits in well with home entertainment devices.

    My Mac Mini would also make an excellent MythTV frontend.. If Apple would get a fucking clue and enable an API to the MPEG2 acceleration hardware on the GPU. Without that, it doesn't have the horsepower to do HD display/decoding.

  • I am going through this (Score:5, Informative)

    by tacokill ( 531275 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @04:47PM (#14458419)
    I just went through this and am still trying to figure this out. I just got an HDTV. See my earlier post, here. [slashdot.org]

    In my previous post, I mentioned that my HTPC was the best looking device attached to my HDTV. I am now amending that to "2nd best" (hard to compete with a 1080i feed of DiscoveryHD).

    Nonetheless, I have noticed one major problem that needs to be resolved with HTPC's. The sound card. I've used many many different kinds of sound cards and without exception, ALL of them output stereo ONLY through the SPDIF/Coax. I just bought a Turtle Beach Montego and finally, I have found a card that can produce true 5.1 Dolby Digital on the fly. The rest advertise 5.1 and the like -- but what they mean is 5.1 when you pump the analog signal to their speakers. NOT 5.1 out of the digital-out.

    This is not a big deal for DVDs because most soundcards have Dolby digital pass through -- so they pass the 5.1 signal to your A/V receiver and it decodes the signal. However, for MP3's, downloaded movies, or anything else you are play on your HTPC, there is no real 5.1 solution --- unless you go with a Turtle Beach unit (or M-Audio, which I haven't tried). Yes, you can "simulate" but at the core, it's only a stereo feed with most sound cards.

    The second thing I have noticed, with respect to HTPC's is this: Why the hell don't the frontend software makers realize that MANY of us store our media (movies, tv, music) on network shares. Why is this a big deal? Because I fire up Windows MCE and I find out that, in order to play a movie from the network, it has to copy the movie to my local library first. You can't just play it over the network. It must first be copied to the local machines. WTF? I see this design a lot and I suspect its because many ppl are trying to run HTPC's over 802.11. Here's some advice: don't. Just suck it up and run the cable. Your life will be much better for it. Trust me. I tried every setup imaginable.

    These are just a few annoyances that I've encountered while setting up my HTPC. I don't yet have a capture card/TV card so I haven't gotten to setting up the TV part of this.

    The good news is that my setup (finally) works pretty damn well, all things considered. I agree this is the year of the HTPC because I've just been through it.


    With my Meedio system, I can do the following:
    a) Play XViD, DiVX, SVCD, or any other format directly from a network share
    b) Get weather, complete with radar images
    c) Play my mp3's -- like a music library w/ jukebox
    d) View photos as slideshow over a network share
    e) View and play streaming music (Shoutcast)
    f) Control the whole system with a remote control -- VERY IMPORTANT!!!


    • The best I have been able to stream with much success over any wireless network (b or g) is somewhere between VCD and SVCD quality. What I save in running a few 25' cables throughout the house -- I lose in CPU cycles transcoding everything to MPEG1 VCD quality so that I can stream shows across the network. Not to mention the possibiliy of having to transcode again to a format for something like a video Ipod or PSP.
    • "Why the hell don't the frontend software makers realize that MANY of us store our media (movies, tv, music) on network shares."

      Actually, most don't. They ain't seeling to you Tech boy, there selling to average Joe. Most of whom have a few shelves of DVDs and video cassettes.
      • Yea, I see what you are saying.

        But the only market for HTPC, right now, is "power users". Joe Average has no idea that an HTPC is even possible, sans MS Media Center. So when I say "MANY", I mean many power users. And yes, most of us know how to create a network share.

        And doesn't a network share make sense? Store your "stuff" in one place. Access it from many devices.

    • This is not a big deal for DVDs because most soundcards have Dolby digital pass through -- so they pass the 5.1 signal to your A/V receiver and it decodes the signal. However, for MP3's, downloaded movies, or anything else you are play on your HTPC, there is no real 5.1 solution --- unless you go with a Turtle Beach unit (or M-Audio, which I haven't tried). Yes, you can "simulate" but at the core, it's only a stereo feed with most sound cards.

      Is there really much content out there that has 5.1 but isn'

    • part of this might be an mpeg2 decoder limitation, some software decoders handles this better than others... I think nvidia pure video decoder, for example, you'd need the premium tier decoder, unless you just need pass-through from a 5.1 source... the other piece of the puzzle, I believe, is to get a sound card with dolby digital encoding. But you're right that 5.1 isn't always 5.1 despite what it says on the package.

      And always remember GIGO (garbage in, garbage out).

      I've heard good things about the mysti
    • "This is not a big deal for DVDs because most soundcards have Dolby digital pass through -- so they pass the 5.1 signal to your A/V receiver and it decodes the signal. However, for MP3's, downloaded movies, or anything else you are play on your HTPC, there is no real 5.1 solution --- unless you go with a Turtle Beach unit (or M-Audio, which I haven't tried). Yes, you can "simulate" but at the core, it's only a stereo feed with most sound cards."

      Actually you are not quite correct. Anything with DTS/DD will p
  • When will we get a PCI cable card reader for linux to work with the HD tuners...with that and a little more tweaking, Myth could bbe soooo much better than propriatery solutions.
  • ...but next year will be the year of the linux desktop! (no, no, seriously this time)
  • Build your own PVR [byopvr.com] but then again that's probably no surprise ;)

    also a very good resource: HTPCnews [htpcnews.com]

  • Those things are huge (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Animats ( 122034 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @05:24PM (#14458724) Homepage
    Those cases are huge! They look like a PC/AT, circa 1984. This stuff needs some serious downsizing.

  • Uh, does anybody but me remember... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Jepler ( 6801 ) <jepler@unpythonic.net> on Thursday January 12, 2006 @05:25PM (#14458741) Homepage
    ... the time when the mark of a real computer was that you couldn't hook it up to your TV, unlike your Commodore 64?
  • Presently my living room has 3 HTPCs. A control unit for web browsing, MP3 playing and VNC control of two others. The second box is a dedicated SageTV box which serves as a PVR. Finally my DIY projector runs off of a dedicated PC under VNC control. For the moment we are ignoring the PS2 and the XBox.
  • I just don't get the whole HTPC thing. I don't *want* my computer involved in my daily tv watching.

    If I have something that needs permanent archiving, *then* I transfer it from the tivo to the computer.

  • Linux and Upscaling? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by fyrie ( 604735 )
    I have my win HTPC hooked up to LCD projection HDTV. Under windows I can use either nVidia's PureVideo technology or FFDSHOW to do the whole upscaling routine of resize, denoise, yadda yadda yadda. Anyone who has used either of the above can attest to how much better the video quality is compared to straight upscaling.

    Are there any alternative in Linux that produce an image of FFDSHOW quality?

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