I received an email yesterday wondering what exactly an HTPC is, and why wouldn’t I just hook up an inexpensive computer to my flat panel for music, pics, DVD, and video? As I told George, that’s exactly what I’ve done.
A Home Theater PC (HTPC) is more of a usage concept rather than a specific piece of a hardware. Generally speaking, one would want an HTPC to have at least one tuner (ATSC, NTSC, DVB-*, CableCARD), an appropriate video card for HD playback, and some sort of software package(s) to power it all. In my case, I’ve temporarily repurposed an inexpensive HP desktop (a1600n) which ran ~$650 18 months ago. (Vista was a free upgrade by mail.) Because the unit lives in the open, instead of within an AV closet or another room, I purposely sought out a fanless video card to limit noise. Under XP, Microsoft’s media center + DVR software was initially an upsell (XP MCE) and initially only provided to OEMs. Whereas typical multimedia-centric consumer Vista systems (Premium, Ultimate) now include this functionality. (And Apple offers Front Row.) So it’s pretty easy to get into the game. HTPCs provide a whole lot more power and flexibility than a typical DVR or extender, but they’re not necessarily economical and require a larger investment of time in configuration and maintenance than a dedicated consumer electronics device.
And speaking of Vista Media Center (VMC)… I’ve been hounding some of my pals for good sources of info (plugins!), in addition to the AVS and Green Button forums. Jason Unger (CEPro) directed me to several PDF presentations on optimizing MCE from the recent Media Center University @ EHX. But I’m still on the lookout for the definitive list of must-have VMC enhancements. Chris?