![](/boards/images/icons/default/book.gif) Re: HTPC
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 8,488 Likes: 1
axiomite
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axiomite
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 8,488 Likes: 1 |
I am completely with capn_pickard on this topic. My BD player and D*TV DVR are superior in every way to the PC versions.
bibere usque ad hilaritatem
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![](/boards/images/icons/default/book.gif) Re: HTPC
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 738
aficionado
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aficionado
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 738 |
I have an Asus Oplay media player (actually have two of them). They sell for around $100. It supports 1080p and the new HD audio formats via HDMI, plays just about every media file known to man, and has a USB port for thumb drives and SD cards plus much more. There is also a wireless version for a few more bucks. The interface isn't the best, but it works and it is much cheaper than buying / or building a new computer. I use this thing every day and works great but I do recommend using the wired for 1080p media. http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1350/1/
paul
Axiom M80, VP180, Qs8, EP500 Epson 3020 Rotel RB-880 Denon AVR-990
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![](/boards/images/icons/default/book.gif) Re: HTPC
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 738
aficionado
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aficionado
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 738 |
I let the people of the Internet pull in the shows from OTA, or what ever source, edit out the commercials, encode them into H.264, and pack them into MKV files. I just fill up my HDs with the shows (and eventually buy them on BD when available).
I find most every show I want to see, but I've not looked for anything from those three example channels you gave. I use www.Thepiratebay.orgor www.torrentday.comand usually find everything I am looking for. I tend to like torrent day better. I find the quality is just as good as the original HD broadcast without the commercials. I actually don't have a need for a PVR.
paul
Axiom M80, VP180, Qs8, EP500 Epson 3020 Rotel RB-880 Denon AVR-990
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![](/boards/images/icons/default/book.gif) Re: HTPC
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Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 313
devotee
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OP
devotee
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 313 |
Meh. I think the HTPC thing has its place, but also its limitations.
I use a PC to store my pics and music and, for a time, considered converting all my DVDs onto it to act as a server (made especially easy with Windows 7 and a home network). But, alas, the time to rip all those movies and the space to store them on became too much to overcome. In addition, then I would be in a position where I could not lend out the movies to friends or take them with me on vacation.
Consider this: To rip 250 DVDs it was going to take up somewhere north of 1TB at compressed (4/9) rates. Since I didn't have a couple of TBs laying around (I would insist on backing this data up, hence the need for 2TB for each 1TB ripped), I thought about selling my DVDs off once I ripped them. By my modest calculation, I would probably get somewhere in the ballpark of $300 - $500 for the collection depending on how they were sold off (as a lot, or individual titles), with all the hassle that comes with it. I might come out marginally ahead, with a slick movie server to show off to my friends. But what for? I would lose, of course, the ability, to share movies with friends or take them with me in the car to entertain the kids on long trips. Nevermind that each movie would take about 30mins to rip (total elapsed time = 125 hours or just under a full week of ripping, if you took no breaks). No thanks.
In any event, I didn't find there to be any audio or video advantages to playing them on my PC. If anything, the video was slightly degraded. (Toss in the problems with playing uncompressed High Def sound with the PC and the whole thing was dead in the water).
As a music and pictures server, the computer is great. For everything else (including recorded TV - who doesn't have/need a cable box these days anyway?), I find the source to simply be superior in every way.
If you think the PC will be a one stop shop for all your media, unfortunately, I don't think that's the case. It's a nice compliment to a cable box and DVD/Blu Ray player, but it doesn't take the place of either. Can you tell me how it's superior to HTPC? It seems that some of the new ones are supposed to do pass through for audio through HDMI in DTS and True HD. THe blu-ray play back is also said to be as good as the real thing, but I'm not really sure if that is true. Having all my movies and shows available without having to fumble around with blu-rays is a really attractive option for me. But I do not want performance to suffer. I built my HT for a reason after all.
PeachTree 65se, PeachTree D5 and SVS SB1000 - Stereo M80s, M22s, SVS PB3000
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![](/boards/images/icons/default/book.gif) Re: HTPC
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 3,466
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 3,466 |
I've been using newsgroups lately. Funny how things come around. I used to be a NNTP fiend back in 1992.
Pioneer PDP-5020FD, Marantz SR6011 Axiom M5HP, VP160HP, QS8 Sony PS4, surround backs -Chris
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![](/boards/images/icons/default/book.gif) Re: HTPC
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 4,357
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 4,357 |
What about WDTV ? I have one and it's sweet.
The only reasonable argument for owning a gun is to protect yourself from the police.
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![](/boards/images/icons/default/book.gif) Re: HTPC
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 7,786
axiomite
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axiomite
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 7,786 |
Fred
------- Blujays1: Spending Fred's money one bottle at a time, no two... Oh crap!
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![](/boards/images/icons/default/book.gif) Re: HTPC
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Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 313
devotee
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OP
devotee
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 313 |
What about WDTV ? I have one and it's sweet. How does it handle audio?
PeachTree 65se, PeachTree D5 and SVS SB1000 - Stereo M80s, M22s, SVS PB3000
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![](/boards/images/icons/default/book.gif) Re: HTPC
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 4,357
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 4,357 |
Sorry, are you asking how the audio sounds? If so, it's comparable to my CD player. Honestly, it's an amazing media player. I actually had someone in for an audition a while back and he was surprised that I was playing mp3's. I have music, DVDs and Blu-rays on it. Because of my disability, it's turned into my chief player, using it more than my Oppo BDP-83. Umm, does that answer your query ![smile smile](/boards/images/graemlins/default/smile.gif) ?
Last edited by wheelz999; 09/28/10 02:35 AM.
The only reasonable argument for owning a gun is to protect yourself from the police.
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![](/boards/images/icons/default/book.gif) Re: HTPC
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 5,422
axiomite
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axiomite
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 5,422 |
I too almost went HTPC MANY times. The first was back when a 250 GB hard drive was $100 on a super special black Friday type sale. Ripping was slow too. Meh, I thought to myself, not worth the cost or time.
Fast forward to today. I still haven't done it, although I have made spreadsheets with all of the parts, prices, where to order, etc a couple of times.
And here I sit, on my 4 your old PC (my 1 year old PC sits back home... yeah, still haven't moved yet) whose hard drive failed a couple of months ago. I grabbed a 1 TB drive for it for around $80 and have tons of space. I've been ripping various movies from my collection so that I don't have to have a ton of them sitting in this tiny apartment. It takes me between 8 - 10 minutes to rip just the movie, and about 12 minutes if I grab the menus and everything too. Far from 30 minutes, and this is on old hardware.
Also, if I did make a HTPC today, even with how cheap storage is, I wouldn't rip every movie anyway. I mean really. Doesn't everyone have quite a few movies that are in their collection that they will probably never watch again anyway? Why rip those. And you are right, it isn't worth selling the ones that you want to rip. Sell off the ones that you will really never watch again (I thinned out my SD DVD collection about a year ago. Made about $4 per disc in lots of about 8 movies.), and put the rest on a drive array.
Farewell - June 4, 2020
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