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What's the Point of Building a Home Theater PC?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the something-to-think-about dept.

An anonymous reader writes "FiringSquad has written Building a Basic HTPC. They discuss why Building a HTPC only makes sense if it can do something better than any other commercially available solution, as well as why HTPC should integrate act like a component not a computer. They also go into upsampling of DVDs to HDTV."

5 of 358 comments (clear)

  1. umm, price?! by Glog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The point, Taco, is price. Why should I pay $2000 when I can have it for $200 in parts. Plus, there are plenty to people who get more enjoyment out of building something themselves.

    1. Re:umm, price?! by CrankyFool · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Price is not a good reason to build an HTPC unless you're willing to make a whole bunch of compromises and don't care about aesthetics.

      I priced out what it would take me to build a minimally-decent HTPC system, accounting for the specialized case (quiet, small, looks like it's an HT component), motherboard (because full-size ATX wouldn't fit in that case), processor, memory, decent TV capture cards, hard drive, DVD burner, etc. Hint: It wasn't $200. More like $700.

    2. Re:umm, price?! by Znork · · Score: 5, Insightful

      From what I've seen it's quite a bit more expensive to roll my own decent solution.

      The advantage from my own linux based solution is I have a shitload of features ranging from being able to back it up, remote in via ssh to adding any number of capture cards and disks I wish into it.

      The selling point of building it yourself is flexibility.

      The disadvantages are price and, of course, having to know a fair amount about computers to get it working.

  2. Well, why not? by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you have the computer experience, why not build a Home Theater PC? It's fun to do (if that sort of thing is fun to you), and it *can* cost less than a commercial model with the same features, especially if you equip a lot of features into the system. Besides, if the PC can also serve as a PVR or other cool functions, then it's a doubly-good deal.

    --
    stuff |
  3. Re:FPS by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I'm from that school of nerd that wonders:

    "If I have a computer, why would I care about television?"

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."