Home Theater PCs (HTPCs): Worth it?

2015-05-28T11:54:50-04:00

I've read probably a hundred articles and reviews. I'm wondering what RallyPoint members think. What are your experience with HTPCs? Is the semi-smart dvd-bluray player enough for you? Need something with storage and adaptability? Built it yourself? What's your experiences or preferences?

ME: I'm increasingly dissatisfied with my Blu-ray player's abilities, and I'm about ready to graduate to an HTPC. I know I'd love to build one, but I bet it'll be more cost-effective to purchase one pre-built (says my wife, who really just wants the customer support).

I like the the idea of building one because I might sneak a few game components and features in there, too.

"A home theater PC (HTPC) or media center computer is a convergence device that combines some or all the capabilities of a personal computer with a software application that supports video, photo, audio playback, and sometimes video recording functionality."

P.S. I mainly consider using an HTPC because I want to centralize my media storage devices, AND I'm tired of tying up my gaming computer to do this.

Response by PO1 John Miller made May 28 at 2015 11:57 AM

2015-05-28T11:57:33-04:00

I myself am happy with my smart TV and smart Blu-ray player, but HTPC's have their good points too.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made May 28 at 2015 12:05 PM

2015-05-28T12:05:00-04:00

AS your wife stated it could be cost effective to just but a good desktop or laptop for your htpc. I prefer to build because you can build to spec and get exactly what you want. The customer support is useful if you are not very technical. But if you build it you are the customer support. I would strongly suggest water cooling and ssd drive to help with a quiet run. Do your research and build it on paper 1st before making a purchase. I normally start with the cpu or the HTPC case. I think you will get more out of building or in the long run.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 28 at 2015 12:08 PM

2015-05-28T12:08:39-04:00

If you are savvy enough to build your own, it can be just as reliable as any prebuilt/store-bought unit. I'm quite picky about each component and how cables are routed, etc. I prefer an SSD for the operating system and apps for snappy performance and multi-TB conventional drives for bulk media storage for high capacity/dollar ratios.

The HTPC enclosures from Lian-Li are among my favorites. A little spendy but the quality is very good.

Response by SrA Edward Vong made May 28 at 2015 12:43 PM

2015-05-28T12:43:51-04:00

Instead of buying myself a home theater PC, I configured an old laptop with a decent graphics card and turned it into a media center. So far it works well.

Response by SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member made May 28 at 2015 1:31 PM

2015-05-28T13:31:51-04:00

Right now I am running a Lenovo machine with Ubuntu set up with Plex for streaming and storage. While it drives my wife nuts at times I enjoy mixing and matching components to see how much I can tweak the system. Never really considered buying a pre-built machine, mostly for budget limitations. For what our family uses, the current setup is performing very well.

Response by CW2 Private RallyPoint Member made May 28 at 2015 2:24 PM

2015-05-28T14:24:47-04:00

Every device in my house is interconnected either by wire or wireless. I dont have to worry about utilizing something like that only because it would still need to be another desktop basically.

If anything you could build a VM of ubuntu with plex and access that remotely from any device you want also. The cost for plex is worth it in my opinion because of how it can be accessed any and everywhere.

My desktop holds 32 gb of ram with two gfx cards sli'd. As for space, ive got plenty of external media hdds and internal to use to get the max out of my own desktop computer. While running win, and 2 vm's. Ubuntu and Kali simultaneously.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 28 at 2015 3:59 PM

2015-05-28T15:59:26-04:00

A couple other points...

For a long time, I depended on my Playstation 3 to serve as my media-playing device. It can connect to a media server to play movies/music, etc with some limitations. I find the convenience of playing a movie from a menu listing is far more convenient vs locating the disc, navigating through previews, being told how busted I'm going to be for theft, etc.

Certain versions of the AppleTV can be modified to do the same also suffer from many limitations. Those devices are nice because of a small footprint and an easy remote control. The integration with other Apple devices is nice though. I've read the Mac Mini can serve as a nice HTPC with greater flexibility but the lack of bluray disc compatibility means it can't serve as your only device.

There are several ways to go about it, but I find a Windows PC in a nice HTPC-style enclosure with a stout graphics card works best to do everything I want. I have a separate monitor to use it as a traditional computer setup but when I want to play a movie from a hard drive or play some X-Plane flight sim, having the big screen TV and surround sound makes for a very immersive/fun experience. A Bluetooth keyboard/mouse makes it easy to do all you need from your sofa.

Response by SSgt Mark Lines made Jan 30 at 2016 10:29 PM

2016-01-30T22:29:39-05:00

I know I am a little late. Over the last 10 years I have built myself several HTPC's in various cases and using various software front ends. My current build is, in my opinion, the best of the lot. It is in a hollowed out old DVD player and running Linux Mint with Kodi as its Desktop Environment. The wife loves it because it does not look like a computer and that it has its own remote control.

Is it worth building your own? Most definitely. You can customize it to work how you like. Tie it all together with a good remote control, and you can have a monster in your living room with a high WAF (Wife Approval Factor) rating. To give my HTPC a set-top box feel, I use an SSD for my OS and programs drive. I then use standard 3TB drives for media storage. I was very disappointed with the "feature" set and streaming performance of my Smart TV.

Take a look at Kodi for HTPC software. It is the granddaddy of several HTPC software out there. Plex and Roku all started as modifications of the Kodi (then called XBMC) software.