Home theater PC

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Antec Fusion V2 home theater PC case with VFD display, 5.25" drive bay, volume control and some ports on front and keyboard on top.
Home theater PC keyboard with additional media center buttons.

A Home Theater PC (HTPC) or media PC is a convergence device that combines the functions of a personal computer and a media center software which feature video and music playback, and usually but not always also digital video recorder functionality. It is connected to a television or a television-sized computer display and is often used as a digital photo, music, video player, TV receiver and digital video recorder.

The general goal in a HTPC is usually to combine many or all components of a home theater setup into one single box that will is located in the living room and is controlled with a remote control as the main interface, and the GUI normally has a 10-foot user interface design so that it can be comfortably viewed from a such distance. An HTPC can be purchased pre-configured with the required hardware and software needed to add television programming to the PC, or can be cobbled together out of discrete components as is commonly done with Windows Media Center, MediaPortal ,SageTV, MythTV, Freevo, or LinuxMCE.

Contents

[edit] HTPC characteristics

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Home theater PC case with front panel and common computer hardware inside.

Beyond functioning as a standard PC, all normally HTPC have some additional characteristics in common.

[edit] Television connectivity

Standard PC units are usually connected to a CRT or LCD display, while HTPCs are designed to be connected to a television. All HTPCs should feature a TV-out option, using either a HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort, Component video, VGA (for some LCD televisions), S-Video, or Composite video output.

[edit] Quiet / minimal noise

See also: Quiet PC

A common user complaint with using standard PCs as HTPC units is background noise, especially in quieter film scenes. Most personal computers are designed for maximum performance, while the functions of a HTPC system may not be processor-intensive. Thus, passive cooling systems, low-speed fans, vibration-absorbing elastic mounts for fans and hard drives, and other minimal noise devices are used in place of conventional cooling systems.

Putting the operating system on flash memory and keeping the media on a separate file server elsewhere in the home keeps the noise and heat generated by a hard drive in another location.

[edit] Higher storage capacities

Because of the nature of the HTPC, higher than average capacities are required for HTPC units to allow storage of pictures, music, television shows, videos, and other multimedia. Designed almost as a 'permanent storage' device, space can quickly run out on these devices. Because of restrictions on internal space for hard disc drives and a desire for low noise levels, many HTPC units utilise a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device, or a other type of networked connected file server. Some HTPC units also feature a DVD writer to help users copy and move their media.

[edit] TV tuner cards

A TV tuner card is a computer component that allows television signals to be received by a computer. Most TV tuners also function as video capture cards, allowing them to record television programs onto a hard disk. Several manufacturers build combined TV tuner plus capture cards for PCs. Many such cards offer hardware MPEG encoding to reduce the computing requirements. Some cards are designed for analog TV signals such as standard definition cable or off the air television while others are designed for high definition digital TV.

[edit] Remote control

Integrating a HTPC into a typical living room requires a way of controlling it from a distance. Many TV tuner/capture cards include remote controls for use with the applications included with the card. Software such as GB-PVR, SageTV, MediaPortal and Beyond TV support the use of Windows MCE and other remote controls. It is also possible to utilize common wireless keyboards and other peripherals to achieve the same effect (though the range may not be as long as a typical remote control).

[edit] Comparison with dedicated media devices

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[edit] Advantages

  • Cost - As chipsets with HD capable integrated graphics processors enter the market, the cost of the system can be a fraction of a high-end commercial solution
  • Quality - HTPCs can rival high end dedicated devices.[1]
  • Features - such as pause live tv, usually a feature of high end dedicated devices.
  • Digital media recorder
  • Media server - The HTPC can serve media files to other computers / devices on a network.
  • Gaming - Plays any PC game and application within the game or application's system requirements.
  • Other media - HTPCs can store photo albums and play other media files.
  • Other functions - other functions may include weather forecast, online radio streams, TV schedule, webcam, etc.
  • Other software - other software, such as downloading or file serving, can be run, perhaps in the background.
  • All-In-One - The features found in a HTPC would usually require more than one dedicated component.

[edit] Disadvantages

  • Cost - HTPCs can be expensive.
  • Maintenance, Setup - The software in use may require configuration, updates.
  • Complexity - HTPCs are more complex than their dedicated counterparts.
  • Noise - HTPCs can have fans, which can be noisy.
  • Power consumption - HTPCs often use more power than consumer audio/video components.[2][3]
  • Features - May lack proprietary features due to licencing and copyright issues.[4]

[edit] Software

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[edit] Operating System

HTPC options exist for each of the major operating systems: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

Alternatively, a HTPC may be built with the addition of a third party software PVR such as GB-PVR, SageTV or Snapstream's BeyondTV to a Windows PC. SageTV and GB-PVR have integrated placeshifting comparable to the Slingbox, allowing client PCs and the Hauppauge MediaMVP to be connected to the server over the network. Snapstream provides heuristic commercial detection and program recompression. When using a faster CPU, SageTV and Beyond TV can record content from TV capture cards which do not include hardware MPEG2 compression. For a free alternative, GB-PVR and MediaPortal provide full home theatre support and good multi-card DVR capabilities. GB-PVR also has a free client, free mediaMVP client, and free network media playback.

Beyond the operating system itself, add-on hardware-plus-software combinations (for adding more full-featured HTPC abilities to any Mac) include Elgato's EyeTV series PVRs, AMD's "ATI Wonder" external USB 2.0 TV-tuners, and various individual devices from third-party manufacturers Miglia, Hauppage, EskapeLabs, Slingbox, and others.

[edit] Portable media player

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Main article: Portable media player

A Portable media player (PMP) can be used for portable access to recorded programs, such as for working out at the gym, or for passenger entertainment during long drives. Some devices in this category can be automatically synchronized with a PC.

When using automatic synchronization, or batch converting a directory full of recorded programs to be placed on the PMP, it is useful if the device includes a commercial skip feature. While there have been attempts at automatically detecting commercial breaks, the reliability of those detection algorithms isn't accurate enough to rely upon when converting video content. When moving video to a device which does not include a skip feature, video editing software can be used to remove commercial breaks in the programs on an individual basis.

[edit] HTPC solutions

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[edit] Stand-alone media management & digital video recording software

Further information: Comparison of PVR software packages

[edit] Operating systems

[edit] Hardware

  • ATI Theater Cards
  • Grippity - Handheld Control Solutions
  • Hauppauge Computer Works WinTV PVR Cards
  • HDHomeRun, made by SiliconDust
  • iMON IR Remotes
  • MCE IR Remotes
  • nVidia TV-Tuner Cards (discontinued)
  • TechnoTrend TV cards
  • Vista View Saber Cards (Analog and Combo)

[edit] System manufacturers

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ [ Hardware.Info ] - ATI and nVidia crush high-end DVD players
  2. ^ http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-356-3.htm
  3. ^ http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=755
  4. ^ Opinion: the HTPC is dead; long live the HTPC

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_theater_PC"
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