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Home entertainment system
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A home theater PC (HTPC) or media PC is a convergence device that combines the functions of a personal computer and a digital video recorder. 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. Home theater PCs are also referred to as media center systems or media servers.
The general goal in a HTPC is usually to combine many or all components of a home theater setup into one box. They 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, MythTV, GB-PVR, SageTV, Famulent, or LinuxMCE.
HTPC characteristics
Beyond functioning as a standard PC, all HTPCs have some additional characteristics.
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, Component Video, VGA (for some LCD televisions), S-Video, or Composite Video output.
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 can eliminate the noise and heat generated by a hard drive.
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 Network Attached Storage. Some HTPC units also feature a DVD writer to help users copy and move their media.
Comparison with dedicated media devices
Advantages
Quality
HTPCs may support high-definition television and surround sound. Upsampling DVDs to 720p, or even 1080p/1080i, for display on a connected HDTV will give a picture that rivals some dedicated home theater equipment. For DVD playback, HTPCs with mid to high end video card technology (Nvidia purevideo or Ati avivo) have defeated standalone DVD players up to the $2000 range in benchmarking tests.[1]
Digital video recording
Computer-based digital video recorder software that enables the PC to record video from the television signal generally has no monthly subscription fees. The user can schedule recordings from any computer or mobile phone on the Internet. Recording space can easily be upgraded, and/or shows can be burned to DVD or other removable media. These features are also possible with HDTV when using an HDTV tuner card & appropriate software. Premium HDTV channels, which are encrypted, can only be time-shifted with a CableLabs-certified system using an OCUR device under Windows Vista, the same way a TiVo Series 3 can record Premium Content.
One media location
HTPCs often include online storage of music and movies, usually copied from the original media or downloaded from the Internet onto the HTPC or media server. This allows more convenient access to the content, as well as searching by artist, genre, director, etc.
Gaming
Advantages over video game consoles include the ability to play games produced by developers who don't get publishing licenses with the console manufacturers as well as more connectivity options and customizable input devices. A HTPC can also perform very well as an emulator of console games, allowing the user to store a library of games designed for a large screen.
Other
Other common features of a HTPC might include digital photo albums, weather information, news headlines, whole house lighting/appliance control (part of home automation), and the ability to use one remote for all HTPC devices.
Disadvantages
Cost
In general, PCs sold as HTPCs tend to be more expensive than ordinary PCs or than dedicated devices as not all PCs include a TV tuner, a remote control and a flash memory card reader for loading digital photos. It's common to over engineer the hardware slightly, to keep playback and recording smooth at all times; this increases cost. A special computer case designed to sit near a TV and look like a DVD player may also increase the price, and some of these need smaller motherboards.
Setup and maintenance
Because HTPCs are far from mainstream, a lot of the commonly used software is not easy for the average computer user to set up. Generally, setting up HTPC software should be done by people who are already very comfortable behind a computer. However, once properly set up, it can be easy to use.
Gaming
Computer games work on HTPCs, but apart from classics compilations that use software emulators of console or arcade systems, such as Midway Arcade Treasures, few are designed specifically for television displays.
Games designed for a generic PC tend to draw text using small fonts that are difficult to read on a standard-definition TV. The majority of generic PC games also tend to allow only one player per machine, and multiplayer gaming requires more than one PC. This makes it difficult to find counterparts to popular party style console games such as Bomberman or the Super Smash Bros. series. Lastly, many HTPCs are normally not built with performance in mind. The graphic adapters equipped on HTPCs are usually not top-of-the-line, the motherboards may not have the required expansion slots for performance-enhancing expansion cards and even may not be using a chipset that is optimized for performance. As such, HTPCs do not generally perform well on games that have a very high hardware specification.
Note, however, that most disadvantages presented here apply to pre-fabricated HTPCs sold under that auspice.
Noise
HTPCs are usually built from components designed for an office environment where noise is not as important. There are many passively cooled components; however they are often very expensive.
Power consumption
HTPCs often use a lot of power compared to consumer audio/video components
Stability
HTPCs are less stable than consumer audio/video components
Hardware
CPU
Current generation computer systems have enough computing power to record and play at least one stream of HDTV content, but conservatively, a processor of at least 1 GHz will be able to play standard definition TV content even without hardware support. A 2.5 GHz Pentium 4 (roughly a 2 GHz Athlon XP) or faster CPU is needed to play back the highest resolution of HDTV content without dropped frames.
TV Capture
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.
Remote Control
Integrating a HTPC into a typical living room requires a way of controlling it from a couch across the room. Most wireless keyboards and pointing devices are intended for close range use from a hard surface like a table, but some wireless devices are intended for longer range too. As of today, the absence of remote keyboard + mouse combos specially designed for HTPC usage is apparent.
Many TV tuner/capture cards include remote controls for use with the applications included with the card. GB-PVR, SageTV, MediaPortal and Beyond TV support the use of a Windows MCE remote control or Snapstream's Firefly remote control. The MCE receiver has 2 IR blaster ports to control set top boxes. Some DirectTV receivers can be controlled with a serial cable as well.
Audio output
To get a high quality audio a digital sound card, preferably with an S/PDIF digital output for connection to a A/V amplifier, is preferred.
Case
A Home Cinema PC is generally built to blend in with more traditional A/V components so a specialized case is normally used. These are generally of a desktop design rather than the more popular upright design, as this allows the machine to be stacked in a rack.
HD Video Playback
Next generation home cinema PCs generally have the option of being able to play and/or stream high definition video. Generally these PCs have a dual core CPU. These PCs generally come with a dedicated graphics card with MPEG 4 AVC decoding (such as the Nvidia 8xxx series and the ATi Radeon HD series), with HDCP compliance. Most of these PCs either come with an intregated HD capable tuner and more capable ones come with an next generation Blu-ray Disc drive.
Apple Mac Systems
Since Apple Inc. alone designs and builds its own Macs, what holds true for PCs may not always hold true for a Mac:
- CPU: All Macs built today use Intel dual-core or better processors. As such, all Macs today can decode/encode and/or play high-definition video (not to be confused with recording HD-TV; the reception of TV signals requires a separate TV-tuner). Older Macs used Motorola G4 or IBM G5 processors. In general, G4 chips could record from and play standard-definition (SD) video and play high-definition (HD), but a G5 was needed to record in HD.
- TV Capture: Apple may be unique in the HTPC realm in that it has (almost) never offered a TV-tuner option in its systems. Some of the same manufacturers, however, that make internal TV-tuner and software PVR cards for PCs make similar external variants for the Mac (See Software). Despite having an HDMI port and RCA jacks like those on an HTPC, the unique AppleTV is neither a Mac computer nor a HTPC. (See AppleTV for details.)
- Remote Control: This may be where Apple's systems are most like an HTPC's. The Apple Remote, used in conjunction with Apple's Front Row and Cover Flow, makes it easy for Mac users to browse and enjoy multimedia content on their systems. Front Row in particular was expressly designed for across-the-room use (known in industry parlance as "the 10-foot interface"). And, Apple routinely uses Bluetooth, the across-the-room wireless standard, in its cordless keyboards and mice.
- Audio: While all of Apple's systems have digital sound, only the high-end Mac Pro tower features dedicated S/PDIF digital outputs. Each of the other systems uses special combination analog/optical-digital audio (microphone and headphone) jacks for their audio input and output.
- Case: Apple custom designs one case to enclose each of its (desktop) systems. In brief, the Mac Pro tower is roomy and tall but heavy, the aluminum-and-black all-in-one iMac, with its 20-inch or 24-inch LCD built-in, is supermodel-slim (and arguably as sexy), and the Mac mini is small, lightweight, and quiet. Most Mac-based HTPCs use the Mac mini.
- HD Video: As mentioned above, all Intel-based Macs can encode/decode and playback standard and high-definition video. As for graphics, both the Mac Pro and the iMac have dedicated graphics, using either ATI's Radeon HD or nVidia's 8xxx-series (or newer). At present, the Mac mini still uses integrated shared-memory graphics, in the form of Intel's (arguably outdated) GMA950. It is worth noting that, of all three systems, only the Mac Pro's graphics card can be upgraded if desired to something newer in the future.
Software
Operating System
HTPC options exist for each of the major operating systems: Windows, Apple Inc.'s 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.
- For Mac OS X, some HTPC functionality is built into the operating system itself. Specifically, the programs Front Row and Cover Flow, utilized in conjunction with the Apple Remote, let users easily browse through and enjoy any multimedia content stored on their Macs. Additionally, the Apple iLife software suite (including iTunes and iMovie) enables users to create, edit, store and share their own multimedia.
Beyond the operating system itself, add-on hardware-plus-software combinations (for adding more full-featured HTPC abilities to any Mac) include Elgato's multiple award-winning 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.
- For the Linux operating system, KnoppMyth combines the Knoppix Linux distribution with MythTV, a Linux based software PVR, while LinuxMCE combines MythTV and the Kubuntu distribution. SageTV provides commercially supported Linux HTPC software that is compatible with most major Linux distributions.
Portable Media Player
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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.
HTPC solutions
Stand-alone digital video recording software
- Further information: Comparison of PVR software packages
- SageTV (Windows, Mac, and Linux)
- ShowShifter (Media Center)
- SnapStream Beyond TV (Windows)
- MythTV (Linux, free)
- Freevo (Linux, Python, free)
- GB-PVR (Windows, free)
- Orb (Web/Ajax)
- Front Row (Mac OS X, Apple TV)
- MediaPortal (Windows, free)
- EyeTV (Mac OS X)
- XBMC (Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, Xbox game-console, free)
HTPC-bundled operating systems
HTPC hardware
- pcHDTV (for Linux)
- Hauppauge Computer Works WinTV PVR Cards
- HDHomeRun, made by SiliconDust
- nVidia TV-Tuner Cards (discontinued)
- Vista View Saber Cards (Analog and Combo)
- ATI Theater Cards
- iMON IR Remotes
- MCE IR Remotes
- Grippity - Handheld Control Solutions
HTPC system manufacturers
See also
References
External links
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