Comments on: Who wants a Home Theater PC anyway?

By: Jay Taylor

Jay Taylor — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:27:09 +0000

@Nitin Reddy Katkam, There are a lot of useful functions that you can do with an HTPC. I use mine every day for regular TV viewing, etc.

Depending on the version of the OS you are running, you may be able to take advantage of tools that enlarge the images without decreasing the resolution.

MS has a couple options for this. In Vista, you can go into the Ease of Access Center in the control panel. There you will see some settings for making the computer easier to see along with a magnifier. Likewise, you can scale the font DPI (Dots Per Inch) to make fonts larger on the screen.

Regards,
Jay

By: Nitin Reddy Katkam

Nitin Reddy Katkam — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 19:44:25 +0000

Although I hooked up my computer to my TV, it’s simply for staying updated while I’m not exactly at my computer. Think of it as a scoreboard at a sports event or a flight schedule board at an airport.

I wish I had the 150″ plasma from Panasonic so I wouldn’t have to turn the resolution all the way down to be able to read the text

By: Jay Taylor

Jay Taylor — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:02:07 +0000

@Travis Misterek, Hello, I don't believe the time for the HTPC has gone by. In fact, I think we are just seeing the early stages of deploymet. The growth of online content is exploding. Virtually all the major networks and film studios are making much of their content directly available to consmers online. Did you know that 20% of US Households are now accessing Primetime TV content online? The number in Europe is even higher. While it is true that Satellite is not available via cable card, even they are looking at ways to make their content accessible by the PC. It is not required to have an HDTV to use an HTPC, but as consumers migrate to HDTV, the HTPC is a great way to deliver content to that new screen. High Res photos, online content, HD TV Tuners and cable card can deliver a powerful HD expeirence to the consumer. Regards, Jay Taylor

By: RoCPuter

RoCPuter — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:56:37 +0000

I think the forgone HTPC was price and feature prohibitive. I still have my original $800 Qbex system which has a DVD and 20 Gig hdd! Now we are building HTPC with media live 5.1 AMD 4850e and blu-ray with 500 gig HDD for $1,299. Just a year ago getting this quality in an HTPC would have cost 3 grand or more.

By: Travis Misterek

Travis Misterek — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:55:59 +0000

Has the time for a PC in the HT not gone by? It seems silly to tell a customer they need a HDTV to hook up a HTPC to, but yet we cannot view HD sat etc.

By: Jonathan Smith

Jonathan Smith — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:48:58 +0000

Jay, Good stuff. I would also be interested in your thoughts arround the HTPC with built in amplification vs. just using a computer like a live64 machine. How does the quality of sound/video compare to stand alone components. Thanks,

By: Daniel Sill

Daniel Sill — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:44:32 +0000

My wife is excited about using our HTPC and big TV for her church bible study meetings. It was a use that did not occur to me, but she saw it as soon as I got it all set up and showed her how to use it.