2Tired2Tango
Tech Monkey
I dug this out of one of the case articles...
This comes as no surprise to me. But it does sadden.
Way back in the mid 1990s when AVI format video finally worked worth a darn on PCs, a couple of friends and I went off and got all adventurous... We built a P3 box into a coffee table, along with a data projector. We tossed in a TV tuner card. The sound system was a SoundBlaster card hooked up to a conventional stereo amplifier... big amp, huge speakers... WOW sound. This setup then went into my friend's basement listening room along with a silver screen, 3 love seats and a needlessly big beer fridge. It ran like a standard PC, there was a mouse and keyboard on top of the coffee table... and the movies and music videos were (for the time) totally mind boggling.
Fast forward to last week...
I'm talking with a couple of guys at the local parts bin and this whole HTPC thing comes up. Their immediate gripe? It's so darned awkward to use. And they're right... HTPC setups tend to massively suck because they are so dumbed down you have to reboot them just to play a game...
So, I gave them an alternative... "How about instead of a dumbed-down HTPC we work towards a truly intelligent media server that sits at the focus of a home network?" Now THAT got their attention... Why not use the computer to totally replace the television set, FM/Sat receiver, DVD/BlueRay player, game system and disc collection? It's all possible right now, today... why isn't it done?
In the flow of conversation, I latched onto what I think is one of the primary reasons PCs (including Mac) have made such poor penetration into home entertainment...
"But, it's a COMPUTER" ...
People still think of computers as separate entities, something different and aside from the other functions of home media. Even though they have their computers play music while catching up on their email, even when they watch movies on their monitors, even when they listen to radio stations in foreign lands over the internet, they STILL think of it as something separate and different.
To answer the "Why?" question. I think this is largely for two reasons...
1) Cases ... Even HTPC cases still come off as computer cases... exposed cutouts, cheezy blinking lights, whirring fans etc. People are very visual, if it looks like a computer they won't think of it as home entertainment gear.
2) Dumbness ... When you start up a "Media Center Edition" of just about any operating system, you are presented with a LESS capable version of the OS. Instead of enhanced media capabilities you see something dumbed down to look like a TV set... and that is a serious error in judgement from software manufacturers. People know how to use computers... let them. A media center PC should be a PC with superior media capabilities -- not some lame duck reduced to a 5 selection menu,
So after a rambling preamble we get to my big questions...
What would be your "ideal" version of an HTPC?
What needs to be done to make PCs a viable replacement for conventional gear?
Some industry have audaciously declared the HTPC to be a failed technology, citing the comparatively complex keyboard-and-mouse control scheme of HTPCs when compared to set-top-box media extender units ...
This comes as no surprise to me. But it does sadden.
Way back in the mid 1990s when AVI format video finally worked worth a darn on PCs, a couple of friends and I went off and got all adventurous... We built a P3 box into a coffee table, along with a data projector. We tossed in a TV tuner card. The sound system was a SoundBlaster card hooked up to a conventional stereo amplifier... big amp, huge speakers... WOW sound. This setup then went into my friend's basement listening room along with a silver screen, 3 love seats and a needlessly big beer fridge. It ran like a standard PC, there was a mouse and keyboard on top of the coffee table... and the movies and music videos were (for the time) totally mind boggling.
Fast forward to last week...
I'm talking with a couple of guys at the local parts bin and this whole HTPC thing comes up. Their immediate gripe? It's so darned awkward to use. And they're right... HTPC setups tend to massively suck because they are so dumbed down you have to reboot them just to play a game...
So, I gave them an alternative... "How about instead of a dumbed-down HTPC we work towards a truly intelligent media server that sits at the focus of a home network?" Now THAT got their attention... Why not use the computer to totally replace the television set, FM/Sat receiver, DVD/BlueRay player, game system and disc collection? It's all possible right now, today... why isn't it done?
In the flow of conversation, I latched onto what I think is one of the primary reasons PCs (including Mac) have made such poor penetration into home entertainment...
"But, it's a COMPUTER" ...
People still think of computers as separate entities, something different and aside from the other functions of home media. Even though they have their computers play music while catching up on their email, even when they watch movies on their monitors, even when they listen to radio stations in foreign lands over the internet, they STILL think of it as something separate and different.
To answer the "Why?" question. I think this is largely for two reasons...
1) Cases ... Even HTPC cases still come off as computer cases... exposed cutouts, cheezy blinking lights, whirring fans etc. People are very visual, if it looks like a computer they won't think of it as home entertainment gear.
2) Dumbness ... When you start up a "Media Center Edition" of just about any operating system, you are presented with a LESS capable version of the OS. Instead of enhanced media capabilities you see something dumbed down to look like a TV set... and that is a serious error in judgement from software manufacturers. People know how to use computers... let them. A media center PC should be a PC with superior media capabilities -- not some lame duck reduced to a 5 selection menu,
So after a rambling preamble we get to my big questions...
What would be your "ideal" version of an HTPC?
What needs to be done to make PCs a viable replacement for conventional gear?