Do you own a HTPC / Media Center PC?

[d_stilgar]

Does it count if my gaming computer is used as my primary Television,HTPC,interweb and gaming rig?

Kinda fun to watch television in eyefinity (works with winamp HDTV plugin)

My personal opinion is that it's an HTPC if you use it on the couch. What you're describing is a computer that you just happen to watch TV on. That's my opinion though, I don't make the rules.

[Munty]

Why would I want to use my computer to watch tv? If I watch tv on the computer then where do I play my games, on the tv??? I'm not a console owner either so no clever responses lol

The PC is for games, the TV is not surprisingly for tv. I can use both at the same time due to their relative location to each other and based on system specs I can easily use this pc to do anything but watch blu-ray.

That said why would I spend a fortune on blu-ray when DVDs are now ten a penny? Complete waste of money for a slightly better experience. If I want to be immersed in a film I'll watch it at the cinema.

All that said, we have a lot of internet channels now (in the UK) that allow us to catch up on certain programs we missed, so I do use that to watch my favourite programs when I miss them on the box. My first port of call for watching tv though, is, was and always will be, tv...

[AmEv]

New poll time:


How many of you have a dedicated file server?

[x88x]

How many of you have a dedicated file server?

And how big is it?

[AmEv]

Currently, it is still in progress.

Intel Nightshade motherboard.

Ubuntu 10.04.

9GB SCSI w/ 120GB IDE.

Plan on tying in our 1TB ExtHDD to it.




WIP to come.

[Twigsoffury]

My personal opinion is that it's an HTPC if you use it on the couch. What you're describing is a computer that you just happen to watch TV on. That's my opinion though, I don't make the rules.

but i do use it on the couch as a television.

With multiple monitors i can also use the PC while someone watchs TV (they can even change channels using my ATi Wonder II Remote while i play games) on another

You need

Abode Standalone Flash player/ Abobe Ocotoshape something plug in

Then it'll let you use the computer while a video is in full screen on another monitor, with out those plug-ins the full screen window will minimize anytime you click outside the secondary screen.

pretty neat (figured it out not to long ago)

Can even alt+tab between windows and it'll bring up the task bar above the video or game your playing.

[Twigsoffury]

but i do use it on the couch as a television.

With multiple monitors i can also use the PC while someone watchs TV (they can even change channels using my ATi Wonder II Remote while i play games) on another

You need

Abode Standalone Flash player/ Abobe Ocotoshape something plug in

Then it'll let you use the computer while a video is in full screen on another monitor, with out those plug-ins the full screen window will minimize anytime you click outside the secondary screen.

pretty neat (figured it out not to long ago)

Can even alt+tab between windows and it'll bring up the task bar above the video or game your playing.

they do move your mouse though when they use the remote (wish you could have two independent pointers) so you've got to tell the other person when you want to do something.

You can get a Awesome cinema experience using eyefinity, dragging the window across the three screens for a ultra wide-screen presentation(from the couch you tend to forget about the edges between monitors, probably be a lot better with three LCDS) its just fun to watch movies in a new way if you've already got the hardware and the set up for it.

[d_stilgar]

Well, if you use it on the couch then it's an HTPC by my definition.

[Drum Thumper]

I got a dual core SFF HP computer off of ebay for ~$50. Currently running Element (http://elementmypc.com, check them out!) on it. My Tri Core computer houses all my media, so I stream from 7 to Linux, which can be a royal pain at times--turns out there's a bug in Windows 7 that can be fixed by a bit of registry editing.

I know, no netflix....yet. I think I may have found a bit of a workaround though. More details to come.

And yes, it is a legit workaround. No, it does not involve a VM.

[x88x]

I know, no netflix....yet. I think I may have found a bit of a workaround though. More details to come.

And yes, it is a legit workaround. No, it does not involve a VM.

If you do find a good workaround, I'll be very interested to hear it....it's been really annoying not being able to access my netflix account the last few months.