The lure of owning a HTPC for me was being able to do almost everything I do on my PC in the living room on my HDTV. I skipped the Windows Home Server route and built myself a HTPC with a TB drive. So, I watch all my downloaded movies/cartoons etc, am able to play music to my dolby system from it, am able to watch Hulu and cbs, nbc , abc shows on their station jic there was a problem with my DVR and am also able to surf on my TV when I'm bored with TV. It also acts like a backup for all of my media and pictures as well as a home server for laptops and other PCs in my home to stream from. It never powers off, only hybrid sleeps at best (with the ability to stream media while sleeping).
I don't use it as a pvr, I have uverse and the att stb dvr is fine. Since I built mine vs. buying a pre-built unit, I only spent ~$300 dollars on it (xfx nvidia board with on board video and hdmi $50, 4gb PC1000 ram $30, e2200 dual core intel cpu $50, fanless cpu cooler $30, 1tb drive $75, cd/dvd burner (reused), 500w PSU (reused), HTPC case $65. It plays all HD content flawlessly. I didn't put in a Blu Ray drive because I already have a dedicated BR player that I like. In short it's a VERY good investment. Those prices are pretty steep for a htpc, but that unit more than likely caters to a more high end crowd.
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The lure of owning a HTPC for me was being able to do almost everything I do on my PC in the living room on my HDTV. I skipped the Windows Home Server route and built myself a HTPC with a TB drive. So, I watch all my downloaded movies/cartoons etc, am able to play music to my dolby system from it, am able to watch Hulu and cbs, nbc , abc shows on their station jic there was a problem with my DVR and am also able to surf on my TV when I'm bored with TV. It also acts like a backup for all of my media and pictures as well as a home server for laptops and other PCs in my home to stream from. It never powers off, only hybrid sleeps at best (with the ability to stream media while sleeping).
I don't use it as a pvr, I have uverse and the att stb dvr is fine. Since I built mine vs. buying a pre-built unit, I only spent ~$300 dollars on it (xfx nvidia board with on board video and hdmi $50, 4gb PC1000 ram $30, e2200 dual core intel cpu $50, fanless cpu cooler $30, 1tb drive $75, cd/dvd burner (reused), 500w PSU (reused), HTPC case $65. It plays all HD content flawlessly. I didn't put in a Blu Ray drive because I already have a dedicated BR player that I like. In short it's a VERY good investment. Those prices are pretty steep for a htpc, but that unit more than likely caters to a more high end crowd.