http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/ Engadget Comments for Ask Engadget HD: Best HTPC to replace my NAS? http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/You want bluray and streaming, get a PS3 or samsung or LG bluray player.
For TV, just pay for cable or satellite.
And for backups, just get something simple like this from newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822122029
Netgear ReadyNas system.
Do let those nerdy people fool you. The dream of having one machine to do it all (and very well) does not exist.
HTPCs (extenders) are a waist of time.
]]>Dec 23rd 2009 2:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/Dec 23rd 2009 2:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/
Learn what HTPCs can do before you speak... ]]>Dec 23rd 2009 2:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/And all that stuff you mentioned does not work seamlessly on a HTPC..
You'll need to implement keyboard and mouse to use.
Still no HD netflix on MCE. Good luck getting blurays to work 90% of the time.
Htpc's are great for the illegal bit-torrent downloads of movie and music. Then you try to playback your downloaded bluray rip converted to .mkv and you run into codec issues.

Enjoy.

]]>Dec 23rd 2009 3:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/
Any windows PC can share files and run a bit torrent client. Not sure about time machine support though.]]>Dec 23rd 2009 2:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/
This is by far the most reasonably priced HTPC solution with a great form-factor. ]]>Dec 23rd 2009 2:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/Dec 23rd 2009 3:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/Dec 24th 2009 12:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/Dec 24th 2009 9:00AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/Dec 31st 2009 9:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/
]]>Dec 23rd 2009 2:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/
Pros:
-No need for NAS because computer can share files (no always the best solution, but works if you are keeping costs down)
-No need for extra console if you play a lot of single player games
-Blu-Ray is built into your DVR (no need to switch sources)
-Media center is arguably the best looking DVR interface
-Multi-room works well with extenders
-VOD works both from Cable/Satellite (when using HD PVR) and Netflix streaming and others are built into media center
-Audio files work easily with your receiver

Cons
-You need to enjoy working on computers because it won't work out of the box

]]>Dec 23rd 2009 2:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/This is the only way you can have it do exactly what you want, the way you want, look and feel the way want and when you want something else just change it or upgrade it.
I just would not suggest a NAS /HTPC combo: build a nice HTPC with raid 0 HDs and buy a good NAS with raid1 HDs.
My boss spent a fortune in a Niveus home system and he's jealous of my self built that cost me a fraction; he's currently trying to unload it and have me or ( I hope) someone else have his dream system tailored to his needs and tastes. ]]>Dec 23rd 2009 2:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/
Windows 7 Ultimate x64, running Media Center
Arcsoft TMT3 for Bluray playback
DivX Plus HD for accelerated .mkv, etc playback

Antec P180 case (33dB for the full system)
i5-750 clocked to turbo to 4ghz, idle at 1.5ghz
8gb DDR3
Nvidia GeForce GT 220 with passive cooler
Kingston 40g SSD boot drive
8x1TB drives in RAID 6 on an LSI 8888ELP controller

2x HD Homerun (4 clearQAM tuners for local HD)
2x ATI OCUR tuners for encrypted QAM HD premium channels

2x Linksys DMA211 extenders
2x Xbox 360 for games and extenders

It's a full tower case, and cabled through the wall the TV is mounted on so it sits in my office, but has USB, IR, HDMI, etc all cabled into the living room, with a Bluray burner in an eSATA 5.25" enclosure in my media cabinet for easy disc access. It can simultaneously record 6 HD streams, playback on 4 extenders and locally to TV, and commercial flag 2 of the streams.

I remote desktop into it for torrent, management, etc. Windows Media Player will do Remote Media Streaming of all the content, and transcodes it in realtime to the appropriate resolution and bitrate for the remote device. I run VMware Workstation with Windows Home Server in a VM, for the home LAN backups and easy pc management.

It's not perfect, and certainly wasn't cheap, but I have one box running at home, handling all the media and server duties I need.


]]>Dec 23rd 2009 3:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/Everyone else just pays for cable, use Tivo and have bluray players.
Life is easier that way.]]>Dec 23rd 2009 3:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/Dec 23rd 2009 3:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/
Atom/ION builds are okay i guess but the cpu makes you want to pull your hair out doing anything processing intensive.]]>Dec 23rd 2009 3:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/Dec 23rd 2009 3:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/Dec 23rd 2009 5:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/As for storing data, it has 4 drive bays and there are 3rd kits to add a 5th, even a 6th drive if you remove the DVD drive.]]>Dec 24th 2009 5:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/Dec 25th 2009 8:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/yuk windows]]>Dec 31st 2009 9:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/Dec 29th 2009 5:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/ask-engadget-hd-best-htpc-to-replace-my-nas/
An HTPC should be nothing more than a lightweight "media server" extender with the specs required to be invisible and play media well.]]>Jan 18th 2010 10:00AM