Comments on: Is there a future for Home Theater PC's?

By: Flash Beta 10.1 and the Future of Online Video

Flash Beta 10.1 and the Future of Online Video — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:57:22 +0000

[...] video. Prior to 10.1 I would never attempt to watch services like Hulu in full screen via my mini-ITX Ion-based HTPC, but now that is essentially not a problem any longer. Merely uninstalling Flash 10 and then [...]

By: Boxee heading to a box

Boxee heading to a box — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:12:16 +0000

[...] personal preference for this kind of functionality is however to use a small, low power and quiet HTPC. Boxee makes for a great HTPC front end, and with the overall trend towards smaller more [...]

By: grizzly1

grizzly1 — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:38:55 +0000

Integrating all this into the TV itself is a horrible idea! It's the same logic as the old TV VCR combos. The VCR will fail and then you have to throw away your TV too!

I have had my Dell with an over the air tuner in my living room for over a year now and I love it. I have a wireless mouse and keyboard. The only thing I would like is some sort of app that allows me to type on the screen with my mouse if I can't get to the keyboard or if I only have one hand available. This is most useful for web searching.

By: kosmonaut

kosmonaut — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:18:43 +0000

Thanks for visiting java_jack! You are absolutely right that HTPCs and streaming devices are niche, no doubt. I do think, though, as netbooks, nettops, etc. become more prevalent, and cheaper, and as people begin to amass more and more computers in their homes, then they may be more open to using them in dedicated ways, like an HTPC. A $300 nettop with GPU acceleration might become pretty tempting to people accustomed to getting a lot of content from the Internet.

By: kosmonaut

kosmonaut — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:14:28 +0000

Those are good points, and I'm not sure I have much to add. I would love to get a sense of where you think IPTV standards might be moving, is there a current project that you think is a good indicator of where things will likely end up?

By: kosmonaut

kosmonaut — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:12:07 +0000

Well, when it comes to input, let's just say I'm agnostic about sources. Nonetheless, with the Hauppauge capture device, I can get all my cable shows in HD, so a CableCARD right now is not particularly appealing.

By: java_jack

java_jack — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:20:35 +0000

Nice blog. I would agree that the PC platform is the most versitile solution to meet the demands of the consumer. However, it is also the best kept secret of the industry.

I have 2 HTPCs in my home...when friends come over and I demo it to them, they are stunned at everything I can do with it. When I explain that this a PC, they are even more blown away. When I explain that I was able to dump my cable and strictly use my HTPC for all my TV viewing needs, a look of disbelief crosses their faces.

The mainstream audience does not know about it and that is a problem. The HTPC will have a hard time crossing the gap unless a CE vendor picks it up and introduces it to the larger audience.

I am excited about the changes that Win 7 is bringing to the table, but MS needs to do a better job of reaching out to the audience to show them what they are missing.

I see plenty of "I'm a PC" commercials on TV, but where is the commercial that shows off an interface like Media Center?

Currently even the best streaming boxes have a very small audience when compared to the mainstream market.

HTPCs, streaming boxes, etc. are still a niche play. Connected devices like those shown at CEDIA last week will help open the audience up to the online world in the livingroom, but the HTPC has a long way to go to gain mind share.

Now, I have a series of blogs that I have written to try and show consumers why the HTPC makes sense and how they might get into the game, but there is no easy way to reach the large audience.

For those interested in reading the blog series, you can find it at:

http://links.amd.com/Home

We would love to see the HTPC platform grow as that would be good for our business, but there are some challenges to overcome.

By: Tweets that mention Is there a future for Home Theater PC’s? | Digitalwerks -- Topsy.com

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:46:06 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by The Tornado and John Kelley. John Kelley said: Nice HTPC article by my friend kosmonaut-Ive got an Asrock ION PC myself RT @ kosmonautbruce New blog post: HTPC future? http://bit.ly/LHed3 [...]

By: joe72

joe72 — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:09:43 +0000

Funny that the TV *has* be seen in a browser. That really makes no sense, as the browser is just a UI to discover the video stream. Does it have to be HTML? Does it *have* to be that generic?
IPTV is clearly the future, with targeted commercials and paid content. PCs are an open platform, but too generic to be accepted as a consumer device.
Eventually I think we will end up with an IPTV standard with a number of supporting operation systems with a more controlled extensibility model. Something more like the iPhone than the current PC. This is probably the future of the PC too, with Win32 applications running on some form of VM on top of a managed only application platform.

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:04:25 +0000

You gotta tell us what devices you're using for input. if this Ceton multi-stream CableCARD tuner comes out soon and without breaking the bank, I'm probably going Windows 7 on at least 1 TV. Could be more if some new extenders come out. (PS Brent just received the new Popcorn Hour – will be interesting to see what he has to say.)