The Home Theater PC

The Home Theater PC
When you talk about your home entertainment center, you often talk about
sources: that is, those devices such as tape decks, AM/FM receivers, phono
players, CD units, DVD players, and other consumer electronics devices that
provide the inputs of the content that you listen to and watch through your
entertainment system.
So when you think about adding your networked PC(s) to your entertainment
mix, the PC becomes just another high-quality source device attached to
your A/V system — albeit wirelessly. To connect your PC to your entertainment
system, you must have some special audio/video cards and corresponding
software to enable your PC to “speak stereo.” When configured like
this, you’ve effectively got what is known as a home theater PC (or HTPC, as
all the cool kids refer to them). In fact, if you do it right, you can create an
HTPC that funnels audio and video into your system at a higher-quality level
than many moderately priced, standalone source components. HTPC can be
that good.
You can either buy an HTPC ready-to-go right off the shelf, or you can build
one yourself. Building an HTPC, obviously, isn’t something that we recommend
unless you have a fair amount of knowledge about PCs. If that’s the
case, have at it. Another obvious point: It’s a lot easier to buy a ready-to-go
version of the HTPC off the shelf. You can find out more about HTPCs in
Home Theater For Dummies (Pat and Danny wrote that, too), by Wiley
Publishing, Inc. What we include here is the short and sweet version of HTPC.
What you expect from your home theater PC is going to be quite different
from what, say, David Bowie expects from his HTPC. Regardless of your
needs, however, a home theater PC should be able to store music and video
files, play CDs and DVDs, let you play video games on the big screen, and
tune in to online music and video content. Thus, it needs ample hard drive
space and the appropriate software. (See the following section, “Internet
Content for Your Media Players and HTPCs.”) Also, your HTPC will act as a
PVR (see the nearby “Checking out PC PVRs” sidebar for the lowdown on
PC-based PVRs). In addition, an HTPC can
Store audio (music) files: Now you can easily play your MP3s anywhere
on your wireless network.
Store video clips: Keeping your digital home video tapes handy is quite
the crowd pleaser — you can have your own America’s Funniest Home
Videos show.
Play CDs and DVDs: The ability to play DVDs is essential in a home
theater environment.
Act as a PVR (personal video recorder): This optional (but almost
essential, we think) function uses the HTPC’s hard drive to record
television shows like a ReplayTV (www.replaytv.com) or TiVo (www.
tivo.com).
Let you play video games on the big screen: With the right hardware,
PCs are sometimes even better than gaming consoles (which we cover in
Chapter 12).
Tune in to online music and video content: Grab the good stuff off the
Internet (yes, and pay for it) and then enjoy it on the big screen with
good audio equipment.
Provide a high-quality, progressive video signal to your TV video display:
This is behind-the-curtain stuff. Simply, an HTPC uses special hardware
(it’s pretty cheap, only about $200–$400) to display your PC’s video
content on a TV. Sure, PCs do have a built-in video system, but most are
designed to display only on a PC monitor, not a TV. And high-definition
TV, which is why you want high-definition content, is progressive (meaning
all of the video “lines” are displayed at one time, rather than half in
one frame and the other half in the next like most standard TVs today —
providing a much smoother, more film-like, picture), and you need a special
card or PC set up like an HTPC to facilitate it. (This investment also
gives you better performance on your PC’s monitor, which is never bad.)
Decode and send HDTV content to your high-definition TV display:
HTPCs can provide a cheap way to decode over-the-air HDTV signals
and send them to your home entertainment center’s display. You just
need the right hardware (an HDTV-capable video card and a TV tuner
card). If you have HDTV, this is a really cool optional feature of HTPC.
My name is Media, and I’ll be your server
HTPCs and Windows XP Media Center Edition
PCs are what their names say they are — PCs.
Look to the horizon for a new generation of
computer-like devices that serve up media.
Media servers (creative name, no?) are really
just a souped-up version of a standalone PVR
(think TiVo) or a standalone MP3 server (like
AudioReQuest, www.request.com). They don’t
run a PC operating system or do typical PC stuff.
They just serve up media, and wireless is a
key way, likely using 802.11a/g technology.
You’ll be able to hook media servers into your
PC network and into your home theater, using
them to store music, video, digital photographs,
and more.
A good example of this is the Martian Net
Drive Wireless (www.martian.com), a $399
802.11b-enabled accessible 40GB hard drive
that allows you to store thousands of your
favorite songs, digital pictures, or documents.
Any network device can access them. The
802.11b is onboard. It even supports your WEP
encryption. There are two steps to setting it up:
1. Unpack stylish brown shipping carton. 2. Plug
in power cable. That’s it. Cool.
Checking out PC PVRs
Using the HTPC’s hard drive to record television
shows like how a ReplayTV or TiVo does is an
optional (but almost essential, we think) function.
And using an HTPC as a PVR is a standard
feature in a Windows XP Media Center PC —
and something that we think you should consider
adding to your home-built HTPC. Even if
this were the only thing that you wanted to do
with your HTPC, it would be worth it. You can
simply install a PC PVR kit and skip a lot of the
other stuff (such as the DVD player, decoder,
and software).
Tip: Because the biggest limitation to any PVR
system is the amount of space on your hard drive
for storing video, consider a hard drive upgrade
regardless of your other HTPC intentions.
PC PVR kits on the market include SnapStream
Personal Video Station (www.snapstream.
com), Pinnacle PCTV Deluxe (www.pinnacle
sys.com), and ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 PRO
(www.ati.com).