SJMaye wrote:I am curious to

[quote=SJMaye]

I am curious to hear your comments on HTPC case displays such as this one. 

On my first HTPC I was convinced i wanted a big display so I bought the OrigenAE S21t.  After a few years I realize I never use it.  On my second build I opted for a VFD similar to the one in this thread.  Since I could not read it at any distance it was still sort of useless.

Would you mind giving me your thoughts on where they can be helpful to you?

[/quote]

There are a couple places where I think a VFD adds significant value, and a few where it just a nice to have.

1) Recording status – this is my favorite one, I know at-a-glance why it’s not in standby.

2) CE polish – makes the HTPC look more like a CE device (BD, STB, etc). Very few CE devices have now status information available.

3) Adds a clock

4) I know w/o showing the scrub bar where my kids are at in a show so I know whether to postpone dinner for 2 min while they finish up or make them pickup where they left off later.

There are more use cases, but the gist is the same.  A VFD adds polish and provides non-obvious information w/o having to interact with the PC.