Trying to narrow down what I really need

[jeff_htpc]

New to htpc.

   My deal is that like lots of folks I wanted to get rid of comcast. I switched from nearly $200/mo. to roku boxes and $20/mo minimum cable. I’d like more variety now though and I find that while roku is easy, it can be annoying in the reliability category and I am not able to get to internet sites for free movies and such via the roku so I have to plug in my laptop. So, that’s when I learned the htpc acronym today.

     I wondered if I should buy an inexpensive laptop to use as a htpc and get a wireless remote keyboard. Seems like a reasonable solution. I also got momentarily excited today about Chromecast until I realized that any web site url would be mirrored and was an unreliable beta product anyway. So, I was back to thinking about some form of htpc.

     Here’s my first question. I thought that to get some additional “free” content beyond what’s available on roku, I’d have to go to the internet sites like megashare.info or some such. So, when people talk about not wanting to use remote keyboards to operate their htpc’s, how can that be done reasonably if you have to type in a url to get to some of these movie sites?

  

[babgvant]

I’ve had a PC connected to my TV for a very long time, it would be hard for me to replace it completely with other things. One of the reasons for this is, as you note, the inherent flexibility to access all sorts of content and experiences not available from a streamer.

I’m not sure why some people thing a keyboard doesn’t belong in the A/V stack. Frankly, there are some tasks, like typing URLs or other complex data entry (like searching on the Roku), where a keyboard is much nicer. It’s actually becoming more common to see typical CE products including some sort of keyboard in the mix as the devices become richer (more PC like).

FWIW, instead of a cheap laptop you may want to look at an Intel NUC (the Haswell ones should be out soon) or something similar (e.g. ZBox). LMK if you have anymore questions, getting started with a HTPC can be a little complex.

[Night Rider]

Like you I have also seen the writing on the wall with cable for TV.
I first purchased a Samsung smart TV for the bedroom.
With an HD antenna on the roof I receive all my local HD broadcasts,
Wirelessly connect with the TV to our home WIFI and use the apps for
NetFlix, Amazon Prime Video, HBOGO. all without comercial interuption.
As a family we have found less and less that we care to watch on regular cable.
The exceptions to that would be the shows Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, SCFI’s Faceoff.
So I have seriously considered scalling back the cable or even eliminating it all together.

Google’s Chromecast has worked flawlessly for me and is a nice streaming solution
for NetFlix with HBOGO in the development wings.

That said I have recently purchased a SiliconDust HDHomeRun PRIME – NewEgg = $139.99
(See the deal post here) http://www.missingremote.com/forums/silicondust-hdhomerun-prime-newegg-13999
As of this post the deal is still live.

Setup the HDHomeRun PRIME on the home network and hope to stream tuners to
my Panisonic BluRay player and smart TV via DLNA.

I’m also in the process of rebuilding my HTPC for recording. 

 

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