What’s the status of HTPC’s around here?

[htpc_user]

Hey, guys, I haven’t been visting the site very much within the last year or so.  I kind of got out of tinkering with my computers and kind of lost the interest.  I’ve still been using my HTPC but I don’t mess with it other than actually using it.  However it has been “limping” for the last year or so and I’ve been too lazy and too fed up with it to try to change it.  The WAF factor has really gone down lately as well as the MAF (Me Approval Factor).  I’ve had this problem plaguing me for a while when trying to watch recorded TV (and sometimes Live, but I don’t watch Live TV on the HTPC much) where the video will just stop and say, “Video files needed for playback are not working or not installed correctly…”.  Nothing I can do gets rid of it.  I’ve searched and seems a lot of others have this problem with really no solution.  Some say it’s an HDMI issue, some say audio drivers, some say it’s got something to do with the “playing sounds in Media Center” option just needing to be disabled.  The strange thing for me is it also gives this same message when watching on the 360 extender and other PC’s.  If it was an HDMI or video or driver issue or even a codec issue then why would it give this error on every PC that plays the recording?

Anyway, I’ve kind of thought about rebuilding the whole thing.  But at this point I kind of feel alone in this HTPC-thing.  I’m wondering what the state of HTPC is for others around here?  Are you guys still using and enjoying yours?  A couple of years ago I was defending the HTPC when everyone seemed to be jumping ship to extenders and media boxes, but now I feel like abandoning it myself.  The only thing it has really been good for lately is watching DVD’s from the server which works great especially for my 5 year old who can pick what he wants by the cover art.  And Netflix has been great since someone decided to fix the stuttering issues that was bothering it forever on the PC.  I have a Wii U in the family room and a PS3 but I just hate the thought of having all these different devices to do different things.

What do you guys think?

[Mike Garcen]

fair points, there are way more options for users today, but count me on the boat of folks still using an HTPC exclusively. in fact, with the help of Mr. Andrew’s suggestion, i recently rebuilt/upgraded mine. The whole process took less than a few hours, and now any weird bugs i had before are long gone (at least as of today).

Technology changes so much on these computers, that as long as you still see a benefit in the usages, an upgrade might be jus tthe ticket. Or maybe u want to start with simply reinstalling your windows installation–especially if yours hasn’t been updated for several years.

[oliverredfox]

I recently updated mine from using NTSC and QAM tuners to Cable Card & added a SSD for the OS drive.  My 5 year old dual core (wow) is still running strong and is more than enough for what it does.  The SSD makes it run much smoother and it feels like a new machine.  And the SiliconDust network cable card tuner let me put my router, cable modem, and cable card device by the cable entry point and I can network to my HTPC anywhere I want it.  Being no longer forced to put the HTPC near a cable line for NTSC input really opened up my living room.

[htpc_user]

Thanks, guys; it’s good to know there are still some hanging on.  When my HTPC was working well I thought it’s the greatest thing ever.  When I get error after error afer bug I’m ready to toss it out the window.  I’ve about given up on recording since it’s the playback of those that give me the most trouble.  Not to mention a storm last year knocked out my amplifier for my antenna so I haven’t been able to pick up any ATSC channels which have made my 2 digital tuners useless.  So all I have is the analog tuner for DirecTV.

I am thinking about getting an AMD A8-6500 and an Asrock FM2 moherboard with 4GB of RAM.  Probably going to go with an SSD this time, too.  On paper, AMD’s APUs seem to be the perfect choice but AMD does make me a little nervous.  I currently use a 6570, and I have a little problem with that because for some reason it will not keep the manual Deinterlacing setting of “Vector Adaptive”.  I will go to watch a recording and it looks really bad and I know just what it is…go to CCC only to see that it has changed back to “Automatic Deinterlacing”.

I think that I am going to do a reinstall very soon, possibly this weekend, to see if that helps anything. 

[jbachman2]

I use mine all the time to watch MLB.TV, My Movies and Netflix.  It is also used for photo and home movie storage.  I haven’t done any upgrades my HTPC in a few years, I just use it.  I know the world loves streaming and I am a fan as well but when it comes down to it I rather watch a movie in Blu-Ray format over anything else.  Until streaming can look that good I’ll stick with my HTPC.

Based on years of recommendations my neighbor finally built a HTPC last month.  He’s now tirelessly moving all his DVD’s and even converted VHS onto it. I need to tell him about this site now that I think of it.

 

[captain_video]

You’re definitely not alone.  Been using mine for about six years.  I’ve probably upgraded it at least 3 or 4 times over that period, but that was mostly due to a couple of flaky motherboards.  I have two HTPCs that get used on a daily basis.  The wife uses one for watching live TV and that’s about all.  The main HTPC gets a workout for recording and watching TV shows and watching ripped Blu-Rays and DVDs from my server as well as a few downloaded shows.

Before you do a complete overhaul I’d recommend doing a fresh install from scratch using a different hard drive.  Sometimes things get hosed along the way due to Windows updates or funky drivers so starting with a clean slate is usually the best approach.  This should fix your video errors as a minimum.  Install Windows and your motherboard drivers and then install all Windows updates to make the OS current.  Make sure you have the latest drivers from the manufacturer’s website for any hardware you’re installing.  Install your hardware and reboot often to ensure proper installation.  Add in your hardware one device at a time and install the associated drivers.  Install just what you need to support Media Center (i.e., tuners, drivers, cablecards, etc.) and then run Media Center setup.  Once you’ve got WMC configured go ahead and install any add-ons like comercial skipping apps and such.

[einstein]

Mine is still going since fall 2006, built as soon as the core 2duos came out. I have taken it apart once to clean it 3 years ago and gave it a clean install on windows 7. I removed the soundcard, replaced the hard drive and have changed tuners a few times going from NTSC to Astc. I stopped using it to watch my main tv almost 2 years ago.  Bought an Xbox on Black Friday 2011, and since then the htpc stays in the basement while the Xbox is a media center extender.  I added another Xbox last year, both connected by wired Ethernet. I have a 24 inch tv connected to the htpc, but don’t ever watch tv on it unless we are hiding from tornadoes. I use it occasionally as another computer for printing coupons, and it still has my iTunes library so I use it for managing my iPhone. It has shown no signs of wearing out, and I have no plans on changing anything on it or replacing it. A bigger hard drive might be nice, but cat imagine any other changes unless I get a bigger tv and build a home theater in the basement. 

[jennyfur]

My most recent machine has been alive and kicking for almost 3 years I think. I almost never used it standalone, it was mostly accessed via extender (the PC and TV were on different floors of the house). It’s a 2 tuner cablecard system, and there was a few times I considered upgrading to one of the ceton devices but that never happened and now that I don’t have to share it anymore, there’s no need to. I moved and got FiOS a few months ago, which greatly improved my cable situation since unlike Comcast, it actually works. Big improvement on the MAF there hehe 😉

I decided about 4 years ago that it wasn’t worth it to maintain a separate HTPC anymore though, I just beefed up my main rig to do double duty (and really, what little it does besides HTPC duties is minimal anyway). I just couldn’t afford to keep upgrading it as well as a separate HTPC. I would have an xbox regardless since I’m a gamer, so it was a no brainer for me to go the extender route.

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