The future of Home Theater? PC driven?

[Iguana Man]

Interesting read on the CES 2006 show and how this dude feels the theme of the show was the convergence of PC's and HT's.

Interesting moreso given the feelings here.

Thoughts?

[tomdkat]

Well, I certainly do not want a PC in my HT but if that article is correct about cable/satellite providers providing said HTPC for electronic HD content distribution, that might be something I would consider provided the PC was a "black box" kind of solution.

I dunno.... maybe SD DVD is the way to go for now.

Peace...

[Iguana Man]

Originally Posted by tomdkat

Well, I certainly do not want a PC in my HT but if that article is correct about cable/satellite providers providing said HTPC for electronic HD content distribution, that might be something I would consider provided the PC was a "black box" kind of solution.

I dunno.... maybe SD DVD is the way to go for now.

Peace...

I agree...on the pc thing...me no want.

On the "black box" thing...I don't know what you mean. More importantly, why isn't it called a 'white' box? I think it's racial man.

Seriously, explain the Black Box please? I assume you mean a small unobtrusive, little thing, that's a computer?

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by Iguana Man

On the "black box" thing...I don't know what you mean. More importantly, why isn't it called a 'white' box? I think it's racial man.

It's called a "black box" for traditional reasons. It's a closed box you can't see inside so you don't know what's in it.

If the cable/satellite provider gave me a box and said with it I could turn it on and watch movies in HD on my HDTV, I might be cool with that. It would be much easier to get connected to whatever (leave out the HDMI issues for now) and I should be able to turn it on and turn it off without worrying about anything.

Think of it maybe like a TiVo. A TiVo is basically a computer used as a TV tuner but you don't worry about booting it, etc. If the HD box worked this way, I might be open to that. I just don't want to have to manage a PC just to watch movies. My DVD player performs that task excellently and easily.

Peace...

[Iguana Man]

Originally Posted by tomdkat

It's called a "black box" for traditional reasons. It's a closed box you can't see inside so you don't know what's in it.

If the cable/satellite provider gave me a box and said with it I could turn it on and watch movies in HD on my HDTV, I might be cool with that. It would be much easier to get connected to whatever (leave out the HDMI issues for now) and I should be able to turn it on and turn it off without worrying about anything.

Think of it maybe like a TiVo. A TiVo is basically a computer used as a TV tuner but you don't worry about booting it, etc. If the HD box worked this way, I might be open to that. I just don't want to have to manage a PC just to watch movies. My DVD player performs that task excellently and easily.

Peace...

Ahh...I gotcha. And if it means anything, I totally agree. I DO NOT want a full blown PC as part of my HT, now or in the future.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by Iguana Man

Ahh...I gotcha. And if it means anything, I totally agree.

That means nothing to me at all...



j/k

Peace...

[plissken99]

Well, things do seem to be flowing in that direction. I myself however am moving away from HTPC after 3 years of use. I'm simply tired of the aggrivation, I've had to reformat it 3 times in as many years. Now it's pausing playing DVDs occasionally, DVD+R's from my DVD recorder are nearly impossible to play, burnt DL DVD+R's are just as bad. And it wouldn't read Stealth or Constant Gardener, I don't like sweating every time I get a new DVD.

When it works, it works great, and has many neat features(i.e software that skips directly to the main title bypassing FBI warnings and previews, Theater Tek automatically selects DTS tracks on the disc etc), but when it doesn't, it's beyond infuriating. I always end up yelling this at it "computer or not you've got one fucking job, and you can't even do that!!!".

I could get a new motherboard and CPU which would likely fix the problem, but I'd rather spend that money on an Oppo, and rest assured knowing I have a player that will do it's job... Cause if it doesn't.

It makes sense, as they have all these software programs, and tweaks you can do to get better PQ, which an Oppo does out of the box.