Retiring the HTPC?

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FlyingPete

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#68420 21-Sep-2010 18:01

Retiring the HTPC?

We have a three year old HTPC here at home complete with digital tuner running Windows 7.

I am often finding that I need to maintain it quite a bit and it is a bit temperamental.

Now we are looking at getting a new TV and I have been told many of the sets with Digital tuners and USB ports can record to and play off a USB attached drive.

Has anyone else looked into this or tried it out? It would be great to get down to one device as the HTPC is only used as a DVR.

Regs

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Snowflake

#382960 22-Sep-2010 00:25

I am often finding that I need to maintain it quite a bit and it is a bit temperamental.

my HTPC is over 4 years old, and the only maintenance I ever do on it is delete recordings... otherwise its rock solid.

Now we are looking at getting a new TV and I have been told many of the sets with Digital tuners and USB ports can record to and play off a USB attached drive.

Has anyone else looked into this or tried it out? It would be great to get down to one device as the HTPC is only used as a DVR.

i'm not familiar with the options, but i'd be surprised if any of them had more than one tuner and could support record one/watch one, or record two andfunctions like chasing playback. I also wonder if there is a capability to do series recordings off the guide.

You might be better off looking at a TIVO or a freeview PVR if you dont want to maintain an HTPC. I think telecom were selling the tivo devices quite cheaply lately.

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FlyingPete

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#382985 22-Sep-2010 07:28

Hmmm rock solid for four years, perhaps a rebuild is in order, thinking about it originally it was installed with WinXP Pro, which was beaten into MCE, then upgraded in place to Vista, then again to Windows 7, so it probably has issues!

As for the TV's found one, the Samsung 7 Series is supposed to be able to record to USB drive, but as you pointed out I think they only have one tuner, also very expensive as it is their top of the line model here in NZ.

Will look at PVR's again at some point, even if I can sort out the stability issues on the HTPC, its still a rather large box and takes up considerably more space than a PVR. Plan B is to hide it somewhere else and either use long cables or an extender.

Thanks for your help!

gehenna

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#382989 22-Sep-2010 07:54

FlyingPete: originally it was installed with WinXP Pro, which was beaten into MCE, then upgraded in place to Vista, then again to Windows 7

There's your problem :) Clean installs of new OS versions is the only way to fly.

openmedia

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#382997 22-Sep-2010 08:14

FlyingPete: Retiring the HTPC?

We have a three year old HTPC here at home complete with digital tuner running Windows 7.

I am often finding that I need to maintain it quite a bit and it is a bit temperamental.

Now we are looking at getting a new TV and I have been told many of the sets with Digital tuners and USB ports can record to and play off a USB attached drive.

Has anyone else looked into this or tried it out? It would be great to get down to one device as the HTPC is only used as a DVR.

Which sets are you seeing with Dual Tuners?

A lot of the sets which can record straight to HD in the UK actually have the feature disabled for NZ.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

FlyingPete

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#383001 22-Sep-2010 08:21

openmedia: Which sets are you seeing with Dual Tuners?

A lot of the sets which can record straight to HD in the UK actually have the feature disabled for NZ.

As far as I can tell the Samsung 7 Series only has one tuner. Many of the lesser models do also have a USB port for playback but don't say they allow recording.

Dingbatt

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#383023 22-Sep-2010 09:07

Might have to look at a TiVo now they are $360.
The ongoing maintenance on my HTPC is just about the geek habit of 'I wonder if I can tweak this?' and breaking something. That and persevering with the crapware HVR-2200 that I believe is the root of my hardware problems, particularly the sleep/wake ones. The HTPC was built when there were no Freeview recorders and terrestrial decoders cost a fortune.

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CJPhoto

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#383093 22-Sep-2010 11:33

Dingbatt: Might have to look at a TiVo now they are $360.

I was considering a HTPC and had ruled out a Tivo as I thought the price was about $1k which would be similar to a new build HTPC.

Now with Tivo down to $360 ($10pm for 36 months) I think this will be the easier option and will be more wife friendly as well.

Question: What are the advantages of a HTPC over Tivo?

FreakyKiwi

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#383097 22-Sep-2010 11:37

Not sure what your issue is with the HVR-2200 as mine are rock solid (have 4 HTPC's all WIN7 and with HVR2200's)...

FlyingPete

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#383098 22-Sep-2010 11:38

CJPhoto: Now with Tivo down to $360 ($10pm for 36 months) I think this will be the easier option and will be more wife friendly as well.

Question: What are the advantages of a HTPC over Tivo?

Ah yes WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor).

The main issue with TiVo is having to have a Telecom Broadband account, unless something has changed. I do know several indivduals who have dumped their HTPC's for TiVos and are very happy with them.

We can't get TiVo where I am at the moment (Taranaki - no DTT), moving back to Auckland soon, so now looking at this DTT thing :)