HTPC - RIP
Since 2001 - the holy grail for many of us build-your-own computer types was the Home Theatre PC (HTPC). Our goal was to have 1 device that could allow us to manage and play all of our media content from Pictures and Music to Videos, Movies and Live/Recorded TV as well as have internet access. We'd use extenders to distribute that content throughout our homes provide a rich experience to enjoy....
Whether you used Windows Media Center, XBMC or Plex, integrated with TV Cards from ATI, Hauppauge or Ceton and tried all sorts of form factors, fanless designs and special cases what have you - we have all been there in one way or another.
Throughout the previous decade, I really felt that the HTPC was going to be the cornerstone home entertainment systems and a key part of any whole home strategy. Today after a very hard look at the state of the art - I'm saying the HTPC is dead.
It's a shame in a way because I loved the 10ft UI experience - even after going through all the pain of integrating all the hardware, building movie libraries and finding artwork, scrambling with transcoders to try and make extenders work, watching "a" partner change their access model and decide not to update their Media Center extension (Read Sirius). I can go on and on - and for those of you who have pursued this effort - you know exactly what I am discussing.
Even today with cool platforms like Rasberry Pi or Intel NUC that have dropped some of the costs substantially - in my mind the concept is dead.
So what happened ?
When XP Media Center was first introduced along with the concept of the Media Center Extender (MCE) - there was a lot of excitement in the enthusiast community about the possibilities. We all had this vision of being able to centralize our media and stream it throughout the house and the UI was just cool.
That excitement continued into the Vista days with version 2 MCEs and improved dual tuners, etc. Windows Home Server was also introduced and we all scrambled trying to figure out a way to stream from those servers.
By Windows 7 however the MCE had stopped evolving and in fact had stopped being sold by the MS ecosystem partners like Linksys and HP and there was no real solution that covered premium cable channels or satellite. So while you had a system that could present your video and music libraries in a nice graphic UI - you still couldn't kill your cable box. We got the Movies library - but trying to stream to extenders was painful with transcoders / Dynamic links, etc.
Even with the introduction of the Ceton Cable Card multi-tuner (yep I bought one). TV was still painful. In my case, my cable provider was using Switched Digital Video (SDV). So I then had to have them come in and install two converters to cover the channels. Yes it worked - but wasn't something that was going to fit very nicely in my home theater space.
So now at Windows 8 - yes you can get Media Center if you want - but now only Xbox 360 is considered a certified extender. And while MS has this additional streaming capability called "Play" - my testing has found it to be fair at best. MS focused changed towards their native Metro Apps and Xbox Live Store.
Next came Apple TV / Boxee / Roku etc.. While many of us laughed at these devices when they first arrived - they were simple and effective within the limits they had and were at a great price point. I own several Apple TV devices - and when I compare the ease of use, media support and setup compared to what I went through with Media Center and Extenders it was night and day. And all for less than $100 / location.
In addition practically every TV now runs a GNU Linux kernel and supports some portfolio of apps. While they may not be great - the TV vendors have gotten that level of buy in from those developers. In addition some Sony and Samsung TVs have started support a new remote protocol called RVU that allows you to share a multi-tuner DVR to networked TVs. While the initial reviews of this capability have been mixed and the RVU Alliance membership is not broad - it kind of shows the future.
Bottom line - The HTPC was a great concept but has been surpassed by small inexpensive streaming devices and internet marketplaces. Good bye HTPC is was fun...
Whether you used Windows Media Center, XBMC or Plex, integrated with TV Cards from ATI, Hauppauge or Ceton and tried all sorts of form factors, fanless designs and special cases what have you - we have all been there in one way or another.
Throughout the previous decade, I really felt that the HTPC was going to be the cornerstone home entertainment systems and a key part of any whole home strategy. Today after a very hard look at the state of the art - I'm saying the HTPC is dead.
It's a shame in a way because I loved the 10ft UI experience - even after going through all the pain of integrating all the hardware, building movie libraries and finding artwork, scrambling with transcoders to try and make extenders work, watching "a" partner change their access model and decide not to update their Media Center extension (Read Sirius). I can go on and on - and for those of you who have pursued this effort - you know exactly what I am discussing.
Even today with cool platforms like Rasberry Pi or Intel NUC that have dropped some of the costs substantially - in my mind the concept is dead.
So what happened ?
When XP Media Center was first introduced along with the concept of the Media Center Extender (MCE) - there was a lot of excitement in the enthusiast community about the possibilities. We all had this vision of being able to centralize our media and stream it throughout the house and the UI was just cool.
That excitement continued into the Vista days with version 2 MCEs and improved dual tuners, etc. Windows Home Server was also introduced and we all scrambled trying to figure out a way to stream from those servers.
By Windows 7 however the MCE had stopped evolving and in fact had stopped being sold by the MS ecosystem partners like Linksys and HP and there was no real solution that covered premium cable channels or satellite. So while you had a system that could present your video and music libraries in a nice graphic UI - you still couldn't kill your cable box. We got the Movies library - but trying to stream to extenders was painful with transcoders / Dynamic links, etc.
Even with the introduction of the Ceton Cable Card multi-tuner (yep I bought one). TV was still painful. In my case, my cable provider was using Switched Digital Video (SDV). So I then had to have them come in and install two converters to cover the channels. Yes it worked - but wasn't something that was going to fit very nicely in my home theater space.
So now at Windows 8 - yes you can get Media Center if you want - but now only Xbox 360 is considered a certified extender. And while MS has this additional streaming capability called "Play" - my testing has found it to be fair at best. MS focused changed towards their native Metro Apps and Xbox Live Store.
Next came Apple TV / Boxee / Roku etc.. While many of us laughed at these devices when they first arrived - they were simple and effective within the limits they had and were at a great price point. I own several Apple TV devices - and when I compare the ease of use, media support and setup compared to what I went through with Media Center and Extenders it was night and day. And all for less than $100 / location.
In addition practically every TV now runs a GNU Linux kernel and supports some portfolio of apps. While they may not be great - the TV vendors have gotten that level of buy in from those developers. In addition some Sony and Samsung TVs have started support a new remote protocol called RVU that allows you to share a multi-tuner DVR to networked TVs. While the initial reviews of this capability have been mixed and the RVU Alliance membership is not broad - it kind of shows the future.
Bottom line - The HTPC was a great concept but has been surpassed by small inexpensive streaming devices and internet marketplaces. Good bye HTPC is was fun...
Comments
Post a Comment