Depends on the programs. If they aren't available over the air via rabbit ears, on the company's website, Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, iTunes or YouTube then you're out of luck.
There are less than legal ways to get some shows, but it isn't recommended.
Depends on the programs. If they aren't available over the air via rabbit ears, on the company's website, Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, iTunes or YouTube then you're out of luck.
There are less than legal ways to get some shows, but it isn't recommended.
What's the CPU usage like on a Media center PC? Mostly single-threaded?
Could I use the same PC for NAS, and as a webserver?
Might be kinda nice to combine everything.
turboswede wrote: There are less than legal ways to get some shows, but it isn't recommended.
Wrong, I recommend it 
Depends on the software used. I separated mine out for several reasons:
1) allowed me to keep one system running all the time in my office, instead of the main room of the house. Cuts down on noise and allowed for a larger tower to be used for more potential drive space (actually use an old server with hot-swap SATA drives)
2) the systems I used were fairly old and low-powered (XP Pro running on HP SFF P4 boxes mostly), so separating them out was really the only option.
3) the systems I used in the living areas could be swapped out/changed without much hassle since they are all very similar in construction/configuration.
Biggest limitations I'm running into now is the wireless network (even at full N) isn't able to keep up when attempting to stream 1080 content, 720p seems to work fine though, which is also what most HD content streamed over the internet is these days. The Small Form Factor boxes I used were a pain to find decent video cards for. Windows XP is falling off the supported list for many of the common Media Center software. The ages of the systems are catching up to them now, so I'll start hunting around for some of the Net top or mATX boxes to replace them and likely go to Linux since Windows 7 and 8 are expensive and painful to use for this sort of use anymore.
GameboyRMH wrote:turboswede wrote: There are less than legal ways to get some shows, but it isn't recommended.Wrong, I recommend it
Dude. I'm usually there with you, except that with the ISP's getting in bed with the RIAA wonks and the government, it just isn't a good idea anymore. Plus, this isn't something to discuss on an open forum as had been discussed by the powers that be (Margie).
ProDarwin wrote: What's the CPU usage like on a Media center PC? Mostly single-threaded?
Yeah most programs in general are single-threaded right now. Most that aren't, are games (like the Crysis series). I can tell you that in general my HTPC's CPU is idling most of the time. Only HD playback gives the CPU and GPU real work...and doing backups to encrypted drives, that takes a lot of processing power.
ProDarwin wrote: Could I use the same PC for NAS, and as a webserver?
Sure! Easily. Maybe a DLNA server too (that takes a good bit of processing power though).
ProDarwin wrote: Might be kinda nice to combine everything.
It sure is 
My old PS3 is in a closet opposite the TV along with the rest of my home theater gear, so noise isnt an issue. I still have old jailbroken firmware on it and just use it for PS3 Media Server and DVD/Blu Ray. The Logitech Revue is kept current and used for Youtube, web browsing, and Netflix. If you just want a web browser, streaming video from Netflix/Youtube/Hulu/Amazon and a cheappy media server, a Logitech Revue and a standalone Blu Ray player would do everything. Power consumption on the Revue is minimal. Has HDMI out, optical out, basically everything you need. Wireless keyboard works at least 40' away through several walls.
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