Hey all,
Ive just taken delivery of a HTPC, that i'd had a local company custom build for me. I got it because after my Boxee Box died, last year, I discovered XBMC and loved the beauty of it. Problem was I couldnt get it to run smoothly when playing full fat, HD films with HD audio soundtracks. I tried numerous media players, and none of them had enough grunt to perform the job adequately.
The cost of all the components wasnt particularly cheap, coming in at around £700, but if I was to buy a machine off the rack with similar, it would cost at least double, so it's a good deal really, especially when you consider that it's a windows 7 pc, as well as a media player. Also it's got a 4.3 inch touchscreen interface on the front of the case, just for the gadget lover in me!
The guy that built it for me told me on the phone before I picked it up that it was like lightening, and he wasnt lying. It less than 20 seconds to boot up. My laptop takes 2 minutes!
But, the nicest surprise for me has been the improvement in audio and visual quality, over all the media players i've had in the past. Pictures are more colourful and crisp. The sound though has had a more dramatic improvement. The sound coming from my fronts was always locatable to those speakers, but now the sound is being thrown out wider than the speakers, sounding like it's coming from the side walls, instead. When I put some music on, the amount of detail coming through, especially on vocals and strings, as well as realism of drums actually made me pull a Robbie Williams smirk. So good! without doing a side by side, id say its pretty darned close to my hifi, which is very, very, very good.
Ill try and post a picture. it's been a while, so bear with me........
If anyone likes the idea of a HTPC, and wants to know what went into this, let me know and i'll pass it along.
Ive just taken delivery of a HTPC, that i'd had a local company custom build for me. I got it because after my Boxee Box died, last year, I discovered XBMC and loved the beauty of it. Problem was I couldnt get it to run smoothly when playing full fat, HD films with HD audio soundtracks. I tried numerous media players, and none of them had enough grunt to perform the job adequately.
The cost of all the components wasnt particularly cheap, coming in at around £700, but if I was to buy a machine off the rack with similar, it would cost at least double, so it's a good deal really, especially when you consider that it's a windows 7 pc, as well as a media player. Also it's got a 4.3 inch touchscreen interface on the front of the case, just for the gadget lover in me!
The guy that built it for me told me on the phone before I picked it up that it was like lightening, and he wasnt lying. It less than 20 seconds to boot up. My laptop takes 2 minutes!
But, the nicest surprise for me has been the improvement in audio and visual quality, over all the media players i've had in the past. Pictures are more colourful and crisp. The sound though has had a more dramatic improvement. The sound coming from my fronts was always locatable to those speakers, but now the sound is being thrown out wider than the speakers, sounding like it's coming from the side walls, instead. When I put some music on, the amount of detail coming through, especially on vocals and strings, as well as realism of drums actually made me pull a Robbie Williams smirk. So good! without doing a side by side, id say its pretty darned close to my hifi, which is very, very, very good.
Ill try and post a picture. it's been a while, so bear with me........
If anyone likes the idea of a HTPC, and wants to know what went into this, let me know and i'll pass it along.
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