I'm toying with the idea of ditching TV service altogether, and just hooking up HTPCs to each TV in the house, and stream whatever content I want over the network. That way, I can access my iTunes library, or Netflix, or whatever other content service I can come up with in the future.

So, all I'd really need from the PC is enough horsepower to smoothly render 1080p video, surf the web, play YouTube, that sort of thing. No gaming, no spreadsheets or databases. Ideally, it would be pretty quiet.

Does anyone have any ideas on the simplest, cheapest (because we need about three such computers) lowest-spec option that does that without floundering around like a 4-year tasting their first jalapeno?

Or is there a better solution that I'm not thinking of?

The long-term goal is to take our total TV/Internet/Phone bill down from $2XX per month to something much less. If I get a fat internet pipe, do VoIP for the phone, and stream TV content from the web, is that the way to do it?

 

Similar ?, sub'd

 

Cheap is generally not a good idea. Get the most computer you can reasonably budget. I wouldn't get anything less than a Core i7 processor and as much ram you can get. Any "cheap" computer will quickly become outdated and you will wish you had spent a little extra.

My guess is you need to spend $800-1k per PC without monitors.

 

Slightly off topic:
I read that the internet ready tv's may have privacy issues. Seems the camera & mic could be accessed by third parties to monitor usage and even "spy" on users by filming their activity.

 

Hi Pmac.
The cool thing about HTPC is that you don`t require any POWER.
over power you want silence, stability and a nice looking case that fits in your media center.
An i7 with 8GB is overhead. you will never use it.
Around 400$ you find a decent HTPC. Even cheaper but comes with a little more risks.
You need a couple of parts an amd APU (vga and cpu in 1) works very well.
4GB ram, a micro atx or mini atx motherboard and a nice small case.
put a 2TB harddisk inside and you are ready to go. With a big internet pipe you can download 1080P movies in 16 minutes.
I run a website with working HTPC configurations. Check my profile for the website.


@blackbull, always use a virus scanner.

 

Is this still true these days? Essentially, all I'm looking for from this machine is to be a dumb terminal that can stream content across the LAN. All it needs is enough space for the OS and a few basic programs, enough graphics capability to smoothly render HD video, and enough audio power to send either a 5.1 or stereo audio signal out to the receiver. I'll have a separate (and much more powerful) computer to store, manipulate, and serve the feeds.

 

Thanks - this is exactly what I'm looking for!

 

Definitely agree with ample RAM and processor. Video cards are getting very affordable with DDR5 1gb options. No wireless setup if you can avoid it. Possibly buy an SSD for your apps, and whatever storage you need on a separate drive. I have a power pc set up for just Media. Cable is a thing of the past.