HTPC for my backwoods friend.

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capnstabn

Gawd
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Jan 6, 2006
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I have an older friend that has chosen to live in BFE,Texas...like the closest neighbor is 2 miles away. He collects a small inheritance check every month, hunts for a good bit of his food, and grows vegetables in a garden (along with other green substances). Hes a bit nuts but he seems happy being detached out there. He recently purchased a 1080p LCD and has been watching tv with his antenna...and this is a huge leap towards technology for this guy. For christmas I want build him an HTPC that can support playing 1080p MKVs amongst other high def content fairly well. I will also include an external 1tb hd that I will load up with tv shows/movies. He will not be using the internet. I don't want to break the bank building this so I am reaching out to the HTPC gurus for some guidance on what hardware to buy.
 
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Sounds like you want a pure stored movie watching experience. I suggest Ion with XBMC under linux. It will have full hardware acceleration of video and use around 25W peak.

And yes folks that may not sound important but for someone on a fixed income the temptation to not do something due to the power draw is there. At 25W the cost will be so low that the person wont be shy to use it.

This one is cheap. Single core Ion but for video watching once you get XBMC on it. Dual will have no effect anyway.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...103228&cm_re=Acer_revo-_-83-103-228-_-Product
 
hmm you could use a western digital media player instead of building an htpc if he has no plans to use the net, etc?
 
Veedo said:
hmm you could use a western digital media player instead of building an htpc if he has no plans to use the net, etc?
Click to expand...

Those are nice units but in my opinion a real HTPC is more adaptable and able to do light gaming. Worth the extra 99 bucks in my view.
 
capnstabn said:
I have an older friend that has chosen to live in BFE,Texas...like the closest neighbor is 2 miles away. He collects a small inheritance check every month, hunts for a good bit of his food, and grows vegetables in a garden (along with other green substances). Hes a bit nuts but he seems happy being detached out there.
Click to expand...

sounds like a slice of heaven to me....
 
Zachstar said:
Those are nice units but in my opinion a real HTPC is more adaptable and able to do light gaming. Worth the extra 99 bucks in my view.
Click to expand...

He got a DS last year and loved it. Might be able to throw some older games on the box too.
 
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