Should we have a "Home Theater" forum ?

[Rich A]

Hi all,

Just curious how many of you would like to see a new forum dedicated to "Home Theater" here. This forum would be for any all questions involving primarily using / troubleshooting SnapStream products in a home theater environment. It would also be a place to discuss home theaters in general.

As a note .. there ARE many well represented home theater forums already out there. I would just like to have a similar forum available to us HERE as well. For Snapstream ... this could be a great thing to further promote the Snapstream products. Most actual "home theater" people are very interested in products that can be used in that environment. Google searches would probably bring in a whole un-tapped client base ..

Opps sorry .. the retired business man in me took over my brain for a moment.

Also what could be a great advantage to some of us, is that those of use who ARE using dedicated HTPCs in a home theater environment could have a place to discuss our particular problems and give tips mostly unique to a home theater environment ...

Should we have a "Home Theater" forum?

[queonda]

YES. That would save the general to be for general things ;-)

[imf4]

I say no because Snapstream people visit both HTPCNews forums and AVSForums HTPC section.

[DanielS]

then Rich A. and I would have somewhere else to put stuff like this ...

Rich A's well-supported view (if I may try to paraphrase here) is that the HTPC is solely a PVR whose role is to support the Theater Room and as such should run stably 24/7. Basically we agree completely accept for the word solely. I believe it should be always on, optimized and as stable as one can make it. But I differ in that I build HTPCs for people who want to use them for a multiplicity of uses besides timeshifting TV and driving a Theater, e.g. HI-Def Web, Email, Office Apps, Chat, Gaming, Home Control, etc.

The reason they don't just get a TiVo is because I can offer something more exciting. But they want to pay one price and get one machine. A challenge, yes to be sure. By the 1st of August, I will have completed my 5th Demo Machine. Is the hardware up to it? Basically, yes it is. Is Beyond TV? Nearly. But this choppy playback and 0 MB and segmented file crap has got to be narrowed down. I love BTV and it's the Horse I have chosen to back. I hope I'm not wrong. So far, I own 4 copies of BTV and 2 copies of Beyond Media, but at this point the PVR and Lobby software for the 5th demo and the production machines is up for grabs.

[mockware]

I think my view is in the middle of Rich A and Daniel S. I think the multifunctional ability of an HTPC is great for the Media Room but everything needs to be able to run via a 10 ft interface.

My PC is in the living room. It has all the TV stuff on it and I watch movies on it (DVD Library is a godsend) but it also checks the weather in the morning. Tells me who is calling on the phone so I don't have to hunt down the remote phone. Plays my music or tunes in an internet radio station. While I'm sitting on the couch listening to some music, I check my email.

HTPC is all about Multi-media

[Rich A]

Originally Posted by mockware

I think my view is in the middle of Rich A and Daniel S. I think the multifunctional ability of an HTPC is great for the Media Room but everything needs to be able to run via a 10 ft interface.

My PC is in the living room. It has all the TV stuff on it and I watch movies on it (DVD Library is a godsend) but it also checks the weather in the morning. Tells me who is calling on the phone so I don't have to hunt down the remote phone. Plays my music or tunes in an internet radio station. While I'm sitting on the couch listening to some music, I check my email.

HTPC is all about Multi-media

Absolutely .. There's a lot of different ways to go. I would just like to be a little more specific about which way we are talking about at times. Maybe we need to come up with something new. As I see it there are three distinct variations.

A PC that is multifunctional sitting in a pc environment but having PVR capability as well as day to day computing.

A PC like you have, that is in a multimedia environment (living room) whose function is primarily PVR, but also uses utilities and such borrowed from the PC world .. exactly like you described .. checking Email or weather etc.

And last a PC that was designed and built to only function as a media PVR and server in a dedicated home theater.

The thing I see from a help and service point of view is that each one might have problems or requirments unique to it's environment.

I'd say a multimedia PC can be in your office or your living room and serve multiple purposes. But a home theater PC is IN a home theater. That's why it's called that. And there are a myriad of unique problems that come with that territory. I just don't want to take up everyone else's time and energy discussing things that are unique to a home theater. OR give someone information that has nothing to do with his situation. Ergo ... why not a place where we can discuss home theater stuff as it pertains to the Snapstream experience ?? Besides, then you guys wouldn't have to put up with all our ramblings and techno-babble.

[Rich A]

OK guys. If I remember correctly when I first suggested this, someone from SS ? thought there wouldn't be enough interest and that I should put it to a poll.

Been done. Almost 3/4ths of the respondants favor it. What next ??

[Rich A]

I think the SS Moderator can close this thread. It's obvious that 75 percent of the respondants are in favor of having a "home theater group".

Thanks for participating in this poll ..