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A home theater PC (HTPC) or media center computer is a convergent device that combines some or all the capabilities of a
personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or te ...
with a
software application Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...
that focuses on video, photo, audio playback, and sometimes
video recording Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) systems ...
functionality. Since the mid-2000s, other types of
consumer electronics Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic ( analog or digital) equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. Usuall ...
, including
game consoles A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to a ...
and dedicated media devices, have crossed over to manage video and music content. The term "media center" also refers to specialized
application software Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a ...
designed to run on standard
personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or te ...
s. HTPC and other convergent devices integrate components of a home theater into a unit co-located with a home entertainment system. An HTPC system typically has a remote control and the software interface normally has a 10-foot (3 m) user interface design so that it can be comfortably viewed at typical television viewing distances. An HTPC can be purchased pre-configured with the required hardware and software needed to add video programming or music to the PC. Enthusiasts can also piece together a system out of discrete components as part of a software-based HTPC. Since 2007,
digital media players A digital media player (also sometimes known as a streaming device or streaming box) is a type of consumer electronics device designed for the storage, playback, or viewing of digital media content. They are typically designed to be integra ...
and
smart TV A smart TV, also known as a connected TV (CTV), is a traditional television set with integrated Internet and interactive Web 2.0 features, which allows users to stream music and videos, browse the internet, and view photos. Smart TVs are a techn ...
software has been incorporated into consumer electronics through software or hardware changes including video game consoles,
Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
players, networked media players, televisions, and
set-top box A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box and historically television decoder, is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input and displays output to a television set and an external source of s ...
es. The increased availability of specialized devices, coupled with paid and free digital online content, now offers an alternative to multipurpose (and more costly) personal computers.


History

The HTPC as a concept is the product of several technology innovations including high-powered home computers, digital media, and the shift from standard-resolution CRT to high-definition monitors, projectors, and large-screen televisions. Integrating televisions and personal computers dates back to the late 1980s with tuner cards that could be added to
Commodore Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...
PCs via the
Video Toaster The NewTek Video Toaster is a combination of hardware and software for the editing and production of NTSC standard-definition video. The plug-in expansion card initially worked with the Amiga 2000 computer and provides a number of BNC conne ...
. This adaptation would allow a small video window to appear on the screen with broadcast or cable content. Apple Computer also developed the
Macintosh TV The Macintosh TV is a personal computer with integrated television capabilities released by Apple Computer in 1993. It was Apple's first attempt at computer-television integration. It shares the external appearance of the Macintosh LC 500 series ...
in late 1993 that included a tuner card built into a
Macintosh LC 520 The Macintosh LC 500 series is a series of personal computers that were a part of Apple Computer's Macintosh LC family of Macintosh computers, designed as a successor to the compact Macintosh family of computers for the mid-1990s mainstream educat ...
chassis but quickly withdrew from the market with only 10,000 units shipped. In 1996
Gateway Computer Gateway, Inc., previously Gateway 2000, is an American computer hardware company. The company developed, manufactured, supported, and marketed a wide range of personal computers, computer monitors, servers, and computer accessories. It was acqu ...
unveiled the Destination computer, which included a tuner card and video card. The unit cost $4,000 and mostly integrated television viewing and computer functions on one color monitor. The Destination was called a "PC-TV Combo" but by December the term "Home-theater PC" appeared in mainstream media: "The home theater PC will be a combination entertainment and information appliance." By 2000, DVD players had become relatively ubiquitous and consumers were seeking ways to improve the picture. The value of using a computer instead of standalone DVD player drove more usage of the PC as a home media device. In particular, the desire for
progressive scan Progressive scanning (alternatively referred to as noninterlaced scanning) is a format of displaying, storing, or transmitting moving images in which all the lines of each frame are drawn in sequence. This is in contrast to interlaced video use ...
ning DVD players (
480p 480p is the shorthand name for a family of video display resolutions. The p stands for progressive scan, i.e. non-interlaced. The ''480'' denotes a vertical resolution of 480 pixels, usually with a horizontal resolution of 640 pixels and 4:3 ...
instead of
480i 480i is the video mode used for standard-definition digital television in the Caribbean, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Laos, Western Sahara, and most of the Americas (with the exception of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay). T ...
) with better video fidelity led some consumers to consider their computers instead of very expensive DVD players. As DVD players dropped in price, so did PCs and their related video-processing and storage capabilities. In 2000, DVD decryption software using the
DeCSS DeCSS is one of the first free computer programs capable of decrypting content on a commercially produced DVD video disc. Before the release of DeCSS, open source operating systems (such as BSD and Linux) could not play encrypted video DVDs. ...
algorithm allowed DVD owners to consolidate their DVD video libraries on hard drives. Innovations such as
TiVo TiVo ( ) is a digital video recorder (DVR) developed and marketed by Xperi (previously by TiVo Corporation and TiVo Inc.) and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose fea ...
and
ReplayTV ReplayTV was a former DVR company that from 1999 until 2005, produced a brand of digital video recorders (DVR), a term synonymous with ''personal video recorder'' (PVR). It is a consumer video device which allows users to capture television progr ...
allowed viewers to store and timeshift broadcast content using specially designed computers. ReplayTV for instance ran on a
VxWorks VxWorks is a real-time operating system (or RTOS) developed as proprietary software by Wind River Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aptiv. First released in 1987, VxWorks is designed for use in embedded systems requiring real-time, determi ...
platform. Incorporating these capabilities into PCs was well within the ability of a computer hobbyist who was willing to build and program these systems. Key benefits of these DIY projects included lower cost and more features. Advancements in hardware identified another weak link: the absence of media management software to make it easy to display and control the video from a distance. By 2002, major software developments also facilitated media management, hardware integration, and content presentation.
MythTV MythTV is a free and open-source home entertainment application with a simplified "10-foot user interface" design for the living room TV. It turns a computer with the necessary hardware into a network streaming digital video recorder, a digital ...
provided a free and open source solution using
Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, whi ...
. The concept was to combine a digital tuner with digital video recording, program guides, and computer capabilities with a 10-foot (3 m) user interface.
XBMC Kodi (formerly XBMC) is a free and open-source media player software application developed by the XBMC Foundation, a non-profit technology consortium. Kodi is available for multiple operating systems and hardware platforms, with a software 10- ...
was another free and open software project started with re-purposing the
Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...
as a home theater PC but has since been ported to Windows and Macintosh operating systems in various forms including
Boxee Boxee was a cross-platform freeware HTPC (Home Theater PC) software application with a 10-foot user interface and social networking features designed for the living-room TV. It enabled its users to view, rate and recommend content to their fri ...
and Plex. Mainstream commercial software packages included Microsoft's XP Media Center Edition (2002, bundled with
Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was release to manufacturing, released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Wind ...
, and Apple's Front Row (2005) software, bundled with
Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lap ...
. By early 2006, commercial examples of this integration included the
Mac mini Mac Mini (stylized as Mac mini) is a small form factor desktop computer developed and marketed by Apple Inc. , it is positioned between the consumer all-in-one iMac and the professional Mac Studio and Mac Pro as one of four current Mac deskto ...
which had the Apple Remote, 5.1 digital audio, and an updated Front Row interface that would play shared media. Because of these features and the Mini's small form factor, consumers began using the Mini as a Mac-based home theater PC. As digital cable and satellite became the norm, HTPC software became more dependent on external decoder boxes, and the subscription costs that came with them. For instance, MythTV is capable of capturing unencrypted
HDTV High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...
streams, such as those broadcast over the air or on cable using a
QAM Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is the name of a family of digital modulation methods and a related family of analog modulation methods widely used in modern telecommunications to transmit information. It conveys two analog message signa ...
tuner. However, most U.S.
cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
and
satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...
set-top box A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box and historically television decoder, is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input and displays output to a television set and an external source of s ...
es provide only encrypted HD streams for "non-basic" content, which can be decoded only by OpenCable-approved hardware or software. In September 2009, OEM restrictions were officially lifted for
cableCARD CableCARD is a special-use PC Card device that allows consumers in the United States to view and record digital cable television channels on digital video recorders, personal computers and television sets on equipment such as a set-top box not pr ...
devices, opening up the possibility of HTPC integration. The advent of fully digital HDTV displays helped to complete the value and ease of use of a HTPC system. Digital
projectors A projector or image projector is an optical device that projects an image (or moving images) onto a surface, commonly a projection screen. Most projectors create an image by shining a light through a small transparent lens, but some newer types ...
, plasma and LCD displays often came pre-configured to accept computer video outputs including
VGA Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the PC industry within three years. The term can now ...
,
DVI Digital Visual Interface (DVI) is a video display interface developed by the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG). The digital interface is used to connect a video source, such as a video display controller, to a display device, such as a comp ...
and
Component Video Component video is an analog video signal that has been split into two or more component channels. In popular use, it refers to a type of component analog video (CAV) information that is transmitted or stored as three separate signals. Compo ...
. Furthermore, both the computers and the displays could include
video scaler A video scaler is a system which converts video signals from one display resolution to another; typically, scalers are used to convert a signal from a lower resolution (such as 480p standard definition) to a higher resolution (such as 1080i hig ...
s to better conform the image to the screen format and resolutions. Likewise, computers also included
HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controlle ...
ports that carry both audio and video signals to home video displays or AV receivers. The simplified integration of computer and home theater displays has allowed for fully digital content distribution over the internet. For instance, by 2007 Netflix "watch instantly" subscribers could view streaming content using their HTPCs with a browser or with plug-ins with applications such as Plex and XBMC. Similar plug-ins are also available for
Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...
,
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
, and broadcasters such as
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
,
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
and PBS.


HTPC characteristics

The media itself may be stored, received by
terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...
,
satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...
or cable broadcasting or
streamed Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
from the internet. Stored media is kept either on a local
hard drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with mag ...
or on
network attached storage Network-attached storage (NAS) is a file-level (as opposed to block-level storage) computer data storage server connected to a computer network providing data access to a heterogeneous group of clients. The term "NAS" can refer to both the tech ...
. Some software is capable of doing other tasks, such as finding news ( RSS) from the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...
. Beyond functioning as a standard PC, normally HTPCs have some additional characteristics:


Television connectivity

Standard PC units are usually connected to a CRT or LCD display, while HTPCs are designed to be connected to a
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
. All HTPCs should feature a TV-out option, using either an
HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controlle ...
,
DVI Digital Visual Interface (DVI) is a video display interface developed by the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG). The digital interface is used to connect a video source, such as a video display controller, to a display device, such as a comp ...
,
DisplayPort DisplayPort (DP) is a digital display interface developed by a consortium of PC and chip manufacturers and standardized by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). It is primarily used to connect a video source to a display device su ...
,
Component video Component video is an analog video signal that has been split into two or more component channels. In popular use, it refers to a type of component analog video (CAV) information that is transmitted or stored as three separate signals. Compo ...
,
VGA Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the PC industry within three years. The term can now ...
(for some LCD televisions),
S-Video S-Video (also known as separate video, Y/C, and erroneously Super-Video ) is an analog video signal format that carries standard-definition video, typically at 525 lines or 625 lines. It encodes video luma and chrominance on two separate chann ...
, or
composite video Composite video is an analog video signal format that carries standard-definition video (typically at 525 lines or 625 lines) as a single channel. Video information is encoded on one channel, unlike the higher-quality S-Video (two channe ...
output.


Remote control

Integrating a HTPC into a typical living room requires a way of controlling it from a distance. Many TV tuner/capture cards include remote controls for use with the applications included with the card. Software such as
Boxee Boxee was a cross-platform freeware HTPC (Home Theater PC) software application with a 10-foot user interface and social networking features designed for the living-room TV. It enabled its users to view, rate and recommend content to their fri ...
,
GB-PVR GB-PVR was a PVR (personal video recorder aka digital video recorder) application, running on Microsoft Windows, whose main function was scheduling TV recordings and playing back live TV. GB-PVR is no longer under active development and has been ...
,
SageTV SageTV Media Center, now open source, was a proprietary, commercial DVR (Digital Video Recording) and HTPC (Home theater PC) software for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. It requires that the host computer have a hardware-based TV tuner card. The S ...
,
MediaPortal MediaPortal is an open-source media player and digital video recorder software project, often considered an alternative to Windows Media Center. It provides a 10-foot user interface for performing typical PVR/TiVo functionality, including playi ...
and
Beyond TV Beyond TV is digital video recorder/ media center software for Microsoft Windows produced by the American company SnapStream. The software was originally released in 2000 as a ''Personal Video Station''. Like most media center software, and device ...
support the use of Windows MCE and other remote controls. Another option is an in-air mouse pointer such as the
Wii Remote The Wii Remote, also known colloquially as the Wiimote, is the primary game controller for Nintendo's Wii home video game console. An essential capability of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact wi ...
, GlideTV Navigator, or Loop Pointer, which gives cursor control from a distance. It is also possible to use common wireless keyboards and other peripherals to achieve the same effect (though the range may not be as long as a typical remote control's). Some HTPCs, such as the Plex/Mac Mini combination, support programmable remote controls designed for a wide range of typical home theater devices. More recent innovations include remote-control applications for Android and Apple iOS smartphones and tablets.


External and networked storage devices

Because of the nature of the HTPC, units require higher-than-average capacities for storage of pictures, music, television shows, videos, and other
multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradit ...
. Designed almost as a 'permanent storage' device, space can quickly run out on these devices. Because of restrictions on internal space for hard disk drives and a desire for low noise levels, many HTPC units use a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device, or another type of network-connected
file server In computing, a file server (or fileserver) is a computer attached to a network that provides a location for shared disk access, i.e. storage of computer files (such as text, image, sound, video) that can be accessed by the workstations that are ab ...
.


TV tuner cards

A
TV tuner card A TV tuner card is a kind of television tuner that allows television signals to be received by a computer. Most TV tuners also function as video capture cards, allowing them to record television programs onto a hard disk much like the digital v ...
is a computer component that allows television signals to be received by a computer. Most TV tuners also function as video capture cards, allowing them to record television programs onto a hard disk. Several manufacturers build combined TV tuner plus capture cards for PCs. Many such cards offer hardware MPEG encoding to reduce the computing requirements. Some cards are designed for analog TV signals such as standard definition cable or off the air television, while others are designed for high-definition digital TV.


Network TV tuner

A network TV tuner or
TV gateway A TV gateway (also called network TV tuner) is a television headend to a network UPnP router that receives live digital video broadcast (DVB) MPEG transport streams (channels) from terrestrial aerials, satellite dishes, or cable feeds and converts ...
is a TV server that converts TV signal from satellite, cable or antenna to IP. With multiple TV tuners, the TV gateway can stream multiple TV channels to devices across the network. Several TV gateway manufacturers build the device to stream the entire DVB stream, relying on the host player device to process the feed and to capture/record, while other devices such as
VBox Home TV Gateway VBox Home TV gateway is a network-enabled live TV tuner and PVR HDTV set-top-box produced by VBox Communications Ltd. The VBox Home TV Gateway is also known as: * V@Home TV Gateway PVR * V@Home TV Gateway * VHome TV Gateway * VBox TV Gateway * ...
provide a variety of option from full PVR and live TV features, to streaming of specific DVB layers to support less powerful devices and to save network bandwidth.


Quiet/minimal noise

A common user complaint with using standard PCs as HTPC units is background noise, especially in quieter film scenes. Most personal computers are designed for maximum performance, while the functions of a HTPC system may not be processor-intensive. Thus, passive cooling systems, low-noise fans, vibration-absorbing elastic mounts for fans and hard drives, and other noise-minimizing devices are used in place of conventional cooling systems.


Software

HTPC options exist for each of the major operating systems:
Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...
,
Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lap ...
and
Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, whi ...
. The software is sometimes called "Media Center Software".


Linux, Unix, and BSD

A number of media center software solutions exist for Linux-, Unix-, and BSD-based operating systems; for example
MythTV MythTV is a free and open-source home entertainment application with a simplified "10-foot user interface" design for the living room TV. It turns a computer with the necessary hardware into a network streaming digital video recorder, a digital ...
is a fully fledged integrated suite of software which incorporates TV recording, video library, video game library, image/picture gallery, information portal and music collection playback among other capabilities. Kodi is also available (as it is for many platforms), and can be used to present all the available media including TV programmes recorded by MythTV. Freevo, VDR,
SageTV SageTV Media Center, now open source, was a proprietary, commercial DVR (Digital Video Recording) and HTPC (Home theater PC) software for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. It requires that the host computer have a hardware-based TV tuner card. The S ...
and
Boxee Boxee was a cross-platform freeware HTPC (Home Theater PC) software application with a 10-foot user interface and social networking features designed for the living-room TV. It enabled its users to view, rate and recommend content to their fri ...
are other solutions. Linux, partially due to its opensource nature, is available as customised versions including the mediacentre pre-installed and with superfluous software removed. Examples include MythBuntu (based on
Xubuntu Xubuntu () is a Canonical Ltd.–recognized, community-maintained derivative of the Ubuntu operating system. The name ''Xubuntu'' is a portmanteau of ''Xfce'' and ''Ubuntu'', as it uses the Xfce desktop environment, instead of Ubuntu's Unity ...
), and
Ubuntu TV Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: ''Desktop'', ''Server'', and ''Core'' for Internet of things devices and robots. All the ...
or Kodibuntu (formerly XBMCbuntu), (all based on
Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: '' Desktop'', ''Server'', and ''Core'' for Internet of things devices and robots. All ...
).
LinuxMCE LinuxMCE (Linux Media Center Edition) is a free and open source software platform with a 10-foot user interface designed to allow a computer to act as a home theater PC (HTPC) for the living-room TV, personal video recorder, and home automation ...
is a complete
home automation Home automation or domotics is building automation for a home, called a smart home or smart house. A home automation system will monitor and/or control home attributes such as lighting, climate, entertainment systems, and appliances. It m ...
solution including lighting/curtains, security, and MythTV capability.


Mac OS X

For
Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lap ...
versions before 10.7 (Lion), HTPC functionality is built into the operating system itself. Specifically, the programs Front Row and Cover Flow, used in conjunction with the
Apple Remote The Apple Remote is a remote control introduced in October 2005 by Apple Inc. for use with a number of its products with infrared capability. It was originally designed to control the Front Row media center program on the iMac G5 and is compati ...
, allow users easily to browse and view any multimedia content stored on their Macs. With the July 2011 release of Mac OS X Lion, Front Row has been discontinued. Several third-party applications provide HTPC support, including Plex, and
XBMC Kodi (formerly XBMC) is a free and open-source media player software application developed by the XBMC Foundation, a non-profit technology consortium. Kodi is available for multiple operating systems and hardware platforms, with a software 10- ...
. Beyond the operating system itself, add-on hardware-plus-software combinations (for adding more full-featured HTPC abilities to any Mac) include Elgato's EyeTV series PVRs, AMD's "
ATI Ati or ATI may refer to: * Ati people, a Negrito ethnic group in the Philippines **Ati language (Philippines), the language spoken by this people group ** Ati-Atihan festival, an annual celebration held in the Philippines *Ati language (China), a ...
Wonder" external USB 2.0 TV-tuners, and various individual devices from third-party manufacturers.


Microsoft Windows

For
Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...
, a common approach was to install a version that contains the Windows Media Center (Windows 7 editions#Editions for personal computers, Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate for Windows 7 or Windows Vista Basic, Home Premium or Ultimate for Windows Vista). Windows Media Center included additional software that covered the Personal Video Recorder, PVR functions of the proposed HTPC, including free program guide information and automatic program recording. Windows 7, Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate included an MPEG2 decoder. With the introduction of Windows 8, Media Center was no longer included with the operating system; instead it was necessary to buy Windows 8 Pro and then purchase the Media Center Pack via the Windows Control Panel. Windows Media Centre is not available at all for Windows 10. However, it may be restored by a number of unofficial ways. Alternative HTPC software may be built with the addition of a third party software Digital video recorder, PVR to a Windows PC. SageTV, GB-PVR, and DVBViewer have integrated placeshifting comparable to the Slingbox, allowing client PCs and the Hauppauge MediaMVP to be connected to the server over the network. Snapstream provides heuristic commercial detection and program recompression. When using a faster CPU,
SageTV SageTV Media Center, now open source, was a proprietary, commercial DVR (Digital Video Recording) and HTPC (Home theater PC) software for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. It requires that the host computer have a hardware-based TV tuner card. The S ...
and
Beyond TV Beyond TV is digital video recorder/ media center software for Microsoft Windows produced by the American company SnapStream. The software was originally released in 2000 as a ''Personal Video Station''. Like most media center software, and device ...
can record content from TV capture cards which do not include hardware MPEG2 compression. For a free alternative,
GB-PVR GB-PVR was a PVR (personal video recorder aka digital video recorder) application, running on Microsoft Windows, whose main function was scheduling TV recordings and playing back live TV. GB-PVR is no longer under active development and has been ...
and
MediaPortal MediaPortal is an open-source media player and digital video recorder software project, often considered an alternative to Windows Media Center. It provides a 10-foot user interface for performing typical PVR/TiVo functionality, including playi ...
provide full home theater support and good multi-card DVR capabilities. GB-PVR also has a free client, free mediaMVP client, and free network media playback. MediaPortal provides a full client/server set-up with live TV/DVR (recorded or timeshifted) streaming. MediaPortal is open-source and offers a variety of skins and plugins for music videos, Netflix, Pandora and others.


Digital media receivers and consumer electronics integration

Although digital media players are often built using similar components to personal computers, they are often smaller, quieter and less costly than the full-featured computers adapted to multi-media entertainment. In recent years, convergence devices for home entertainment including gaming systems, DVRs, Blu-Ray players and dedicated devices such as the Roku have also started managing local video, music and streaming internet content. Likewise, some managed video services such as Verizon's FiOS allow users to incorporate their photographs, video, and music from their personal computers to their FiOS set-top-box including DVRs. Gaming systems such as the Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3 and the Microsoft Xbox 360 support media management beyond their original gaming orientation. As computing power increases and costs fall, traditional media devices such as televisions have been given network capabilities. So-called Smart TVs from BRAVIA#Sony Bravia Internet TV and Video, Sony, Samsung Smart TV, Samsung, and LG Smart TV, LG (to name a few) have models that allow owners to include some free or subscription media content available on the Internet. The rapid growth in the availability of online content, including music, video and games, has also made it easier for consumers to use these networked devices.
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, for instance, is a common plug-in available on most networked devices. Netflix has also struck deals with many consumer electronics makers to have their interface available for their streaming subscribers. This symbiotic relationship between Netflix and consumer electronics makers has helped propel Netflix to become the largest subscription video service in the U.S., using up to 20% of U.S. bandwidth at peak times. Other digital media retailers such as Apple, Amazon.com and Blockbuster Inc., Blockbuster have purchase and rental options for video and music on demand. Apple in particular has developed a tightly integrated device and content management ecosystem with their iTunes Store, personal computers, iOS (Apple), iOS List of iOS devices, devices, and the AppleTV digital media receiver. The most recent version of the AppleTV, at $99, has lost the hard drive included in its predecessor and fully depends either on streaming internet content, or another computer on the home network for media.


Impact on traditional television services

The convergence of content, technology, and broadband access allows consumers to stream television shows and movies to their high-definition television in competition with traditional service providers (cable TV and satellite television). The research company SNL Kagan expects 12 million households, roughly 10%, to go without cable, satellite or telco video service by 2015 using Over-the-top content, over-the-top services. This represents a new trend in the broadcast television industry, as the list of options for watching movies and TV over the Internet grows every day. Research also shows that even as traditional television service providers are trimming their customer base, adding broadband Internet customers. Nearly 76.6 million U.S. households get broadband from leading cable and telephone companies, although only a portion have sufficient speeds to support quality video streaming. Convergent devices for home entertainment will likely play a much larger role in the future of broadcast television, effectively shifting traditional revenue streams while providing consumers with more options.


See also

* Comparison of DVR software packages * Comparison of digital media players * Cord-cutting * Digital video recorder * Digital media receiver * Home cinema * Media server * Portable media player * Skin (computing), Skin


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Home Theater Pc Home video Multimedia Personal computers