Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or HTPC
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 578
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Exactly what the title says
"Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or HTPC"
When I mention having a AV rack or that I'm using an HTPC, most folks just try to muster a smile and tilt their head a little like I was on America's most wanted the night before.
Is it still that much of niche hobby?
Being an Audio/Speaker forum, thought u'all would be a nice mix to take a tempature on, and get a take on this.
The other forums I visit: AVS, MyMovies, theGreenbutton, etc. are already "in the game", so hard to tell.
Thanks
Jeff
Fronts/Wides:M22s in/on Center:VP150/VP100 in/on Hghts,SS,SR:QS8s Sub:EP500 AVR:Onkyo 3008
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Re: Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or HTPC
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 18,044
shareholder in the making
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shareholder in the making
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I don't have a rack or an HTPC.
I do, however, have a rack with 2 ESX hosts and a vCenter server at work, along with a 2 tray iSCSI SAN, a couple of Cisco gigabit switches and various other equipment. Does that count?
I am the Doctor, and THIS... is my SPOON!
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Re: Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or HTPC
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 578
aficionado
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OP
aficionado
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I don't have a rack or an HTPC.
I do, however, have a rack with 2 ESX hosts and a vCenter server at work, along with a 2 tray iSCSI SAN, a couple of Cisco gigabit switches and various other equipment. Does that count? So I guess my 24 port netgear gigabit rack mounted switch ain't going to float your boat! Or my 20 hot swap bay server? Okay we are finished here! I am amazed at how many ports I use on that switch for one tiny house!
Fronts/Wides:M22s in/on Center:VP150/VP100 in/on Hghts,SS,SR:QS8s Sub:EP500 AVR:Onkyo 3008
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Re: Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or HTPC
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 18,044
shareholder in the making
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shareholder in the making
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Hell, I don't have that stuff at my house!
But no, I'm not fond of the Netgear gig-E switches. I've got one sitting on my desk at work on the off chance I get invited to a lan party at some point, but the thing is a pain to administer, and virtually impossible to integrate into a Cisco network.
I am the Doctor, and THIS... is my SPOON!
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Re: Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or HTPC
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 578
aficionado
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OP
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Well I do have an ulterior motive asking this question.
Last edited by wordgasm; 03/02/10 11:51 PM.
Fronts/Wides:M22s in/on Center:VP150/VP100 in/on Hghts,SS,SR:QS8s Sub:EP500 AVR:Onkyo 3008
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Re: Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or HTPC
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 8,488
axiomite
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axiomite
Joined: Jun 2003
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huh huh huh. He said "rack". Huh huh huh.
No rack. I have a PC attached to the main A/V system, but don't use it for PVR purposes. I DO use it as a streaming and music source.
bibere usque ad hilaritatem
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Re: Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or HTPC
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 578
aficionado
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huh huh huh. He said "rack". Huh huh huh.
No rack. I have a PC attached to the main A/V system, but don't use it for PVR purposes. I DO use it as a streaming and music source. I love my Squeezebox duet, streaming from a computer!
Fronts/Wides:M22s in/on Center:VP150/VP100 in/on Hghts,SS,SR:QS8s Sub:EP500 AVR:Onkyo 3008
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Re: Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or HTPC
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 2,185
connoisseur
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connoisseur
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Hey Jeff, what Netgear do you have?
I'm looking for a 24 port GBE unmanaged switch for my house, I was looking at a few Cisco ones around $300, give or take $50.
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Re: Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or HTPC
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 578
aficionado
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Hey Jeff, what Netgear do you have?
I'm looking for a 24 port GBE unmanaged switch for my house, I was looking at a few Cisco ones around $300, give or take $50.
I went with the most logical (for a house setup and non critical) one off of newegg for 169 dollars! It's a .... running to the rack to check! Hell I don;t recall! Sorry it's a D-Link and was the cheapest 24 port on newegg with a good rating. Aint nothing in this house it wont do. 24 port gigabit, no POE. MAnaged I dont think so but not sure, Id have to read the manual,aint going to happen
Last edited by wordgasm; 03/03/10 12:17 AM.
Fronts/Wides:M22s in/on Center:VP150/VP100 in/on Hghts,SS,SR:QS8s Sub:EP500 AVR:Onkyo 3008
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Re: Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or HTPC
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 3,569
connoisseur
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connoisseur
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I have an ultra low tech rack. It’s an adjustable metal storage rack form Lowe’s sitting in the office next to my living room, Great ventilation for the equipment and keeps the heat out of the rest of the house.
Right now it’s holding 3 PCs (General, Gaming and HTPC), Onkyo, Xbox 360, Buttkicker amp, Oppo BDP83, Oppo HD981, Direct TV DVR (x2), NAS, Router, Switch, HDMI Switch, Modem, External hard drives (x2), w/ plenty of room to spare for holding blank media & cases for burning.
3M80 2M22 6QS8 2M2 1EP500 Sony BDP-S590 Panny-7000 Onkyo-3007 Carada-134 Xbox Buttkicker AS-EQ1
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Re: Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or HTPC
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 74
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2010
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I saw a woman today with a nice rack. I used to have my pc hooked up to my tv via svid, but I dont bother anymore. I just use a flash drive for movies now with my PS3 or my Eureka. I also have another Eureka that I can stream to but never tried.
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Re: Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or HTPC
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Joined: Apr 2003
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shareholder in the making
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shareholder in the making
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My momma's got a squeeze box she wears on her chest.
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Re: Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or HTPC
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Joined: Dec 2007
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axiomite
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axiomite
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Is it still that much of niche hobby? Yeah, it is. I ran an htp using a Gigabit mobo with HDMI out for a while and it worked OK. I kept waiting for a reasonable bluray solution, but, after two years, gave up. When my son started getting into some ps2/3 games I picked up a used ps3. Works fine for me since I have no need to store movies on disc (I'm a rent & watch once kinda guy). Have Nvidea or ATI even released a reasonable cost card that will do bluray that includes a working player?
Fred
------- Blujays1: Spending Fred's money one bottle at a time, no two... Oh crap!
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Re: Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or
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shareholder in the making
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I think most of the current crop of ATI cards (5x00 series) will do blu-ray without an issue. I think Anandtech recommended a 5570 or something like.
Last edited by kcarlile; 03/03/10 06:14 AM.
I am the Doctor, and THIS... is my SPOON!
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Re: Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or
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axiomite
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axiomite
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And when daddy gets home he never gets no rest.
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Re: Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or
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Joined: Apr 2003
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shareholder in the making
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shareholder in the making
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Re: Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or HTPC
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 578
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Is it still that much of niche hobby? Have Nvidea or ATI even released a reasonable cost card that will do bluray that includes a working player? The new shampoo is an intel iCore3/5 chip and board. Build in HDMI HD Graphics, bitstreams HD audio from the chip (on chip sound) and TMT3 for a blue ray player. Plenty of HP for BR and HDTV, and the rest. You can now forget the Xonar card for bitstreaming and any video card, just need the processor and the mb. (not great for gaming, without add-on video card)
Fronts/Wides:M22s in/on Center:VP150/VP100 in/on Hghts,SS,SR:QS8s Sub:EP500 AVR:Onkyo 3008
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Re: Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 7,786
axiomite
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axiomite
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I think most of the current crop of ATI cards (5x00 series) will do blu-ray without an issue. I think Anandtech recommended a 5570 or something like. OK, it looks like reasonable cost cards are finally available, but there are still issues that need to be geeked around. Too bad the 5450 doesn't quite cut it. Do these cards ship with a working HD player?
Fred
------- Blujays1: Spending Fred's money one bottle at a time, no two... Oh crap!
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Re: Im Curious, how many of you use a Rack and/or
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Joined: Dec 2008
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veteran
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veteran
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I've been using a HTPC for a number of years now. I like the fact that I've ripped all the kids movies to the hard drive so they don't need to touch anything. They just press Movies on the Harmony and it all fires up to the TV. I'm using MediaPortal on XP instead of WMC for now and the kids can just scan through the cover art and pick the movie they want.
I also had the luxury of cabling my house when we built it, so all the equipment can connect to any of the TV's in the house through a component matrix switch. Once I move to HDMI, however, I'll need to find a streaming solution. Luckily I have 2 Cat6 runs to every room in the house right next to the component runs.
HG Cherry M60's,VP150,Qs8's,EP350
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