Meh. I think the HTPC thing has its place, but also its limitations.
I use a PC to store my pics and music and, for a time, considered converting all my DVDs onto it to act as a server (made especially easy with Windows 7 and a home network). But, alas, the time to rip all those movies and the space to store them on became too much to overcome. In addition, then I would be in a position where I could not lend out the movies to friends or take them with me on vacation.
Consider this: To rip 250 DVDs it was going to take up somewhere north of 1TB at compressed (4/9) rates. Since I didn't have a couple of TBs laying around (I would insist on backing this data up, hence the need for 2TB for each 1TB ripped), I thought about selling my DVDs off once I ripped them. By my modest calculation, I would probably get somewhere in the ballpark of $300 - $500 for the collection depending on how they were sold off (as a lot, or individual titles), with all the hassle that comes with it. I might come out marginally ahead, with a slick movie server to show off to my friends. But what for? I would lose, of course, the ability, to share movies with friends or take them with me in the car to entertain the kids on long trips. Nevermind that each movie would take about 30mins to rip (total elapsed time = 125 hours or just under a full week of ripping, if you took no breaks). No thanks.
In any event, I didn't find there to be any audio or video advantages to playing them on my PC. If anything, the video was slightly degraded. (Toss in the problems with playing uncompressed High Def sound with the PC and the whole thing was dead in the water).
As a music and pictures server, the computer is great. For everything else (including recorded TV - who doesn't have/need a cable box these days anyway?), I find the source to simply be superior in every way.
If you think the PC will be a one stop shop for all your media, unfortunately, I don't think that's the case. It's a nice compliment to a cable box and DVD/Blu Ray player, but it doesn't take the place of either.
Can you tell me how it's superior to HTPC? It seems that some of the new ones are supposed to do pass through for audio through HDMI in DTS and True HD. THe blu-ray play back is also said to be as good as the real thing, but I'm not really sure if that is true. Having all my movies and shows available without having to fumble around with blu-rays is a really attractive option for me. But I do not want performance to suffer. I built my HT for a reason after all.
