Rise and fall of the home theater PC

The HTPC or Home Theater PC was an idea ahead of its time. Something that only well-heeled and tech-savvy media tinkerers could achieve, and even then, it wasn’t worth the effort. Still, we have the HTPC to thank for our countless modern media options. So let’s take a look back at the HTPC and give it the respect it deserves.

The HTPC was ahead of its time

At its core, an HTPC is a combination of a PC and a TV, or at least some form of AV (audio and video) technology. This goes back further than you might think. The Amiga’s Video Toaster – an expansion card with multiple video source inputs – is responsible for many of the titles and special effects we saw on TV in the ’90s.

In the late 1990s, video capture cards were common and relatively easy to get for computers. In the early 2000s, I had a used Pentium II computer with an ATI All-in-Wonder that combined a 3D accelerator with a capture card so you could record TV shows, digitize VHS tapes, and then watch them on your computer or play them back on a real TV.

The hardware was fine, but the software wasn’t exactly lounge-friendly. In the 2000s, however, HTPC software like MythTV gave us a nice front end to a TV-connected PC; one that you could operate from across the room with a wireless keyboard and mouse. With DVD-ROM drives and software that could easily rip discs and compress them into files for easy viewing and cataloging, HTPCs were essentially a homemade version of what people know as Netflix today. Personally, I think modern streaming services have had plenty of examples of HTPC software that inspired them on what their own software would look and feel like. As with so many things that are mainstream today, people were enjoying something similar decades before it became available to everyone else.

HTPCs were too expensive and too complicated to last long

Even at their peak, HTPCs were a very niche product. All computers were expensive, and if you had one for your home entertainment system, you had to have the wherewithal to afford the luxury. Or you were a dirt-poor student with just one computer that acted as a TV, hi-fi and DVR. Either way, store shelves were not filled with HTPCs. Instead, DVD players and even DVD/VHS combo systems or DVD burners and DVR systems with internal hard drives all offered cheaper and more user-friendly alternatives.

The first Xbox meant the end of HTPCs

Even if you fell in love with an HTPC and didn’t want any of that consumer stuff, the introduction of the original Xbox and the homebrew media player apps for it was a good idea. If you modified your Xbox to run homebrew, you could install applications like Xbox Media Player (XBMP), which later became XBMC (Xbox Media Center) and is now known as Kodi. Yes, The Code.

This software allowed you to manage and play media from a variety of local and network sources. A console like the Xbox, even taking into account the cost of modding, was still far more affordable than a home-built HTPC. By the time the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 came along, the need for a dedicated HTPC had all but disappeared. Especially because these consoles can run apps like Plex, which let you stream content from a computer anywhere in your house over your LAN. By the way, Plex doesn’t stop supporting the PS3 until 2023! Combined with the rise of streaming services like Netflix, the appeal of an HTPC is diminishing even further.

You can still build your own HTPC

That’s not to say the HTPC is completely dead. It’s always been a niche market, but you can still easily buy a small form-factor (SFF) PC or HTPC case to expand your home theater setup. Why you’d choose this over, say, an Apple TV or Android TV box is a question with very few answers. Most of these deal with specific customizations or quirks someone wants for their setup. Access to open-source software is a big one, and of course, some HTPCs are also designed to be game console replacements.

All I know is that HTPCs were, at least for me, a dream for many years. I read about building them in magazines and saw descriptions of the amazing systems that people with lots of money and somehow lots of time had created. These days I have little desire for an HTPC and outside of enthusiast circles it is unlikely that anyone will ever have one again.