re: Home Theater Ideas & Advice

quote:

---

I'm not sure if I want to get a DVR from the cable company or not. The only option out here is Charter, which is shite IMO. I've seen commercials for the new Tivo Roamio. Apparently you can watch whatever you have on your DVR, on your iPad; even in flight. Anyone have one?

---

If you want to seriously do this, HTPC + network projector + your choice: HDHomerun Prime or Ceton InfiniTV 6 ETH (though HDHomerun is the better choice).
Put Plex on the HTPC and buy the Plex App for your iPad ($5 I think). If the computer is Windows, use Windows Media Center. If it's a Mac, buy Elgato Eye TV (more expensive, probably not quite as good, but it works). You'll be able to DVR as much as you want (provided you buy the necessary storage, which is relatively cheap) for no recurring fees). Then use MCEBuddy in Windows to set up, on a schedule, converting your DVR'd files to a more organized, smaller format (still in HD and good for streaming!). In Mac OSX, you can do this with Handbrake, though it's less user-friendly (I don't know of other options here). In short, if you can stand to do a little trouble-shooting, you can have a good/better solution than your cable company's DVR.


You didn't mention speakers/receiver/amp/etc at all. Is this not a need?