For years the control system market has been dominated by the likes of AMX and Crestron, who's highly specialized and proprietary technology is well suited to the task, but was also created as a self contained market. I've worked with AMX (known for a while as Panja) and I like their products, but don't like the proprietary and closed nature of their business model. I prefer devices that I can design and upgrade without paying outrageous amounts of money for specialized programming or proprietary hardware.

There must have been many people out there thinking along the same lines, as the market to supply hardware and software for home built control systems has exploded in the past couple years. One of the first areas that electronics designers targeted as having high growth potential was multimedia processing.

Then :
I had used computers for displaying video streams back in 1993, but the hardware requirements for encoding or recording video content was much too taxing on my pocket book at that time. Eventually as encoding technologies improved and hardware capabilities increased, video recording and playback on the PC became "affordable" for early adopters and the adventurous public. For my part, I built my first HTPC in 1998 using a just released mpeg2 hardware decoding card and an extra PC that was sitting idle. I connected it to my TV via an S-Video (Super VHS) cable, and installed a separate remote with serial connected infrared receiver to control playback. The result was astounding. For less than $500.00 more than the cost of the PC, I had a DVD player that rivaled the $2000.00 dedicated players that were just introduced in 1996.

Now :
During the years between my first HTPC and today I've created many variations of the Home Theater Computer. It still performs the basic function of mpeg2 (DVD) playback, but now there is so much more.

To build an HTPC you basically need a computer, video capture card, and a sound card. With that combination you can use the computer to display video on your TV (if your TV has video inputs), or on your computer monitor. The point of all this is not to sit at your computer watching TV, but to enhance the quality and usability of your media by using a multitasking computer to display on your TV. Instead of using several different devices for music, TV, DVD, etc., you can use one device. Once you put a computer in the equation, you quickly find many possibilities open up. Maybe you’re tired of searching through your CD's, with an HTPC finding that one song is quick and easy. You can queue up hundreds of hours of your favorite music, or play just the good songs from your favorite albums. Ever struggle with programming the VCR, or can't figure out why it did not record your favorite show? With an HTPC you can simply select the program you want using a remote control, from the electronic TV guide on the screen. The computer will schedule, and record your selection. If you like Tivo, an HTPC will perform many of the same tasks, including pausing of live TV.

The latest incarnation of my HTPC uses the following hardware:

Black Dign HV5 case
320 Watt small form factor SilenX PSU
Asus P4P800-E Deluxe motherboard
Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHZ Prescott Processor
1GB of Crucial PC3200 DDR RAM in dual channel mode
ATI 9200 128MB 2D/3D video card
LifeView Flyvideo 2000 video capture card
120GB Seagate SATA hard disk
SASEM USB IR-VFD
USB/UIRT infrared receiver/sender
Two 60mm SilenX 8dba fans
A low noise CPU heat sink and fan

Additional signal distribution equipment:

Buffalo Electronics wired infrared repeater
Various wired infrared receivers and emitters
InLine (Extron) IN3254 High resolution four output RGBHV distribution amplifier
Various 20', 50', 100' RGBHV shielded video cables terminated in BNC or HD15 depending on the devices connected

Display devices:

Panasonic PT-AE900U LCD Projector
Mitsubishi/NEC 19" LCD panel
Mitsubishi/NEC 17" LCD panel
Lilliput 7" 16:9 VGA touch screen LCD

While it can take considerable time researching hardware choices and putting a system together, nothing is more time intensive than the software side of the system. In the next section, I'll explain the software considerations and options for an HTPC.

HTPC Page Two: Software