The End of HTPC Era

I have been using HTPCs for about 20 years now. The promis of a “bit-perfect” audio made the decision to repurpose a Window PC for home theater a no-brainer. It even worked for a while. I used Windows, then Media Center with its Remote, then varios flavors of Linux. Most of the time with a standard desktop GUI. For media player I used mpc-hc and then vlc. MPC was a pretty amaizing example of using Windows Media filters and COM programming, RIP.

I do not think I ever succeeded in making my Linux HTPC output Dolby Atmos to my Samsung TV and soundbar.

I stopped recommending HTPC after I verfied that VLC works on AppleTV AND can connect to the NAS over SMB. And you can’t beat the conveninece of casting to an AppleTV.

Alas, last week I retired my last HTPC and rebuilt it as a workstation.

Our media consumption patterns do change. Today I spend more time listening to youtube on my iPhone than anything else.