HTPC Display

An integral part of any HTPC is definitely the video display. It wouldn’t be called a HTPC otherwise. Assuming that the motherboard chosen is capable of sending video output in VGA, DVI and HDMI, there are several alternatives to choose from, when building a HTPC: Computer monitor, LCD TV, projector. The trade-off here would be size versus price.

But then, something dawned on me recently. There is no real point in building a HD capable HTPC when there are no HD sources for me to watch. Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) TV is only presently in trials and isn’t supposed to go into service until after 2010. Even Astro does not yet broadcast in HDTV although it does have the capability to do so in the future. So, my main source of media will probably be DVD quality video, which is meant for SDTV (720×480/720×576).

In other words, there is no need for me to set up a HDTV quality rig yet, at least not for another few years. By that time, the prices of HD capable devices should have dropped. So, for the moemnt, I will focus on building a SDTV capable display system:

• Monitor: 22″ 1680×1050@RM800. Viewing distance: 2.5m
• Plasma TV: 32″ 1366×768@RM2,100. Viewing distance: 3.7m
• LCD TV: 32″ 1366×768@RM2,400. Viewing distance: 3.7m
• Projector: >32″ 800×600@RM2,500. Viewing distance: >3.7m

So, a monitor isn’t really useful in a living room unless I plan to only watch thing alone. The moment that I have a few friends over, it isn’t going to cut it. This leaves the LCD TV and projector as the only viable options. Since they are both priced equally, you would think that the projector is the way to go. But there are plenty of drawbacks to the projector idea.

A projector would require a darkened room to work well. This means that the living room lights need to be off and the curtains drawn. This may or may not be suitable for everyday viewing. Also, a projector is a fairly noisy device as it needs a cooling fan to cool down the light bulb. Furthermore, the bulb itself has a limited lifespan. The cost to replace a bulb can be in the range of RM 1,500 per bulb.

So, the best option would still be a TV. Considering that there are no HDTV sources, I might just get a regular SDTV instead. A good 29″ colour TV can be had for under RM 1,000. But a much more power efficient and sexier alternative would be a 32″ plasma, which can be had for RM 2,000. There is just too much choice to be had.

Now, going back down to a lower resolution opens up a whole other can of worms with regards to the processor and graphics chip. It is perfectly possible to watch standard definition content, even when encoded with H264, on a low powered PC. I’ve tried it on my 500MHz Athlon with RS100 graphics and it works perfectly at <50% cpu utilisation. So, I would imagine it to work on an entirely passively cooled EPIA platform with a 1GHz VIA processor and Unichrome graphics.

So, we're back to square one.