Welcome to
Digital Connection's Home Entertainment Store. Our website
was borne of the early days of the Home Theater PC (HTPC) as
digital video was introduced and evolved. We scoured and
found the best hardware and software for the ultimate in
Audio/Video PC. As the market grew, our commitment has been
firmly grounded to products that enhance video
entertainment.
Early adopters of
HTPCs concentrated on the ability to play DVD video, grew with
HDTV broadcasts, and expanded with Microsoft's entry into the
market with Media Center Edition and Vista that merged all types
of media formats including pictures, music, and video with a
off-the-shelf entertainment interface. The HTPC is
considered the ultimate solution for those that want best from
their multimedia functions, but there are roadblocks to easy
adaptation as rules and regulations emerge in the form of Digital
Rights Management (DRM) that limit the usage of the content over
home networks.
As
the transition to alternate forms of content delivery from
telecom, satellite, cable companies explode, the rules of
encryption and distribution could take some twists and turns, but
the HTPC will continue to advance with each new video format
unavailable in other appliances.
Currently,
the HTPC crowd can be divided into two groups based on the OS of
choice, XP and Vista (and many Linux enthusiasts abound).
While XP suffers limitations on what will continue to develop,
Vista poses a challenge by its possibilities. When building
Home Theater PC's the hardware required to run Vista with all its
advertised functions (like HD-DVD and Blu-Ray) can be challenging,
with HDMI video cards, compliant motherboard chipsets and hard
disk controllers, and audio ambiguity. The promise of cable
and satellite capture cards seems to drag endlessly to the most
loyal builders, and home distribution requires understanding of
interoperable devices not suited for mere
humans.
Home
Theater PC Basics
List
of HTPC Cases
Wireless
Keyboards
HDTV
Tuner cards
Remote
Control and accessories for HTPC
How to connect HTPC to your HDTV
To ensure
that a product delivers as advertised, we at Digital Connection make it
a mission to test and rate products sold on our site. Products that perform at the
maximum test
frequencies are labeled with 1080P-Ready symbol for the highest
compatibility.
