Author Topic: Planning on building at least one HTPC...any tricks I need to look at?  (Read 1258 times)

Offline Getback

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Re: Planning on building at least one HTPC...any tricks I need to look at?
« Reply #15 on: October 19, 2012, 12:50:34 PM »
You can go to Roku. Easy peasy.

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Offline Bizman

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Re: Planning on building at least one HTPC...any tricks I need to look at?
« Reply #16 on: October 19, 2012, 01:09:10 PM »
WMC also allows you to restrict viewing with awesome parental controls. I have not had to use that yet but the day is coming. You can also restrict viewing based upon user accounts.
That's a thing I've never understood. Maybe both I and my wife have just been fostered in an old fashioned way and we have continued the tradition. There's only one password protected account in our three - four computers and that's the one my wife uses for her job, containing personal details of her students. Our daughters, 17 and 14, have never tried to use computers in a way they shouldn't like putting crackers or coins into the floppy drive. I'm not worried about them going to sites I don't want them to see... IMO the best parental control is to have the computer(s) in a public place at your house.  And no, we don't spy on each other's browser history or try to peek at their Messenger conversations, not to mention abusing my knowing their e-mail passwords.

Or maybe I'm just unaware about the conspiracy my wife and kids have against me and each other  :noid
Quote from: BaldEagl, applies to myself, too
I've got an older system by today's standards that still runs the game well by my standards.

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Offline Chalenge

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Re: Planning on building at least one HTPC...any tricks I need to look at?
« Reply #17 on: October 19, 2012, 01:55:53 PM »
You over thought that a great deal Bizman. Its for people that dont want their kids to accidently find themselves on a site you dont want them exposed to, or find a television channel that has adult content you dont feel they are ready for. And I know you dont personally care about it but there are people out there that do to the trouble of purchasing content filtering systems that know precisely when to bleep movies.

Your wife and kids? Just because they dont like you doesnt mean they arent out to get you.  :devil
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Offline Bizman

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Re: Planning on building at least one HTPC...any tricks I need to look at?
« Reply #18 on: October 19, 2012, 03:36:30 PM »
Well, the only time I've been asked to install an Internet filter was because the man had got addicted to certain type of sites and wanted to protect himself of being caught by her wife...

And I've cleaned numerous computers of families whose parents are less computer savvy than their kids - even to the point that the father didn't know the password to their "Family" account but the 10 year old son did. Or the case when the computer was in the room of a 13 year old girl and the parents had no clue why their computer was contaminated - the "MyMusic" folder of the girl contained some 12 GB of hardcore porn on a 80 GB hdd, regular size at that time. Including a couple episodes of a late night "f***ing lessons" by a former porn starlet. And the parents were proud of how computer savvy their daughter was when they only could do banking and some emailing themself...

I can't tell for sure, if the Finnish municipality of Pornainen would still be filtered; it was well known by testers here to cause a false alarm for years. Or would the filter still deny access to a picture of a "naked body" - of a sports car? Would a filter allow your kid download Street Legal Racing Redline where the automobile
Quote
can be purchased as a naked body
? Just wondering.
Quote from: BaldEagl, applies to myself, too
I've got an older system by today's standards that still runs the game well by my standards.

Kotisivuni

Offline MrRiplEy[H]

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Re: Planning on building at least one HTPC...any tricks I need to look at?
« Reply #19 on: October 20, 2012, 06:40:29 AM »
Nipples are the beginning of all evil. Once they're eliminated everything is well.  :banana:
Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement. –W. Clement Stone

Offline Chalenge

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Re: Planning on building at least one HTPC...any tricks I need to look at?
« Reply #20 on: October 20, 2012, 05:04:08 PM »
Just depends on what you are after I guess. I will allow my children to be exposed to socialization but not indoctrination at least until they are old enough to think for themselves. To know the difference just examine peer pressure and it is more easily understood. You can decide for yourself which you prefer for your kids.

I would think (stereotypically) that the Finnish would be more interested in preventing exposure to American movie violence more than sex.
If you like the Sick Puppy Custom Sound Pack the please consider contributing for future updates by sending a months dues to Hitech Creations for account "Chalenge." Every little bit helps.

Offline MrRiplEy[H]

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Re: Planning on building at least one HTPC...any tricks I need to look at?
« Reply #21 on: October 21, 2012, 04:37:38 AM »
Just depends on what you are after I guess. I will allow my children to be exposed to socialization but not indoctrination at least until they are old enough to think for themselves. To know the difference just examine peer pressure and it is more easily understood. You can decide for yourself which you prefer for your kids.

I would think (stereotypically) that the Finnish would be more interested in preventing exposure to American movie violence more than sex.

That is actually pretty close to the truth. We allow even underaged children to see naked bodies and nobody thinks twice about it. Actual pornography is of course forbidden from under 16 years old - but nowadays kids find and share it anyway. Just as we did when we were teenagers, on VHS.

So if you think locking down your home computer does you some good, do you also prevent your children from owning their own smart phones and/or borrowing one from their friends with all the 32 gigs full of x-rated content? :) Teenagers will get access to the content if they're interested and there's not much us parents can do about it. Basically trying to prevent it from happening would just mean horrible invasion of privacy for the children and limitation of freedom.

When the day comes that I will catch my oldest son having something x-rated on his computer, I will have a talk with him and explain what porn is and how it should be dealt with - not confusing it with reality. I'm not going to go berzerk and put every firewall block known to man on. Hell no, I watch it myself sometimes  :devil

Of course how you bring up your children is 110% your own business and I respect it. But keeping in mind the above factors, put yourself in your kids shoes. Would you have liked that your parents were snooping through your things and you had absolutely zero privacy? Would you have liked your freedom limited and placed under censorship? Or would you have preferred to get a serious parent to child talk about the realities of life and make them understand how things go? My parents brought me up quite freely, I never had to report where I was or when I was coming home. They never snooped through my things etc. They didn't sit on my back watching I did my homework or went to bed early as long as I kept bringing good grades from school. And this is exactly how I liked it.

Sexuality is something that is completely natural and as far as it keeps safe it does nobody any harm, quite opposite. What people should concentrate their efforts to however is substance abuse. This is all too common with youth - and in your country it's not only alcohol that's the big problem AFAIK.
« Last Edit: October 21, 2012, 04:53:31 AM by MrRiplEy[H] »
Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement. –W. Clement Stone

Offline Chalenge

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Re: Planning on building at least one HTPC...any tricks I need to look at?
« Reply #22 on: October 22, 2012, 01:33:32 AM »
When I was a kid I had zero privacy and no rights and it didnt matter to me. I had a blast in life as a kid and more memories than most people I have ever known. Just because parents are looking out for the best interests of their children does not mean the kids are in jail. I was raised by a man and woman that grew up in a simple way but that instilled the family first concept and never built a wall between parent and child because thats how they were raised.
If you like the Sick Puppy Custom Sound Pack the please consider contributing for future updates by sending a months dues to Hitech Creations for account "Chalenge." Every little bit helps.

Offline MrRiplEy[H]

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Re: Planning on building at least one HTPC...any tricks I need to look at?
« Reply #23 on: October 22, 2012, 02:18:30 AM »
When I was a kid I had zero privacy and no rights and it didnt matter to me. I had a blast in life as a kid and more memories than most people I have ever known. Just because parents are looking out for the best interests of their children does not mean the kids are in jail. I was raised by a man and woman that grew up in a simple way but that instilled the family first concept and never built a wall between parent and child because thats how they were raised.

For me personally my parents snooping into my things would have spawned an instant conflict. I understand if you want to try to protect your children from things that happen in real life - but unless you live behind the woods somewhere it's simply not possible to stop the flow of information anymore without locking the children to their room without internet connection 24/7.

Teenagers (even very early teens) share nude images of themselves, let alone ones copied from internet. You put your kid to a hobby, they take a bus ride to another town. Back of the bus is popular with some kid playing x-rated stuff on his/her cell phone... This is 2012 and there's simply no way to control what the kids are doing anymore. In the end it's 100% natural that growing kids are curious and they need also the information. This is why parents should not try to hide the whole embarrassing issue of sexuality but bring it up to the kid and discuss with the child about what it means, how it needs responsibility and how bad idea starting to do it early (with another kid) probably is for them even if they wanted.

Teenage pregnancies happen because kids just lack knowledge and get banged up on the first experiments - plus they're horrified to get contraception in fear of getting caught which produces exactly the opposite effect they need to be having. Secret quickie in the parents basement gets not so secret 1-2 months later when she starts puking up in the mornings.

Me myself for example, one of my favourite hobbies was to read the family encyclopedia through when I was a kid. I had an endless appetite for information and pre-internet an encyclopedia was the only easy source for it. There was one book that I usually read in secret though - the book that contained the alphabet S :) Graphic description of intercourse, pictures of sexual organs etc.
« Last Edit: October 22, 2012, 02:29:19 AM by MrRiplEy[H] »
Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement. –W. Clement Stone

Offline skribetm

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Re: Planning on building at least one HTPC...any tricks I need to look at?
« Reply #24 on: October 22, 2012, 09:04:02 PM »
dont need an htpc with a smart-tv.
its like a smartphone, but with tv.  :D


Offline cattb

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Re: Planning on building at least one HTPC...any tricks I need to look at?
« Reply #25 on: October 23, 2012, 07:29:06 PM »
when they come down in pice. :D

give 2 to 4 years..
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Offline icepac

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Re: Planning on building at least one HTPC...any tricks I need to look at?
« Reply #26 on: October 25, 2012, 02:56:21 PM »
One thing to think of is how much power your HTPC will consume and how much of the day/night it is running.