The following is an complete tutorial from the book "Hardware Hacking: Have Fun While Voiding Your Warranty" by Syngress Publishing.

An oversimplified definition of a home theater PC (HTPC) is a customized computer that connects to your entertainment system and is used to play video and audio information. A more complete definition could include discussions about specific functions, such as DVD playback, video capture, CD ripping, and many others. We cover these functions in this chapter, but for now let's just say that there are as many different types of HTPCs as there are HTPC builders. Examples of commercial, pre-built HTPCs include TiVo, ReplayTV, and networked DVD players. So if you don’t see exactly what you’re looking for among the examples in this article, fear not. A little ingenuity and a lot of research can show you the way.

This article covers a slightly different kind of hacking than many of the other chapters in this book. Other hacks in this book cover ways to make a piece of hardware less restrictive than originally intended or to modify a product to make it do something it wasn't intended to do. To be sure, some HTPC hacks have those aspects, depending on what you are doing. However, if you turn into a full-blown HTPC enthusiast, chances are excellent that you will not be saving money over what you would buy off-the-shelf to perform similar functions. If you’d like to go the inexpensive route, there are ways to do so, but that’s less often what HTPC builders are after.