Slashdot Mirror
New Alienware Media Center
Cyno01 writes "Alienware recently introduced a new product that seems to fill the gap between PVRs and PCs. The Navigator Media Center. It runs a new version of XP (Media Center Edition) and displays pictures, movies and plays DVDs. If I had the cash for it i would definitly ditch my 160Gb HD and Radeon AIW card."
Wouldn't it be cheaper to just build one of those?
Like, a lot cheaper
He painted a unicorn in outer space. I'm askin' ya, what's it breathin'?
Pity that they picked one of those ass-ugly Shuttle cases instead of a supersexy Soldam model.
// I will show you fear in a handful of jellybeans.
Is Microsoft making available Windows Media Center for the general public to build their own "Media Centers" or is this something that can only be purchased in these complete prebuilt systems?
Shit, I wish my computer could do all that!
I think I just might ditch Linux and my self-built box in exchange for an over-priced pre-fab system with WindowsXP so that I too can enjoy the thrill of displaying pictures, movies and DVDs.
Will the innovation never cease at Redmond?
Wow.....i'm really shocked at the prices on these things. "PRO" is 3--$ more for a .13 ghz increase...i mean REALLY here.....*sigh*
(alienware makes some nice stuff...but so overpriced!)
When in doubt, parenthesize. At the very least it will let some poor schmuck bounce on the % key in vi. (Larry Wall)
It appears to be based on this from Shuttle. They changed the color scheme though. :-)
This is jsut another micro-atx computer. Although alienware is sweet it was just a matter of time before they made one. As is standard with Alienware not many will buy it but everyone will want it.
unzip; strip; touch; finger; mount; fsck; more; yes; unmount; sleep
Repeat after me: MS didn't make the machine, Alienware did.
Is your hatred that much for MS that you now make up things to bash them over?
This is obviously intended to sit in a hometheater kind of situation. We all know how clear the picture is when its outputted by a TV. To get any kind of crispness, the display has to be at 512x386. Other than games (although its a little low for that too), the resolution isnt much good.
:)
Then again, people who can drop enough cash to meet alienware prices can probably afford a HDTV setup as well... Then it might be diffferent
Its not a lowly specced machine by anymeans. Maybe it make a good lan box, or anything else where a small form factor is called for. Beowolf cluster anyone?
Seriously, what can it do that any other PC cant?
I bet a lot of spoiled brats are gonna get one for brag-value...
Do they really need a Geforce 4 to output DVDs? Is Alienware/ Microsoft aiming these products at the mobile gamers that want more horsepower then a laptop can provide. I think my Celeron 500 with 120GB hard drive does just fine for playing DVDs and the occasional TV capture with my old ATI AIW 128 card.
These types of devices will never make it into my home entertainment system until they at east fit in my AV cabinet with my other components. 17 inches people. It's not that hard.
The key with a media PC is that it needs to be wireless and it also needs to be silent, the living room just isn't any place for a whirring, hissing PC.
and it doesn't run that crappy XP.
Ok, I don't have the nifty remote, but I'm sure you can get one after market. Or get the All In Wonder 7500, like Tom did, and get a remote.
There are instructions for this @ Toms Hardware.
More flexibility on the configuration, etc, and you don't have to support any vendor (like Microsoft or Intel) that you don't want to.
I scanned the component list, and nothing impressed me. But then my eyes fell on the free carnival quality t-shirt that is bundled with it, and I was hooked.
Am I supposed to hook this up to a TV or a computer monitor?
Am I supposed to use it as a PVR/DVD player or to play Quake III?
Am I supposed to play Quake III with that remote control alone somehow?
If you consider plain Jane Soviet utilitarian styling "sexy", then maybe I can see your point. But those of us with taste beg to differ.
is just another PC. What makes it so special? It doesn't do anything that other PCs don't do, and even the form factor is not innovative.
:)
:)
Let's see... Enjoy DVDs, control live television, burn CDs, view photos, edit video, play games. Sounds like any other PC from Best Buy, no? Honestly, I will probably be modded down, but please enlighten me. Building this thing from scratch from Frys would probably be about $800 (50% the price). What am I paying for, the famous Alienware brand???
Now if this was in a slim form factor that would fit neatly in my stereo rack and work without a keyboard or mouse, that would be something. Ah if only M$ would unlock the X-box.
I think Slashdot has gone beyond link ads, to selling stories to advertisers.
wow, grow up.
Xbox can do most of those features with little modifications and opensource applications:
Control Live Television - can do with xbox
Enjoy DVDs - can do with xbox
Listen digital music - can do with xbox
Burn music, photos and videos - not yet possible, but might be possible in future
View your favorite photos - can do with xbox
Edit digital videos - can do with xbox
Incredible gaming performance - xbox games aren't that bad..
Cost :
Xbox+modifications = $400
Navigator Mediacenter = $1699
Which one would you choose?
Now you can surf your porn collection on the big screen!
Yea right, and I can beat Stephen Hawking in the 100 yard dash.
This resembles a system very similar to that on Tom's Hardware, seen here...
So far, the Media Edition version of the OS is OEM only and it will stay like that for the foreseeable future. Having used it, I can say it is extremely functional and does what it says.
So, no, you could not really build one like the Alienware PC that easily, and you most likely think you have a "media" pc. Microsoft bashing aside, if this is their v1 effort, I cannot wait to see what they will make of it in a couple of years.
Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
emuzed - bali usb pvr
best peice of pvr technology i've seen yet for do it yourself systems. Though im not sure they're commercially available yet the spec lists rock
i havnt seen their software package but if it can be setup to work with my dct-2000 cable box then as soon as they're avail im so getting one of these
http://www.emuzed.com
Hey, is that a beta?
Erik
YOU ARE SAYING IMPUDENCE TO ME! THAT IS IMPUDENCE!
Where did they get the shiny black shuttle case?
I am not going to argue the obvious 'build it yourself' threads that are going to inundate this topic. I'm also not going to argue whether those Soldam cases are more stylish (some of us don't understand what is appealing about the direction the macs are going).
I have bought several spacewalkers, and though I'm not floored by its performance, I generally think they are ok for 'tuck-away' systems.
Has anyone seen that ebony gloss miniitx case design for sale elsewhere?
I want to not only be able to freely shift in time, but also be able to shift content in space between machines on my LAN. One has to wonder if this Windows XP box puts restrictions on moving content off the machine to other networked computers. TiVo certainly does, and because of the draconian lockdown these folks implemented in their series 2 version of this product (with all that cryptographic signing of the kernel nonsense, checksums for the filesystem and propietary boot firmware) I decided to return my Tivo (within the first 30 days) and brave the wild world of open source PVR products.
...
Short story is that a few weeks later I successfully managed to get MythTV working (tonight in fact). Sure, it took me a while longer, but I learned a heck of a lot in the process, and it didn't cost me much more at all.
Series 2 + lifetime subscription to programming guide:
$550
The non-refundable cost of shipping/return shipping:
$30
My new Pentium IV with Asus P4PE motheroboard (supports hyperthreading CPU, with onboard firewire, usb 2.0, serial ata, RAID, Gigabit LAN and intel8x0 5.1 surround sound -- all linux compatible) and ATI TV-Wonder (stereo version, not VE mono) for video-in and NVidia Ti4200 LeadTek for video-out (which sports Conexant Tv-out chip that is HDTV compatible unlike Philips Tv-out chip and also produces better picture quality with richer feature set)
$700
The satisfaction of doing it yourself
Priceless
So for all others out there like myself, remember there's www.mythtv.org
so people who like minimalism don't have any taste?
ZDNet realeased an article titled Windows XP Media Center: Who needs it? Not me back when the first of the XP Media Center devices/PCs turned up: the HP Media Center PC.
The title of the article sums it all up nicely in my book.
Russ
Information doesn't want to be anthropomorphized anymore.
Windows XP Media center can do alot of other cool things, including PVR. Better yet, it can do it all from a remote control. I guess your time is so cheap you'd rather spend 100 hours cobbling some shitty free version together. Poor smelly geek.
His role as a punk trying to beat up a naked Arnold in Terminator was also first rate.
"If I had the cash for it i would definitly ditch my 160Gb HD and Radeon AIW card."
What!? Do you mean to say something made by Alienware doesn't have a 160gb HD and top Radeon card in it??
Ok, I just looked at this box and laughed. It's the Shuttle SB51g with some stuff shoved in it, totaling (if my Pricewatching is correct) just over 800 dollars. Now, perhaps the new Media Center OS is cool -- but to the tune of 1000 more??? I can't find a reason to buy this because we at Slashdot (yes, a generalisation, deal with it) can build our own boxen. And we can run Mandrake 9.0 with KDE 3 and be very happy. *Sigh* Perhaps it's the alienware t-shirt?
This is my digital signature. 10011011001
From my experience Alienware makes some real lemons. Their tech support is also incompetent. I would hate to buy an appliance that had the unreliability of a PC
>> If I had the cash for it i would definitly ditch my 160Gb HD and Radeon AIW card.
I'll give ya $20 for that stuff, so's I can ditch my 20gb drive and POS^h^h^hSiS onboard video. Hey, and yer Athlon XP & mobo's about to be obsolete too. $25 for 'em so's I can find a suitable home for my K6-2?
And you're not gonna need your standalone DVD player anymore either, so I'll trade ya straight up for my eight-track.
Click here if you just like to click on shit.
No.
Updated Price: $7900.00 Who wants the Navi? If only to call themselves Lain? buhahaha
The main flaw i see is if i have a bunch of home theater componets this will look out of place and waste space/shelves. Why can't they make a pc case that about the size of the average dvd player? I mean where the hell will i put this cube? If i put it on a shelf it has to be alone since its about the hieght of a dvd/cd/tape player. Which means its wasting to much space! a nice wide and flat case is what i want to see... It only needs to be a max of 2U in height... it can even use the same mb as the cube and use the left over space for hd mounts and such.
Already own one of these, but I did it my way.
Used a 4u rackmount case and slid it right into my home entertainment center/stereo rack. Used an 8500 AIW card, soundblaster LIVE, integrated LAN, duron processor, and enough memory to make it work.
Fleshed it out with a wireless keyboard/mouse, some front port adapters, and a front-mounted LCD that displays song title/etc.
Plays audio streams, CDs, DVDs, MP3s, TV-out... runs them right into the receiver unit for the home stereo. Best of all, it looks like it belongs right in the stereo rack with all the other components.
I honestly don't know where I'd put one of those Shuttle cubes, but it certainly wouldn't fit in a rack. The alienware/shuttle cube looks pretty hip, but where's the joy of tinkering? the satisfaction of building it yourself?
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
I don't desire a crippled PC acting as an entertainment center. I want to use the hardware to it's full potential. That's why DVD player's can cost less than $60, they only use the components they need for the job.
http://freevo.sourceforge.net/
Current Features
* Watching TV, with TV Guide (using XMLTV).
* Playing Movies (AVI, MPEG, etc) and DVDs.
* Playing Music (MP3, Ogg).
* Viewing Pictures.
* Skins are configurable using XML files.
* Movie and Music file info using XML files.
* Preliminary Mame support.
Price == the cost of hardware.
Why exactly would I pay through the nose, ass and other body cavities for the alienware box?
Wow, it's a...brick...cinderblock maybe?
Oh, it has the Alienware name on it? We should pay more for that, right?
You know, I owned a overpriced cube-like computer that played DVDs too, the PowerMac Cube...it looked better and didn't have that $hitty XP on it either.
This is not a new concept people, MicroATX faactor motherboards are fairly common, and frankly, I could build the same machine for about half the price...Damn, for the extra 500 bucks it costs for them to market their name, I'll DRAW an alien head on the front of your's for you.
I have an old 500Mhz Celeron box, running Slackware, and Mythtv. I can watch DivX movies, look at my pictures, rip CDs, record TV, listen to mp3s and lots more.. and it didn't cost me a cent (a local business was throwing out their old boxen). Sure, the 500Mhz box is a little low for dvd, but most of my videos are video CD anyway (they are incredibly cheap here in asia).
(my emphasis) Navigator lets you watch DVDs from anywhere in the room, whether you're at your desk or on your living room couch.
What? I can stand over here and watch it..? What about over here? I can't possibly watch it from over HERE can I?!
well, it doesnt play DVDs, but I can record DVDs to the replay's hdd, and then copy to our own computers (just MPG files)
Ah, my NetFlix account is going to be handy!
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
Am I a psycho?
How much noice (from fans etc) does this thing make ?
I think its very important that new gadgets like this also is as quiet as the rest of the equipment below the tv.
http://www.intellipool.se/ - Intellipool Network Monitor
I don't think, at this price it's anything other than a desktop PC with a remote control. I have a PC (running Linux) that does pretty much the same except for PVR (that it will soon anyway), but I don't pretend that it's a new kind of device, it's a PC that happens to be used to watch movies and TV, and this is why it has (in my case) a projection screen instead of a regular monitor, but that's it.
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
Wow! It displays pictures! Not only that, but it plays DVD's and movies! I bet it even makes sounds!
Gee Wizz! It does all that, which of course I can do on my two year old system, and it runs a new version of Windows that gives Bil Gates the right to disable whatever software he wants (even though you may have paid good money for it). And not only was Cyno01 willing to say "If I had the cash for it i would definitly ditch my 160Gb HD and Radeon AIW card." but /. thought this remark was worthy of front page attention!
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Yea right, and I can beat Stephen Hawking in the 100 yard dash.
;)
Not if Stephen Hawking drives a rocket powered wheelchair...
freevo is a very nice Linux equivalent. I tried it for the first time last night, and it's just gorgeous.
I'd like to put a 'multimedia' centre in the living room, maybe using a nice small micro atx board and case.
Problem will be crowbaring a wireless ethernet card (I'd like it to be the wireless gateway too), and a tv out video card as well...
Haha - Click the 'compare' tab, and you get to see
a beautiful table showing how this compares to
a "Competing Media Center PC". I guess there's
exactly one of those, since numbers like '243' for
BAPCo SysMark2002 Rating are given.
"Whereas brand X leaves clothes faded and dirty."
This Shuttle case is very noisy. The "liquid cooling" -- as Alienware calls it -- is in reality a heatpipe based CPU heatsink offloading to the 80mm fan at the back. And, unfortunately, the fan is very noisy. Also, the case doesn't suppress hard drive noise at all. (Saw this in a magazine reviewing the same Shuttle hardware a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure Google comes up with reviews on web rags.)
Unless Alienware managed to get a quiet(er) fan in there -- which I doubt because of the system specs, all hot stuff -- this is not a system for the living room.
The computer itself isn't anything special, nor is what it can do.
What might be different is the Media Center OS--hopefully, it's as simple as a VCR or a gamecube. Single-button push; illusion of *not being a computer. Better yet, it's limited to the extent of being stable.
That said, I'd be suprised if no one's made a program to emulate push button simplicity on top of an existing OS. (they have them for touchscreen theater controls at my school). Really, I wouldn't be suprised if that's what the media center OS actually is. much cheaper that way.
psxndc
The emacs religion: to be saved, control excess.
I've seen a lot of post saying.. "big whoop my computer does this too so what!"
Well thats not the freakin' point.. My computer does a lot of this too.. but I don't want the damn thing in my living room sitting in my entertainment center.. its big its bulky and out of place right next to other nice ergonomic entertainment center pieces. This thing is SMALL and also very QUIET (liquid cooling! from what the site says.. I personally still wanna see it desected though). This thing looks like a game cube or XBOX things that are acceptably fit into an entertainment center.
Now the second point is building it yourself. I'll agree it is probably a bit cheaper but.. I personally and a friend have been looking for parts for this very type of thing. I think Shuttle makes a bar bones kit. Plus if you look on Tom's Hardware they have an article specifically for this. Now after looking at that article it seems a bit further over the general populace's heads to make something such as this... for really (after my own pricing and such) not all that much more. By building I think you could save about 200 or so dollars.. but then again its not quite warrantied is it.. and it doesn't have the liquid cooling to make it quiet does it?.. ok well thats all I have.
Who makes you Sig?
well, that seagate Barracude IV is a dead-silent Hard drive (I have one) so I wouldn't worry on that front. But yes, the PSU fan didn't look like a particularly quiet arrangement, and I have also heard complaints about the shuttle boxes noise (which this looks to be a system built from).
The Matrix is going down for reboot now! Stopping reality: OK. The system is halted.
XP (Media Center Edition) = XP (Now With Extra DRM!)
MS are realising that there is no money in software alone. Hence the move to many reference hardware platforms with special edition OS's for the given platform.
a licence fee for the hardware platform compliance testing and a licence fee for the os.
looks like apple and sun were right then!
It's not a PVR unit since it does not have an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) which allows you to record shows instead of timeslots and channels, for example "record all Seinfeld episodes" rather than "record channel 5 from 7 to 7:30 ...". That feature is what most PVR users say is most important, and it's why you pay a monthly fee (usually) for TiVo.
This thing is a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) but not a Personal Video Recorder (PVR), at least as those terms are commonly used.
but has Alienware considered the fact that all those copyprotected CD's won't play in the CD-drive? What about DVD's? Do they all work as well? does the XP-Media center edition give Bill the right to make a list of all your songs and movies? I don't think I want him to know that I have the full collection of the Morgan sex project and African sex safari.
Taking a look at this system, I'm struck by how much they don't tell you. For example, where does the "Guide" get it's data? How much will I pay for that?
Also, unless you go with the "Pro" version you still have the problem that when the HD is full, you then have to choose between deleting a program or not recording another. And the Pro version is as much more than the regular version as the DVD drive would cost you retail. Hmmm...
Finally, you are looking at a solution where the upgradability is studiously not addressed. Can I add another HD and use it? Or will the DRM controls only recognize specifically configured disks?
Basically I just don't see this as a solution.
Man, Paxton was awesome in Aliens.
Didn't they say a while ago that they didn't want "gazillion different versions of Windows"?
dude, IT HAS WINDOWS MEDIA CENTER EDITION!
that is the only reason to buy it instead of buying your own ss-51g (or gbox or..).
because you can't have it seperately...
i'm seriously having doubts about (all)games working straight on it(sure, they _should_, it's just another xp, but that was the case with xp itself too). this, and the probable 'easy' configuration system limiting what you're able to do lesser it's value.. (especially as lanbox).
720*480 from gf2gts looked ok. anyone know any tv-out tweak tools for radeons?
also, outputting movies through mpeg2 decoder cards looks great, though outputting divx through hollywood+ (that costs ~20-30$ now) eats huge amounts of cpu(95% on 1140mhz duron-morgan, the program used is HHPlus, hungarian hollywood+, and seems to be dropped out of dev, i highly recommend using codec such as ffdshow, or some extra codec to scale the picture, hhplus doesnt know how to do it properly), this is, the_best_tv-out from pc that i have seen. though, several limitations, like, you need to have another display to start the thing.. i'm yet to test mplayers hollywood+ output(on linux, my linux machines are not powerful enough to decode divx), but i'm told it's ok. i'd imagine building a headless linux box that could be operated through zaurus or similar wouldnt be that hard, and it would kiiiiiiiick ass. i only have combined bedroom, movie room, and computer room so i haven't had too much intrest to anything except highquality output to my lowquality shitprojector.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
It looks like nothing more than a very small form factor PC with a "special" version of Windows on it. Nothing that a decent geek with a barebones small form factor PC and a customized Linux couldn't do... See also:
Freevo-http://freevo.sourceforge.net/
MythTV-http://www.mythtv.org/
Discuss amongst yourselves.
I am a troll, yessir yessir I am a troll. Three bags full and all the jazz.
Un-news
17 inches and it's not that hard? Damn, do I ever feel inadequate.
I liked it the first time......
when it was called the Shuttle SS51G.
Seriously, it looks like they just made a goosed-up shuttle barebones and then jacked up the price (and all their stuff is way overpriced, really).
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
DRM issues aside, which in this particular machine has NOT been proven, this machine is just cool. Some people do not have the time or patience to put a machine like this together. And by patience I mean, finding the parts and drivers and piecing together the software. from what I can tell, this type of system is plug and play. Bash me if you wish, but to me, this is what I want and is a very convenient package.
"What might be different is the Media Center OS--hopefully, it's as simple as a VCR"
Ah yes, I can see the Media Center OS "flashing 12:00 of death"
Wouldn't it be cheaper to just build one of those?
Yes, and it's also cheaper to build your own house, your own car, your own deck, your own kitchen, and your own septic system. That doesn't mean it's not worth a few extra bucks to *most* people to let someone else do the learning and dirty work.
when will they build a box w/ the size & look of a standard stero component. i don't want a computer that looks like a computer. i want something that visually blends w/ me stero system.
I really feel, sometimes, Slashdot doesn't do their homework, because I would rather shoot myself in the foot than EVER buy from Alienware.
If one takes a look at Alienware's business practices; despite the bogus BBB image they list, one would discover this company does not 'stand up' to, what I would consider, Slashdot scrutiny.
Last year I ordered an Area51 (maxed out), because I had never been able to afford 'a machine like this' and wanted to 'treat myself', for once.
What a mess it turned out to be and almost a year later, has not been resolved.
When my confirmation arrived, it stated perfectly all the 'stuff' I ordered; however, when the machine arrived, it did not contain the striped drives... and they were not listed on the inventory sheet... and the price was lower than what had been charged to my 'card'.
I am a research associate and have published, so when I document something, it is quite clear... and I use highlighters/etc.
I sent the credit card folks this information (18 pages of documentation) and they have sent me 10 letters asking for more information; when, in reality, they have everything.
Finally, after 4 months, and the card company growing tired of my complaints, they credited my account for the missing drives and 'washed their hands of the subject', despite repeated attempts to explain IT WAS NOT THE MACHINE I ORDERED.
Two months later (a total of six months since I accepted delivery) someone from Alienware contacts me and asks if the problem has been resolved.
I say no and he credits the card company for the missing drive, without asking me. In turn, the bank contacts me saying I received two credits and they are taking one away... and I explain I still do not have the machine I ordered.
As I stated, it has been about a year and I still don't have what I ordered. This, in turn, has caused me to never want to buy anything via the net.
Anyhow, I could care less what they (Alienware) offer and can not believe Slashdot even mentioned them.
(otoh) I installed gnu/linux on it and enjoy the quick compile times.
I asked this question in the form of an article, but as with all articles I've submitted, the nameless editor rejected it without even giving a reason. So I've waited for it to become on topic for some time now.
This box that the article links to costs a whopping $1700! For that price you could get a TIVO and lifetime subscription and have money left over to get your mom a TIVO with a lifetime subscription for Christmas (or for un-Christmas if you're a Jehovah's witness).
Now, it seems to me you could build something with no DRM built into it for cheap. Does anyone who has experience with this want to tell me how to go about it? I really want to just build it into my existing computer, since I have my PC in the living room already.
1). Is there a video capture card that's up to snuff?
2). Assuming I buy a big-ass SCSI for TV to live in, could I record TV and do stuff (other than quake or NWN, I guess) at the same time? Or should I just not kid myself and build a new system? In this case, can I cheap out on the system, or do I need a high performance one like the one I've got already?
3). Do the free internet services offer the same sort of stuff as TIVO. Anyone have experience with both?
4). Should I just upgrade to digital cable and get the free DVR that comes with that now (here in Austin with Time Warner)
Anyway, there are so many factors to consider I'd really like some feedback on this from those of you who have experience in the matter.
WWJD? JWRTFA!
Is this some kind of paid advertisement? Like the hour long bestbuy ad on techtv ?
-- Leeeter than leet
M$ can't let MCE be a normal distro because of the crap that passes for PC hardware these days. Someday, when all PC's come with real tuner cards and G4 TI4xxx's and SB Audigy's etc, they can let it be a normal distro of Windows, but until then it's OEM only.
The fan noise alone on a P4 next to my TV would be enough to make me not like it, especially(sp?) in the quiet parts of movies and music.
I am one who loves to build his own computer and I can not see paying $1700 bucks for this crap. Seriously these are far overpriced and I would rather go to www.thinkgeek.com and get the cappuccino for $1100 and spend the rest on customizing it. With $500 bucks you could replace the CPU, add more RAM, buy some games, and get some great geeky stuff like a Tux blanket for those cold nights of gaming. Better yet save some money and have some fun build your own and save some real money. Still even better get a Laptop (that would be really good). Serious gamers might like this but games like UT 2003 will barely run on this and Battle field 1934 wont run that nice. This is more of a toy than practical. You will have more fun showing it off than actually playing games on it.
Anyone notice how the remote looks vaguely similar to the Philips TiVo remotes (at least the HDR112/212/etc series)? Peanut shape, numberpad at the bottom, logo button, etc?
I've seen Alienware stuff before and it is over priced by along shot. Gamers might like it at a LAN party but serious gamers look someware else. A laptop costs less than this so why would anyone buy this product. For the average joe who might go to a LAN party once in a while but has a great boxx then they should get the GearGrip LT at thinkgeek (http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/giftsunder20/5 aa6/) for $20 dollars or the Pro for $35. i see no reasen to buy this for such a high price and it doesn't even come with FreeBSD
How about this:
:-)
Cooling system: None on the media center PC? Oh come on, it at least has a fan and decent heatsink. If they're going to give us stats, then I want to see stats of a system built for the same price (and not by monkeys).
Also, seems that their "page not found" error is slashdotted or something, it shows me the server JScript. Maybe they're running it on one of these navigators
This device would serve one purpose and one only: PVR. No one willing to shell out 1700 bucks for a media computer is going to settle for non-progressive scan DVD, for the first thing.
Secondly, mp3, photos, etc., are what my computer is for. I already have that capability.
Games? If you have a big screen TV, I guess. I also second the post about the shape and size of this thing; why make it so radically different than every other AV component I have? The old desktop shape is more the proper shape than a cube.
I still don't understand why I can't just shell out $350 for a device that does nothing but record TV. I want a digital VCR, that's all.
If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
Check out this review which explains how the archive DVDs are crippled...
i g/ 2002-10-22-baig_x.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/edwardba
Funny thing is I found the review linked from microsofts website.
I have no idea why the poster would want to 'return my Radeon AIW card'. What the linked page doesn't mention, and what people need to consider, is the capacity for ANY PVR/PC card to have hardware mpeg decoding and encoding. I believe the ATI All in Wonder 9700 Pro has SOME hardware support, accounting for 10-20% performance "boost" (i.e. less resources used), but I don't believe there are any other cards on the market with this feature. Hauupauge is scheduled to roll one out in the future (the PVR-350 I think?). Also, another feature that the ATI card has that this doesn't is support for a second tuner, letting you watch one show while recording another, or pic-in-pic. And all the great software bundled with their AIW. So why exactly is the Media Center betteR?
the ATC600 and ATC 610 look like home entertainment
t s/ atc610.htm
components.
The ATC 610 is at the following link:
http://www.coolermaster.com/products/atc/produc
When I was working there I worked my ass off trying to build the nicest looking machine on the inside, even discovering better ways than what they suggested to me. All was well for me and a few others, however, there is always the people working there who dont know jack shit about computers in general. their specialty is clean wiring, or so they advertise -- but watch out for the people working there who fudged their resumes. Why? They don't drug test! Theres nothing better than having a stoner play with your sensitive (and expensive) equipment.
They look the same to me.
Extremetech.com has had some pretty good articles on "Rolling your own TIVO" going for a while on building your own system. Discusses hardware and software options.
I'd have to say I'd prefer LINUX, one reason being it was good enough for the commercial product TIVO.
the most important part is not the fact that you can make your own for about 1/2 the price it's the fact you get a FREE ALIENWARE T-SHIRT. damn that's worth the extra $1000.00
SCREW FLANDERS
....for half the price. All this is a a painted shuttle SS51G which is nice for the optical and form factor. The ATI AIW cards are a far better choice for video, though the DVD and PVR software suck. Showshifter and PowerDVD are replacing these nicely.
Pretty much anyone who owns a Tivo will tell you: don't bother spending any time or money trying to build your own, just go buy a Tivo! There are no products on the market, for money or for free, that are even close to as good as a Tivo.
There are two reasons to buy a Tivo instead of anything else, and they are both due to the Tivo software:
1) User Interface
2) Recording Management
Point One: User Interface. The user interface is simple and convenient. It is literally simple enough to use that your grandmother can learn to use it in less than two minutes, and can use it from then on without ever calling you for help. Try that with your computer.
Now, you're thinking "I'm not building this for Granny and I can deal with a complex UI." True enough... but the Tivo UI is not just simple, it's *convenient*. That means that controlling your Tivo is less time consuming and less annoying than any other device that has this kind of complexity, even for a studly computer wizard such as yourself.
Point Two: Recording Management. Tivo is more than just a digital VCR, although you can use it like that if you want. Tivo doesn't just *have* program guide information, it *uses* it with an intelligence and sophistication that you won't find in any other PVR software. You don't program Tivo to record a particular channel at a particular time like you do VCR. You tell it "record the Simpsons" and it takes care of the details all on it's own, week after week. If the schedule changes, it records it at the new time (or the new day). If there are extra episodes, it records them as well.
Other important features related to Recording Management include: one-time recording, instant recording, conflict management, space management, wishlists, and suggestions. You may not think that all of these are important, but after you use a Tivo for a week you will realize just how important these features are and how well Tivo handles them.
The available PVR software doesn't even come close to Tivo's sophistication. The closest is ReplayTV, and even they aren't as good (although this is something of a religious argument between ReplayTV owners and Tivo owners). To get a better sense of what you're actually paying for when you buy a Tivo, see a comparison of Tivo with ReplayTV. Read that, and consider that the PVR software doesn't even compare to the Replay.
Heck, Freevo doesn't even record (yet)! I don't know why people keep mentioning it whenever Tivo or PVRs come up...
The one omission with Tivo is that it doesn't let you export the recorded video digitally (you can play it back and record it to your VCR, and in fact it has a function specifically for that which is very convenient). Fortunately, the Tivo hackers have finally figured out how to export reliably and import back onto the Tivo reliably (the ReplayTV hackers have been able to do this for a year already). I'm in the process now of setting up a terabyte file server that will be for storing video captured by my Tivo.
If you are feeling the need to build-it-yourself because you like to build things yourself, then get a Tivo and hack it! Let the Tivo provide the things that it's really really good at (UI and recording management), then add on the stuff that it doesn't have that you want (large file storage, networking, video import/export, even mp3 music playback). You'll have to start reading the Tivo hacking forums and playing with bleeding-edge software, but isn't that what build-it-yourself is all about?
An old one but still relevant:
http://www.theonion.com/onion3308/realtimetv.ht
I consider myself an expert on the Navigator, primarily because I watched a Flash demo and signed up to win a free one. Here's why it's cool:
You buy the box and it goes. Period. No work, no configuration, no mishmashing of software/hardware from your garage or trying to figure out what will perform optimally. PVR, with fancy Tivo-style guide, free lifetime subscription. A whole operating system designed to make it easy to manage audio/video/etc. And then there's the coolness factor: the super-remote that does everything, teamed with an interface that you can read across the room, so you're not using the remote with your nose against the screen.
Also, in the midst of our MS bashing, lets not forget that Alienware is f'in cool. I can get my keyboard in Cyborg Green. If I have a bunch of games I want to get, I just tell them and they'll buy, install, and patch them before they ship the system. And the free t-shirt is mad fly yo. Too expensive? Of course! But we're (many people, sorry to generalize) a bunch of tech people, who make lots of money and want to use it to buy cool gadgets. This is the definition of cool gadget, in my book.
why only an alienware sales person could make a spraypainted cardboard box with the parts taped up in it sound like its worth a million bucks. aslas, the expert testimony comming from a sales pitch and part lie, considering there is no "sign up to win" anything other than a sweepstakes that ended already for a different; non-navigator system.
The overall idea is nice and i'm glad they are pushing the system as a media centre and not a PC, as it shifts the emphasis from geeky tech to something useful:) But their solution sucks...for one why has it got a GeForce in it? They are great cards but the ATI All-In-Wonders are much much better suited (despite the stupid name). Surely if alienware were so behind performance they would realise that one card is better than two? Why have they gone for a standard wireless keyboard/mouse when MS's bluetooth solution would be more suited. XP Media Centre is nice and designed for nice clear and simple displays, and you can install it on a normal pc but i wouldn't bother. One thing these systems do raise is storage...the home user is too limited, if we are gonna be using the PC for all of this then we need easily expandable storage, NAS systems are a solution but way to expensive. Oh and wheres the credit to Shuttle?
----- I refuse to have an argument with an unarmed person
Men's skin is different from women's skin. It is usually bigger, and ...
... until finally the two of you are lying there, spent, smoking your
it has more snakes tattooed on it. Also, if you examine a woman's skin
very closely, inch by inch, starting at her shapely ankles, then gently
tracing the slender curve of her calves, then moving up to her
[EDITOR'S NOTE: To make room for news articles about important world events
such as agriculture, we're going to delete the next few square feet of the
woman's skin. Thank you.]
cigarettes, and suddenly it hits you: Human skin is actually made up of
billions of tiny units of protoplasm, called "cells"! And what is even more
interesting, the ones on the outside are all dying! This is a fact. Your
skin is like an aggressive modern corporation, where the older veteran
cells, who have finally worked their way to the top and obtained offices
with nice views, are constantly being shoved out the window head first,
without so much as a pension plan, by younger hotshot cells moving up from
below.
-- Dave Barry, "Saving Face"
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