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New Alienware Media Center

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the send-a-free-alienware-laptop-to-me dept.

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."

7 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. Silence is golden by zeoslap · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  2. I already have one of these... by puppetman · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  3. Windows XP Media Edition... by Dot.Com.CEO · · Score: 5, Informative
    Is not just Windows XP with a fancy interface. Other than many under the hood enhancements, Media Centre PCs have to have some kind of hardware MPEG2 recording solution. And that is why they are so expensive.

    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.
    1. Re:Windows XP Media Edition... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      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, I went to an eHome presentation about these things. Basically, v1 of the stuff will not do too much more than PVR/10' UI (that is, ui designed to be operated from 10' away). The media player is spiffed up, uses directX for the ui.

      The really cool stuff will start with v2 - that is: multiple tv tuners, a non-oem only license perhaps (the problem with the first time was the hardware support - they didn't want to try to do pvr on whatever hardware, so for now they only have a few supported cards/setups), and best of all, the smaller boxes that some people say that they want, connected to the pc via a network. That way your computer becomes a media server for the entire house, powering these smaller devices. I think there were also some discussions about integrating the Xbox2 into some of these plans, but I dunno, hey, I just attended a meeting.. :)

  4. Looks nice but ... by xerofud · · Score: 5, Informative

    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

  5. More on XP Media Center by Russellkhan · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.
  6. Freevo by I_redwolf · · Score: 5, Informative

    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?