When it comes to standalone Blu-ray players, we recommend buying a Playstation 3 at the moment. Until prices come down, you mine as well take full advantage of the multimedia superpowers of the PS3 for the same price that'll buy you standalone Blu-ray playback. But what about for you HTPC types that would rather watch a movie on your monitor than your HDTV? Now that Blu-ray has won the format war, Blu-ray drives are starting to hit the market.
Pure playback devices are cheap, starting at about $130. But there are a few things you need to be aware of. First off, Blu-ray isn't the best way to back up your computer data. Blank discs are just plain expensive; you're better off springing for an external hard drive at the moment. If you have anything buy the newest computer technology on the market, there is a chance a Blu-ray drive will be incompatible with your graphics card and your monitor may not have proper inputs. And if you do have a newer computer, make sure your monitor is at least 24-inches, or Blu-ray's excellent picture won't display too well on your screen.
In the end, HTPC fan or not, the best Blu-ray solution right now is still the PS3.
ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre First PC Software With DTS-HD Audio
ArcSoft has achieved an industry milestone, as its TotalMedia Theatre has received DTS-HD audio certification from DTS. This marks the first time multimedia software features DTS-HD which can decode lossless DTS-HD Master Audio recreating the studio master sound track "bit for bit". It also means users of the ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre have control of a Bass Management System, allowing bass signals to be directed to the most appropriate speakers and subwoofers in the theater system. Other supported features include "speaker remapping" for playback on a variety of speaker configurations, and "DTS digital surround transcoding" which basically upscales sound quality found on traditional DVD's to 5.1 surround sound. The ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre plays back MPEG-2, AVC, and VC1 Blu-ray disc formats, as well as a variety of other HD formats including WMV HD, QuickTime HD, DivX HD, and H.264 HD. Looks for it to hit shelves in the coming weeks.
Shuttle XPC G5 6801M HTPC With Blu-ray/HD DVD Combo Drive Hits Europe
The Shuttle XPC G5 6801M HTPC looks to be a great solution for European's sucked into the now legendary HD DVD marketing ploy. Boasting an LG GGC-H20L Blu-ray/HD DVD Combo optical drive, the Shuttle will playback the boatload of HD DVD's you mistakenly bought before the HD disc format went deadpool. Also featuring an AMD Athlon X2 6000+ processor and 500GB of hard disk space, Shuttle says its new HTPC is "ideal for fluid playback" of HD content. The Shuttle XPC G5 6801M HTPC uses the Windows Vista Home Premium OS and has both DVB-T and analog tuners, as well as wireless LAN and 8 channel audio. Check out the press release after the jump...
LCD-DTV221 XBR PC Monitor Features DTV Tuner, HDMI
The 22-inch LCD-DTV221 XBR PC monitor, from Japan's I-O Data, is the latest addition to a growing trend of PC displays with integrated digital TV tuners. With a digital TV tuner, 1680x1080 pixel WSXGA+ resolution, a 1000:1 contrast ratio and a 300cd/m2 brightness level, the DTV 221 is the equivalent of many popular second-tier HDTV brands on the market currently. Other features include picture-in-picture, D5 compression, DVI HDPC, and even an HDMI port. Sound is pumped through two 2.5W integrated speakers, rounding up your home theater PC experience.
Ever wonder how a media center actually works? Sound And Vision mag explains the inner workings of the Denali Limited Edition media center from Niveus, a high-end model priced at a whopping $11, 600. After learning how the Denali works though, you can appreciate the price. You really do get what you pay for. Our only complaint: the Denali Limited Edition comes with an HD DVD drive. Your bad Niveus.
With the web video revolution in full swing, ASUS has introduced the HDTV Suite-HDMI, turning your computer monitor into an 1920x1200 pixel HD display. That means the title of this post is actually a lie; your monitor will have a higher resolution than your home theater HDTV! The stand-alone box will also upconvert lower resolution signals to full HD 1080p resolution. Besides its obvious HDMI port, the HDTV Suite-HDMI offers a whole gamut of inputs including RF, DVI/VGA for PCs, S-Video, composite and component and peripheral support includes HDMI, DVI/VGA and line-out. Picture-in-picture allows you to browse the internet while watching TV on your monitor, though I don't know how many of us have the powers of concentration to pull this off. The ASUS HDTV Suite-HDMI also comes with a fully functional remote. So far no pricing info or availability dates have been released.
Moneual I*magine HTPC: So Beautiful You Won't Have To Hide It
If you've ever read the book "A Whole New Mind" by Dan Pink, you'd know that design is one of the six most important aptitudes you can have in the working world of now and the near future. Whoever created the Moneual I*magine HTPC definitely has his or her fair share of design ability as this is one of the most eye-catching HTPC's we seen lately.
The Moneual I*magine features a 7 inch touchscreen, 2.0 Ghz Intel Core2Duo T7300 processor running Vista Home Premium, 2 GB of memory, 7.1 channel sound from Realtek, and an ATI 2400 Pro 256 MB HDMI graphics card. If you want to upgrade the graphics card to an ATI 2400 XT, it'll output 1080p. You can even operate the device using your voice via a built-in microphone or bluetooth headset if you're far away. The HTPC will hit shelves in March for $1999.
Colorblind, But Love TV? Check Out The Eizo FlexScan SX2461W-U
If you're into HTPC and you're colorblind, we may have just the solution for you. Eizo has announced the FlexScan SX2461W-U 24-inch LCD monitor display that helps colorblind users distinguish colors. The monitor uses something called Color Universal Design technology that helps users distinguish between problems colors such as red, green, and yellow using different color schemes and shapes. With a contrast ratio of 850:1 and a brightness of 300 CD/m2, it may not offer the viewing pleasure of your big-screen LCD HDTV, but if you're colorblind it's one of the best solutions around. The display also features a couple of HDCP DVI ports so you can use the one monitor for two computers. The SX2461W-U is expected to be available in December for $1275, typical for a regular 24-inch LCD monitor.
Nvidia Releases High-End GeForce 8800M Graphics Processors For HD Video and Gaming
For the hardcore laptop user, gamer, and those that would rather watch HD video on their computers rather than their HDTV's, Nvidia has just announced the ultimate mobile GPU for you. The GeForce 8800M GTX and GeForce 8800M GTS, which Nvidia claims are the fastest notebook GPUs, feature both DirectX 10 and DirectX 9 compatibility to support both new and older games alike. For the high-def video fan, the GPUs include the PureVideo HD engine for quality high-def playback as well as PowerMixer technology which, according to Nvidia, provides an optimal balance between laptop performance and battery life.
The GeForce graphics processors can be currently found in the Alienware Area-51 m15x and Area-51 m17x, and more laptops utilizing the technology are expected from Gateway, Sager, and Eurocom in the near future.
Download TV Shows Onto Your PC In HD For Free: The Viore Portable HDTV Tuner For Your PC
Update: To those of you looking for Viore tuner deals, Woot.com had them on sale this morning for $39.99 plus $5 shipping, but sold out pretty quickly. I've emailed them to see if I can get my hands on a few for my readers. It is available for $49 at ecost.com, but hurry, there are only 4 left.
Tech writer Rick Broida from CNET.com has found an awesome deal over at ecost.com: the Viore Portable HDTV Tuner for your PC. An absolute steal at only $55 for the next couple of days, the Viore Tuner allows you to download unlimited shows from the web in 1080i for free! The USB tuner plugs into your PC or laptop and using an included ATSC antennae, it streams HD content to your PC. It only works with Windows, so Mac users are SOL, but using Window Media Center you can even record TV shows for later viewing on your brand new HDTV PC.
It's tough to call the Mac-Mini a home theater pc, but we think the new core duo 2s fit the bill. Since you can run Windows or MAC OS X (though we'll stick with Front Row on OS X), this makes it an easy pick to use as your home theater PC. We've been thinking about upgrading our older PowerPC mini, and given you get 1 gig of ram and a better video card, we think we have a winner. Trust us - watching movies, listening to music, and of course watching TV downloaded from iTunes or your own sources is hard to beat and is much better than Apple TV.
Mirror Media has been manufacturing mirrors that also function as TVs for some time now, and this time the company has taken one step further by combining its previous efforts with a built-in computer. The MirrorTV can be combined with a built-in fully compatible multimedia computer, so you can access web or email, run PowerPoint presentations and corporate videos and store and play MP3 audio or MPEG video files. It can be controlled or updated via the internet, WAN or intranet and with an integrated wireless LAN it doesn't even need to be plugged in.
We wish it was a mac and not a windows computer, but if you need to you can always buy one of their older sets and hook it up to your Mac Mini.
It's not surprising that media center PC sales are starting to take off. Who wants to buy the same old PC when it can also record TV for you.
"Sales of media center PCs have climbed dramatically over the past month to 43 percent of all desktop PCs sold at retail outlets for the week ending August 20, according to a report released Monday. That’s a marked improvement from the equivalent week at the end of June, when media center PCs were barely above the 15 percent mark, according to research firm Current Analysis. Media center PCs, which computer makers began pushing in earnest last holiday season, are aimed at making it easier for users to manage their photos, music, and video files and to connect to home entertainment centers and TVs."
When PCs start shipping with a Digital Motion Reality TV Tuner, you've got to wonder whether you'd use it for a TV or a PC.
This is the Sony Vaio V, a PC/TV combo with a 20" screen. It comes with a Pentium 4 630 (3Ghz), a 256Mb ATI RADEON XPRESS 700, 1Gb of RAM, DL/RAM DVD multi-burner, 500Gb HDD (2x250) and a Digital Motion Reality TV Tuner. Should be priced in the $4k range. Oucher!
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