From a recent poll regarding external storage, it is clear that a significant number of respondents are making use of external storage options using interfaces such as USB and eSATA. One of the drawbacks of USB 2.0 is its lack of speed, while eSATA is not nearly as pervasive as USB. With USB 3.0 found in more motherboards, chassis (Fractal […]
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Some of our recent enclosure reviews (SilverStone TJ08-E, Fractal Design Define Mini) have featured external USB 3.0 ports requiring a connection to a 19-pin header required by the USB 3.0 specification which poses a problem for most motherboards to date. While SilverStone was kind enough to provide an internal USB 3.0 to USB 2.0 adapter with the TJ08-E, it would […]
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We’ve all been wondering what Dish Network’s plans were for Blockbuster ever since the acquisition earlier this year. Just a few minutes ago, details were unveiled for the Blockbuster Movie Pass subscription which will include DVD, Blu-ray, Games, in-store exchanges and on-demand streaming for $10 a month. The catch is that this plan is only available to Dish subscribers, some […]
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In this day and age, it seems that home theater PC (HTPC) chassis styles have more niches than ever with many preferring smaller, minimalist and understated looks without a display. Thermaltake’s DH 202 Touch case wildly bucks that trend with a huge 7″ touch interface dominating the front of the very large chassis. If you’re the type that can handle […]
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Not too long ago, we took a look at Fractal Design’s Define R3 ATX chassis and came away impressed. Today, we’re going to examine the R3’s younger sibling, the Define Mini Micro-ATX tower chassis. The Define Mini holds a lot of promise with six 2.5”/3.5” internal and two 5.25” external bays, six fan slots, support for expansion cards up to […]
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Hauppauge has had a long tradition of delivering tuners and capture solutions to the home theater PC (HTPC) market so it is only appropriate that the legacy continues in the modern era with Hauppauge’s new CableCARD offering, the WinTV-DCR-2650. Offering two tuners, a USB connection to PCs and a tantalizing low retail price in the Digital Cable Tuner (DCT) market, […]
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Soothsayer tech analyst, Philip Swann, says that “idiot TV makers spent an enormous amount of time and money” trying to get people to buy 3D TVs they didn’t want and predicts display manufacturers will give up on advertising on ESPN 3D which will result in the nascent channel’s demise. ESPN’s response to these claims is a little more reasoned. New […]
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It’s quite amazing that anyone believed Microsoft was removing Windows Media Center (WMC) from Windows 8. There has been absolutely no evidence to suggest that it would be yet, apparently due to leaked private Windows 8 builds not including WMC, some Chicken Little-types decided that was their smoking gun. Steven Sinofsky of Microsoft confirmed in today’s edition of the Building Windows […]
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We spend a good deal of time covering digital cable tuners (DCT) because they are popular and quite possibly the easiest way to get premium content into the home theater PC (HTPC). They do have some downsides, however. For example, if the content the DCT records is copy-protected, it can only be played back within Windows Media Center and can’t […]
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We learned from our recent chassis poll that a number of you are using tower or desktop style enclosures for your home theater PCs (HTPC); thus, we felt that we should expand our chassis reviews to include more products in these form factors. Today, we take a look at the SilverStone TJ08-E Micro-ATX tower chassis. The TJ08 Evolution is an […]
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