In our launch coverage of Intel’s Sandy Bridge we took an in-depth tour of the platform’s capabilities. But our previous coverage was limited to a higher end member of the CPU lineup with a 95 watt TDP, that made is less ideal for dedicated home theater PC (HTPC) use–especially considering its tantalizing siblings scheduled to arrive shortly thereafter. Fortunately we […]
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Continuing our series of Beginner’s Guides for HTPC and Home Theater, this guide offers ten basic tips for getting your HTPC up and running smoothly. Most of these were learned the hard way, hope that sharing means you don’t have to 🙂 1. Dedicate a physical drive for recording TV: Recording and scanning big TV files for commercials hits a […]
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We hope you’ve been enjoying our series of Beginner’s Guides for HTPC and Home Theater. As part of the series, we’ve previously discussed video resolutions and how video information is displayed on a screen for a frame of video in our guide, Video Resolutions for Beginners. What we didn’t delve into much was the rate at which video frames are […]
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Disclaimers This is a work-in-progress. I’ll be releasing updates every few days. I wanted to wait and release it in its entirety but I’ve had enough requests for it that I’ll be releasing as each part is tested. Media Center Valve or Valve for Windows Media Center (WMCVALVE) is licensed for personal non-commercial use only. Please do not redistribute the […]
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In the past we have reviewed a number of various NAS boxes from QNAP and have always been pleased with their performance and features. Today we take a closer look at their latest top of the line, the QNAP TS-259 Pro+NAS, and see how it holds up to the competition as well as taking a look at some other models. […]
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In continuation of our Beginners guide series, this guide is all about controlling your HTPC. One thing that sets a “computer connected to your big screen” and it being a HTPC is how we interface with the system. Controlling your HTPC is all about the hardware and software combination you are using. Depending on if you are using the plethora […]
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In the past few years, Intel has really taken some steps in dominating the low power, small form factor board market. Today we have the Intel D525MW mini-ITX motherboard in our labs for review. The board is small, low powered and does not have a single fan on it. Don’t confuse this for a Clarkdale or Sandy Bridge system however, […]
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The H10.ODD is a microATX fanless HTPC-centric chassis brought to use by HDPLEX Inc. If the name HDPLEX (no relation to OSX Media Center Plex) sounds familiar, it should. We helped spread the word a little over a year ago HD Plex Announces Fanless, Heatpipe-cooled All-Aluminum HTPC Enclosures. I was curious then and jumped at the opportunity to review one […]
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Continuing our series of Beginner’s Guides for HTPC and Home Theater, this guide will take a closer look at Video Resolutions–what it means, why’s it important and how to make your picture as good as possible for your particular environment. What does 1080p/720p/1080i/480p mean? The numbers 1080, 720 and 480 refer to the lines of vertical resolution in the picture […]
Read moreWhen Intel gambled by packaging its graphics processing unit (GPU) with the central processing unit (CPU) in last year’s Clarkdale the home theater PC (HTPC) niche benefited immensely from the power saving, performance gain and features like HD audio bit streaming provided by the new platform. The bet obviously paid off, because this year’s Sandy Bridge melds the GPU and […]
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