Tag: Hardware

The TechReport…. erm.. reports that AMD has refreshed their 690G with driver and BIOS changes to broaden its appeal :). They now list the X2 CPU speeds required to get smooth playback. You will need at least a 2.4 GHz CPU to playback H.264 and a 1.9 GHz CPU for MPEG2. The Gigabyte motherboard featured in the article would have […]

This isn’t necessarily news, but interesting all the same.  Its a very in-depth build guide on the AVSforums that goes into incredible detail discussing various components and interfaces in the current generation of computers.  This really is a must read for anyone looking to build an HTPC from scratch (and has a lot of free time). (Thanks to RobJ on the SageTV […]

Chris Lanier takes his turn at the Vista View Saber to see how it stacks up. Apparantly, he was as impressed with it as Matt was on his MissingRemote review of the same card. C’mon Chris, give me one negative…how about the color? Chris Lanier The Saber DA-1N1-I is an interesting animal as it is a PCI tuner, not PCIe […]

I don’t think this type of article needs any introduction. It’s a nice review for you folks, huh? Actually targeting mini boards for their purpose of HTPC-ing, not Gaming. Who woulda thunk!?! Bit-Tech After much thought, a few arguments and an extreme Guitar Hero play off complete with power slides, we decided to pit the EPIA EX motherboard, against a […]

Xbox LIVE to promote HD DVD versions of “300” and “Heroes: Season 1.”   SAN DIEGO — July 26, 2007 — Today at Comic-Con International 2007, Microsoft Corp. announced it will lower the price of the popular Xbox 360™ HD DVD Player from $199 to $179 ERP (United States only) starting Aug. 1, 2007, and will add five free HD […]

Blogger, forum member, MVP, and cable-card know-it-all, Chris Lanier, has posted an awesome article about Cable Card, with good information for anyone wanting more details about past, present & future status. Some interesting things, and I agree wholeheartedly with him, in hoping we don’t have to wait years before we see improvements to the current implementations. Chris Lanier The BOCR […]

Anand has published an HD video comparison between AMD and Nvidia, which includes the HQV tests.  In the AMD corner:  the 2400, 2600, and 2900 and in the Nvidia corner:  the 8600 and 8800.  My only complaint at the moment is regarding a comment about the 8500 and HD video and the fact that the 8500 wasn’t even in the […]

It looks like next generation optical discs are getting closer and closer for the HTPC masses. At B&H Photo, you can get a Pioneer BD-ROM for $299. It reads single layer discs at 5X and double layer discs at 2X. It does NOT support writing to Blu-ray discs, but will burn standard DVDs. B&H The BDC-220B 5x BD-ROM SATA Drive from Pioneer […]

Where are all the media center computers with digital cable tuners? Digital cable tuners were supposed to have ushered in a new era for media center PCs, allowing HD cable television to be watched on your computer. Unfortunately, reality has been less than exciting. VelocityMicro PC is the only viable vendor for purchasing such a computer system. HP is no […]

High capacity?  Check.  Speed?  Check.  Reliability?  Check.  Power efficiency?  Check?!?! Indeed, WD is leading the pack when it comes to making drives that users want.  A 40% reduction sounds great.  I hope that they can continue to keep it cool and quiet, since this drive will definitely be eyed by the HTPC crowd… Gizmodo Company’s First One Terabyte Drive Enables […]