Recent Comments:
Samsung ups the ante with the X460 laptop; X360 feels neglected {Engadget}
Sep 23rd 2008 3:06PM @phanbuoy
immature, but really funny.
SciFi channel considering name change to Beyond {Engadget HD}
Sep 23rd 2008 3:00PM Sci-fi channel seems to be flailing about for an audience. The people who watch Stargate and BSG are definitely not the same people who watch professional fake wrestling. And neither of those groups is the same as the people who watch ghost-hunters. Comedy Central has the same exact problem. They don't have enough original content to fill the schedule, so they end up having to reach outside of their niche format or broadcast really bad B-movie style programming.
Poll: What's the most you'd pay for the ultimate HTPC? {Engadget HD}
Sep 23rd 2008 2:38PM Agreed, the option should be there. But seriously, here's a couple of reasons:
1) To have complete control over the codecs that yours system can play.
2) Browse the web and watch TV at the same time on the same screen. I do this all the time.
I could add more, but those two are enough for me.
Netflix inks deals with ABC / CBS, current TV shows streaming soon {Engadget HD}
Sep 23rd 2008 2:32PM To answer someone on another thread (the HTPC voting thread), this is why someone would build an HTPC. Get all of your content, both streaming online, locally networked, and on optical disc, all in one box. And throw in some MAME gaming for good measure.
MEdiaCOre sofaside Digital Lifestyle PC now on sale {Engadget HD}
Sep 23rd 2008 2:27PM Mediocre/MediaCore. That's too funny. It's also what I think of the product. It's an AV rack with a piece of glass on top.
Putting the AMP and the PC in the same case may be OK if there is proper isolation of the two, but it is an odd combo. It is not as bad as the DVD projector with a build in sub-woofer that was posted a few weeks ago though.
Poll: What's the most you'd pay for the ultimate HTPC? {Engadget HD}
Sep 23rd 2008 2:16PM I kept mine under $500, using an older case, but spending a bit of elbow grease to give it a shiny new paint job, sound dampening material and very quite fans. I also lucked out on a nice refurbished Gyration Air-mouse and keyboard for cheap. I will break the $500 barrier when I add a blu-ray drive, but that won't happen until I know I can use Blu-ray under Linux. (AMD has pretty much said they will support Blu-ray in their linux drivers for the oem market. It's just a matter of time before the rest of us Linux geeks get it). For a 'tricked-out' system with Blu-ray, HD tuners, and a nice VFD display and IR (or RF) remotes I could easily see spending about $1000.00 in all. But it doesn't have to be all at once.
Captive Works intros CW-4000HD Linux Media Center {Engadget HD}
Sep 18th 2008 4:29PM Not bad, but it seems a little bit underpowered. The specs lead me to believe this is a fairly standard mythTV based install, although I didn't see any mention of mythTV. Maybe I missed it.
I'm all in favor of more hardware leveraging Linux, but this one produces a great big YAWN from me.
Ask Engadget HD: Where are all the standalone OTA HD DVRs? {Engadget HD}
Sep 17th 2008 2:53PM @derek
I just built an HTPC for about $350 (Linux OS). That's not too much more than a stand alone DVR, which BTW is probably closer to $300 than $200. Granted, I did reuse a TV tuner that I already had. Many tuner cards will work with DirecTV by using an IR blaster to control to DTV box.
Ask Engadget HD: What's the best graphics card for my HTPC? {Engadget HD}
Sep 10th 2008 4:18PM 780G onboard AMD/ATI has worked out great for me. You don't need even mid-range graphics for an HTPC. You just need decent drivers supporting hardware accelerated decoding, and the 780G has that in spades. (I can't believe I am praising ATI drivers, but there it is...) AMD has really turned the graphics world on its head in the past 6 months.
Note: even though I tried the windows drivers, which worked well, I ended building my HTPC on Ubuntu, and the linux drivers are not nearly as polished as the windows version. For HiDef in linux the GPU is not nearly as important as a fast CPU.
Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex is raring to go, 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope already in the works {Engadget}
Sep 10th 2008 4:05PM I was going to write a really long post about how easy my latest install of Ubuntu was, but I decided to delete it, and write this instead.
I agree with the premise of the article. Everyone who is even a little bit geeky should install Linux at least once a year, until they find that it does everything that they need it to do. Sooner or later, it is going to stick. For me, the last Ubuntu release did the trick. Just don't sell it short. Don't throw it on some old junker PC sitting in the corner of your room. Evaluate it on a level playing field.
