Media Center PCs?

goes back to the whole "who would watch a DVD on their computer".

However... looking at Microsoft's demo site about it... it looks appealing.

I know a lot of people have been integrating their Macs/PCs with their home stereo and home television equipment. This tries to take it to then next level... the question of course is how well it does it.

I personally would not recommend a computer-based Tivo/Replay at this time to anyone... as the ones I've looked into are NOT an applicance-like experience.

The beauty of the Tivo/Replay is it is truely an appliance. It works, you don't have to reboot it, and deal with a lot of headaches.


arn

I think Apple should do this too! I would love to be able to sit at my home theatre or TV and pull photos, movies, and music over the network from my Powermac G5. Also being able to record shows from the TV to my mac in MPEG4 would be sooo sweet! This would be awsome! What is Apple's problem with this? If someone doesn't want to 'converge' then they don't have to. But we should have to the option to if we want.

Is there currently any 3rd party solution to do this???

Never been a big fan a windows media center, maybe i would like it more if it was a stand-alone OS, but you cant order a copy, only what the OEMS give you. I agree, although neat, they are far from TIVO's and nothing a normal computer cant do with a little 3rd party software.

Originally posted by arn
goes back to the whole "who would watch a DVD on their computer".

Me, for one... Saves me from owning a TV and all the crap that goes with it...

Not saying I'm normal, but a market of at least one exists... :)

There was another quote from Jobs that I couldn't find off hand...

Basically, it was one about a refridgerator and a toaster. The technology exists for your refridgerator to also make toast.... but no one wants that.

anyhow... an appropriate quote for this thread.

arn

Is this good or bad news?:confused: Anyway, I don't know how innovative this is. For example, Apple had some of these features years ago, like the Macintosh TV (about 10 years ago). Also, many older Macs have TV tuners, a remote control, RCA and S-Video in and out, an FM radio tuner, and included subwoofer. Some of the cool Macs like this were the Macintosh TV, 20th Anniversary Macintosh, Power Macintosh 6500, and Power Macintosh/Performa 62xx. Not that it's a bad idea, though. I wish Apple would add all or most of these things as options on current Macs.

Originally posted on Page 1
Roger Kay, an analyst, provides this criticism of the integration: "You never quite get the (consumer electronics) experience .... It's still ultimately a Swiss Army knife, rather than a katana (a Japanese sword)."

Aaaah, the Swiss Army Knife.

Never trust an army with a bottle opener so easily accessible!

Originally posted by arn
There was another quote from Jobs that I couldn't find off hand...

Basically, it was one about a refridgerator and a toaster. The technology exists for your refridgerator to also make toast.... but no one wants that.

anyhow... an appropriate quote for this thread.

arn

Obviously he has no need for one of these then.

The Internet Toaster

my dad wants to get a dvd player for the tv. I reckon we get a computer with av in/out and a dvd reader. This way we could digitally record shows onto a hard disk. For those not worried about downloading/ripping illegal copies of movies it would have even more benefits.

We don't have tivo where I am, so I'm a bit of a novice in the whole area.

Sony makes 19" flat screen CRTs with 2560 X 1536 resolution . they sell for $700 . Install those in a larger eMac case , install a second 7200 rpm 250 GB hard drive , a high definition version of Formac Studio/ TV with remote control , a G5 procssor and if the case is large enough an extra fan , and you would have a mac version of a media center pc.

$ 1300 eMac with Radeon 9600
+ $ 650 Formac Studio/ HDTV
$ 700 SONY CRT
$ 300 second hard drive
$ 50 larger eMac case and fans and firewire 800
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$ 3000 for G4 model with standard dvd-r superdrive
+ $ 500 G5
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$ 3500 for G5 model with standard dvd-r superdrive
+ $ 3000 " blueray " high defination dvd-r superdrive
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$ 6500 for G5 model with " blueray " high defination dvd-r superdrive