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New York, 8:50 AM
Fri Dec 11
66 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Crashproof Crashproof
    12/10/09

    In reply to Ballerina Sweetspot: A Chair Designed Specifically For Audiophiles
    I hate to think of what the broken, mismatched, shoddy chairs in my workplace say about our status...
     Reply
    Crashproof was starred Crashproof was unstarred
    Image of jepzilla jepzilla
    12/10/09

    In reply to Ballerina Sweetspot: A Chair Designed Specifically For Audiophiles
    It's not something recent. I think you'll find chairs have been status symbols for a very long time.
     Reply
    jepzilla was starred jepzilla was unstarred
    Image of N@tedog N@tedog
    12/10/09

    @jepzilla: Obama's Oval Office extravagances are getting a bit out of hand.
     Reply
    N@tedog was starred N@tedog was unstarred
    Image of bucho54 bucho54
    12/10/09

    In reply to Ballerina Sweetspot: A Chair Designed Specifically For Audiophiles
    There is no way I'd want this for my listening area. I currently have a 1960's era couch that looks horrendous, was free from someone I know and kept on their back patio under a tarp and probably used for hobo sex, but is very comfortable. You should just sit on something where you can relax and enjoy the music.
     Reply
    Edited by bucho54 at 12/10/09 1:39 PM bucho54 was starred bucho54 was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Ponies! OMG! Ponies!
    12/10/09

    In reply to Ballerina Sweetspot: A Chair Designed Specifically For Audiophiles
    Seriously...

    I'm just digging the name of it. In fact, if I have a daughter, I might name her Ballerina Sweetspot.

    Scratch that...

    Even if I have a son, I'll name him Ballerina Sweetspot.
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred
    Image of Covertghost Covertghost
    12/10/09

    @OMG! Ponies!: Pretty sure the Ballerina Sweetspot is a move from the Karma Sutra.
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! promoted this comment Covertghost was starred Covertghost was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Ponies! OMG! Ponies!
    12/10/09

    @Covertghost: That just makes it better.
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred
    Image of Curves Curves
    12/09/09

    In reply to Aiptek's Plastic Portable DVD Projector Lets Your Kids Watch Hannah Montana In Style
    I think this is pretty cool. As a kid I got a "kiddy" projector that ran these little films (the only one I had was a cowboy short) and I used to run it over and over on the wall in any dark room I could find. I checked out every spoke, cog and part I could get to without breaking it so that I could see how it worked. I still do that with my gadgets.
     Reply
    Curves was starred Curves was unstarred
    Image of berbar berbar
    12/08/09

    In reply to Why It's Finally Time To Get a Home Theater PC
    Sean, which HTPC do you use?
     Reply
    berbar was starred berbar was unstarred
    Image of PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:
    12/08/09

    In reply to Why It's Finally Time To Get a Home Theater PC
    I was thinking of getting a PS3. Can anyone tell me to what degree a PS3 can be used as an HTPC with addons like PS3 Media Server and PlayOn? What are the limitations?
     Reply
    PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was starred PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was unstarred
    Image of greenhornetc13 greenhornetc13
    12/08/09

    @PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:: I have a PS3 that I use primarily for gaming but recently I've added music and videos to it. My main problem with it is that when you add videos you have to reorganize them into folders and their icons are just the first second of the video as a screenshot (if hovered over the video starts playing). Custom screen shots can be used but it's a hassle to do and they still don't look as nice as the dvd case or poster you would get with a real HTPC.
     Reply
    PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: promoted this comment greenhornetc13 was starred greenhornetc13 was unstarred
    Image of PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:
    12/08/09

    @greenhornetc13: That's not too bad though although the first few seconds are typically a black screen. So to stream movies from a networked PC you have to keep your media folders on your PC very organized?
     Reply
    PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was starred PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was unstarred
    Image of San Francisco Kid San Francisco Kid
    12/09/09

    @PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:: I have PS3 in my bed room, and a HTPC in the living room, and to be honest I feel that the PS3 should really be relegated to secondary duty. The user interface on the PS3 is nothing like what Boxee does, and you are completely limited to videos that you have on your host PC. I you are planning on getting a PS3 and think it will be fun to use it as a video server then by all means go for it. But if you are buying it with video streaming first, gaming second... then you might want to reconsider.

    As for the organization question, yes you do have to keep your folders somewhat neat, as the PS3 does not organize any of the files itself, simply display how you have saved the files on your host PC.
     Reply
    PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: promoted this comment Edited by San Francisco Kid at 12/09/09 3:30 AM San Francisco Kid was starred San Francisco Kid was unstarred
    Image of ceilingFANBOY ceilingFANBOY
    12/08/09

    In reply to Why It's Finally Time To Get a Home Theater PC
    At least when I checked very briefly back when the ZinoHD came out, the upgrade costs are unexpectedly reasonable. I could have perhaps found better deals if I had spent more than 15 minutes looking up RAM on NewEgg, but at least at that point in time upgrading to 8 GB of RAM through Dell was almost identical in price as upgrading the RAM using cards purchased off of NewEgg.
     Reply
    ceilingFANBOY was starred ceilingFANBOY was unstarred
    Image of whiteflea whiteflea
    12/08/09

    In reply to Why It's Finally Time To Get a Home Theater PC
    Good article, but you should follow it up with a series on the software required with all of this. What would be the good software?

    My particular situation:
    Right now, I've got my gaming pc (with HD card with HDMI out) hooked up to my 42" HDTV. The only things I currently do with it are: 1) Hulu, 2) Netflix, 3) gaming. For TV watching, I'm currently stuck with DirectTV, but trying to escape them. Once I do, it seems like my best option would be to just get an HD broadcast antenna and hook it up to my TV through one of the other HDMI inputs. The problem with that is that I really want DVR. I know there are programs out there that can handle this (I think Giz did something on them back in March or April, maybe), but that information would be good in conjunction with this article.
     Reply
    whiteflea was starred whiteflea was unstarred
    Image of Xagest Xagest
    12/08/09

    In reply to Why It's Finally Time To Get a Home Theater PC
    So... what ever happened to that EEE pc Keyboard thing? You know, with the wireless HDMI and capacitive touch screen?
     Reply
    Xagest was starred Xagest was unstarred
    Image of dagamer34 dagamer34
    12/08/09

    In reply to Why It's Finally Time To Get a Home Theater PC
    I have an HP Slimline as the backbone of my HTPC setup, with Windows Media Center running the show. At $500-600, I find it's far more flexible than the $400 options, and more powerful as well.
     Reply
    dagamer34 was starred dagamer34 was unstarred
    Image of Chimaera Chimaera
    12/08/09

    In reply to Why It's Finally Time To Get a Home Theater PC
    Major caveat to the Dell Zino: It will NOT do 5.1 audio over HDMI (2.1 only) and does not have optical out. If that's not a requirement, then enjoy.

    Along with other Ion options, I'll recommend the ASRock 330 Ion. $350, and the only thing it's missing is WiFi and an OS. Dual Core Atom; easily overclocks to 2.1GHz. It's been working great for me. There's also a version w/ a BD drive, if you can find it.

    With Flash 10.1, Atom + Ion becomes a viable option.
     Reply
    Chimaera was starred Chimaera was unstarred
    Image of theRealMikeyG theRealMikeyG
    12/08/09

    @Chimaera: do you have a zino?
    i thought not.

    it DOES do 5.1 audio over the HDMI connection with the standard integrated graphics and with the upgraded ati card it will do 7.1 audio over the HDMI connection.
     Reply
    Chimaera promoted this comment theRealMikeyG was starred theRealMikeyG was unstarred
    Image of ceilingFANBOY ceilingFANBOY
    12/08/09

    @Chimaera: I'd say the Dell Zino is more of an HDTVPC than an HTPC. It's great for a bedroom TV or other secondary TV.
     Reply
    ceilingFANBOY was starred ceilingFANBOY was unstarred
    Image of Chimaera Chimaera
    12/08/09

    @theRealMikeyG: Great! Happy to be wrong. Specs on Dell's page at launch showed only 2.1. I'm glad they've corrected the error.
     Reply
    Chimaera was starred Chimaera was unstarred
    Image of yanksno1 yanksno1
    12/08/09

    @Chimaera: It's been confirmed in the avsforum Zino thread that it does in fact do 5.1 & 7.1 for the upper models does do it over HDMI.
     Reply
    Chimaera promoted this comment yanksno1 was starred yanksno1 was unstarred
    Image of bornonbord bornonbord
    12/08/09

    In reply to Why It's Finally Time To Get a Home Theater PC
    Rrrrgh. But I want to wait until I see what Boxee has to offer. What's their set-top going to bring?

    Also - Has anyone actually gotten that Dell Zino and set it up as an HTPC? I know that the specs talk the talk, but does the machine walk the walk?
     Reply
    Edited by bornonbord at 12/08/09 1:17 PM bornonbord was starred bornonbord was unstarred
    Image of Thee Sea Thee Sea
    12/08/09

    In reply to Why It's Finally Time To Get a Home Theater PC
    I like this article.

    It is a good article.
     Reply
    Thee Sea was starred Thee Sea was unstarred
    Image of lankysob lankysob
    12/08/09

    @Thee Sea: I like this comment.

    It is a good comment.
     Reply
    lankysob was starred lankysob was unstarred
    Image of android.one android.one
    12/08/09

    @lankysob: I love lamp.

    There. Had to say it. Ok, so I've tried my hands on HTPCs before, but I have always found them not user friendly enough. I need something my wife will want to use as much as me. If we have to wait 1-2 minutes for boot up etc and then starting the apps and having to deal with an unfriendly UI to get to what we want to watch, we'll never use it. Someone have a suggestion?
     Reply
    Wilson Rothman promoted this comment android.one was starred android.one was unstarred
    Image of Xagest Xagest
    12/07/09

    In reply to FCC: Whoops, CableCARD Was a Total Disaster
    So how long do you think Google will be able to give us free cable programming?
     Reply
    Xagest was starred Xagest was unstarred
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