| Author |
Message |
Ric
Guest
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 Posted:
Tue Nov 08, 2005 12:01 am Post subject:
Opinions On HP Media Center Z Series PC's ? |
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I've posted questions about building a PVR with multiple tuners and then saw
a few of these AV component style PC's on eBay. They have dual tuners and
built in dual layer DVD burners. Except for the fact that they don't look
like there's room for any additional video cards, wouldn't this PC serve my
purpose of simply time shifting TV shows like a VCR?
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Z Man
Guest
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| Posted:
Tue Nov 08, 2005 5:41 am Post subject:
Re: Opinions On HP Media Center Z Series PC's ? |
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"Ric" <no@way.com> wrote in message news:jEMbf.65222$rE2.39645@fe10.lga...
| Quote: | I've posted questions about building a PVR with multiple tuners and then
saw
a few of these AV component style PC's on eBay. They have dual tuners and
built in dual layer DVD burners. Except for the fact that they don't look
like there's room for any additional video cards, wouldn't this PC serve
my
purpose of simply time shifting TV shows like a VCR?
|
I have the HP z545. The problem is that it is a computer. You have to deal
with booting up, antivirus, software updates, hardware considerations,
codecs, operating system updates, crashes, etc etc etc
etcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetc. It is a general pain in
the neck. I have seven Tivo's, several VCR's, a cable modem, Verizon FIOS,
etcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetc. I work with
computers all the time. BUT, when I watch television, I want it to work,
work right, work right the first time, and work right without any hassles.
This is something you can get with Tivo, but you cannot get with a computer. |
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Ric
Guest
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| Posted:
Tue Nov 08, 2005 5:41 am Post subject:
Re: Opinions On HP Media Center Z Series PC's ? |
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"Z Man" <z1z@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:bHUbf.1875$Y97.1299@trndny05...
| Quote: |
"Ric" <no@way.com> wrote in message news:jEMbf.65222$rE2.39645@fe10.lga...
I've posted questions about building a PVR with multiple tuners and then
saw
a few of these AV component style PC's on eBay. They have dual tuners and
built in dual layer DVD burners. Except for the fact that they don't look
like there's room for any additional video cards, wouldn't this PC serve
my
purpose of simply time shifting TV shows like a VCR?
I have the HP z545. The problem is that it is a computer. You have to deal
with booting up, antivirus, software updates, hardware considerations,
codecs, operating system updates, crashes, etc etc etc
etcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetc. It is a general pain
in
the neck. I have seven Tivo's, several VCR's, a cable modem, Verizon FIOS,
etcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetc. I work with
computers all the time. BUT, when I watch television, I want it to work,
work right, work right the first time, and work right without any hassles.
This is something you can get with Tivo, but you cannot get with a
computer.
Thanks for the input. That's the type of real world info I need. If I could
get a Tivo with dual tuners, I'd go that way. Unfortunately, Tivo seems to
limit us cable TV customers by only offering single tuner boxes. I'm not
buying three or four of them to do what I want. It looks like I'm back to
building my own. |
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Wes Newell
Guest
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| Posted:
Tue Nov 08, 2005 4:13 pm Post subject:
Re: Opinions On HP Media Center Z Series PC's ? |
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On Tue, 08 Nov 2005 03:11:03 +0000, Z Man wrote:
| Quote: |
"Ric" <no@way.com> wrote in message news:jEMbf.65222$rE2.39645@fe10.lga...
I've posted questions about building a PVR with multiple tuners and then
saw
a few of these AV component style PC's on eBay. They have dual tuners and
built in dual layer DVD burners. Except for the fact that they don't look
like there's room for any additional video cards, wouldn't this PC serve
my
purpose of simply time shifting TV shows like a VCR?
I have the HP z545. The problem is that it is a computer. You have to deal
with booting up, antivirus, software updates, hardware considerations,
codecs, operating system updates, crashes, etc etc etc
etcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetc. It is a general pain
in the neck. I have seven Tivo's, several VCR's, a cable modem, Verizon
FIOS, etcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetc. I work with
computers all the time. BUT, when I watch television, I want it to work,
work right, work right the first time, and work right without any hassles.
This is something you can get with Tivo, but you cannot get with a
computer.
|
That's a load of crap. The tivo IS a computer. No less or no more reliable
than any other well designed computer system. And I've had to reboot the
tivo on occasion. The problem with tivo like devices is that each just has
one tuner. Yeah, I've got 3 stacked by my TV right now. I'm soon going to
replace all of it including the TV with a pc with multiply tuners, HD
tuners at that. Give me a tivo with 4 HD tuners in it and 300G HD space
and dvd burner's, etc. in it for under $1000 and I'll buy it. Look for my
Tivo on ebay in a few months.:-)
--
KT133 MB, CPU @2400MHz (24x100): SIS755 MB CPU @2330MHz (10x233)
Need good help? Provide all system info with question.
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
Verizon server http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.htm |
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Randy S.
Guest
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| Posted:
Tue Nov 08, 2005 5:58 pm Post subject:
Re: Opinions On HP Media Center Z Series PC's ? |
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Wes Newell wrote:
| Quote: | On Tue, 08 Nov 2005 03:11:03 +0000, Z Man wrote:
"Ric" <no@way.com> wrote in message news:jEMbf.65222$rE2.39645@fe10.lga...
I've posted questions about building a PVR with multiple tuners and then
saw
a few of these AV component style PC's on eBay. They have dual tuners and
built in dual layer DVD burners. Except for the fact that they don't look
like there's room for any additional video cards, wouldn't this PC serve
my
purpose of simply time shifting TV shows like a VCR?
I have the HP z545. The problem is that it is a computer. You have to deal
with booting up, antivirus, software updates, hardware considerations,
codecs, operating system updates, crashes, etc etc etc
etcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetc. It is a general pain
in the neck. I have seven Tivo's, several VCR's, a cable modem, Verizon
FIOS, etcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetcetc. I work with
computers all the time. BUT, when I watch television, I want it to work,
work right, work right the first time, and work right without any hassles.
This is something you can get with Tivo, but you cannot get with a
computer.
That's a load of crap. The tivo IS a computer. No less or no more reliable
than any other well designed computer system. And I've had to reboot the
tivo on occasion. The problem with tivo like devices is that each just has
one tuner. Yeah, I've got 3 stacked by my TV right now. I'm soon going to
replace all of it including the TV with a pc with multiply tuners, HD
tuners at that. Give me a tivo with 4 HD tuners in it and 300G HD space
and dvd burner's, etc. in it for under $1000 and I'll buy it. Look for my
Tivo on ebay in a few months.:-)
|
But in costing out your magically inexpensive HTPC, you said 120 GB was
enough? Why suddenly 300 GB? Are you holding Tivo up to a higher
standard then you're willing to hold yourself? Hardly seems fair, does it?
Besides it's not a load of crap, though it is a matter of degree. Sure
a Tivo can crash. But it doesn't do it nearly as often as a general
purpose PC. The fewer functions a computer has, the more reliable it
will be. HTPC's generally have far more failure points than a more
dedicated piece of equipment, thus have more problems. That's one
reason that Consumer Electronics devices have historically been more
reliable.
Randy S.
Randy S. |
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wkearney99
Guest
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| Posted:
Wed Nov 09, 2005 8:04 pm Post subject:
Re: Opinions On HP Media Center Z Series PC's ? |
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| Quote: | That's a load of crap. The tivo IS a computer. No less or no more reliable
than any other well designed computer system.
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Well, argue all you want but the fact that it's maintained as an appliance
makes a world of difference. Sure, it's a microprocessor-based device with
many of the same properties as PC. But it's the software that makes the
difference from considering it "computer" in that sense. That it doesn't do
all the rest of what a PC often ends up being configured to do saves it from
a lot of problems. It's the single-purpose application that's installed on
it that saves it from the PC-related problems. |
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Z Man
Guest
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| Posted:
Thu Nov 10, 2005 5:41 am Post subject:
Re: Opinions On HP Media Center Z Series PC's ? |
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"wkearney99" <wkearney99@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:X-SdnZL2sqman-_eRVn-vA@speakeasy.net...
| Quote: | That's a load of crap. The tivo IS a computer. No less or no more
reliable
than any other well designed computer system.
Well, argue all you want but the fact that it's maintained as an appliance
makes a world of difference. Sure, it's a microprocessor-based device
with
many of the same properties as PC. But it's the software that makes the
difference from considering it "computer" in that sense. That it doesn't
do
all the rest of what a PC often ends up being configured to do saves it
from
a lot of problems. It's the single-purpose application that's installed
on
it that saves it from the PC-related problems.
|
I could not agree with you more. Tivo's processing is transparent with
respect to the user. It is like getting into a car and turning on the
engine. You know there's a lot of engineering and technology under the hood,
but you don't have to know much about it to drive your car. I know that when
I use my Tivo, it works as advertised, all the time. I don't want to know
what's in the box, I just want it to record my shows reliably. That it does,
and does just great. |
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Jeff Rife
Guest
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| Posted:
Thu Nov 10, 2005 11:42 am Post subject:
Re: Opinions On HP Media Center Z Series PC's ? |
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Randy S. (rswitt@NOSPAM.com) wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
| Quote: | But in costing out your magically inexpensive HTPC, you said 120 GB was
enough? Why suddenly 300 GB? Are you holding Tivo up to a higher
standard then you're willing to hold yourself? Hardly seems fair, does it?
|
One other thing on TiVo's side is the fact that *only* HDTV recording can
be done cheaply with multiple tuners. The SA TiVo's hardware MPEG-2 encoding
just can't be done easily and inexpensively with multiple tuners on a PC
platform.
--
Jeff Rife |
| http://www.nabs.net/Cartoons/Dilbert/TokenRing.gif |
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