Wanted to write something about my switching experience, but due to laziness, I just converted those thoughts into a single post and made it into a “background” post

I have always used a Windows PC and 2 years back I got sucked into the Mac world and I got the Intel iMac (thick white one) and put Boot Camp on it along with Parallels. Loving the experience, but have started questioning the “real” benefits beyond the sexiness of the hardware/style itself.

I also have been a long time Blackberry user and recently switched to the iPhone 3GS (the day it was launched). The change of experience between Blackberry and the iPhone was tremendously higher than the change of experience going from Windows to the Mac OS. The delight is not even close, especially because a) the Blackberry devices I used never had WiFi in them and b) the screen size and the multi-touch aspect of the iPhone is an absolute killer deal.

In addition, I was also sucked into the Mac Mini as a home theater PC and I do use it a lot.

For the past year, I have put a significant amount of time into trying to get the best internet experience on my TV. The idea of being able to watch what I want, when I want is very attractive. It’s the sort of thing that should be easy to accomplish and with all the technology available today, why wouldn’t it? I mean, I have a phone that can browse the internet and play music. Shouldn’t my TV be able to painlessly stream video?

The truth is, watching television shows and movies from the internet on a TV is a cumbersome thing. Hardware problems aside, too many disparate technologies exist for viewing and there’s no unity. Look, I just want to sit in my favorite chair, turn my Panasonic plasma on, and browse the web for shows and/or movies and watch them. That’s it. That’s all I want.

I’m tech savvy, so I can handle some of the hoops I have to jump through to get a patchwork setup (find a pc, cables, remote/keyboard/mouse, etc), but on the software side, what should be simple is daunting. Below I’ve listed some of the options available and what I believe to be the most viable means to achieve the 10 foot user interface in peace (in my case using a Dual Core Mac Mini where needed).

1. Just use a browser – This is the worst option of all. Browsers where not made for use on a TV and you will need a wireless keyboard and mouse to make it work. I tried this for a while and although it’s open to the most options as far as content, when using a browser, navigation is annoying at best. Remotes are for TV’s and mice are for computers.
2. Hulu Desktop – I can’t stand choppy video. Hulu Desktop on the Mac has some serious frame rate problems and that makes it un-watchable for me. In all fairness, it may not be Hulu’s problem. They rely on Flash to play video and there are some issues with Flash 10+ on the Mac. The upside is that you can use a Mac remote with this option (no mouse needed) and you get some unified content, but the content is limited.
   
3. Boxee - (based on XMBC) This is the best option for having the most unified content at your disposal. Boxee brings together the highest number of video sources and has some nice social networking components as well. I have used it for about a year and I’m looking forward to the new beta version. One of the issues with Boxee is that the user experience is not consistent and some of the “channels” are subject to crappy frame rates like Hulu Desktop, again, due to Flash. If you have a spare machine to use as a HTPC, I think Boxee is the best thing going and the Boxee Box is coming soon, which I think will be a game changer in the internet TV market.
4. Plex - (also based on XMBC) This application runs on the Mac only and sports a really beautiful user interface. It’s a lot like Boxee with fewer content sources and no social networking features. It’s definitely worth checking out, especially if you must have a pretty UI.
5. Samsung Blu-Ray Players – Most of my internet TV usage has been centered around Netflix and YouTube so this is the new default option for my TV. These new Samsung Blu-Ray players include Netflix, Blockbuster, Pandora, and YouTube. The content sources are obviously limited, but the user experience is great. You have one piece of hardware, one remote, no PC and the video quality with Netflix is the best I’ve seen. Since purchasing this Blu-Ray player (I have yet to actually use it for Blu-Ray playback) I put the Mac Mini away and haven’t cussed out the TV in weeks.
6. Apple TV – I really don’t like the lack of options or the cost of the Apple TV, nor do I like the fact that it’s really a hobby project for Apple with little improvement over the years.  For those reasons, I have no experience with it and don’t plan to buy one.

For now, I’m happy with my Samsung Blu-Ray player, but I’m waiting for the Boxee Box to arrive. Of the available options out there, I recommend Boxee if you want the most content. I don’t think anyone has gotten this experience right so far, but in the future, someone is going to. And any of these options beats paying for cable.

Even though the Mac Mini is slowly becoming less relevant, since the new iMacs are blending HDTVs and computers together in a great way, there is still a place for the HTPC (home theater PC). The main reason is that most homes now have HDTVs and need a way to play their media.

Read more @ Technabob

Today, I went to plug in a new PCIe card into the last available slot on my new HTPC Asus M4A785G HTPC/RC motherboard.  What I found was that the slot is next to useless for some/most/all PCIe cards that extend much further beyond the PCIe slot itself.  This is because a heatsink (which I assume is for the GPU) stands too proud above the height of the PCIe slot, thus stopping the only two PCIe cards I had from fitting in there (see attached picture).   Maybe I’m missing something, or maybe the heatsink was an afterthought by the Asus designers?!

In anycase, this motherboard expansion is effectively a single PCI, single PCIe x1 and PCIe x16.

“Treasure” is the perfect word to describe what I have received through the generosity and thoughtfulness of the Freecyling network.

Sitting on the floor of my home office is what is to become the centre of my Home Network.  Every piece of it was the receipt of a politely worded E-Mail responding to a freecycler’s post, and I must say ‘thank you’ again to everybody who has donated to this cause.  Encased in a black MDG computer case is an Intel Pentium 4 3.7GHz motherboard, 512MB RAM, and an 80GB SATA hard drive.

I have recently added an additional 512MB of RAM and two 250GB hard drives, and will soon be installing my new ATI 4550 VGA/DVI/HDMI video card to complete my Home Media System.  Once connected to my 42″ plasma TV, I plan to house all of our personal media on this system, and network the other home PC’s to it so that we can all listen to music and watch videos from a centralized source.

All in all, I have spent a GRAND TOTAL OF … $45.00.  Yes, forty-five dollars.  I only needed to purchase a video card to make everything work together, as I had tried for weeks to acquire a PCIe Video Card, since the P4 Motherboard was so forward-thinking, that it had PCIe as opposed to AGP…  So, for the layman, its video card needed to be ‘current technology’ rather than ‘older technology’.

Updates will be coming soon, and I can provide more of a technical overview of everything I’ve done, for those who might want to do the same!

All I can say is wow!! The new skin is awesome! Here is a look at “XBMC” the best Media Center software around hands down. Let’s take a little tour! When you stat up XBMC it might look like this depending on what page it is set to start on. The first thing you notice is the killer background and the transparency effect of the menus which are very easy to navigate by the way. In the upper right you will see the weather and temperature, date time and at the bottom an RSS feed which you can customize.

One feature I love is the ability to get Fan art for your media and use it as a background slide show. So you will notice the backgrounds change depending on what you doing at the time. Here we have a sub menu to better navigate your media. Let’s have a look at some TV Shows.

One series I recently started watching is Mad Men. Again we have awesome fan art in the background which you have the option to customize to your liking. It displays the Media info like the format, HD or SD, and the aspect ratio. You get Season, episode, air-date and a summary of the episode. The check marks to the right of the episode show signifies videos you have seen already.

Here is a screen shot of play back. The media controls at the top of the screen are a nice touch and is pretty much universal during play back of video. Let’s have a look at some music.

Here is a screen shot of play back. The media controls at the top of the screen are a nice touch and is pretty much universal during play back of video. Let’s have a look at some music.

Again the fan art under Music is so awesome. I added a music source and XBMC went out scraped the Album Covers, album info and fan art. If your music is not tagged correctly it will show the default folder icon. But you can go in and manually update the album info and it will prompt you to enter the correct album or artist name and then go get the art work.

Just look at how XBMC displays this Jay –Z album. Can you see why I love XBMC? It even does weather.

You get the same stuff under movies like the info on the Hangover movie below. They have more view which I will post screens of later.

XBMC even does Youtube. You can log into your You-tube account and watch web clips. It can even download the vid to the Hard drive for you to watch later.

Here is another lovely feature You-Tube. You can install plug-in that allows you to view You-Tube videos. You can search for users or your favorite videos. It can even download videos from You-Tube to your hard drive so you can watch them later.

XBMC is just awesome. I would like to thank everyone who was responsible for putting XBMC together for there hard work. It is one of the finest examples of open source software today. My only wish is that one day, the people in the hardware business wake up and start allowing open source software direct access to their hardware. If XBMC could replace XMB on the PS3 it would sell like hot cakes to everyone not just the male 18 to 35 crowd. If your interested check out www.xbmc.org

Tema: Boost you English – Tips to improve your English

1º Momento – Avaliação Anual (questionário on-line) www.atpcristiano.blogspot.com

2º Momento – Trecho da Palestra com Isa Mara Lando (em inglês) na Disal Special Day 23/10/2009.


Objetivos da palestra:

a) Learn to learn;
b) Self-study;
c) Vocabulary building;
d) Improve web searching skills;
e) Use online dictionary and other great online resources.

Para assistir à palestra completa, acesse a Videoteca Disal

Fotos

 

 

 

In my last post I raved about this little box so I decided to write a review. I picked it up for $170 on sales at FRY’S. I got this and a USB jump drive for $204 a couple of weeks ago. Here is what i got for the money.

Specs.

• CPU: Intel Atom N230, at 1.6GHz
• RAM: from 1GB DDR2
• HDD: from 160GB, at 5400rpm
• Graphics: nVidia ION (Geforce 9400)
• Ports: 6 x USB 2.0, eSATA
• Memory card reader: SD/SDHC/MMC/XD/Memory Stick
• Output: HDMI, VGA
• Networking: Ethernet
• Dimensions: 7,1″ x 7,1″ x 1,2″ (18cm x 18cm x 3cm)
• List price: $200

It has plenty of USB ports and the most important port “HDMI”. HDMI is great if you have a newer TV or AV receiver. With these features it can be transformed into to a super quiet and small HTPC. It came with a USB wired keyboard and mouse and not much else but what do you expect for $200.

I set everything up and connected it to my TV via the HDMI cable. Windows XP started up and I went trough the normal new pc setup and registration. It was slow but still fast enough to do the basics. Surfing the net is ok and youtube works but is choppy. This will hopefully be resolved with the new Adobe Flash version that will support the ION GPU. That would make the Revo an even better buy. XP requires too many extra services to be safe like virus scan, spy ware and Malware protection so I blew XP away and loaded Ubuntu 9.10. It recognized all the hardware and i was up and running in no time. It’s a little snappier than XP but not much. It was not able to play HD video under Ubuntu even with the ION drivers installed. But that was quickly remedied by XBMC. Check back soon to see more on XBMC.

Over all I am very happy with the ACER REVO. You cant beat what you get for the price and it has a smaller footprint that the MSI Wind. My advice is go get one.

Yes, we know, this is not a hack, yet it just has the vibe of something we’ll likely be seeing in many small form-factor systems and wearable hacks in the future.

The USB Wireless Handheld Keyboard is a diminutive keyboard and mouse replacement with a passing resemblance to a BlackBerry PDA — where the screen has been replaced with a laptop-style trackpad sensor. This seems a shoo-in for home theater PC use; it’s unobtrusive and won’t look out of place on the coffee table alongside the universal remote. But any tiny system requiring only occasional input could likely benefit.

The keyboard layout is funky as heck, though likely adequate for its intended use of couch web-surfing and interactive messaging (or whatever wild applications our readers will surely come up with). A USB wireless receiver and a charging cable are included in the $62 package. Video after the break…

[USB Geek via Engadget]

If you’ve got a home theater PC, a PC that’s basically in your living room, then you probably have some kind of big keyboard that just clutters up your den. We like to keep things small and uncluttered, which is why we really like this keyboard that looks like a Blackberry.

Read More…

While I am still working on getting one of my laptops to work, and making the others as functional as possible, I have been graced by many with other used computers and parts. Many thanks go out to the couple in one of my previous posts, who provided me with two full-size computers, as I have taken on another project with the parts…

I am building a Home Theatre PC, all from freecycled equipment!

“What is a Home Theatre PC?” you ask? Well, let me tell you. It is a computer where you can store all of your media – movies, pictures and music – and then connect it into both your home network and your television for a completely integrated solution.  After doing some online research, I found that you can download Media Centre software (a la Windows Media Centre) which has similar functionality and is 100% free!

I know what you might be thinking – “If it’s free, there’s no way it’s functional/attractive/good…”

Oh, my friends, this is where you’re wrong!  There are many programs out there which permit you the ability to store and organize all of your media in one place, making it accessible to your home theatre and your other computers, all while having a very, very attractive and functional menu system.

Taken from the very popular XBMC (X-Box Media Centre) and the skin named “Aeon“, the screenshot above illustrates how beautiful and customizable that this program is.  Without going into too much detail (I could go on for hours) there is a menu system allowing you to access various types of media (pictures, movies, TV shows and videos) and show them in a very attractive format.  Check out the background from the movie “Watchmen”.  It is an example of some of the user downloadable content which you can customize your viewing experience.

I am currently putting together a P4 system with integrated video/TV card, including Ubuntu Linux as well as XBMC, which I hope to have configured and attached to my 42″ Plasma screen within the next couple of weeks.  I’ll keep you updated on my progress, and there should be some very interesting posts coming up.  There are simply so many ways to configure your HTPC, and I hope to include many of them here.

Stay tuned!

Yesterday’s marriage of the two great applications is an important event. The XBMC-driven Mac HTPC software Plex has now added support for Spotify in the application. This great piece of news means that Spotify now goes TV in a very sleek way, adding yet another layer of usability and even more value to Plex.

Plex development is driven by an amazing crew lead by the enthusiast Elan.

Read more at http://elan.plexapp.com/2009/11/22/does-a-snow-leopard-have-spots/

The HTPC is purchased, assembled, and installed. Our cable service has been cancelled and we are streaming the Project Runway finale even as I write this. This is the first in a series of posts I’ll write about the whole process of putting the thing together. Today, I’m going to focus on the hardware components and the process of assembling the PC.

Here is the final list of the components I actually purchased.

• Motherboard: ASUS M3N78-VM Micro-ATX (includes on-board GeForce 8200 graphics, VIA VT1708B sound, and Realtek 8211CL Ethernet) Price: $75
• CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200 2.7GHz 65W Dual-Core Price: $61
• Heat sink: Thermaltake CL-P0296 18dBA CPU Cooler Price: $30
• Memory: Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 SDRAM Price: $82
• Case: Antec Fusion Remote Black (includes remote control) Price: $140
• Power supply: Antec EarthWatts EA380 380W Price: $45
• Hard drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm Price: $80
• Optical drive: Sony Optiarc AD-7240S-0B SATA DVD+RW Price: $28
• Keyboard: IOGEAR GKM561R Wireless Keyboard with Trackball Price: $55

There are only minor differences from my preliminary list. I upgraded to 4GB RAM, because I just felt like I ought to. I added a power supply, because I was under the misapprehension that the Fusion case included one and it didn’t (this mistake set back the project by a full week). I added a heat sink, because the stock CPU fan is annoyingly loud at peak (although peaks should be rare under normal usage). And I swapped the Samsung IDE DVD+RW drive for a Sony SATA drive (see below).

The total cost, including tax and shipping (but excluding the re-stocking and re-shipping fees for a few mis-steps, about which more below) was $630.

The assembly went remarkably smoothly, about two hours total. Here’s the pile of parts, ready to be assembled into a computer:

And here’s the empty case, ready to be filled with cool stuff:

The case is surprisingly big and heavy, about the size of a regular desktop PC or a stereo receiver. Here’s the case full of cool stuff:

Notice that the Fusion case has a “three chamber” design, where the power supply, the motherboard, and the hard disks are isolated from one another to improve cooling. The hard drives are mounted in funny brackets with silicon grommets to reduce the noise from vibration.

The only real problems I had with the build were:

• I initially wired up the system power incorrectly, leading to a few minutes of genuine sinking-heart panic when I first pressed the power button and was met with silence. The problem was my utter failure to correctly read this pin diagrams (the connections run in parallel, not across):

  
  This took about 10 seconds to fix, once I realized my mistake.

• The motherboard was a little snug in its compartment, leaving the IDE port difficult to access, especially after everything else was hooked up. With a bit of determination and dexterous fingers, I probably could have gotten the DVD drive plugged in, but instead I took a hit on the re-stocking fee and ordered a SATA replacement drive. (SATA is better anyway, right? For some reason?)
• I didn’t notice in the pile of miscellaneous cables I had amassed or read the case manual closely enough to look for the 24-pin power cable extension with a special dongle for hooking up the front panel LCD screen (which also serves at the remote control’s IR receiver). This led to a fair amount of frustration and wasted time trying to get the LCD screen and remote control to work, as you might imagine. I only figured this out after an 11th hour Google search had not turned up an off-hand comment in a user review by “RG”at Newegg.com This took about 2 minutes to fix once I realized my mistake.
• The first heat sink I bought did not fit in the case; it was too tall. It did not even occur to me to check the dimensions before ordering—I just chose the cheapest quiet cooler I could find.

Here’s the finished HTPC, nestled on it’s shelf with the stereo receiver:

Note that the LCD display is lit but displaying no useful information. More on that next post.

Ein bisschen enttäuscht bin ich von meinem digitalen Fernsehbild nun doch. Die schrägen Flächen der kleinen “1″ oben rechts im Bild der ARD haben ganz schöne Treppchen  Wenn ich testweise meinen 15€-Receiver per Scart an den Fernseher hänge, ist das Bild besser, wie kann das sein ?  Nach ein paar Tests, erfolglosen Treiberupdates usw. habe ich die Grafikkarte im Verdacht. Aber wie schon so oft schränkt die Anforderung LowProfile, Passiv und HDMI die Auswahl mächtig ein. Ich finde keine in Frage kommende passiv gekühlte, deshalb probiere ich jetzt doch mal eine mit Lüfter aus – die Sapphire Radeon HD3650. Das Bild ist auf Schuss besser. Aber der Lüfter nervt mich schon nach ein paar Minuten. Nicht wirklich laut, aber für einen als Silent konzipierten HTPC doch zu laut. Ob es die GraKa überlebt, wenn ich sie des Lüfters beraube ?? Da ich nicht zocke und auch sonst keine grafikintensiven Anwendungen benutze, könnte man es ja mal probieren… Ich entschließe mich, den Lüfter zu demontieren, den vergleichsweise großen Kühlkörper der noch rumliegenden GeForce 7300GS anzubauen und den Lüfterkühlkörper der 3650 noch huckepack draufzustecken:

So funktioniert es erstmal. Aber die Kühlkörper werden trotzdem brüheheiß. Ein Tröpfchen Spucke Wasser drauf, der verdampft in wenigen Sekunden. Ich belasse den Umbau erstmal so, aber ein ungutes Gefühl bleibt. Mal sehen, vielleicht finde ich ja doch nochmal eine andere Karte…

Acer R1600

I haven’t really done much in the way of tech posts lately, so today I discuss my newest addition to the HTPC front.  I have been watching for some time with interest the Nvidia ION platform.  It is essentially the graphics and processor on one board which promises a super-compact package which performs media operations extremely well.  One of the applications so far is inclusion in the tiny Acer Aspire Nettop which is to date, one of the smallest full function desktop computers.  I picked up the AR1600-U910H from Best Buy for the bargain price of just $199.99.  I purchased this with hope I could finally have a Windows Media Center which had the advantage of the Apple TV’s tiny footprint.  I am pleased to report I have achieved this very goal.

Cracking open the case

The Acer R1600 comes in the box with a USB keyboard and mouse, and a power brick you would typically expect for a laptop.  The specs are very minimal, using the Intel Atom 1.6 ghz processor, Nvidia Ion video with HDMI Video / Audio out, VGA out, 1 gig 800 mhz, DDR2 DIMM, 160 Gig Hard drive.  The packaged operating system is Windows XP, SP3 home.  The software load includes all the normal junkware which I spent 3 hours removing in order to do a quick image backup.  Once the backup was complete, it was time to get Windows 7 on this thing and start enjoying a Media Center PC.

Simple Layout

The first task was opening this unit up to put more RAM in.  After a couple of days trying to find instructions on how to do this, I came up empty handed.  I took my chances and removed the one small screw in the cavity where the stand goes.  There is a white plastic band around the perimeter of the computer with a visible seam.  As with most of these CE devices, it’s held together by a series of plastic clips (as seen in the photos).  I carefully pried the case open, unsnapping the clips until the top cover came off.  Inside, I was pleased to see a very simple main board with the hard drive, RAM expansion slots and mini PCIE slot in plain view.  I pulled the 1GB DIMM and swapped in two matched 1GB DIMMS in it’s place from my old laptop.  I had a wireless G mini PCI-E from my retired laptop, so placed that in the empty slot.  After a few photos, replaced the top cover, replaced the screw and powered up to load Windows 7.

Size compared to Apple TV

The Windows 7 install went very easily (using external DVD drive, none included with this budget PC).  Once Windows 7 came up for the first time after the install, I installed the Windows 7 drivers for chipset and video found on the Acer support site.  This system is super snappy at this point.  Another thing to note, it’s practically silent.  No noise from the WD hard drive and the fan is running slowly and quietly.  I continue my install by plugging in my Hauppauge 980 USB HDTV tuner and installing its driver.  Without walking you through all the painful details on configuring the power management, scanning for channels, and all the other items, I finished the configuration.  Now for my thoughts / impressions of this platform for a Media Center PC.

New HTPC in action

WOW!  This thing is NICE!  With the built in HDMI, connection to the TV was flawless.  The new Acer with Windows 7 detected my 32″ LG Tv at its native resolution and looks beautiful.  Turning on the Media Center software and tuning to an HDTV program rewarded me with smooth animation and flawless (no jitters, stutter) video.  I have never had such an easy time getting such a knockout video stream with an HTPC.  I think I can probably thank the ION platform for this, as it uses the Video Processor to offload all decompression tasks from the CPU for video playback.  12 mbps HD video at 720p and 1080p is perfect.  This looks as good as any consumer set top box I have ever used.  Netflix even worked flawlessly.

In conclusion, with all the features available in Windows 7 for the TV DVR functionality, my AppleTV 3.0 is now my device to watch Internet podcast video.  The Acer unit drives my TV for day-to-day programming.  Apple should consider allowing a TV tuner in the Apple TV, because with this new addition to the Windows market, Acer with Windows 7 is the perfect package.  Size, function and price are just right.  Sure, there are extra costs such as the purchase of Windows 7, USB tuner, memory, etc.  I had the hardware components I was able to put to use from components I had sitting around.  Still, this is a bargain price for what you receive in the way of the Media Center experience.

TJD

Analoges Kabelfernsehen auf einem 37″er (oder größer) ist kein wirkliches Vergnügen. Am liebsten hätte ich ja eine eigene Schüssel, schon wegen der hoffentlich bald kommenden bunten HDTV-Welt. Aber in der Mietwohnung mit dem Balkon zur Satelliten-abgewandten Seite – keine Chance. So entscheide ich mich nun also die paar Euros im Monat draufzulegen und meinen Kabelanschluss auf digital upzugraden. 2,90 € pro Monat glaube ich, bei Kabel Deutschland. Was brauche ich sonst noch dazu ?

- einen KDG-zertifizierten Receiver, wenn man keinen mit mieten will
- eine DVB-C TV-Karte (will ja übern PC fernsehen, nicht per Receiver)
- ggf. ein CAM, also eine PCMCIA-ähnliche Steckkarte, die die Smartcard des Kabelproviders
  aufnimmt und in den Receiver gesteckt wird

Da gehts schon los, für DVB-C im Windows Media Center gibts eigentlich nur eine Lösung, und die heißt FireDTV bzw. FloppyDTV von Digital Everywhere. Das Mediacenter versteht nämlich eigentlich kein DVB-C, die DTV´s bedienen sich da eines Tricks. Sie gaukeln dem MC vor, sie würden ein DVB-T Signal liefern, und schon funzt es. Ganz so einfach ist es natürlich nicht, aber kurz umrissen ist das die Funktionsweise. Die FloppyDTV ist eine Steckkarte für den Rechner, kommt bei mir mal wieder nicht in Frage wegen des LowProfile-Gehäuses meines Scaleos. Die FireDTV funktioniert quasi genauso, ist aber in einem externen Gehäuse verpackt. Antennenkabel rein, Signal per Firewire-Kabel raus zum Rechner. Die flache DTV kann ich schön hinterm Fernseher versenken, ist ne gute Lösung.

Als CAM kommt das Alphacrypt Light in Frage. Aber Achtung, hier darf nur maximal die Firmware .16 drauf sein, sonst funktionieren die K09-Smartcards von Kabel Deutschland nicht! Für um die 50 € wird man hier im großen Auktionshaus fündig. Wenn man schonmal da ist, kann man sich auch gleich einen billigen KDG-zertifizierten Receiver schießen, denn man braucht ja eine Seriennummer wenn man bei Kabel Deutschland seinen digitalen Anschluss bestellt. Hinnehmbare 15 € habe ich dafür nochmal investieren müssen (Pace DC220). 

Meine FireDTV schlug mit 170 € zu Buche, die Aufschaltung bei Kabel Deutschland kostet auch nochmal. In Summe war ich also mit knapp 300 € dabei, kein ganz billiges Vergnügen.

Leider hat Digital Everywhere im Herbst 2009 die Produktion eingestellt, zumindest vorläufig. Ob und wie es mit der Produktreihe oder vergleichbaren Produkten weitergeht, ist völlig offen. Zum Glück aber wurde noch ein Windows7-Treiber veröffentlicht, die nächsten 2, 3 Jahre ist DVB-C im aktuellen Microsoft Mediacenter also gesichert. Was dann wird, weiß der Fuchs…

Eigentlich war ich mit meiner Leadtek-TV-Karte ja ganz zufrieden. Aber je länger ich damit fernsah, desto fremdartiger kam mir das Bild vor. Eine irgendwie eigenartige Plastizität, sehr schwer zu beschreiben. Etwa zum selben Zeitpunkt hieß es, die schon länger angekündigte Hauppauge WinTV HVR1700 wäre nun endlich lieferbar. Eine LowProfile-Karte mit Hardware-MPEG2-Encoder. Die probiere ich jetzt mal aus, beschlossene Sache. Die Leadtek ab ins große Auktionshaus. Die Hauppauge war dann auch die erste TV-Karte, an der ich nichts auszusetzen hatte. Zumindest nicht, solange ich noch per analogem Kabel unterwegs war.

Die originale TV-Karte in meinem Scaleo EVi 2535 scheint nicht der Brüller zu sein – oft reichlich Artefakte, langsame Umschaltzeiten und dazu noch ein Ruckler nach dem Programmwechsel. Neuen Treiber, sowohl den von FSC als auch den ASUS-Treiber – von ASUS stammt die Karte nämlich – ausprobiert, keine Besserung. Und wenn einem ein Kollege erzählt dass er auch mal Mordsstress mit einer ASUS-Karte hatte, ist die Entscheidung pro anderer TV-Karte schnell gefallen. LowProfile ist mal wieder ein K.O.-Kriterium für viele Karten die in Frage kommen. Habe trotzdem eine passende gefunden, die Leadtek PxDVR3200H. Die lief auch auf Schuss, ich war also erstmal zufrieden. Mal sehen wie lange

originale Dual-Tuner-Karte und neue Leadtek-Karte

Ich wollte meinen Scaleo von Anfang an auf einer Art freischwebendem Bord unter dem Fernseher platzieren. Bei der Suche nach dem passenden Brett fielen mir die Aufsätze auf meinen Vitrinen ins Auge – das wären genau die richtigen Abmaße! Beschlossene Sache, die Aufsätze kommen runter und einer davon wird mein neues Bord. Problem: bei der Tiefe des Bords fehlen die paar Zentimeter, die der HDMI-Adapter raubt. Damit hängt der Scaleo vorne leicht über, sieht blöd aus. Also wieder ne neue Grafikkarte. Wieder das Problem: LowProfile, passiv, HDMI. Ich habe dann die GeCube Radeon HD2400PRO gefunden und verbaut. Vorweg: es sollte nicht die letzte GraKa sein.

Das Brett auf dem Schrank und später unter dem EVi:

Ni har väl inte missat att voddler har börjat släppa invites?

http://voddler.bredbandsbolaget.se/

Allt ni behöver är en webcam, lite fantasi och lite hjälp från era vänner. Vips har ni voddler invite och kan börja se lite film via stream.

Voddler är som Spotify fast för film, dvs ni loggar in på ett program och via det programmet ser ni på film. I dagsläget finns det inte så många filmer, men så är Voddler inte klart för lansering heller. Programmet är i BETA fasen fortfarande och kan bugga lite fortfarande, personligen har jag fått låna ett konto för att testa och jag är ganska imponerad ändå med tanke på att det är ett lagligt alternativ att se på film via datorn.

Kvalitén på filmerna är i DVD upplösning, de har svensk text och enligt programmet skall det även streamas 5.1 ljud (dvs om man nu får tro på interfacet.) Voddler är en tjänst från Bredbandsbolaget och har skrivit kontrakt med ett flertal bolag redan, bla Disney och några andra av de stora kartellerna i Hollywood.

Själva interfacet i sig är baserat helt på ett skin till det populära XBMC som är en given produkt för många HTPC ägare idag. Jag misstänker dock och hoppas att det kommer att designas fram ett nytt “Voddler skin” som är helt anpassat till programmet, men interfacet är lätt och smidigt att navigera sig runt i. Man använder keyboarden enbart och det glömde jag bort första gången jag testade det, men efter lite läsning på deras hemsida (www.voddler.com), något jag borde ha gjort först och innan jag provade programmet, så löste det sig ganska snabbt, hehe.

Av de filmer som finns där idag så kan jag direkt rekommendera filmen “Shutter”, en asiatisk skräck/thriller som är mer än godkänd.

Se även:

Film via Stream

Testa ett lagligt alternativ

Voddler, som Spotify fast för film

Voddler invites

…was bisher geschah – siehe Part I.

Ich also voller Eifer meinen neuen EVi ausgepackt, erstmal einen Monitor dran und das vorinstallierte XP MCE auf Vista HP upgedatet. Quasi zeitgleich war auch der neue Fernseher da, nicht zuletzt wegen dessen HDMI-Eingang sollte auch der Rechner über HDMI verfügen. War im Sommer 2007 noch nicht so selbstverständlich wie heute. Zum Glück also hat der Scaleo diese ADD2-Karte drin, die HDMI bereitstellt. Fernseher dran, Auflösung auf 1920×1080 gestellt, und: qietschgrünes Bild. Was ich dann alles probiert habe würde jetzt den Rahmen sprengen, nach ein paar Stunden Suche im MCE-, FSC- und noch ein paar anderen Foren war klar dass die ADD2 wohl nicht der große Wurf ist. Demzufolge stand am ersten Nutzungstag schon das erste Hardwareupgrade ins Haus, eine Grafikkarte. Aber finde mal eine LowProfile-Grafikkarte, passiv gekühlt und mit HDMI-Ausgang! Damals gab es eigentlich nur eine, die nvidia GeForce 7300GS. Zwar doch nur DVI, aber mit Adapter gings.

Damit hatte ich nun erstmal FullHD over HDMI Allerdings war mir klar, dass es nur eine Zwischenlösung sein kann, der HDMI-Adapter raubte mir die entscheidenden 5 cm, die ich eigentlich brauchte um den Scaleo optimal aufstellen zu können. Wodurch ich die 7300GS ersetzt habe, steht dann im Part III.

Das ist die originale HDMI-Karte von FSC. War das erste, was in der Restekiste landete…

Dell has taken its sweet time in bringing the 7.75- x 7.75- x 3.5-inch Inspiron Zino HD to market, but just 24 hours after it made its market debut across the pond, this little zinger is finally available to the Yanks in attendance. Starting at just $229 sans an optical drive, the mini PC is far more exhilarating than most ho hum nettops. Oh sure, the base configuration is fairly unexciting, but thankfully Dell enables you to add up to 8GB of memory, a 1.8GHz dual-core AMD Athlon Neo X2 6850e CPU, up to 1TB of HDD space, an optional Blu-ray drive, a 512MB ATI Radeon HD 4330 discrete GPU and WiFi to the mix. ‘Course, speccing it out will obviously raise the price substantially, but it’s always nice to see more power than anticipated within such a minuscule box. Of note, Dell also mentions that an optional TV tuner, wireless keyboard and mouse are available, but at least for now, the TV tuner is nowhere to be found in the configuration pages. Other inclusions are a 4-in-1 card reader, four USB 2.0 sockets and a pair of eSATA ports. Who says HTPCs have to breathe fire?

Gallery: Dell’s Inspiron Zino HD on sale now in America: starts at $229, doubles as an HTPC

Filed under: Desktops

Dell’s Inspiron Zino HD on sale now in America: starts at $229, doubles as an HTPC originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Dell’s Inspiron Zino HD on sale now in America: starts at $229, doubles as an HTPC
Darren Murph
Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:59:00 GMT