Check out the Vista-ready OMS-GX300 Media Center from Okoro Media Systems. This beast of a media center will set you back $4,995 but includes some mouth watering specs:
A silver and sleek SilverStone LC18 case which comes with a little 7" Touch Screen display featuring a 15:9 wide display with HDTV transcoder for 720p
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 quad-core processor
2GB of Crucial's Ballistix memory
Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX graphics card
1TB of hard drive space (2x 500GB) – can be upgraded to 2TB.
16x Dual-Layer +-RW DVD Writer
Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX PCIE 768MB HDTV & HDCP
Saber 2020 TV Tuners with hardware MPEG-2 encoder.
PCI Over-The-Air HDTV Tuner
Optional USB HDTV Tuner
Microsoft Media Center Remote Control w/ IR Blaster
Snapstream Firefly Remote Control
You may be thinking this is a little over the top for a Media Center PC unless you want to do gaming. But as CrunchGear points out, a great feature of Vista is that it works seamlessly with the Xbox 360 controller making living room gaming from the couch much more appealing.
The new TiVX 5010-P HD TV recorder is one unique and sleek PVR from DViCO. To start off this futuristic grey cylinder does not contain an internal hard drive but requires you to add your own external one via a USB port.
I actually quite like the option of being able to add my own external hard drives as it makes for easy upgrades. But wait there's more; this HD TV recorder is more than just a weird looking PVR, it's also a media extender.
It can record videos in 1920 x 1080 resolution and stream files to and from a PC in a variety of video formats including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, (VOB, ISO and IFO), AVI, TP, WMV9. It can also send pictures and movies around the house too. Other features include:
An Electronic Program Guide to use on your TV
ATSC hi-def television tuner
DVI, component, S-Video and composite video outs
2x USB 2.0 ports for adding external disk drives
A third USB port for other storage devices (e.g digital camera, MP3 player)
fixed 10/100Mbps Ethernet or 802.11b/g WiFi
It is currently being launched in Korea and will cost $352. There is no word on releases in other territories, but hopefully there will be.
The Trinion L7 is a well packed Home Theater PC (HTPC) with a nifty 800 x 480 resolution touch-screen LCD monitor that can be controlled by an IR remote. It features easy playback of DVDs, photos, TV episodes etc and can even launch games and office applications from the LCD screen itself.
Features of this sleek looking HTPC include:
A silver chassis
1.66GHz Intel T5500 processor
1GB of DDR2 RAM
250GB hard drive
8-channel onboard audio
Gigabit Ethernet
Combo drive
Windows XP Media Center Edition
Front-panel flash card readers
USB / FireWire connectors
Audio in / out ports
The Trinion L7 should be available in South Korea sometime soon although no release details are available.
One of the most popular adjustments I have seen people make to their homebrew PVR's is the addition of a second tuner. Sure once you get your system up and running it seems great – until you realize that the broadcast companies don't always adhere to your personal schedule.
With that in mind, one the easiest fixes to this problem is to put a dual tuner card into your system right from the get go. I've always been a fan of the Hauppauge tuner cards – they tend to be pretty solid for the price, and as luck would have they also manufacture a dual tuner card, the WinTV-PVR-500.
Virtual-Hideout has gone forth and put this card through their tests and they let us know what they find in their two page review. Once you read the review you can decide for yourself whether the cost of the card (about $170) is worth it for the quality and ease of use of a single tuner card.
File this under "who thought this was a good idea?"
High-end home theater PC case makers Silverstone has decided to do away with that whole putting an LCD in the front of an HTPC case trend, and instead put a little window for you to watch your hard drive spin. I guess it gives you something to watch when you're wife's monopolizing your PC to watch period dramas.
Anyway, XtremeComputing put the Silverstone CW01-WD through the paces, and for the most part, they like what they saw. There's room for 6 hard drives and 2 5.25-inch bays, and the case includes a 52-in-1 memory card reader. The only real problem is that it takes a very long screwdriver to remove the hard drive cage at the front of the case. That, and when you're done, you've got a case with a visible hard drive in the front, (although the XtremeComputing reviewer seemed to think this was a good thing).
We've mentioned TiVoServer here before on PVR Wire, but we've never really gone into any great depth as to its functions, foibles and fun-filled features.
However, Dan Farber and Larry Dignan (also featuring David Berlind!) of ZDNet have taken a stab at this technology for your Mac, Linux box or PC which allows you to share TiVo content with other TiVos around your house.
Of course, there's a few issues over DRM (which can obviously be worked around), but this sort of open-source software could spell the beginning of the end of the locked-down tyrants behind iTunes (and TiVo), who don't really want you to do anything with your own content, except pay them to watch it.
I've never had the pleasure of trying out any of Evesham's offerings in the PC market, but they seem to get fairly decent reviews.
PC Plus has a review of the most recent tower of of the blocks from the Evesham labs, a Vista MCE PC, no less -- which features a low-end case housing a Core 2 Duo processor and a paltry 1GB of RAM.
However, it also has a 250GB hard drive and a 19in widescreen display, a TV tuner and a TV-out graphics card, which all mounted up to some fairly decent bench-test results (although, games fared poorly).
The big advice I seem to be picking up from an upgrade of Vista, let alone the MCE editions, is to get yourself a beefy graphics card, or suffer the consequences.
Even if you're well and truly embedded in the fast-paced world of technology and software, the imminent release of Microsoft's new operating system, Vista, might still be somewhat something of an unknown for you.
For example, most people I speak to seem to think of it as another bloated upgrade to Windows XP, rather than a top-to-bottom makeover -- and fewer realise that it's actually a massive expansion on Windows Media Center Edition -- which tells its own story, really.
Tom Gromak of The Detroit News has made a start at presenting a brief run-through of what to expect when the product hits the shelves (for regular consumers) on January 30.
His first bit of advice is not to rush, which is sensible. Don't be panicked into thinking you need to upgrade your PC, software, mouse, or any other part of your computer; rather, think of it as an opportunity to sit back and see what happens when Vista starts throwing up bugs -- and, more importantly, if the drivers will be available to operate the key peripherals you rely on for day-to-day operation (think printers, scanners, cameras).
Otherwise, Tom reckons Vista is pretty cool (a few moans aside); it has improved security, better networking, some nifty add-ons and, of course, the all-important Media Center tweaks to turn your PC into a PVR.
There was a lot of hype that the codenamed Apple iTV (now named the Apple TV) would revolutionize the TV industry and make Apple a mainstream competitor in living room entertainment.
What came out of Macworld was not the impressive revolutionary device that was expected. Rather all that came out was an inferior media extender that allowed you to watch iTunes videos on your TV.
If all Apple set out to do was let you watch iTunes video on your TV then it has succeeded in doing that, but that's neither revolutionary nor impressive, but it will keep the hardcore Apple fans happy.
If you are like me then you probably weren't lucky enough to be at the CES this week to see all those fancy new PVR products that are hitting the market. Fortunately CNET has provided us with some nice videos of some of the hot PVR products from this year's CES.
Motorola Follow Me TV (video): The product for use with Motorola PVRs that lets you transfer recorded video around your house, onto your cell phone and control your PVR remotely using your cell phone.
SlingCatcher (video) – The SlingCatcher is a media extender that allows you to watch video from your PC and the internet on your TV set, much like the Apple iTV. I've said before that the Slingbox will likely merge with media extender functionality and this is the first stage.
SideLink Remote (video) – A Bluetooth MCE remote that includes 2.5-inch, 320x240 color QVGA display and a full selection of buttons for controlling and watching your media.
Hava Gold HD (video) – This will compete directly with the Slingbox HD and allow you to transfer video to any internet connected PC and using an Ethernet connection and also features some PVR functionality.
Susi Weaver over at Shiny Shiny got a chance to play with the Loop remote control from Hillcrest Labs, and she seems to like it. A lot.
To be honest, I'm much more excited by the user interface than the remote itself.
In some ways, the remote control doesn't do much more than the Gyration remote control which has been out for some time now. But here's the difference: while the Gyration remote lets you wave your hand around as if you were using a mouse to interact with existing software, Hillcrest labs has designed an entire user interface to work with the remote. There's only two buttons on the remote, and you can access all of your media just by flicking your wrist or hitting one of those buttons.
That said, the two remotes are really designed for different groups. The Gyration remote will work with Media Center PCs, letting you access video playback and similar functions with the traditional remote buttons, and sites like YouTube with the mouse-like cursor. The Loop remote and software will be bundled with television sets or cable company set top boxes.
Back in October Martin brought to our attention Sharp's first attempt at the PVR market in the UK. It's safe to say that Martin's predisposed misgivings of anything Sharp have been proven to be true.
A review from Pocket Lint has found the 160 GB dual tuner PVR to be less than appealing with poor time shifting and recording functionality.
If something is already recording you can't time shift or record another TV channel at the same time. Pocket Lint also states that the Sharp PVR has below average picture quality.
I think it is advisable to stay clear of the Sharp TU-R160H PVR and go with another PVR on the market.
A media server plays an integral role in your home entertainment setup if you're running multiple media center PCs and/or media extenders. It's very important you have the inner workings of your media server housed in a solid and reliable case.
Missing Remote set out to find the perfect media server case and found the Antec P180 to be a "must buy" for its $120 price tag. The P180 case was extremely spacious with room for a full ATX PSU, full ATX motherboard, six hard drives, four 5.25" drives, and one 3.5" drive with room to spare.
The Antec P180 also featured a dual chambered design, hard drive noise insolation grommets and foam strips to keep things quiet, extra reinforced side panels, three speed fans, a video card duct, washable air filters and a general modern look, clean fit and finish.
On the downside Missing Remote reported that there was no fan included with the video card fan duct, there was some slightly sharp edges, different mounting schemes for upper and lower drive cages, the 5.25" drive bay covers may vibrate, and the power supply may need extension cabling to reach top of upper chamber.
Overall through the Antec P180 does sound like the case for the job, especially given the price. Good media server cases are generally hard to come by since most cases are designed either for use as a PC, NAS, or media center.
Om Malik at GigaOM got his hands on The Venice Project, the new broadband peer to peer TV project being developed by Skype co-founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. Of course, when I say "got his hands on" I mean for exactly 30 minutes. This was more of a sneak peak than anything, but we know a lot more about the project than we did a few days ago.
Currently the application runs only on Windows XP SP2. It takes just a moment to download and install. Once you load the program, it takes you to a page with some channels, staff picks, etc. The picture quality is apparently near-TV, and consumes about 250MB per hour. There is a lag when you switch channels.
The biggest problem appears to be lack of content. There's no "live" streaming material at the moment, and most of what exists is streaming content from the Venice Project servers. As Malik points out, Skype and Kazaa were two programs that were made for self-perpetuation. If you wanted to use Skype, it behooved you to get your friends on board. Same thing with Kazaa.
Unless Venice goes the YouTube user-generated video route, which doesn't seem to be the goal, it needs to strike some deals with major content providers. Nobody's going to watch a TV replacement if nothing's on. But while 250MB an hour may seem like a lot to ISPs, from a consumer standpoint that's some great video compression for streaming near-broadcast quality video over the net.
FoPW (Friend of PVR Wire) Dave Zatz has been playing around with a Hava unit for the last few months. Monsoon Multimedia's Hava is designed to be a Slingbox killer, offering the same ability to stream your personal media through the internet.
The difference is the Hava lets you stream to multiple computers simultaneously, and it includes Wi-Fi for connecting to your home network.
In a nutshell, he concludes that it's pretty nifty if you're a Windows user, but for now it's Windows only. The software's not quite as polished as Sling Media's, but we've been hearing that for months. But the software's the main reason I'm writing this post, as I haven't seen many screenshots before. So here, have another. This one's the configuration screen:
Check out the Vista-ready OMS-GX300 Media Center from Okoro Media Systems. This beast of a media center will set you back $4,995 but includes some mouth watering specs:
The new TiVX 5010-P HD TV recorder is one unique and sleek PVR from DViCO. To start off this futuristic grey cylinder does not contain an internal hard drive but requires you to add your own external one via a USB port. 
If you are like me then you probably weren't lucky enough to be at the CES this week to see all those fancy new PVR products that are hitting the market. Fortunately CNET has provided us with some nice videos of some of the hot PVR products from this year's CES.
Back in October Martin brought to our attention Sharp's 
A media server plays an integral role in your home entertainment setup if you're running multiple media center PCs and/or media extenders. It's very important you have the inner workings of your media server housed in a solid and reliable case.
