Media center uses are plenty handy. Of course I also think we're going to see it in a lot more devices to come soon, probably boosted a lot more by Tivo at the moment. Soon enough you'll be seen as lacking to NOT have those kinds of possibilities offered by any device that can feasably do it.
predict how actual Xbox Next will differ from leaked specs
- Thread starter Megadrive1988
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Unfortunatly TiVo is kinda dead over here - the only manufacturer of units for the UK, Thompson, gave up about a year ago and I'm not aware of any others that have taken up the position. There is, however, quite a modding community - the unit has one PCI port that you can install a wireless network adapter to and you can install the drivers seeing as it is just Linux; I've always been a little temped to do it. However, all of this modding become much easier with MCE and its becoming increasingly attractive.
aaronspink
Veteran
Almasy said:
aaronspink
Veteran
jvd said:
Think of it this way. The bottom price to a seller is $55 - 10% or ~$50. The Manufacurer is going to make 20% out the door above manufacturing cost or ~$40 manufacturing cost.
Thus the base price that you cannot go under will be $40. The mechanicals don't get cheaper over time.
Its not going to cost $10 in 2 or 3 years. It will cost at least $40.
Going to say 2 GB of flash at start may cost 16 x $5 or $80 or $40 dollars, but ramp down to $20 or $10 over time because silicon costs DO decrease over time.
I also see them going to 512 or 1024 MB of dram based on contract cost prices.
Aaron Spink
speaking for myself inc.
Arron over time platter sizes will become bigger meaning less platters and then less heads per drive making costs go down .
THat is why your seeing some 300gig hardrives droping to the 150$ price point and more so in the future.
Also when your selling through retail the drives will be priced higher than if your selling to an oem or to a huge contract like a xenon deal .
YOu also forgot to add in packaging costs
and advertisment .
THat is why your seeing some 300gig hardrives droping to the 150$ price point and more so in the future.
Also when your selling through retail the drives will be priced higher than if your selling to an oem or to a huge contract like a xenon deal .
YOu also forgot to add in packaging costs
and advertisment .DaveBaumann said:
Well technically you can buy an OEM license for Windows Media Center Edition 2005 yourself now, and roll your own MCE machine.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=32-102-311&depa=0
That said, it's still very important that you choose your system configuration carefully and have the right drivers installed, otherwise your machine will be noisy, unstable, or slow... or all three.
The prebuilt ones will be much simpler to set up, as someone else has already done all the work for you.
function said:
But most people with MESSENGER don't have a mic set up, so voice communications wouldn't be possible unless you're very interested in listening to monologues. Hence the need for text input, as that's universal (at least as long as the other person's not dyslexic that is...)
aaronspink said:
Argh, do you post utter shit just to disagree? It's not "arguably" at 110nm except in your mind and those similarly biased. Please, show me the 110nm part out there fabricated with gate lengths of 45nm. Which poses a problem for you as the CMOS4 process that's been on sale since Q4 2003 has gates which are smaller and generally more advanced in thier use of a low-K dielectric than those in TI and Intel's 90nm ICs.
<center><img src=http://www.chipworks.com/mail/2004_02/sony_90nm.jpg height=130 width=150> <img src=http://www.chipworks.com/news/newsimages/SonyPSX.gif height=130 width=200>
Sony's CXD9797GB</center>
Q, Sony had the following transition:
<blockquote>
- Emotion Engine
[list:443f7ae599] - 250nm (240mm2)
- 180nm
[list:443f7ae599]Rev 1 (224mm2)
Rev 2 (110mm2)
[*]90nm EE+GS (90mm2)[/list:u:443f7ae599][/list:u:443f7ae599]
- Graphic Synthesizer
[list:443f7ae599] - 250nm (279mm2)
- 180nm
[list:443f7ae599]Rev 1 (188mm2)
Rev 2 (108mm2)
[*]130nm
- Rev 1 (83mm2)
Rev 2 (73mm2)
DaveBaumann said:
I refuse to argue with you (as would have happened in the Who will get there first thread; which had so many errors...), but Media Centre is utter shit from a consumer standpoint. It's massively overpriced from the vendors, hard to use and requires knowledgable set-up. Hell, Bill Gates fucked it up at CES more than once (Even Conan was confused and wondering WTF to do). Your claims that it's free of Windows are irrelevent as it's still built around the PC-centric/Windows paradigm of connectivity based around a PC and, frankly, is a mess with it's conceptual views of storage and syncing and buying devices for every TV; which is quite distinct from the CE minded vendors. In fact, It's the exact opposite of what I, and it would appear Sony/Toshiba, are proposing.
Steve Dave Part Deux
Newcomer
Unless you've personally investigated the allegations your opinion carries no more weight than anyone else's.
Vince said:
Is that so Vince...
Have you used it?
Buy a box and its not much different from something like a TiVo. Software is preinstalled and ready to run, just the similar setup options, hardware is little different (plug into TV, plug into cable, etc.).
I didn't say its "free" of Windows, MCE is an application that sits on top however you have the choice to never see windows and just go straight into the MCE 10' GUI or, should you be familiar with a PC, take advantage of the of the full OS functionality.
At a high level I fail to see the difference between "PC connectivity" or other "CE connectivity", we're talking about moving data about and that has to happen by some network device of some kind or another - the only difference that I see is that with "PC connectivity" you are not solely stuck with the data transfer method given by the vendor.
Media center extenders are just a device that you can use to gain the full media functionality of your Media Center system remotely. Any other method of broacasting video images from one location to another within your home or location you are using it can still be utilised.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think MCE as it is at the moment is perfect, and there are still a few things that I want to see in more detail, but at the absolute most basic level I don't see anything MCE not doing that my TiVo can and at a very high level I see it doing a hell of a lot more - the idea of having two Theater 550 PRO tuners recording two different stations at the same time appeals, as does the idea of pairing it with a high performance graphics card and using it as a games system in the living room, the idea of having at as a media server for the rest of the house and being able to watch recorded shows on my PC in my test room is nice, I'm sure my wife wouldn't mind being able to check her mail and browse the web fairly easily from the living room - all of that functionality is available now. I see that Sony already has similar capabilities
[edit] And, IMO, having the option to control it all with a wireless enabled PDA is just cool!
DaveBaumann said:
I've used it, do you think I'd comment if I haven't? If you don't remember, a friend of mine worked for MS and he has some set-top unit made by HP that's one of the most ridiculuous items I've ever seen. He has problems playing MP3's due to the DRM, playing video in RTL is damn near impossible (it looked to hover around Conan's fps in Fordza).
The Microsoft concept of a PC-centric household is asinine. I don't own the POS, but from what Mark said, the remote control has no direct control, everything has to hop back and forth from the Media Centre. I'd wait a few months and see the Cell-based platforms networking topology and then have this discussion.
DaveBaumann said:
Maybe before asking me if I've used it, you should ask yourself. You've obviously never had any problems with getting the network set-up then? Or any problems with bandwith due to their asinine insistence on using the PC as a central hub?
DaveBaumann said:
Yeah, thanks for the cliff-notes version, but I know how it works. And that has nothing to do with what I'm talking about concerning their insistence on keeping Windows and the PC as the central hub.
DaveBaumann said:
The difference is on two layers: in how seemless the experience is and what form of network topology underlies it. Microsoft is inistent on having a Windows PC and their software as the central node; IMHO you'll see the CE vendos realise how asinine this is and they will use a more P2P-esque topology. Secondly, due to the casuation of the Windows roots, you'll see a more disjointed experience than from the CE providers who are already building systems that "just work." As that one article on CE providing for a resurgent Japanese semiconductor industry stated, there are many advantages to being vertical.
DaveBaumann said:
I think there is a rather large disconnect between you and like 99.99% of the rest of the world's consumers. They don't want the type of disjointed system that you will put up with. They don't want to deal with ATI's 550 tuners and worrying about what SKU to buy or how to make it all work together. I'm sorry to break this to you, but you're not representative of consumers. And the proof is in your last sentance, you can do this all now; yet MS's Media Center and it's "ecosystem" are selling like shit. This isn't going to change without drastic changes that I don't foresee Microsoft making.
And yes, Dave, that is so.
DaveBaumann said:I see that Sony already has similar capabilities
That's a desktop PC, Dave. They do sell those too. What I don't see them selling are all the bullshit connectivity items that Microsoft thinks are going to be part of the digital home.
Point out the Sony HDTV with it integrated, or the Blu-Ray recorder that's built around Microsoft Media Center. And while on this topic, XMB, even in it's embryonic stages, from what I've seen is a better menu system than what MS is pushing.
DaveBaumann said:
Actually, I like Bill's "single remote control" that you can see in action here better. This concept will do about as well as their high-tech watch's from a few years ago.
I got the impression that Messenger, running on a PC, would monitor Xbox live and let you know when you're friends are logged on. If so, it sounds like a fine idea to me.Guden Oden said:
Switching topics...
Multiple reviewers of MCE 2005 have said the interface is very nice and I personally like the idea of a media server with clients. I'd like to keep the server in my office and place clients in bedrooms and the living room. I don't want to play games on a media center pc in the living room as PC game interfaces aren't designed for that. Many require a keyboard or mouse. Sticking with a console for playing games in the living room will lead to less frustration.
If a company comes out with a client/server platform like this that's better than what Microsoft has to offer I'll likely buy it. I've heard cable box companies are developing client boxes that will connect rooms so I'm curious to see how that pans out.
3dcgi said:
First of all, it just doesn't "work together." And as for the CE aspects that microsoft is aiming at, IMHO it's not exactly working in praxis:
Which of these do I buy? What difference in processors will each make? Graphics card? I think they're still to close to the PC paradigm as this product shows...
What version was he using, and what system?
There is an option to remove MP3 protection and play it on any system. Video can depend on the compoents running, but with newer devices, like Theater 550, the encoding is now done on that device, thus alleviating the CPU need for encoding, and graphics will also help playback.
And MCE has been updated more or less every year so far, I doubt they are just going to sit still.
Networking seem pretty easy around here - 4 PC's and a PDA all seem to be operating and talking to each other when I want them to, via wired and wireless connections. And what bandwidth problems would these be then?
Well, you didn't appear to pick up on that before.
Well, it has to operate on something. Other devices that require similar functionality will need some fairly complex software to operate it – Windows is here, now, and offers all the functionality. Dependant on you point of view and what you want to do this can also be seen as a value added proposition.
The network topologies are already well established and you’ll likely see similar ones adopted by CE vendors as they will want compatibility. The experience can be just as seemless as others and there is no guarantee’s that CE devices will be trouble free as their functionality and complexity increase (I have to reboot the cable set-top more than I do my PC!). Why is Windows as a central node any particular issue?
My systems are disjointed at the moment since I have no capability for watching a video file that’s sitting on a harddisk on my TiVo on any other device that doesn’t have a direct cable to that TiVo unit without manually modding the TiVo, with an MCE system the entire capabilities will be far more integrated.
And they don’t need to, they just pick an OEM version.
Its also bundled with MCE.
Any of the components on offer will have to meet the minimum requirement for MCE, so you can just by the default and it will do as its supposed to.
You know, sometimes I wonder how you manage type these posts given the multitude of issues you evidently must have getting your PC to operate or talk on any kind of network!
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