October 4, 2006
Media Center
I've meant to post this forever, but here is a glimpse into the future of television:
This is my Microsoft Windows Media Center setup connected to my old-school NTSC TV. The PC is a $500 eMachine with a 1GB of Ram and 320GB storage. It basically acts like a TiVo, but with a whole lot more to offer in my opinion and no subscription costs. Collect all of your television, DVDs, music, games into one place, then lie back on the couch with a wireless keyboard and mouse or remote and have a good time. UPDATE: I'm running the 2004 version of MCE, 2005 is the standard, but the Windows Vista Home edition will have all this built in.
The whole system is well under $1000 and the big test test was whether the wife would ever see the value or use it. When we come home to watch an episode of LOST and skip through all the commericals, she is pretty happy. She also seems to be comfortable playing back music and DVDs on the system too.
I did have to add a fan to my entertainment center's back wall which is a little noisy, but mostly that's due to using a fairly cheap PC. Sony has some water-cooled systems built just for this and Gateway has a really sweet package, but these are all rather pricey solutions.
Down-sides: nothing less cool than having to re-boot Windows during the middle of a DVD. Has only happened once or twice, but both htimes with company. LAME!!! Also, without having an HDTV for a monitor, the Windows side of things is blurry, but the Media Center software looks awesome and has a very slick interface and remote control.
