Alienware's Hangar18:HD 1080p media server announced at CEDIA

Alienware -- always at the forefront of rocking your ever-loving world -- has delved deeper into the media server fray with its new Hangar18:HD high definition home media center announced today at CEDIA. Apparently the "higher end" media center we mentioned last month is rearing it's power-heavy head in the form of this new HD server. The Monster of Media (our pet name) rocks up to 4TB of hot-swappable hard drive storage, a built-in Blu-ray player / burner, recording and playback at 1080p (output via HDMI), support for an internal CableCARD (OCUR), and a Dolby Digital 7.1 preamp output. Alienware promises that the Hangar18:HD will, "Crush and dismember all other media centers," and further recommends a titanium table to place the unit atop since other materials, "can't handle the hotness." It should be noted that these last two statements have been fabricated, though this is kind of a sweet box. No word on price or availability, but we'll keep you posted.

[red @ Sep 6th 2007 12:51PM]

finally it's out. Will anyone that bought the earlier version will be pissed because of this? I bet the price will be sky-high tho.

[Xzavier @ Sep 6th 2007 12:51PM]

BOY, That thing looks Mean, Sweet, Nice clean lines and everything! Except a small LCD interface of some sort!

Now all I have to do is figure out what that small antenna at the right rear does and I'll be all-right!

:D

[red @ Sep 6th 2007 12:54PM]

I think that must have something to do with Wi-fi for file sharing or wireless streaming

[andrew @ Sep 6th 2007 2:03PM]

This is different than the hangar 18, and serves a different purpose. This is rack-mountable people(as in server room), and is perfect for establishments like Hooters, Winghouse, and the home enthusiast. It can output via HDMI etc to multiple rooms and probably across LAN as well, I hope it can pull a slingbox also for streaming your tivo across the net. That would be one sweet package...

Does anyone know if Alienware has a developer department who can code something like that?

[MasterCrackle @ Sep 6th 2007 1:04PM]

I love one of those! But it is going to be extremely pricey.

[G Man @ Sep 6th 2007 1:17PM]

There's virtually no market for these pricey media servers that have been announced over the last several months.

All most people want is an HD Tivo alternative that doesn't require a subscription and is a simple device (not a computer based complicated expensive server)

[newgalactic @ Sep 6th 2007 1:26PM]

I'm curious if I'll live long enough to see the day that, due to the effects of inflation and increased technology, we'll see a piece of consumer electronics price out at ONE MILLION DOLLARS. That's the first thing that came to mind when I saw this uber-sexy, and most likely very expensive piece of hardware.

[Richard @ Sep 6th 2007 3:52PM]

You haven't seen the million dollar laptop?

[Hollywood Ron @ Sep 6th 2007 1:29PM]

If only I could win the lottery, I'd have one of those.

[jstapels @ Sep 6th 2007 1:45PM]

Hrmm... I don't get it. The existing Hangar18 HD 1080p they have up on their website seems powerful enough. And it comes with a nice LCD to boot. It can upgrade to 2 HD tuners... I'm not sure what else you would need.

[Afreet @ Sep 6th 2007 2:19PM]

I'm all in favor of more rack-mount gear. I have a 19" rack in my tv stand, but precious little actual rack-mount gear to go in it. It's mostly just rack shelves right now.

[aMac @ Sep 6th 2007 2:39PM]

On the subject of media servers, can anyone recommend point me to a system as full featured as XMBC? I'm aware XBMC is in the process of being ported to linux at the moment, but is there anything out already?

I'm talking about full featured enough to play things like NSFs and SID music.

[Generic @ Sep 6th 2007 2:40PM]

how many people have rack mounts at home???

[blcskate @ Sep 6th 2007 2:49PM]

I have the first AW media center; the navigator extreme. I loved it, but there service sucks and the price was 3800 for something I can get elsewhere for 2000. I should have shopped around then, but AW had such a big name I wanted to try it out. I love the new models, but I will never deal with the horrible customer service again. AW, Dell XPS, VooDoo, and Velocity PCs are all way overpriced. Check cyberpowerpc.com or build your own and you will cut the price of high-end pcs in half.

[Wall @ Sep 6th 2007 3:10PM]

Perhaps Ive seen too much.

Hangar18 I know too much!

[Matt B @ Sep 6th 2007 3:16PM]

I'm sure I'll be "Crushed and dismembered" by the price.

Military intelligence, 2 words combined that can't make sense.....

[CE Insider @ Sep 19th 2007 6:24PM]

This unit is Vaporware - Alienware said at CEDIA that it wouldn't even ship until 2008 (if ever). They had a smooth looking case but nothing else. Seeing that Alienware's old Hangar 18 is no longer able to be manufactured (ASUS disco'ed the motherboard and has no replacement since they are bringing out the Asus media center), the few suckers who bought this overpriced one (Asus model will be under $2K) are now orphans.

Alienware was bought to give Dell access to the customer list, they will be lucky to last a year as Dell is cutting back on expenses and Alienware serves no purpose for them.

[NetRaiders @ Sep 13th 2007 11:42PM]

What I really want is this interfaced with a HD DirecTV receiver. Or better yet, build in a HR20.