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Ask Engadget: best HTPC for under $500?
We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Justin, who can't afford both a high-end HTPC and textbooks for next semester. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com. "I am a college student looking for a cheap way to hook up to my standard-def TV. It's not HD capable but has an HDMI input. What do you think would be the best sub $500 HTPC for my home use?" We served up a similar question a few years back for the high-end crowd, and we taught you how to build your own Blu-ray-capable HTPC last year for a solid grand, but this sub-$500 territory is all new. Anyone have any decent HTPC options that won't break the bank? Any tips on constructing your own from an older desktop? Go on and share in comments below -- it's good for the soul, we tell ya.
Pegatron showing off miniature Tegra 2-powered home theater PC
If all these tablet and smartbook shenanigans haven't won you over, but you still feel the call of Tegra 2, Pegatron might have your number. We spotted this details-scarce nettop-ish home theater PC lurking around the NVIDIA booth today, just looking to be loved. The thin plastic box is topped by what looks to be bamboo, with HDMI, Ethernet, microphone and speaker plugs around back. We're very much in the dark as to supposed capabilities or software, but Tegra 2 gives us a good hint: the chip can decode 1080p and Flash video, runs Android or Windows CE, and is the same thing under the hood of the Boxee Box. We imagine something like this going for $100 (though no price or release date has been mentioned) or so and acting as a great little home theater PC for the right sort of user if and when it hits the market. %Gallery-88960%
Congatec BM57 fits mobile Core i7 onto tiny mobo
Should you be lusting after some of that Core i7 oomph but have a distaste for the large thermal and physical footprint of desktops, you'll want to hear more from Congatec. A relative unknown hailing from Germany, the outfit has just announced its BM57 small form factor setup, which looks to be ideal for homebrew HTPC enthusiasts -- primarily because its i7-620M CPU is both powerful (up to 3.33GHz with Turbo Boost) and relatively easy to cool (35W TDP, including chip-integrated graphics). The kit is able to support up to 8GB of dual-channel DDR3, as well as drive two video outputs concurrently. Choices include HDMI, DisplayPort and VGA, leading to some tantalizingly versatile possibilities for the creative self-builder. Prices are not yet available, but the BM57 will be demonstrated at the International Gaming Expo in London at the end of this month.
Artopz Minitopz Ion-based nettop lamp rains down confusion, wonder
We don't get it. At all. That said, we're totally enamored with this Artopz Minitopz, which manages to both be an impressively-specced Atom and Ion-based nettop, and simultaneously a completely confounding piece of "art." Apparently it's supposed to be perceived as a lamp, but we'd say that stretches the limits of imagination. But it stretches them in a good way, that's all we're saying. Oh, and the Minitopz costs $2,250, just in case you thought you'd penetrated this fog of luxurious gadget oddity to the point of pulling out a wallet. Maybe the video after the break will help clear some things up? Nope, not really.
ASUS EeeBox EB1012 teases home theaters with dual-core Atom and Ion graphics
Looks like our dreams of a discrete, low cost home theater PC are about to be realized. ASUS has a new EeeBox PC EB1012 touting a dual-core Atom N330 (just as rumored), NVIDIA MCP7A ION graphics, a 250GB SATA hard disk, 2GB of DDR2-800 memory expandable to 4GB, gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n WiFi, S/PDIF 5.1 audio jack, and HDMI out. As such, this little 222 x 178 x 26.9mm box should handle your hardware accelerated 1080p content just as readily as it does full-screen Flash video from Hulu and beyond -- a place where single-core Atom-based Ion nettops fail. It also features an eSATA jack, 4x USB ports, and an SDHC card reader for plugging in more media. No word on price or ship date but we'll keep an eye out. [Via eHomeUpgrade]
Okoro OMS-BX300 goes for the 'you must be high' end
You know, with the PS3 slumming it in a lower weight class and $300 price point, you'd think it'd be hard to sell people on costlier "Blu-ray Digital Entertainment Systems," but that hasn't stopped Okoro from trying. Updating its BX300 unit with dual Blu-ray Lightscribe drives, a Core i7-920, 6GB of 1,333MHz DDR3, pair of hot swappable 2TB HDDs in RAID1, and a 64GB SSD for OS duties is all well and good (okay, it's kind of awesome), but -- even though it has come down some -- the price is still a loony $3,095. There are also dual NTSC / ATSC / QAM tuners and a CableCARD option to go along with an ATI Radeon HD 4850 -- and for an extra $800, you can get the slinkier touch pad remote-pimping version pictured on the right. Ah well, just another reason to envy rich people. [Via ZDNet]
Maingear's Axess HD Gamer PC looks to blow your mind, empty your wallet
Make no bones about, Maingear's new Axess HD Gamer (and by merit of its namesake, HTPC, too) is nothing if not a powerhouse for those wanting to pay an arm and a leg for a souped up gaming experience. You want specs? At its best, we're looking at an Intel Core i7 on a X58 chipset, dual NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT in SLI, up to 12GB of DDR3 RAM, Blu-ray, Windows Vista / Media Center, and two 3.5-inch storage bays supporting 320GB SSD or 2TB HDD. If you need more nerd cred, ghost of vaporware past Phantom Lapboard serves as one of the bundled input devices, as does the NVIDIA GeForce 3D vision kit and a 22-inch Samsung LCD. Starting price is $1,799, but if you wanna go for broke -- and whether not you can, you probably want to -- top configurations can run you well over $5,000.
Zalman's HD 160XT HTPC enclosure with 7-inch LCD
If you were into that Okoro OMS-LX100 HTPC we brought you the other day, but don't want to spend thousands of dollars on a machine just to get a snazzy embedded touchscreen, Zalman's got a new enclosure that will let you build your own system for considerably less dough. Sure to be the envy of all your home theater-fanatic buddies, the HD 160XT sports a 7-inch touchscreen for menu control, media information, and even video previewing, along with four open HDD bays, two optical drive slots, a pair of supposedly silent exhaust fans, and of course, the obligatory remote. Available in black or silver, we sure wouldn't mind building a system around this case and displaying it proudly in our gear rack, but unfortunately we have no idea when or where these will be available.
Gigabyte's A963 and H971 VIIV-powered HTPCs
Besides that pair of smartphones we spotted earlier today, Gigabyte has also been showing off a set of home theater PCs at Computex, and whether you like your media centers in tower or pizza box configuration, Gigabyte's got you covered. While both the silver H971 and white A963 support VIIV-powered Core Duo processors, the rest of the specs are nothing that will get you too excited, and the lack of built-in HDMI or WiFi will probably keep most of our readers from even giving these machines a second glance. Still, if the Intel spin machine has done its job right, the VIIV stickers alone should help Gigabyte move a few units whenever they hit stores.Read- A963 [Via AVing]Read- H971 [Via AVing]
Blueado's m5e "Sport Edition" HTPC
If you liked the Mac mini-inspired Blueado m5e home theater PC, then you're gonna love a recently-released, improved version of the machine that the company is touting as a "Sport Edition" (because, you know, nothing invokes athleticism like sitting around watching TV and movies all day), which adds several compelling features (and $500) to its $1,500 sibling. Packing in the same 2.0GHz Pentium M processor and integrated graphics as the m5e, this new edition doubles both RAM and HDD capacity to 2GB and 400GB, respectively, and also throws in both analog and digital tuners for keeping you entertained. You get a fairly wide variety of connectivity options with this one -- USB 2.0, FireWire, DVI, VGA, S-video, and digital coax -- along with Dolby Digital and DTS support for hooking up your surround sound speakers to the included RCA outputs. Of course, no HTPC would be complete without a DVD burner, remote control, and million-in-one card reader, so the Sport Edition -- rolling into dealerships now -- mixes in those ingredients as well.
Niveus Media Center Denali Edition getting CableCARD support
Add another item to the list of lustworthy products that are contingent upon the eventual (we think) release of Windows Vista: the Niveus Media Center Denali Edition featuring...wait for it...built-in CableCARD support. It's not surprising that the manufacturer of such high-end HTPCs as the K2 would be chosen by Microsoft to debut the Windows-CableCARD integration, as Niveus' products have always sported cutting-edge features like 1TB hard drives, multiple analog and digital tuners, and whatever Intel's latest speed demon processor happens to be. Consumers who are willing to shell out the $6,000+ that this box will likely cost will become the proud owners of what HDBeat is calling "the ultimate HD machine," because along with receiving HD programming over cable, they'll also be able to watch high-def flicks thanks to the included HD-DVD drive. [Warning: .doc link][Via HDBeat]
Okoro's Core Duo-powered OMS-LX100 HTPC
Okoro Media Systems has just released a low-profile, reasonably priced home theater PC based on Intel's Core Duo processor that has also received the coveted VIIV seal of approval, which we're still not exactly sure about, but whose very existence makes us scared of buying any products without this enigmatic certification. Besides the 1.73GHz Yonah T2300, the OMS-LX100 features one gig of 677MHz DDR2 RAM, a Nvidia GeForce 7300 GS PCI Express video card with 256MB of memory, an ATI Theater Pro 550 PCI TV/FM tuner with MPEG-2 encoding (OTA HDTV tuner optional), 250GB hard drive, 16x dual-layer DVD burner, IR or RF remote, Dolby Digital Live support, your choice of operating system and bundled multimedia software, and a host of ports: component, S-Video, composite, DVI, VGA, optical and coax digital audio, plus the usual complement of USB, FireWire, and PS/2 hookups. Available immediately, Okoro's dual core HTPC will set you back just $1,400.
Even the manufacturers don't know what is going on
More than a week later and I'm still trying to find out what Viiv is all about and why I should be excited. I'm not even the only one, our friends at Engadget have posted their reasoning for why no one knows the secret of Viiv, making for an entertaining read at the least.Also, over at CE Pro they're recounting just a few of the flubs and missteps live presentations had at CES, according to Intel with Viiv they have succeded in "making the PC more PC like". Yeah great job on that one guys.
Say hello to Godzilla: 11 tuner HDTV DVR
Remember that time, even with a dual tuner DVR, where there were three things on that you wanted to watch at once? The guys at Snapstream never have that problem. They put together this 11 tuner box and were kind enough to provide all the info necessary to build your own, assuming you've got 11 HDTV channels in your area and enough storage.My puny Motorola box just doesn't have the same shine now that I've seen this. It's not an all-channel recorder, but it's close. Interestingly, they chose Windows XP over Media Center to run this box including 4 Fusion HDTV5 USB tuners, three Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500s, and one PowerColor PCIe x1 Theater 550 Pro. Wow.[Via digg]
