Episode 29: Free DVD With Your Blu-ray, $3500 Blu-ray Scam, Warner's Netflix Delay, Best 42" HDTV Deals, Turn Your Monitor Into A HDTV! [Discussion]

[jackierulesall]

Plasma HDTV Break-in. DIY HTPC Picks. Which studios give you a DVD copy with your Blu-ray purchase? Warner's Deal with Netflix: Why you're waiting a month for new titles. Convert your old monitor into a TV without a PC. The Blu-ray releases for January 26th, 2010.

Watch or download now!

[lbdwag]

I would disagree with the statement "$180 for a video card to game at 1080p" Radeon HD 4850's are going for $100 on newegg (currently) and they should have WAY more power then what is needed for 1080p gaming. Or an 9800 would work also, since I game on that on 1920x1200 just fine.

I named those cards due to person use of said cards, so there might be others that cost less that might be able to work also.

[buddhachu]

For an OSX media center, there's Plex (another XBMC fork)

http://www.plexapp.com/

Hey ummmm Roger why is it ummmmm necessary ummmmm to keep repeating the ummmmm same phrase ummmmm multiple times ummmmm during the episode?

I was ummmmm just wondering ummmmm. Its a ummmmmm annoying to ummmmm hear that phrase over and over ummmmm.

[crazypheel]

SageTV has an OS X client

http://www.sagetv.com/requirements.html?sageSub=tv

[krashnicki]

I think it would be interesting to make a wii remote into a controller/mouse for the windows based HTPC. Its fairly simply to do, a lot of people already have Wii remotes, and could be a interesting way to navigate your PC from your couch.

[drdauger]

Answering Patrick: On the Mac, I use Plex in my Mac Mini-driven media center: plexapp.com

I like Boxee for its GUI and features, but as of this writing Plex does a much better job playing back high-bit-rate MKVs I rip from Blu-Ray using MakeMKV, which MacWorld had a recent article about:

http://www.macworld.com/article/1457...y_ripping.html

BD+MakeMKV+MacMini+Plex+HD system turns out great!

[dusing]

Plex is awesome on the mac, great interface and the "Apps" you can add make it work with most any streaming video source out there.

I use a mac mini running plex and mythTV front end for my setup, with a mythTV backend + 4 HD tuners. Been running great, if plex could run the DVR'd videos with comercial skipping I wouldn't even need the MythTV frontend.

Ironically, most media boxes run linux despite Pat's linux hating. The monopoly anti linux vendor''s are the only limitation to linux and not linux itself.

Blueray on linux: http://themediaviking.com/software/bluray-linux/

Good places for mythtv info:
http://www.thelinuxlink.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=18
www.mythtv.org
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MythTV
www.mythpvr.com
www.mythtvtalk.com/
http://wendy.seltzer.org/mythtv/

[digital69]

LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM
Item #: N82E16827106289
$26.99

Foxconn DH153C-CF300K Steel MicroATX Slim Desktop Computer Case 300W Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16811153068
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$54.99

Western Digital AV-GP WD10EVDS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822136496
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$89.99

MSI 785GTM-E45 AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813130237
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$69.99

Crucial Ballistix Tracer 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT25664AR80A - Retail
Item #: N82E16820148216
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy
$84.99

AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADX240OCGQBOX - Retail
Item #: N82E16819103688
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy
$56.99


Subtotal: $383.94

The case looks big but really its about a inch wider then the xbox360. Its about 6 inches deeper. I have my xbox sitting on top of it and looks fine. It will hold up to 2 3.5 drives but dbl sticky tape and I can get one more.

CPU smoking...

Mobo has ati 4200 built on and at first I worried but it works and had hdmi out which now works good with latest drivers. The sound is normal on board from i forgot but can feed to the hdmi fine.

OS is Windows home server. I also have Boxee running on it as well Right now I still play most of the videos right to the xbox because its easy. I also have Gom player if I need to watch something the xbox can't play. I am still playing with boxee and I have a tuner card to toss in as well. I thought about a myth or windows media center but right out the box the whs will do backups plus I have access to my files over the net. I dont even have to configure the xbox it just all works. I have to say MS did a good job.

Over all I am VERY happy with this box. I could upgrade the video but outputs fine at 1080
no real issues. If I got a blue ray drive then I would go better on video.

All this outputs to a Pioneer 1019 AVR and a Toshiba 120hz 4inch lcd.