Home Theaters

Seagate proves again its leadership in the storage arena, announcing a 250 GB 2.5 inch drive, which is fantastic news for PlayStation 3 users - especially in light of the fact that its only a matter of time before the package to turn a PS3 into a DVR will be available here in the U.S. The 60GB or 80GB models will start hitting the limits of storage rather quickly with all of the additional uses Sony has planned for their device.

The drive size is nothing new, as other manufacturers have drives this size in this form factor, but the Seagate offering is the first to use Perpendicular Magnetic Recording technology, yielding lower platter surface area, and lower power requirements, both leading to longer life and less thermal output.

Home Theater PCs will be able to use these drives in smaller cases, making it much more viable to have a very small ITX package serving in the living room where the desire is to hide the mechanicals of a system. Use in small bedrooms or any other small space would yield no major loss of capacity.

The drive will ship in Q4 (just in time for Christmas!) and be called the Momentus 5400.4, with a price yet to be determined.

This week, at the Consumer Electronic Design & Installation Association, computer manufacturer Alienware, known for its high performance computers, announced two new models that will be another choice for home theater devotees to consider.

Named the HD Media Server, and Hanger 18, the HDMS is a compact design fitting in a standard 2U rack space. The hardware complement includes 4TB of hot swap RAID storage, cable card support internally, and a preamp with 7.1 Dolby Digital outputs. The server is 1080p capable, and has an HDMI port. The face plate of the unit is plain and elegant, but also looks as though it is destined to be shoved into a temperature controlled closet, and touched perhaps once per year thereafter.

.  Plain but beautiful, as form follows function  - Alienware HD Media Server price :TBD

The Hanger 18 is the living room module, the Alienware HTPC offering, which build upon the previous Hanger 18 by adding cableCARD support and a Blu-ray drive. The unit sports all the goodies you would expect, making it the most complete HTPC unit available in an audio receiver-sized package.

 Hanger 18 from Alienware. price : TBD

The older Hanger 18 was priced at approximately $3800, so this model might be priced around $4500 - steep, but then it is very complete, and Alienware enjoys an excellent reputation for using the best quality components.

Not many will be able to, or want to, afford this, however it is a testament to what can be built, and the drool factor is high.

For students, getting back into the swing of things is a process. It needs to be eased into gradually. Watching a good DVD can help alleviate tension after looking at the course syllabus, and seeing how much work is ahead.

For moms and dads, getting the kids off to school, or off to college can be a blow to time scheduling, as much as to the wallet. A good movie or outtakes from a series can help wind down after a long, hectic day - with no prospects of getting better until the Thanksgiving break.

So here we have the stuff to sooth, involve, and allow some diversion.

September 4, 2007

30 Rock: Season 1 (3-DVD Set) (2006)
American Visa (2005)
Autumn (2004)
Believe in Me (2006)
The Black Donnellys: The Complete Series (3-DVD Set) (2007)
Bobby Z (2007)
Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride: Hunter S. Thompson on Film (2006)
The City of Violence (2006)
Closing Escrow (2007)
The Cross and the Towers (2006)
Delta Farce (2007)
Demons From Her Past (2007)
Georgia Rule (Full Frame) (2007)
Georgia Rule (Widescreen) (2007)
Haunting Hour: Don’t Think About It (2007)
I Witness (2003)
Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow (2004)
Night on Earth (Criterion Collection) (1991)
Nip/Tuck: The Complete Fourth Season (5-DVD Set) (2006)
The Office: Season Three (4-DVD Set) (2006)
Ping Pong (2002)
Prison Break: Season Two (6-DVD Set) (2006)
Rush to War (2004)
Secret of the Cave (2006)
She-Ra: Princess of Power - Season 2 (1986)
Steel Toes (2007)
Stephanie Daley (2007)
Stranger Than Paradise (Criterion Collection) (1984)
Unholy (2007)
Wind Chill (2007)
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)

For me, I hope there are lots of outtakes on the Nip/Tuck season 4 set. Also the Hunter S. Thompson DVD looks like it might be worthy of a check. There seems to be a few others that will be worth checking out, perhaps by renting first…no one has unlimited supplies of money.

Later - good viewing.

    S3 has been a company without a vision for a time now, seeming to be unsure of where to put its efforts. A long time player in the graphics market, S3 was once a major player - for a second or two.

    Since the advent of nVidia, the market has been basically a two horse race. With the faltering of ATi after the AMD merger/buyout, there is definitely room for some other talent in the mix.

    SiS has removed itself from the marketplace, except in the area of integrated graphics, so S3 once again becomes David to the two (some would now say one and a half) Goliaths.

    Not only will S3 be releasing new cards, the designs will be adventurous efforts. Two cards have been announced, both are DirectX 10 compliant, and the model Chrome 430 is slated to be 10.1 compliant.

    The Chrome 430 will be built using a 65 nanometer process, and will also feature HDMI connection, and have HDCP on chip. While this is nothing new for the big guys, it is assumed that these features will be available at a reduced price point in the S3 offerings, so as to gain a leg up on the competition. The Chrome 460 will be the less advanced model, supporting only DirectX 10, and being a 90 nanometer process part. Since VIA purchased S3, it is probably safe to assume that the Chrome 4xx series will be very low power designs, and will also find usage on the next series of mini-ITX boards offered for extremely small form factor offerings. The chips that make it onto discrete graphics boards will all be of the PCI Express variety - there will be no AGP models released.

    Although not a performance leader in the last 10 years, it has been noted that with each iteration, S3 offerings gain performance on the leading designs from ATi and nVidia. Also the Chrome and DeltaChrome designs have been very good in the area of full motion video, turning in excellent performance with low power needs.

    This should position these cards in a very good place  for those who wish to build a high quality home theater PC, while not having to use an ultra-high power, and high dollar power supply. The idea of a small form PC with a small quiet power supply sitting in the living room, with great full motion capability, and low heat and noise should appeal to a wide audience.

    For almost anyone who gets into home audio and video, the progress of the system takes on a major role. The perfect system is always evolving, changing, both because of improved technology and requirements of the owner.

    When on the journey toward perfection, many times ideas change of what is needed, or what will suffice. The perfect system, for the space, might have included a single 12″ subwoofer in a modest enclosure yesterday, but today a more robust output is called for, as the discovery of a new favorite source has put too heavy a tax on it. Sometimes an amplifier that seemed like it had all the headroom any sane person would ever need has now become a source of annoyance, as it clips way too often with the new, high resolution, but lower efficiency main speakers.

    As experience increases, tastes change, and the ability to discern subtle differences makes qualities once higher than really needed no longer good enough.

    Each step in the journey must be evaluated, exhaustively, but not as a drudge. Changes in the system are times to once again become enthralled with that favorite movie, noticing the better color rendition of a new television, or nuances in the soundtrack that were there before, but easier to pass over.

    Enjoy each change. Evaluate. Consider what has been made better. Plan what will be changed next, thinking ahead to the new ideal.

While building a machine for a server, I was thinking about Windows Home Server. I have not seen it working, I haven’t got a clue how easy or hard it is to set up. I do know it is going to cost in the neighborhood of $150 - $200 for a copy. I also know I have a copy of Windows Server  2003 SBE  that I’ve never broken the seal on.

While the evidence of easy setup is there from other accounts by users of the betas, I wonder why I might need Home Server. I know that one of the touted benefits is the ability to aggregate drives under one name. I may be old fashioned, but this just doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. Separate drive letters work fine for me, unless I am talking about a hardware RAID solution.

Since all of the articles that delve into the depths of the offering state that what is there is Win 2003 server with some add-ons, I keep wondering to myself if perhaps Microsoft will release these fascia for users of the older server software, to extend its usefulness. It might happen, Microsoft has occasionally been magnanimous.

I then thought perhaps someone in the Linux community has decided to write something about using Linux to accomplish the same thing. You know those rabid Linux users - they’ll do anything to best Microsoft whenever they can.

As easy as one Google search, I found an article. Better still, it is written by someone I know is knowledgeable and has the integrity to state when he might be winging something. Over at Linux Watch, an article has been recently written by Stephen J. Vaughan Nichols, concerning using an Ubuntu derivative, Linux Mint as a server for home purposes. A home Server for the repository of clutter, music, and movies is around the corner. 

In a very clear style, complete instructions for setup of the system are given in pictures and words. The relatively short article shows how easily the system is made to communicate with the rest of a home network, even going far enough to show how the difficulties with Vista can be overcome (did MS plan this? Hmm, I wonder.)  Another problem avoided by this is having to go outside my own private network to administer the server. Reports I’ve seen say that network sign-on with a Windows Live Account is needed for Home Server. I don’t like that, it smacks that much more of Big Brother tactics.

So, by using a little sense, some already owned hardware, and a freely available operating system, the job can be done without an extra outlay of at least $150. (In my world, that is another 500GB hard drive with a meal out for my son and I, when we go purchase the drive!)