Media Center Follow-up

We loved our HP m1050 Media Center so much that I decided to build one for our entertainment system. I got the old machine that the m1050 replaced repaired (new motherboard), purchased a remote control and a TV tuner, and slapped MCE 2005 on it. It works splendidly. We can now pause, rewind, and record live TV, check the weather, play media files (even my old MPEG4 MST3K collection!), and listen to FM radio with onscreen controls. Best of all, the on-screen TV guide is included with MCE 2005, so I don’t have to pay Time Warner for a set-top box to get it. And I only spent about $200 to upgrade it, which I figure will pay off since I won’t have to pay recurring fees like other PVR devices require, and it’s fully upgradeable. Now we’ll just have to see what happens when HDTV is mandatory…

March 21st, 2005  Computers   Tags: hp, mce, Television, tivo, toys, more...

Hewlett Packard Media Center

My main computer died several weeks ago, and I needed to buy a new one. I weighed the pros and cons of building my own and buying an integrated system from one of the major manufacturers and decided I didn’t want to mess around with potential compatibility problems. We looked around in the flyers and online, and at the time, Office Depot had a smashing deal on an HP m1050 Media Center PC. It had most of the features I was looking for and had a good price too (after $550 in mail-in rebates, of course).

We received the machine on Friday. Upon unpacking it, we noticed several components were missing, including the remote control, remote receiver, and some manuals. We called HP and they said they would send them to us. Later, we looked for the restore CD for when the machine needs to be reloaded. We couldn’t find one. We called HP again and they said it was stored as an image on the hard drive. We had to use their utility to burn two restore DVDs (!!) from the hard drive. Besides it being annoying that they couldn’t spare the 20 cents to send the restore media with the PC, it’s even more annoying that this wasn’t in any documentation we received (although we were missing some documentation from shipment). What would have happened if the PC would have crashed or I decided I wanted to give Linux a try on it before burning the restore CD?

Overall, the machine performs fantastically, but if I was to buy another computer, I’d probably go with Dell. We’ve had a much better experience in the past. HPs customer service and assembly line leave much to be desired. If I was looking for Media Center, I might consider HP again, but for a general desktop, definitely Dell.

*** Update: ***

After playing with it for awhile, I think Wanda and I both agree it’s a pretty sweet machine. It has some really cool DVR and video playback, including onscreen controls accessible via remote control and a TV guide (which is something our analog cable service doesn’t have included). To hell with TiVo, if I ever get a DVR for our entertainment system, it’s gonna be one of these Media Centers. Kudos to Microsoft and HP.

February 27th, 2005  Computers   Tags: hp, media centercomputer, pos, more...

Toolbox PC

As some of you may know, I’ve been working on my own Toolbox PC lately. I’ve finally finished it. Click the link for pictures and a list of what’s under the hood.

June 15th, 2003  Computers   Tags: Gadgets, toolbox, toolbox pc, toys, more...