My New Flagship Machine
Written: Jun 16 '03 (Updated Jun 18 '03)
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Pros: Ease of use, Media Card ports
Cons: Software limitation due to aesthetics.
The Bottom Line: Great for the multi-media Guru.
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| jhankins's Full Review: Hewlett Packard Media Center PC 864n (DB287A#ABA) ... |
Move over Olympus, here comes Ephesus (Greek machine names)!
My home made machine (AMD Athlon 750), bless its computer soul, is dying, literally. It's on its last leg, so it goes off to the ultimate grave yard, being my 3 year old's gaming machine. Being an avid gamer, TV watcher and photographer, I have been looking for a machine to consolidate my gadgetry. Mini Disc player, Palm 505, printer, cameras... my desk was quite cluttered.
Along came the idea to purchase a Tivo. But as I was shopping for a Tivo, I saw these HP Media Center Machines. My research into their inner workings and dependability proved quite fruitful.
Specifications
Intel 2.66 GHz Processor
DVD RW/CD RW and a CD/DVDROM Drives
Slots for CompactFlash, SmartMedia, Memory Sticks, MMC
3.5" Floppy Drive
160 GB Hard Drive
NVidia Graphics, 128MB AGPx4 slot
512 MB (DDR SDRAM) 2GB max
56 Kbps Fax Modem
Ethernet card
Three button Opitcal Mouse
Multimedia Keyboard
Klipsch THX Speakers and Subwoofer
Usability
I have to say that the software installed for creating DVDs, the Microfost Windows XP Media Edition changes that run the Digital Video Recorder, and the incredibly sharp looking and functional keyboard are wonderful. Control is at your finger tips, and with the media card slots and firewire and USB ports on the front, control has never been easier.
The Good
Sonic MyDVD software included is very useful, friendly and aesthetically pleasing. Slideshows for pictures and music, videos, and importing TV shows is very easy to do.
Internal Media Ports- This is a plus for me. I can plug in cards rather than cameras or having external drives for each different kind of media. This makes my job extremely easy when uploading from various sources. This is by far my favorite feature
Live TV- The DVR and cable in, as well as TV Out capabilities make staying home in bed with chronic sinus infections sheer joy! TV, music, videos, all at the touch of a remote control that's included in the box.
The Klipsch speakers included with this system really do make it a home entertainment system. These speakers literally put my cheap $100 surround sound speakers to shame. I'd rather stay in my room and watch TV and movies now! The shame is the preamp on the subwoofer does not allow for surround sound, just the 2 speakers plus the sub.
I am enjoying the sleek, blue-light keyboard that is fully custom-izable. What a great asset to have everything at your finger tips. The keyboard itself even has eject buttons for the two disc drivers, which is is cheesy, but incredibly useful.
Not So Good
I say not so good, because I haven't found a "bad!"
The Digital Video Recording Software renders watching Live TV unavailable while it is recording. This feature is not useful to those archivists among us.
The Guide (Live TV Guide) does not have a calendar feature, meaning you have to scroll through days and days of scheduling to read what is upcoming. It's easier to check TVGuide.com/listings sometimes than scrolling through that mess. The window is not scaleable, so you can only see a maximum of 3 hours at a time.
There are hardware stutters from time to time, but I am thinking this is from memory issues. Since Win XP is such a memory hog, I plan on expanding to the 2GB worth of memory.
While not the best video card on the market, running cable tv at 1280x1024 is quite fuzzy. Most of the time I'm running the tv window in a corner of the monitor, so it's not an issue. From a distance, the picture is acceptable.
The Mouse that comes with the model is only a three button mouse, and I was spoiled by my five button. IR keyboard and mouse would have been nice, but nothing is perfect!
Summary
All in all, this machine beats my expectations and has spurred me on to purchase a digital video camera, and also to pursue a home based business in photos/Video to DVD.
Update 6/19/2003
I have found a bad spot, with the Media Center Software. I'm not sure if it's from Graphics card overheat, or the Microsloth Software, but it's there. I have had to use the HP Instant tech support twice now to attempt to resolve this issue, and tech support is prompt and courteous, as well as informed. It's not like calling Dell or Gateway. The information is handed down to your skill level, and is informative.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1300
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
jhankins
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Location: Lowell, MA
Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 1 member
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