Hasta La Gadget!

Pundits may argue that the modern day HTPC has no place in the modern day living room, but we disagree. In fact, with the economy still struggling to regain its swagger, folks are staying in and finding entertainment at home more than ever. It’s that truth that spurred us to start this here project: building a fully capable, Blu-ray and TV tuner-equipped HTPC for less than a grand. And lo and behold, we made it happen. If you’re interested in seeing exactly how we pieced together a mighty fine entertainment box for less than the starting price of most pre-configured systems, hop on past the break with your notepad open.

Continue reading How-to: Build a Blu-ray / TV tuner-equipped HTPC for under $1,000

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Media PCs

How-to: Build a Blu-ray / TV tuner-equipped HTPC for under $1,000 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just a few short weeks after eMachines outed its EL1300 line of SFF PCs, the company is hitting us up again with a new trio of full-size desktops. The ET1300-02, ET1810-01 and ET1810-03 are all encased within a luminous white mini-tower and ship with a matching LCD monitor, speakers and a keyboard. As for specs, the $449.99 ET1300-02 checks in with an AMD Athlon X2 4850e (2.5GHz) CPU, Vista Home Premium, NVIDIA’s GeForce G100 (512MB), 3GB of DDR2 memory, a 160GB hard drive, 18x SuperMulti DVD burner, multicard reader, HDMI / DVI / VGA outputs and an 18-inch E182H display. The $369.99 ET1810-03 steps to a 2.2GHz Pentium E2210 CPU, GeForce 7500 integrated graphics and just a single VGA port, while the $299.99 ET1810-01 cranks it down to a 1.6GHz Celeron 420 and 2GB of DDR2 RAM. The trio should be filtering out to respected retailers as we speak.

Filed under: Desktops

eMachines intros ET1300-02, ET1810-01 and ET1810-03 desktop PCs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Up until now, the only way to really get the all-in-one “Allio Experience” was to purchase one of its HDTV / HTPC hybrids. But, let’s just say you wanted to have that same experience on your current set. The answer? Silicon Mountain’s latest wares: two new media streamer models and five Allio Link HTPCs. The entry-level $299 Allio Link ADTI-194500 gets powered by an Intel Atom N330 CPU and features 1GB of DDR2 RAM, 4GB of flash storage, GMA950 graphics, four USB 2.0 sockets, VGA / S-Video ports, Gigabit Ethernet and Ubuntu 9.04 running the show. If you’re interested in an integrated DVD player, you can snag an upgraded model for $399. If those just aren’t potent enough for your needs, you can snag one of five Allio Link Media PCs, which range from $659 to $1,199 and feature Windows Vista, 2GB of RAM, the same Atom N330 CPU, a built-in TV tuner and a 250GB HDD. Each of the units are available to order right now, with most shipping out within a week.

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, Media PCs

Silicon Mountain debuts Allio Link streamers and HTPCs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Stating that NVIDIA’s Ion platform has already snagged wide industry support would be a gross understatement, but for whatever reason, Maingear decided to skip out on all the Computex revelry and blaze a trail of its own. Hailed as the planet’s greenest gaming PC (which is certainly up for debate), the Pulse is an energy efficient small form factor PC that offers up Ion graphics. Said configuration is available with Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs and an 80+ certified 300-watt power supply; those who care more about frame rates than Ma Earth can opt for a GeForce 9800 GT ECO, which — despite being a discrete, power-hungry GPU — still swallows some 40 percent less power than a standard 9800 GT. You’ll also find WiFi support, room for an optional Blu-ray drive and TV tuner, upwards of 8GB of RAM and room for a single 2.5-inch HDD or SSD. The whole box checks in at just 7.6- x 8.3- x 11.4-inches, and it’s available for order right now starting at $799. Full release is after the break.

Continue reading Maingear introduces eco-friendly, Ion-powered Pulse SFF PC

Filed under: Desktops

Maingear introduces eco-friendly, Ion-powered Pulse SFF PC originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Good news, Vista Media Center PC users will soon find a new option under the TV+Movies tile, as Netflix Watch Instantly streaming access is added directly to the interface. The soul crushingly bad news? A post on The Green Button informs that this does not apply to Media Center Extenders, so cheapskates hoping to get around the Xbox 360’s Gold Xbox Live subscription requirement are still going to need those plugins and workarounds. This should go over much better than the InternetTV beta 2, but we’re disappointed Microsoft’s vision of TV on Your PC (as pointed out on its accompanying blogs, videos and assorted paraphernalia indicates) doesn’t allow users to stretch their PC back to the TV at will. ’til that changes, check the gallery and after the break to see what awaits in Media Center once the update rolls out over the next 48 hours.

Update: We checked with Microsoft, and confirmed that, at least for now, this streaming only includes the same content as the browser experience – so no HD. As far as Windows 7 and / or RC1 support? No word yet.
[Via The Green Button]

Continue reading Netflix Watch Instantly comes to Vista Media Center, not Extenders

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Media PCs

Netflix Watch Instantly comes to Vista Media Center, not Extenders originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 May 2009 01:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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