Barb's Connected World

HP was kind enough to send me an early near production version of their soon to be released (July 31) MediaSmart Connect Home Theater component. I’ve had a few minutes to take a VERY quick look and the first impression is: It’s great!

Nice looking hardware, piano black finish (production units will have a neat Zen imprint) with a solid heft/feel. Connections for component and HDMI (720p and 1080i supported on both). An HDMI cable is included (nice touch). Audio jacks include RCA stereo (analog) and Optical Digital (SPDIF). No Coax digital, but that suits me just fine. I ranted some about the lack of Optical output on the ”competing” (and I use that term loosely) Linksys DMA-2100.

802.11a/b/g/n (Draft 2.0n) wireless (and 10/100 Ethernet) connect this device to your home network. The device sports USB ports front and rear and includes a HP Pocket Media Drive Bay (the 21st century version of sneaker net storage used to move your digital “stuff” between computers and devices).

If you are looking at size and aesthetics, this image shows the sizes of the x280n, the Linksys DMA-2200 (the 2100 is even smaller and as I blogged, chintzy in feel and cheap looking), the D-Link theater component size DSM-750, and an Xbox 360. For me, it is a draw between the component sized D-Link which, in the real world would fit nicely on the rack that holds my home theater receiver and the HP x280n which would fit nicely and discreetly on top of or under the TV. Top to bottom: HP MediaSmart x280n, Linksys DMA-2200, D-Link DSM-750, Xbox 360.

HP includes a really nice handheld remote. It’s certainly the best of the remotes offered with any of the extenders I’ve seen. It’s backlit (which for me is a must in a darkened room). Setting up the x280n was menu driven and simple. It found several of my 2.4GHz  “N” networks (I’m not certain it is seeing 5GHz N yet, more to come). I associated it, entered the WPA2-PSK passphrase and it was off and running. The first thing it did was check for new firmware. Finding a newer version, it downloaded and applied the newer firmware. After a reboot, it was back up and ready for action.

I elected to set it up as a Media Center Extender first and verify that my OCUR/DCT high def streaming was good to go. No problem there. Since I can do MCX setups in my sleep, and at the speed of light, I was able to quickly get through setup and watch Live and Recorded HD TV.

Exploring the HP MediaSmart interface:

I had a short amount of time to explore HP’s MediaSmart proprietary interface for Media Sharing. I used Windows Media Sharing and UPnP streaming from a server. I have yet to setup HP’s own MediaSmart gateway software, but I’ll get to that. HP has developed a slick and intuitive interface which can be used with Windows XP, Vista, and most likely will be future proof, at least for a while. I like the HP interface and functionality slightly more than D-Link’s MediaLounge interface. Linksys has no such secondary interface. I was easily able to start playing some music and access my photos and play a slide show. This works almost exactly the same way it does on the Media Center Extender interface. All in all, in my first look, a nice, user friendly, solid piece of hardware with great functionality.

I’ll be updating this post as time permits as I continue to explore and experiment.

I've just setup a production DSM-750 Medialounge Media Center Extender. This new extender streams everything over Wireless 802.11n Draft 2.0 (using a DGL-4500 in 5GHz mode) including High Definition Live and Recorded TV from a Vista Ultimate x64 box with two DCT (OCUR) tuners.

Some unboxing and setup images can be found at one of my websites.

Out of the box, the DSM-750 blows the dinky Linksys DMA 2100 out of the water. Solid construction and a nice looking peripheral that doesn't look like cheap plastic in my living room. The DMA 2100 has no optical SPDIF (RCA flavor digital SPDIF only) and worse, does not see Atheros based 802.11 Draft 2.0 N SSID's and probably some other brands. The DMA 2100 only has two antennae. D-Link has all the ports and three antennae, which really helps with wireless connectivity .

D-Link integrates network setup with Extender setup and it is a real easy task to get up and running. While I admit to having had experience with a beta engineering sample, the engineering sample was wired only without the 802.11n dual band capability. I was really impressed with how well it worked and how integrated it was. D-Link has tons of experience with something like 6-7 previous versions in the Medialounge wireless media player line. This experience shows.

The Linksys takes forever to connect to the host Vista machine while the D-Link connects seamlessly and far more rapidly.

In my opinion, if you have a choice between the Linksys DMA 2100 and the D-Link DSM-750, the D-Link is well worth the wait. Linksys was first to market, but the race is not always to the swiftest.

Microsoft has published my column on Vista computers and devices that all work together transparently on my home network.

I've been waiting for a consumer priced OCUR/DCT for Vista MCE CableCards to point people at who want the High Definition experience from US Cable Companies at a low price. This isn't a multi purpose screaming gaming machine/video production machine like the much higher end Velocity Micro machine I use here, but it appears to offer all the pieces necessary for the High Def experience. I don't see any option to order dual DCTs, which is the one drawback.

I priced a machine today, to see if the $$ were more reasonable than the Dell $1700+ for a friend. I was pleased to see that the price is now under $1300. No monitor included. You can beef this up when you customize. No option for no installed crapware though (unlike Dell who doesn't force you to take Norton, etc.)

I'm still very happy with My Velocity Micro Home Theater dual OCUR machine. And I still recommend this one to anyone who asks about Media Center High Def support.

Alienware is apparently entering the market on the super high end side with a dual OCUR machine. Cost unknown. Here's a quote from Cedia News:

"Shortly, Alienware will be delivering a higher-end Media Center product with CableCard capabilities and other premium features that are best sold through specialists.

The product has yet to be named but we know it will come standard with four swappable hard drive bays for up to 4 TB off storage. A Blu-ray option will be available, as well as an option for distributing audio to four separate zones.

“You could put it in a party mode where all rooms get the same audio,” says Kaminski.

The high-end Media Center will accommodate two CableCards via internal receivers."

This looks to be an enhancement to the Hangar 18 HD computer, based on the AMD Live platform.

More info is here. 

Some of you may remember that back in December 2006, Microsoft and AMD shipped me a Velocity Micro Cinemagix Pro Cinema Entertainment System.

This AMD Athlon X2 system with an ATI x1950 dual DVI card, 2 gigs RAM and huge hard drive was a wonder. Microsoft installed Windows Vista x64 Ultimate and Office 2007 and I was in, well, computer heaven. It was exactly the box I'd spec out myself. Perfect in every way. And certainly the fastest computer I'd ever had in my home.

It was perfect then, but today it is more than perfect. It returned last week after visiting the Velocity Micro factory where it received a BIOS upgrade and a tune up. Why send it back for a BIOS upgrade? The only thing missing was Digital Cable Tuner compatibility (to use CableCARD technology to view and record high definition TV). That feature was not available at the time I received this computer, but IT IS NOW.

To use CableCARD technology with Windows Media Center in Windows Vista, you need five pieces:

1. A machine with a certified (by CableLABS) DCT BIOS
2. A video card with HDCP compliance
3. A monitor or TV that is HDCP compliant
4. A Digital Cable Tuner (formerly called OCUR device)/DCT (or two if you want to watch and record at the same time)
5. A CableCARD from your local cable company.

Velocity Micro is offering this amazing machine with either an internal or external DCT. (You can add a second tuner as well).

I've got two external DCT's attached to this machine and I'm in, well, high definition TV heaven.

If you've been waiting for the ability to watch and record high def TV on a kick-ass machine, run, don't walk to Velocity Micro and customize one of these. Even if you aren't into high def, this is one great computer.

Last week I shipped my screamer VM box back to the company for the upgrade needed to enable cable card support (and to get a few things fixed - busted USB port and screw down the hard drive cage).

I am so missing this computer but when it comes back, it will be without question the meanest, screaming-est pc on the planet.

I wrote about this great pc on this blog last year. I can't believe how much I miss it. So c'mon guys, I'm going into screamer withdrawal.

Just received an email from Chris Morley at Velocity Micro that they are shipping these awesome machines at last!

I'm still enamored of the custom box I received and think it's an awesome Media Center box not to mention a screamer of a Vista machine.

If you've been waiting for the ability to use a cable card and get high def in the US via Media Center, it's finally here.

Here's the computer I have here.

Looks like Velocity Micro is gearing up to sell OCUR/Digital Cable Tuner Vista machines for high definition Cable TV via CableCard.

http://www.velocitymicro.com/wizard.php?iid=89 for AMD

I have this computer here, sans DCT. It's definitely a winner.

http://www.velocitymicro.com/wizard.php?iid=96 for the Intel version.

I couldn't believe the email I received on 12/13. Microsoft and AMD asked if I wanted a custom built Vista Media Center from Velocity Micro. An eval I could use, talk about and then later either return to MS, give away, or keep. I checked the email for spoofed headers because I just don't get emails like that every day. It's the nicest desktop I've ever seen by far. The proc is X2 5000, ASUS mobo, SATA all the way, ATI x1950, ATI Theater Pro 660 tuner, and of course Windows Vista Ultimate. I also discovered that a full copy of Office 2007 was also pre-installed. And a 64 bit version of CA eTrust AV.

Close-ups of front and back are below.

It's quite the machine and has center stage in my living room, hooked up to my 45 inch LCD. I'm running sound out through SPDIF to my Home Theater. Came with one of those MCE keyboards. I like the keyboard but not the stick mouse on it (too stiff) so hooked up a wireless MS notebook mouse. When I find the Gyration Air Mouse I've hidden away somewhere, I'll replace the mouse with that.

And it's up and running. DHL was here very early and I've had a fun day setting up this super screamer that Microsoft and AMD sent me.

I'm going to relax and watch a little TV now.