Which Media Centre is better?

[DrJohnZoidberg]

Which HP ?

www.myhtpc.co.za/wiki

 

[daveza]

So it comes with 1Gig Ram, a 250 Gig drive and on-board graphics...

Is the on-board any good or must you rather add a graphics card ?

 

[Keeper]

So it comes with 1Gig Ram, a 250 Gig drive and on-board graphics...

Is the on-board any good or must you rather add a graphics card ?

The on-board vga is okay for normal series and movies - however if you wanna play the HD stuff flawlessly, you will need a dedicated graphics card.

A graphics card on the lowest end of the scale will do fine, like a cheapo GT210 (+- R300)
(although I went for a GT520 (+- R500) as I view a few Blurays in the size of 20GB and upwards, and spent the extra R200 to be safe)


If you don't get the dedicated 3D card, you won't have sound though - so only go the onboard vga route if:
- you have an old sound card laying around
- you only play SD content
- you are really cheap

 

[Natedogg]

I just got the new WD Live TV. It's fantastic for the price and the added wifi made this a must buy for me. It plays 1080p through wifi. The UI is very nice and it's incredibly easy to access any folders/drives on the network. Doesn't have any on board storage but I don't need it at all as all my media is on my PC, and anything that is newly downloaded will be instantly available on the player.

 

[Keeper]

The WD looks ok, but why pay R1100 for a WD Live TV if you can get an HP ProLiant for around the same price?

The HP just has a lot more options.
- You can put Windows Media Centre on it
- You can Run XBMC/OpenELEC on it
- You can install a TV Card, and turn it into a PVR
- You can use it as a NAS
- You can turn it into a low powered torrent box
- You can play Emulators on it
- You can even use it as a PC

 

[JvanD]

The WD looks ok, but why pay R1100 for a WD Live TV if you can get an HP ProLiant for around the same price?

The HP just has a lot more options.
- You can put Windows Media Centre on it
- You can Run XBMC/OpenELEC on it
- You can install a TV Card, and turn it into a PVR
- You can use it as a NAS
- You can turn it into a low powered torrent box
- You can play Emulators on it
- You can even use it as a PC

Damn straight - a good alternative or rather no other alternative. What kinda of emulators can you play?