New MediaCenter/HTPC Setup

I've been thinking about a new MediaCenter setup for quite a while now, and have been going through the options. What I'm after (at a minimum):

• Small + quiet form factor
• Instant/Very Fast startup
  
• DVD Playback (Region Free)
• DivX/Xvid Playback (Local or over network)
• WiFi Connection (minimum 802.11G, N=even better)
• HDMI output

What I'd like to have (but not critical):

• You Tube Playback (Web Browser/Flash)
  
• DVR/TV Recording Functionality
• BluRay Playback

The options I've come down to:

• XBox 360 Elite (+ TVersity on main PC) = $790
• - No region free DVD
• + Xbox360 Games
  
• Apple Mac Mini = $1850
• - Maybe no region free DVD
• + MacOS Leopard
  
• Custom HTPC Linux-based PC = $1600
• + TV Tuner & PVR capability
  

I also thought about, but discounted lots of others (including Xbox MediaCenter, Playstation3, AppleTV), for one reason or another.

I think either a Mac Mini, or a LinuxMCE box would suit me the best. Mainly because I'd love to have a Mac, just to play with, and I kind of like the idea of trying to setup a really nice Linux box, just to see how well it would work. The custom box is also a good challenge too, as it requires lots of comparison shopping for cases, components etc. My mate Pete suggested it, to see how much I could build one for, originally thinking about $1000, but I think the budget's probably going to get blown out a bit more than that.

So far, on the custom LinuxMCE front, I've got a list of components like this:

• Case + PSU:
• Silverstone ML02B-MXR - $350.56
• or Silverstone LC11M - $291
  
• Motherboard:
• ASUS P5K-VM - $187
  
• CPU:
• Intel Core-2 Duo E4600 2.4GHz Allendale - $218
  
• RAM:
• Corsair XMS2 2GB DDR2-800 RAM - $104
  
• Graphics Card:
• MSI nVidia 8600GTS HDMI - $278
  
• TV Tuner Card:
• Hauppauge HVR4000 HD TV Tuner - $209
  
• IR Receiver + Remote:
• Microsoft Remote + IR Receiver - $56
  
• Hard Disk Drive:
• 500GB SATA2 HDD - $184
  
• DVD Drive:
• SATA DVD Writer - $55
• SATA BluRay Player + DVD Writer - $523
• SATA BluRay + HDDVD Player + DVD Writer - $510
  

Unfortunately that's clocking up to $1641 :-| OK its a better spec than the Mac Mini, but that's still without a keyboard & mouse - not to mention an OS. Could probably save some money on the TV card and/or the case.

Farewell HD DVD, Congrats Blu-Ray

Well this news article says it all really: Toshiba to exit HD DVD, end format war

The war is over! All I can say is: thank goodness I never bought an HD-DVD player, even when Microsoft tried to suck me into buying one for the Xbox 360 for $120. Moral of the story: if it sounds to good to be true...

So the countdown begins for:

1. Blu-Ray for Xbox 360 (how long till MS announce one + ship one) - I'm picking 1 month, and 12 months after that.
2. Really cheap, mass market Blu-Ray players (& Blu-Ray HDD recorders) - I'm picking 12months to 2 years (but of course hoping for less)
3. Massive HD-DVD title sales @The Warehouse and JB Hifi etc. - Maybe 1 month spreading all the way to Xmas?

What I really want (right now) is a Blu-Ray burner for my PC (for the backup data storage capacity). A player for movies is kind of secondary. But at least now, when I look around for toys, I know there's only one flavour to shop for. HD-DVD is so last year...

This wired article does have a good point though - has it taken too long for one of these two to die off, so they've effectively missed the boat and no-one's going to buy Blu-Ray movies either now? I don't know. I'd love to have HD movies on my big TV in the lounge (don't care about the PC/Laptop), but I'm not stumping up to Xtra for the massive amounts of extra cash it would take to allow me to download lots of good HD movies. Maybe when a 100GB/month data plan arrives for $100 then I'll be more inclined.

Phone Stuff

Well I finally decided, and went out an bought my Nokia E61i today. Love the catch-phrase on the box "Enhanced solution; For an easier life" :-) I'll have an easier life for sure, thanks very much Nokia. Waited long enough for it to charge to capacity then got straight into figuring out what had changed, what was better & different than my old one. I have to say, its very nice. It even has a nice feel to it, in your palm. Positives so far then:

• Keyboard - great tactile feel, like the @ and / buttons
  
• Camera - takes OK pictures (in the limited tests I have performed so far - the one above was taken in low light), and sends easily via email.
  
• Speed - seems pretty quick
  
• Case - nice shiny metal :-)
• Email client - so far no crashes reading emails
• Memory card - 256MB in the box with lots of little apps installed
• Contacts Button

Negatives:

• I think the browser is the same :-(

So now I've got a phone with a Camera, I'm looking forward to all the photos & video I can take.

I heard some cool stuff on the TWiT podcast about the live broadcasting from QIK.com, so I've signed up for the alpha - hopefully they'll let me play. It sounds very cool, and quite pleased to see it supports my E61i (as well as the N95 8GB). Could be fun to use while I'm at the Motor Racing this weekend. The invite's going to come to my phone via SMS message, as you use your Mobile phone number to signup and confirm the request. With any luck they'll look kindly on a request from a tester in New Zealand. Could be a nice complement to the Results Blog.