As the months dragged on I was a bit concerned that the issue noted in our review of the TX-NR818 where it converted 23.976 content to 24.000 was not going to get fixed. Thankfully that is not the case because today Onkyo released a firmware update that resolves it (and a couple other issues) – Huzzah! I’ve been running a […]
Read moreUsing a HTPC isn’t always the easiest way to watch content, but nothing combines the flexibility, capability and potential into a single consumption point like it does. Those that demand the highest quality often rail against the complexity required, and to be fair they have a point, but it’s there and few products demonstrate this like the high quality video […]
Read more
Looks like Dune HD hit their delivery target for the TV303D, and Damien has it reviewed. The results were much more mixed than I expected from Dune HD, hopefully just teething issues with a new platform. Overall I would say I have some mixed thoughts with the TV303D. On a positive note, network performance is excellent which is critical for […]
Read more
When I’m building a dedicated XBMC box, I often turn to the “embeddded” OpenELEC distro because of its drop-dead simple installation process and just-works feature set. And now with XBMC 12 is out, bringing a modern audio pipeline and Live TV to the platform, it’s a great time to upgrade or check out the HTPC software. If you need a […]
Read more
If the Arc Midi R2‘s transparent side panel was a little to flashy, or the price a bit too steep you might want to check out Fractal Design’s Core 3000. It has many of the same features like dust filters and oodles of space for about $35 less. I’ve been putting off replacing my aging Lian Li tower chassis […]
Read more
When Microsoft disabled optical disc drives for media players, I was wondering where applications like TotalMedia Theatre would go – after all, if you’re not shipping a new product every so often it’s difficult to keep the fresh stream of revenue required to keep making bug fixes and adding support for new “protection” schemes. I wasn’t able to see this […]
Read more
We’ve looked a few of Fractal Design’s full sized (server) chassis and always come away impressed with the build quality, layout, and oodles of space for components and storage. There’s always room for improvement so it’s not surprising that every so often another enclosure joins the mix adding more features. Arc Midi R2 which offers a flexible hard drive configuration […]
Read more
Before I bought my first Intel branded motherboard, a DG45ID, I never understood why anyone would want to pay more for one of their (at that time) homely BIOS’d systems. After owning it, and a slew of subsequent boards, going back to a top-tier Taiwanese brand will be more than a little depressing when Intel stops making consumer motherboards after […]
Read more
A few weeks ago Ganesh did an excellent writup of an IVB build in a passive Streacom chassis, today he’s back with a look at how Windows 7 and Windows 8 perform on that system. It’s a great read, and I have to admit to being a little surprised by the numbers, but I also wish the piece included factors […]
Read more
Every so often I see a question about how we generated the detailed display information used in our HTPC reviews. It’s not hard to setup, but I figured that it was time to document the process in a single, easy to find place. Let’s get started. Necessary Software: DirectX Runtime MPC-HC (I prefer the zip installer-less, version) LAV Filters (optional) […]
Read more