Tell Me Why I Don't Want This - Dell Studio Hybrid

[[+Duracell-]]

The MS recommended minimum for Vista is 1GB, but to have it fluid in any way, 2GB is pretty much required.

Dell charges you $50 to upgrade from 1GB to 2GB, while a stick of 1GB DDR2-667 on Newegg costs $25 shipped. If it's easy to access the RAM slots in the Dell, then just get the 1GB config for now.

Also, the integrated video uses your RAM for its memory as well, so more RAM definitely won't hurt.

Also also, from what I read, the X3100 integrated video does NOT do H.264 decoding (source). The only cards I know that do hardware video decoding of H.264 are the Radeon HD 3xxx and 4xxx series, since they have a separate chip built in to accommodate that specific function.

[YellerDog]

Ever see "Demon Seed"?

This is what you are inviting into your home.

[mollipen]

Also also, from what I read, the X3100 integrated video does NOT do H.264 decoding (source). The only cards I know that do hardware video decoding of H.264 are the Radeon HD 3xxx and 4xxx series, since they have a separate chip built in to accommodate that specific function.

Right, but with a 2GHz Core 2 Duo, there should be no issue. My friend is running a Mac Mini with a Core Duo that'll play back 720p h.264 just fine. No way the Core 2 Duo isn't going to be able to handle any 1080p stuff at the bitrates that I'm going to find it at. (Unless somebody went crazy, and I'm talking CRAZY.) If the processor was low-end, I'd be worried about the video card and it's h.264 ability, but it won't be, so I'm not.

[Dyne]

What's the update going to do?

Sorry, it's called Fiji. There's really no concrete info on the update pack, that's why I said it might or might not make it better. Most everything I read so far has to do with HD stuff.

[Rumpy]

Word.

[cka]

I've heard that for h.264, the two biggest points are the processor and video card. And since this isn't a Mac Mini, meaning I should actually be able to swap out the RAM without a huge fuss, I was going to just stick to 1GB and see how things go.

for x264/h264, get the CoreAVC codec - I can watch stutter-free 720p x264 on my xp pc which has onboard GeForce 6150 (which is worse than the x3100) and only 1GB of ram

ram and processor make all the difference on a system with onboard a/v, so don't cheap out on those two parts

[Dyne]

Finally some Fiji info.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/08/06...enter-tv-pack/

The Microsoft eHome team's favorite beta tester is at it again, and this time they went as far as to share the RTM build of the Vista Media Center TV Pack (aka Fiji) with us -- lucky for us the update isn't language specific. We're not sure why Microsoft is officially holding back the details of this update until CEDIA, but either way all the previous details we shared with you are true. Although there is no H.264 support or DirecTV tuner information to be found, the new stuff we did find we really liked. We really had no idea how great native QAM support could be and this heterogeneous tuner support is much cooler than it sounds.

Installation was anything but simple and it's definitely not designed for end users. First we had to re-install Vista on our Dell XPS 420 and all the updates and drivers that go along with it -- not to mention lose access to all of our old CableCARD tuner recordings and recordings settings. Then, before we launched Media Center for the first time we ran the 50MB update (named MediaCenterTVPack_x86), and a few other miscellaneous hot fixes. Next we installed our HD tuner card drivers and finally ran the Media Center setup.

No real surprises during the setup, but we were delighted to see that our CableCARD tuners installed without a hitch using the original product key. The first hint of something new came when we were prompted to configure the clear QAM tuners that were found. Now that clear QAM is supported, we can have six tuners (2 ATSC, 2 QAM and 2 CableCARD) with Premium and twelve with Ultimate, not to shabby. Setting up the clear QAM was a cinch; in fact, the scan found all of the channels we expected it to. But after the channel scan was done, and we started mucking around, that is where the real fun started. We were happy to see all the channel 1000s gone -- good riddance -- and in the place of them were all the sub channels (finally!) right where they belong. But even better, we were finally able to remap every channel 8 from each tuner as one channel. So no longer do we need to worry about running out of tuners because some channels are ATSC and others are CableCARD, and best of all you can set the tuner preference for each individual channel.

[stormy]

I know you already dissed the Shuttle, but if I were you I'd consider picking up this shuttle for $100 and this processor for $40. Then add RAM and OS. Put it behind the tv stand if you don't like the way it looks.

edit - you'd have to ad a video card for hdmi or dvi

[salt_peanuts]

That's almost the same shuttle I have. I like it. I built it 4 years ago, and threw in a GeForce 6200 (nothing else more powerful would fit) and a Soundblaster Audigy. It's pretty nice for hooking up to the telly.