Except for the pricetag on the unit, this is a great deal. I can't be bothered with Media Center PCs, I think they're basically for grandstanders or people who just want to say they have one. I mean, if you're a PC head who doesn't mind tinkering 24/7, fine. But for people with a social life who just want to record some shows while they're out living - it's just not functional.
I have a great PC, it's specced perfectly for a media center, yet - I can't see WHY I'd want to make it one....considering factors associated with computers period. What a waste of money and computing power to make a PC that records TV and plays music....I mean, really. And sure you CAN use it for other things, but you risk making flaws or causing errors when you remove the specialization role from a computer. You can keep a computer running perfect for years if it's specialized...for instance...ONLY for gaming, ONLY for productivity, ONLY for filesharing, etc. etc. but once you start doing the jack-of-all-trades thing, problems start to pop up. So it's a matter of weighing options. Why spend 800-3000 for a media center PC, when you can spend 40 and then maybe 100 and a little a year for a truly specialized unit? That 3000 media center PC will be outdated in 3-4 years. Your Tivo can be replaced for another 40-100 by then, and even after 3 years of service; hell with the lifetime plan, if by a miracle nothing goes wrong with your Tivo for 10 or more years, boom...you've paid a total of like 400 and you're A-OK, but after 3 years of paying a-la-carte, you still haven't spent even close to what you have for the media center PC which gives you free 'show guides'. My current PC has media center functions (using my ATI tuner and software, not MS) and it's nowhere near as simple and carefree as my comcast dvr which has basic features (season pass/record all NEW shows, record all shows per timeslot, record all shows per channel, record all shows found). Even at the basic config for a MPC (120 for MWXP MCE, 170-200 for an Athlon64, 80 for 1gig mem, 70-100 for a good board, 50-200 for case, 70-100 for a good tuner and 150 for a graphics card OR 400 for an AIO video solution, 130 for a 300 drive and 40 for a dvdrw/cdrw drive....that's 800-1000 off the top of my head), which is alot more than a 40 Tivo with lifetime service, or comcast dvr service....

I think we're in the middle of a transition period... within 3-4 years, we will be getting the majority of our media from the net, not from cable and the airwaves. I'm already there. I would gladly pay for a service that brought HD content to my dual 21" LCD's, since I haven't owned a TV in 5 years.
This capturing, figuring out a codec like divx or WMV or whatever and re-encoding stuff is really clumsy and silly. I want lots of disk space, I want fast connections and the ability to watch any media on my machine for $3 or less, without commercials and without selling my info to large conglomerates. Someone, be in netflix, MS, or elsewhere will do it and they will own the world of entertainment, because THAT is the future, not any sort of broadcast medium or cable crap with 950 channels of stuff nobody watches.

lol good luck in your dream, hope you wake up from it soon. First of all, you're not going to get all this media for $3/less and without any sort of commercials or anything. Where do you think all this entertainment will come from?? People don't work for free you know...$3 might buy you some underground private movies maybe that are trying to make it big.

Second of all...I much rather watch movies on my 65inch HDTV then on one or two or three 21" lcd screens.

Agreed.

I'd rather spend 3-4 grand on a mid-high end entertainment system:

65 inch HDTV or Plasma Screen (1500-2000)
MS LG DVD Recorder/DVR with Lifetime Service (800)
Wireles-N *or better* Mp3/Music Streamer (150-200)
Best Logitech Harmony Remote (300)
High End Sound Sysem *receiver and speakers*(500-750)

And therein lies the rub:

With media center pc's the guide is free- with the settop box, you have to pay for the service.

You aren't paying for the guide, you are paying for the ability to automatic program the unit, tune to a station, get subscription data for shows (like whether or not its a rerun). That content is extra, and the providers bolster it with their own programming.

TitanTV gives you some of this info, but its not nearly as full featured. And can your PC automatically get the guide info, start recording that show, and record the show EVERY time it comes on?

Nooo.. So that's what you are paying for..

Even cable boxes that have dual tuners and provide a basic guide with minimal recording features don't work nearly as good as a Tivo Unit. That's why I quit trying to use my Cable PVR for recording shows.. its just not as easy, and its missing a few features, like one touch record... similar shows to the one your record.. and a bunch of other things I miss with Tivo..

Not the same bud!

I still use my UltimateTV (bought 3 years ago).
Sure it doesn't have networking abilities, but it is great, mainly because it is a great dual tuner DVR integrated with DirecTV service.
I wish I didn't have to pay the subscription, though :-(

You can do everything that you mentioned for free with Media Center 2005. Even the things you said it could not do.

This looks like an interesting contender to Tivo and they sure could sure the competition. What I hope to see is that they meet but really beat Tivo in features plus that they have HDTV and dual tuner support, otherwise this new tech is just too pricey.

:((

I think I'll wait until the new PC Tuners with CableCard support come out. For the $750 it costs to buy this unit and the lifetime subsription I could almost build myself a good media center pc.

I will most likly get Windows Vista with MediaCenter when it comes out. Hope we can get more info on this unit. Plus I know that Tivo monitors what you watch, where MediaCenter does not. I wounder if this product does?

If you only spend 750 on a media pc, that tells me you don't know anything about a good entertainment center. 750 wouldn't even buy a decent desktop, let alone the components required to build a GOOD entertainment PC.

You will spend $3000 on a good Media PC... IF you do it right...

I did it right $3000 is a bit high, you can do it for $2000 easy and it is sweet!

I am talking about good for the average consumer, not what a BetaNews user would consider good. $3000 is something you'd pay to someone like Alienware. There is a big difference between good and bleeding edge. My estimate was probably a couple hundred dollars low, but if you want to spend $3000 on a Media Center PC that is just good, go ahead.

Oooh.. nice, but its kinda pricey. And it doesn't say if it supports HDTV. That's my biggest beef with Tivo, that and Tivo doesn't have a dual tuner.

If it has HDTV and dual-tuner support, I will take it.

A little pricy and not alot of info on the unit.

Didn't see this one coming...interesting.

Nice!

DRM Anyone?

My comcast dvr has dual tuners :-)