Alienware Hangar18:HD Media Server unboxed

We've leered at Alienware's Hangar18:HD Media Server before, but with it finally available -- via custom installer channels only -- we can imagine it finding a place in our own media closet. Until thats the case, check out an unboxing of the unsurprisingly grey, sturdy beast, CableCard slots, hot swappable HDDs and Blu-ray drive splayed open for the world to see.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 1st 2008 10:51PM]

"Along with every HD video output you can think of, "

I can think of one it doesn't have... HDMI! Why the hell would they not have one of those?!

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 2nd 2008 10:07AM]

It does...

It comes with a DVI-->HDMI converter. RTFA

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 2nd 2008 10:11AM]

I did read the article -- but my understanding was that you can't output audio over DVI, even with a DVI->HDMI connection. If that's true, that means no high-rez audio from the BD disks or other media you might have on the thing.

Unless things have changed and you CAN get audio out of DVI nowadays?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080205110644AA8Sv2i

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 2nd 2008 10:57AM]

No but a little TosLink never hurt anyone.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 2nd 2008 11:45AM]

But that won't get me TrueHD, PCM, etc, will it? I thought the only way to use the advanced audio codecs was HDMI or analog 5.1/7.1 outputs.

Seems like a stupid oversight for such an expensive piece of hardware (similar to the $2,000 BD player that doesn't include an ethernet jack, I suppose...)

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2008 9:20AM]

So, what does this do that media center, home server and an xbox360 can't do? Empty your wallet maybe? It does look pretty....

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 8th 2008 1:55PM]

for the consumer space yes, but in high end graphics environments or client - server environments, I'd go to Phantom Data Systems for bluray server solutions. Phantom Data Systems Blu Ray Server Solutions MAC, PC, LINUX compatible as well.
THey also have Solid State Drive arrays Solid State Drive Array

AG.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 10th 2008 9:43PM]

Bluray Server from Phantom data systems definitely delivers 100 times the capacity and capability of DVD for sure. Great for PACS systems, high resolution imaging environments.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 19th 2008 11:09AM]

Checked'em out Blu Ray Server Library Phantom Data really caters to the enterprise space.

G