re: media center vs TiVo. I found I had to spend close to half the cost of a TiVo HD for a video card that would display HD without glitches (with a Dell XPS 420 quadcore). If TiVo would upgrade their nic cards to gigabit, there wouldn't be a question at all. I know everyone says it doesn't need the additional speed, until your moving .tivo files back and forth betwen your computer and additional TiVos. A gigabit connection would almost make this transparent.
“While it's not exactly punching it out with the heavyweights in multi-room audio, the Mint Studio does certainly hold its own with many similarly-priced iPod docks out there.”
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
re: media center vs TiVo. I found I had to spend close to half the cost of a TiVo HD for a video card that would display HD without glitches (with a Dell XPS 420 quadcore). If TiVo would upgrade their nic cards to gigabit, there wouldn't be a question at all. I know everyone says it doesn't need the additional speed, until your moving .tivo files back and forth betwen your computer and additional TiVos. A gigabit connection would almost make this transparent.
The reason it doesn't matter is because the TiVo doesn't even have the power to take advantage of the 100Mbps nic it has now.
As for playing HD on a PC, I used to do it with a P3 700 and a Radeon 9500, so any video card sold today will work fine.
But even if you do want the latest, you can buy a Radeon 2600XT for less than $100, which is less than 1/3 the price of a TiVo HD.