brihoppy

as above...any comments appreciated if so as im thinking of buying one...

cheers, bri...

Bartop

Do you mean a pc based system ?
Never really seen the point tbh but I'm sure someone will come along and give you the plus sides.
For me a separate sky plus box / dvd player / surround sound system is much better quality, cheaper and more upgradeable..

_RIP_

This could mean anything. An XBox could be a media centre, as could a PC with MS Media Centre installed. I personally use a networked Shuttle PC running XP (without MC) in the living room and this can be used as a PVR (although I prefer my Humax), plays all my movies, live internet radio streams, MP3's (etc) DivX (etc), CD's, DVD's etc etc. And all without the faffy cobbled together Media Centre interface. Depends on how hands on or fluffy you want it to be.

brihoppy

yeah im talking about the xp media centre thingys...

TopBanana

What do you need it for? I've got an xbox which I softmodded and I use it to play movies off another computer. Total cost.. £80

Lum

And I've got an old desktop pIII-800 running XP, that I threw a decent sound and graphics card into. Works well enough. The big benefit is to get a half decent card with digital out (optical or coax) and a digital amp to connect it up to. This avoids the simple fact that nearly all PC soundcards are ****e.

Having said that, unless you're going to be playing *ahem* backups of music and video on a regular basis, I wouldn't bother and would just get a DVD player, CD changer, Amp etc. instead.

Kyl3cook

I have the windows based Media Centre, and it is very good. If you have all the other gubbins too (dvd/surround, sky+ etc) then it doesn't get used as much as it should. I mainly just use mine for music, which you can do with Windows media player anyway. I would say it's nice to have, but not essential.

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

Xbox is great for this as said above. Stream all my films from the PC to it, play music through the home cinema using it, look at photos. Best £100 I've ever spent!

NorthDave

Yep, I've got one. Just bought a copy off the web and use it on my own build machine (about £60 plus the cost of a remote control). Just use it as an interface for my MP3 collection I dont use the TV or anything like that.

It works pretty well but i based on Windows Media Player so inherits short comings from that i.e. struggles with bg collections of MP3.

Dont know what kind of info you were after. I've seen some fancy pieces of kit at trade shows which look pretty good if your requirements fit in them. I think it's Elonex who make the nice looking ones.

brihoppy

thing is im going to change my telly as its on its way out, so im looking at a 32-40 inch lcd hd ready one and while im at it, i was thinking id get one of those entertainment pcs that use the tv as the monitor...the ones that are all singing all dancing...

Bartop

To do what though ?
Web Browsing / email on the TV ? pointless and annoying imo
Watch DVD's ? expensive way of doing it - sound will be rubbish compared to a separate dvd player and surround sound system
Record off the TV ? Get Skyplus
Stream downloaded video ? ok - if you're big into this then that *may* be worthwhile but as has been mentioned can be achieved much more cheaply with a networked xbox
Listen to MP3's ? again *may* be worthwhile but seems overkill to me
Play Games ? - better off with the Xbox again

Sorry but I just don't get this whole integrated entertainment system concept as I don't get what the benefit is, much better to go for
40" LCD TV
Sky plus
Xbox 360
DVD player / recorder
Surround Sound Amplifier and speakers
and a cheap laptop..

Very willing to listen thouugh if anyone else can put forward a logical arguement for an all in one as I am mister gadget !

brihoppy

all fair points...

one of the main reasons for me is space...i dont have alot of it living in a virtual rabbit hutch...

second reason is i like the idea of having something the size of a large dvd player that does it all...

may or may not be ideal...have to wait and see i guess...just ordered the tv and i think im going to order the multi media system next week...