Floppyhead - Digital Media and Home Theater Computers

Not surprisingly, Sony has discontinued the sale of the Vaio VGX-XL3, which was a flawed but great looking media center with CableCard support. Presumably this is because of poor sales but I also think that the VGX-XL3 was already obsolete. Priced at almost $2,700, it only had one digital cable tuner and [...]

Ace Computers’ new LHD Viva is an all-in-one Media Center PC/LCD TV, similar to many Soney and HP offerings. It is an iMac competitor with features the iMac cannpt touch right now, namely Digital Cable Tuners.
The unit, which costs less than $2,000 is a HD Media Center with a built-in 22-inch TV. It [...]

Sony has just released their latest iMac competitor, called the VAIO LT Series. Like the iMac, the VAIO LT is an all-in-one solution, meaning the compter and the monitor are combined.
The VAIO LT trumps the featues of the iMac with its high definition options. The HD version of the VAIO LT, which costs [...]

Alienware is finally getting around to updating the Hangar 18 with CableCard support. Apparently the first iteration of the Hangar 18 sans CableCard support was a resounding success, which is surprising to me because of its complete lack of HD support.
CE Pro has the scoop:
Soon, Alienware will offer CableCard support for the Hangar 18 [...]

So Dell has finally shipped the XPS 410 with Digital Cable Tuners. By my count, there are now three viable companies selling media centers with CableCard support: Dell, HP, and Velocity Micro PC.

Dell also has made an interesting choice with the XPS 410. Digital Cable Tuners (DCTs) are only available on the high-end [...]

HP has decided to again offer digital cable tuners as an upgrade to the m8100y line of computers. Originally, HP sold DCTs with the m8010y but apparently had problems with that configuration. Their on- again/off-again offering of DCTs has settled with the 8100y.

The good news is that a system can be had [...]

Update: Cyberlink’s Play Movie plugin is OEM only, meaning you cannot buy it retail. You have to get it from a manufacturer like Velocity Micro PC. That being said, PowerDVD Ultra is the only PC-based option for watching HD-DVDs and Blu-ray discs.
Chris Morley at Velocity Micro PC (the only place offering [...]

Where are all the media center computers with digital cable tuners? Digital cable tuners (DCTs) were supposed to have ushered in a new era for media center PCs, allowing HD cable television to be watched on your computer. Unfortunately, reality has been less than exciting. VelocityMicro PC is the only viable vendor for [...]

A couple of weeks ago I went in search of the VAIO Digital Living System VGX-XL3 at the Sony Style store at Tyson’s Corner in Virginia. I wanted to to see if they were selling Sony’s CableCard offering. It took me a while but I found it stuck in a [...]

Right now, there are three essential items for any computer that costs over $3,000 and is a media center:

Two digital cable tuners to record one HD program while watching another
A Blu-ray or HD-DVD drive to watch HD movies
NVidia 8500/8600 GT video card to optimize performance of HD content

A couple days ago I complained about [...]