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Fanless Media Center Box

Posted by timothy on Mon Nov 29, 2004 07:25 PM
from the fins-are-always-cool dept.
Media Operating Systems Software Windows Hardware Entertainment
An anonymous reader writes "I didn't know that Hush Technologies made Media Center PCs, but they do. Here's a review of one of those beautiful fanless machines running media center 2005. Could this be the perfect media center box?" It's certainly perfectly expensive.
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  • I didn't know... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 29 2004, @07:27PM (#10948437)
    Huckster: I didn't know that Hush Technologies made Media Center PCs, but they do.

    Country Rube: Then why is your picture on the case?

    Cue getaway music...

    • Re:I didn't know... (Score:4, Funny)

      by Tackhead (54550) on Monday November 29 2004, @07:39PM (#10948541)
      > Huckster: I didn't know that Hush Technologies made Media Center PCs, but they do.
      >
      >Country Rube: Then why is your picture on the case?
      >
      >Cue getaway music...

      Well, it could be worse.

      Huckster #2: "I didn't know that Hush Technologies had a webserver."

      200,000 Slashdotting Rubes: "What webserver?"

      Cue halon extinguisher activation in the server room.

  • physical location (Score:4, Insightful)

    by iclod (831412) on Monday November 29 2004, @07:28PM (#10948446) Homepage
    There are two critical requirements for a Media PC that's going to reside in your living room, it has to look great and be quiet as a mouse

    is it a must to have your media PC in the same room? couldn't you tuck it in the cupboard somewhere and transmit signals wirelessly?

    • Re:physical location (Score:4, Informative)

      by IanBevan (213109) * on Monday November 29 2004, @07:40PM (#10948549) Homepage
      Current wireless tech does not have the bandwidth to play DVDs (unless you DivX them first or something).
      • Sure it does. Most dvds are around 8 mbit/s. 802.11b is 10 mbit/s but with the issues it is more realistically 5 mbit/s. However, 802.11g has the bandwidth to carry a dvd no problem.
        • Of course you still need a box to receive the wireless stream, decode it and then output the video to the TV. Though this can, of course, havea slower (cooler) processor and be diskless so the noise can be toned down quite a bit.

    • Re:physical location (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Chuck Chunder (21021) on Monday November 29 2004, @07:44PM (#10948584) Homepage Journal
      For the same reason it isn't convenient to have my DVD/CD player tucked away in a cupboard in another room. It's handy to be able to put things into it with minimal fuss.

      • Re:physical location (Score:4, Interesting)

        by mythosaz (572040) on Monday November 29 2004, @08:02PM (#10948699)
        I think the parent meant something along the lines of, "Why can't I put the thing in a cabinet, use a remote with an IR/FM repeater, and run a couple of cables out to my Hi-Fi and TV?"

        I've used the OneForAll line of remotes, and I do enjoy their IR-repeater. Similarly, on the PC end, I've used the ATI All In Wonder Remote, and the RF range on mine (interference, perhaps) was less than exciting.

        Lack of good HARD buttons keeps me in a remote nightmare right now, but I've got a mid-level URC (OneForAll) that I like right now. Doesn't have the annoying PVR "Thumb" buttons, but does have enough extras that I can map my Exploer 8000 to it.

        Media Center Edition is nice, but it's still not QUITE the killer set-top machine. I still haven't seen GOOD two-tuner support in 2005, something that Cox already gives (well, sells) people on it's PVR units. As lon as NBC is going to start ER at 8:59pm, I'm gonna need two tuners.
        • I still haven't seen GOOD two-tuner support in 2005

          Ironic that your name contains "myth" as we've had that capability in mythtv land for quite some time. You can actually have as many tuners as you want spread out over as many machines as you want. The M$ solution will never be a killer set-top machine, unless by "killer" you mean "microsoft drm-encumbered proprietary evilness"

      • Re:physical location (Score:5, Funny)

        by mordors9 (665662) on Monday November 29 2004, @08:08PM (#10948749)
        C'mon, why do you think we have children. It's to load the DVD/CD players for us.... You didn't really think we didn't know how to set the clock did you? HAHAHA

        • Re:physical location (Score:4, Funny)

          by rainman_bc (735332) on Tuesday November 30 2004, @01:58AM (#10950553)
          Okay, that was pretty funny dude...

          In my childhood, I WAS the remote control. We had a budget dial TV.

          Later, that TV was enhanced with an act of knob-wiggling. Apparantly I was the only one that could get the knob centered to get a signal.

          lol I think my parents really knew how to make it work, but they were enjoying having a remote control - granted sometimes it wasn't responsive as others, so it needed a kick in the pants or two lol!

    • There are two critical requirements for a Media PC that's going to reside in your living room, it has to look great and be quiet as a mouse

      Call me crazy, but I would have thought being able to 'play media' would have been right up there as well......go figure

  • This is certainly pretty... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Suburbanpride (755823) on Monday November 29 2004, @07:29PM (#10948453)
    but you can save yourslef some money and do what I do. Turn up the volume on my reciever loud enoguh so you can't hear the fans, or the wife complaining.

    • Wife...Slashdot...does not compute (Score:4, Insightful)

      by mhesseltine (541806) on Monday November 29 2004, @07:56PM (#10948663) Homepage Journal

      Of course, I'm joking. It does seem that everyone gets irritated at potential noise levels. Are you really watching Kill Bill with the volume at "1" and complaining that you can't hear the dialogue over the fan noise? Also, what's wrong with a glass door in front of the PC?

      • Re:Wife...Slashdot...does not compute (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Suburbanpride (755823) on Monday November 29 2004, @08:23PM (#10948855)
        what's wrong with a glass door in front of the PC

        Heat is the problem, the reason why there are fans is that heat needs to escape and glass is an insulator, not a conductor.

        My 500 watt reciever has a heat sink thats about 4x10x4, and has a fan that turns on a very high tempertures, which it usaul only reaches when it is cranked up for an extended period of time.
        What I'd really like to see is a volume controled fan controler. When the movie gets quiet, the fans slow down and then crank back up when it gets loud again.

    • Turn up the volume on my reciever loud enoguh so you can't hear the fans, or the wife complaining.

      You obviously don't have a wife. No loud speaker on earth could stand against wife's complaining. Common tactics by her including, and not limited to:

      1) Hitting your foot with full-powered vacuum cleaner (no, not even 1000W speaker could beat a 1000W vacuum cleaner)
      2) Unplugging the speaker wire on the wrong end, and when it still doesn't work
      3) Yelling directly into one side of your ear
    • It is? Says who? Only thing I love is the article description: "Here's a review of one of those beautiful fanless machines running media center 2005." So much for un-biased reporting...

      I think it's ugly and overpriced. Doesn't match anything else in the living room, might as well put a beige box in there since it'd match just as well. With the vents on top you couldn't even put anything on top of it for risk of over-heating.

      Want to see what a beautiful media PC case looks like? Try the Overture [compusa.com]

  • 1,791.38 GBP (Score:5, Informative)

    by AltGrendel (175092) <<ag-slashdot> <at> <exit0.us>> on Monday November 29 2004, @07:30PM (#10948459) Homepage
    = 3,389.61 USD

    • Re:1,791.38 GBP (Score:5, Insightful)

      by cLive ;-) (132299) on Monday November 29 2004, @08:15PM (#10948797) Homepage Journal

      = 3,389.61 USD

      Note that's the price today. Considering the way the dollar's going, here's a handy chart to help you through the next 6 months:

      Jan 2005 => 3,689.35 USD
      Feb 2005 => 3,745.22 USD
      Mar 2005 => 3,823.43 USD
      Apr 2005 => 3,897.01 USD
      May 2005 => 3,925.23 USD
      Jun 2005 => 3,990.45 USD

      Oh, small caveat. The above assumes that Russia doesn't start selling its oil in Euros [globalpolicy.org]. If that happens, all bets are off :)

      cLive ;-)

      • Re:1,791.38 GBP (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Coryoth (254751) on Monday November 29 2004, @09:45PM (#10949319) Homepage Journal
        There's plenty to worry about. See my sig for an attempt a non-partisan, level headed approach to looking into the economic issues the US may in fact be facing.

        Jedidiah.
      • The price is probably not that bad since the machine is probably actually manufactured in the faqr east in a currency that is dollar pegged. Otherwise you are probably right about the decline in the dollar's value. The Dufus deficit is huge, structural and growing. Wars cost money, lots of it. This is the first war in US history that was accompanied by tax cuts. Expect a major currency meltdown in the next 18 months or so. On the subject of the hush PC, I think it looks pretty cute. it is a real pity that
          • Part of the reason the US has been able to carry such a large current account deficit for so long without any noticeable depreciation in the Dollar is the fact that Japan, and recently also China, have been buying large amounts of US bonds and securities, propping up the value of the Dollar. There are other reasons - for instance the budget surpluses during the Clinton years, and the worldwide view of the US as an economic powerhouse (so they are a little more forgiving of the imbalance). A good discussio
  • Ahh, now this is what those of us who have home recording studios need...it's so hard to get good vocal/acoustic guitar takes with that damn Athlon fan blasting away in the background.

    One day...
    • Apple has made tons of silent machines in its history, take a look at... well, most iMac models (I don't know about the current one) and the eMac, as well as the G4 Cubes, if you don't mind a used computer.

  • PCworld.com just reviewed 9 MCE machines (Score:5, Informative)

    by xplosiv (129880) on Monday November 29 2004, @07:33PM (#10948493) Homepage
    PCworld just did a review on 9 MCE machines, they might help you find a cheaper MCE machine if you are in the market for one.

    PCworld.com review [pcworld.com]

    I have 2 MCE machines, 1 in the bedroom (Antec Overture case), and one in the living room (the CyberPower model listed in the PCworld review), and while they aren't really that quiet, it doesn't bother anyone once the TV has been turned on.

  • Google cache (mirror) (Score:4, Insightful)

    by scdeimos (632778) on Monday November 29 2004, @07:34PM (#10948499)

    Trusted Reviews has been /.'d already, so try this:

    Google cache [google.com.au]
  • ...but I still think the cube [apple.com] was nicer, for a fanless beauty. Too bad it was just waaaay too expensive.

  • Hmm. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Anyone ever notice that the product advertisments being passed off as stories contain more positive comments by the editors on average if that same product is being sold by Thinkgeek?

    Just an interesting point to ponder.
  • Sponsored by Fanless Media Celebrities!!! Have they booked Vanilla Ice for endorsement deals yet?

    Are media centers really taking hold? I mean PVR + media player + home entertainment center sounds like a logical thing to be brought together, but it all seems too pricey for normal human consumption. While I'm at it, does this then bring the concept of "computer as an appliance" closer to reality?

    If we're all going in that direction, shouldn't we just get it over with and have a "server closet" in every h

  • MythTV? (Score:3, Informative)

    by jarich (733129) on Monday November 29 2004, @07:40PM (#10948552) Homepage Journal
    Slashdotted already? Can't see the specs...

    The question for me is

    1) Can it be a MythTV backend (doing the capturing)

    2) More importantly, can it be MythTV frontend?

    Myth is client server out of the box... put the backend (with the many hard disks, tuner cards, etc) in a closet somewhere. Then buy a nice cheap box to just serve video to the TV. Sometime silent. :)

    • Re:MythTV? (Score:5, Informative)

      by lakeland (218447) <lakeland@acm.org> on Monday November 29 2004, @08:03PM (#10948705) Homepage
      *sigh* don't you know the hush already? I almost ran out of drool when I saw it the first time ;-)

      Yes, it can do both backend and frontend. The highest spec machine is the 1.2GHz nermeiah core. Put a reiser and a PVR 350 in it, 256MB RAM (more is a waste of time according to the myth website), a DVD writer, and one of them 400GB disks and you're set. Oh, and it looks gorgeous, you would not want to hide it away in a cupboard. They'll even sell it to you set up like that, for about $2500 :-(

      As you note, you can set up mythbackend on another machine somewhere and run mythfrontend by the TV (perhaps on your xbox). But... this thing is silent and low power consuming, it makes a lot of sense for it to be the machine you're leaving on 24/7. Especially since it is fast enough to handle your mail and web server, etc.

  • Not that I want a helocopter in my PC... but what is the big deal? I don't put my ear to the computer, I leave it on the floor, next to the desk... and don't hear a thing with everyday ambient noise.

    I think it's more about techical ability than actual noise.
    • Adjust your level of ambient noise and suddenly it'll seem important.

      I used to live near a really busy street and never noticed the fan noise. When I moved out into a quieter neighborhood it became rather noticable. Once it becomes something you can actually control, you think of it differently.

  • pocket players? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Doc Ruby (173196) on Monday November 29 2004, @07:43PM (#10948574) Homepage Journal
    PocketPCs are "fanless", and cheap. Even iPaq 36xx models are fast enough to play fat LAN streams. CF ethernet+adapter only costs $100, and the devices themselves are only about $100. Where is the Linux installer that makes them dedicated network players?

  • half the price is the dollar (Score:3, Funny)

    by sPaKr (116314) on Monday November 29 2004, @07:45PM (#10948592)
    Half the price is the current weak dollar. So I guess we have to 'buy american' to save. Hey all you lazy midwesterns that are crying about manufactures not having any buisness, start making fanless computer cases. Damn slackers.

  • Is it on Pimp My Ride? (Score:3, Funny)

    by gelfling (6534) on Monday November 29 2004, @08:15PM (#10948802) Homepage Journal
    Because that's about the only practical use I can think of for a midrange performance PC that costs about $3000.00. Can I get it in platinum with spinner rims, neon tubes and a waterfall?

  • Different processor for heat requirements? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Atmchicago (555403) on Monday November 29 2004, @08:24PM (#10948865) Homepage

    They mention it passively cools a 2.8ghz pentium 4. Would an AMD or a Centrino processor not be a better option? (granted of course the centrino-desktop mobos just came out, it wouldn't have been possible, but the AMD certainly would). Even an AMD64 laptop processor would do fine.

  • I'm a FAN! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 29 2004, @08:27PM (#10948886)
    I'm a fan of the Fanless Media Center Box. Does that still make it fanless? --oh get over it, someone had to type it!

  • extrusion (Score:4, Informative)

    by wwwillem (253720) on Monday November 29 2004, @09:17PM (#10949165) Homepage
    From the article: Hush must have started with solid billets of aluminium of almost five and a half centimetres thick to create the side panels. Oh dear, seems like people know more and more about digital and software, but when it comes to old fashioned manufacturing, it becomes lah-lah-land.

    These "side panels", cooling ribs would be a better term, are not created by cutting it out of a solid piece of aluminum. That would be horribly expensive, no, this is created by extruding the aluminum. In layman's terms, it's like that thing (in dutch it is called a "slagroomspuit" but my online dictionary doesn't know the translation) you use to put nice shaped whipped cream on a birthday cake. But in this case, you keep the nozzle steady, make the opening a kind of comb shape and of you go. Meters and meters of a profile that just needs cutting to get these cooling ribs.

  • Why painted heatsinks (Score:3, Interesting)

    by yorkpaddy (830859) on Monday November 29 2004, @11:36PM (#10949952)
    They went through all the effort of making the whole case into a heatsink. Cool. Why then paint the heatsink? painting reduces the thermal efficency compared to bare metal.
    • it depends upon which kind of paint that you use. If the heatsink-to-paint interface has high thermal conductivity and the paint-to-air interface has hight thermal conductivity, than painting is more thermal efficient.

    • Re:Why painted heatsinks (Score:4, Informative)

      by jabuzz (182671) on Tuesday November 30 2004, @04:40AM (#10951035) Homepage
      Thermodynamics 101: the case mostly looses it's heat by radiating it into the surrounding atmosphere. For maximum effect you want the inside nice and polished, and the outside matt black.

  • nice (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mixmasterjake (745969) on Tuesday November 30 2004, @12:40AM (#10950242)
    I just built a PVR, so I can appreciate the challenge of making it quiet. You don't really realize how loud your PC is until you actually put it in your living room full-time.

    I have to say that making the thing quiet turned out to be the most expensive part of the project. You have to get special versions of everything - special power supply, special cpu fan, special hard drive (laptop drive w/ adapapter in my case).

    I finally have it pretty quiet, but the DVD drive is the final kicker for me. I can't seem to find a quiet *black* dvd drive and these things are noisy as hell! luckily, it only makes noise while its playing a movie, so the volume is usually up.
    • Learn to spell, put your own name on your posts, and then you can try to tell me why a $3800 PC isn't expensive. You'll fail, of course, because $3800 is a lot of money even for people who aren't on welfare. Yes, even if it's a Mac.

    • Re:Still the fundamental problem in WMC (Score:4, Insightful)

      by poopie (35416) on Monday November 29 2004, @08:17PM (#10948809) Journal
      Propietary format, DRM, and force-fed advertising (to be rolled out in future "enhancements" a la tivo) are *features* of Windows Media Center.

      Silly consumer, you are not allowed to use video anywhere you want. The music/video/broadcast agencies OwnZ J00!

      You may, however use Windows Media Center on any version of Windows you want as long as it is Windows XP or newer.

      Tune-in. apt-get mythtv-suite. Drop out.

      http://mythtv.org

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