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Boxee Box Review

B.Greenway — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 17:53:27 +0000

It’s been quite a while since our original Boxee (software) review and while a lot has changed much of what made Boxee compelling has only gotten better with the introduction of the Boxee Box by D-Link. Now with Boxee Box there’s a small, self-contained device specifically built for the Boxee platform, no HTPC required. For [...]

Boxee Box Review

Boxee Review

B.Greenway — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:19:47 +0000

Right off the bat Boxee has a different feel to it. The menu system is smooth and once you shed off the trappings of conventional media centers and adjust to Boxee's way of doing things, it starts to feel intuitive. Boxee's a lot to take in early on which is a bit surprising given how spartan the interface appears. Notice I said appears because once you dive in a little deeper you'll quickly see there are a ton of settings and features to tweak should you wish.

Boxee Review

Dude, Where’s My Netflix Tab Inside Vista Media Center?

B.Greenway — Thu, 21 May 2009 22:39:04 +0000

Like many of you who heard about Netflix support coming to Vista Media Center I too was anxious to give it a whirl, the only problem is unlike most of the accounts I was reading, my tab wasn’t “just there when I opened media center.

Dude, Where’s My Netflix Tab Inside Vista Media Center?

Preview: Windows 7 Media Center

B.Greenway — Sat, 16 May 2009 18:20:01 +0000

If you resisted the temptation to “upgrade” your windows based HTPC to Vista this long hopefully what follows will reinforce that decision, Windows 7 could be as little as 5-6 months away and given the fact that Microsoft didn’t release a QAM/ATSC tuner update to the public (its only technically available with new OEM builds) the wait may very well be worth it.

Preview: Windows 7 Media Center

Physical Media is (Nearly) Dead, Long Live Physical Media

B.Greenway — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:23:19 +0000

Back during the HD DVD/Blu-ray catfight, a common call among HD DVD supporters was that Blu-ray may win the battle but ultimately digital downloads would win the war. This was often countered with “I’ll never move to digital downloads, I want a physical copy of my purchase”. As with many arguments the truth is often [...]

Physical Media is (Nearly) Dead, Long Live Physical Media

Mini-Review: CoolerMaster Silent Pro M500 ATX Power Supply

B.Greenway — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:43:43 +0000

As time marches on I find myself using my HTPC more and more and my other source equipment less and less. With that, I’ve wanted to address one of my systems biggest hardware shortcomings, the noise. Unlike off the shelf consumer electronics devices, HTPC’s aren’t necessarily as quiet as a DVD player, cable box or vacuum cleaner for that matter…

Mini-Review: CoolerMaster Silent Pro M500 ATX Power Supply

I Heart my HTPC

B.Greenway — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:02:44 +0000

My opinion of HTPC’s has pretty much come full circle in the last 10 years or so. It’s not that my standards have dropped, as much as it’s the quality of the hardware and software that has improved dramatically. My HTPC recommendations used to go along the lines of “buy something that’ll get the job accomplished but don’t go overboard”. Now I’m of the opinion that if you think this is for you, by all means, go for it. Shoot for full 1080p playback and even the lossless audio support that’s started popping up on certain motherboards.

I Heart my HTPC

Confessions of a My Movies Junkie

B.Greenway — Sun, 18 May 2008 17:47:05 +0000

Most of the indispensable add-on components of my HTPC didn’t start out that way, or rather it’s the quieter, almost utilitarian additions to my HTPC that I couldn’t live without now. The oh golly gee look how cool this thing is gizmos that initially excite, often fall out of favor as time goes on. While [...]

Confessions of a My Movies Junkie

Russound Media Console

B.Greenway — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:53:27 +0000

I guess this really shouldn’t have come as a shock, I mean I’ve noticed an increase in media center PC’s all around, it’s just that well, this ones from Russound. What’s so special about a media center PC from Russound you ask? Aside from the optional dual cable-card tuner slots, LifeWare customized Ultimate Vista Media [...]

Russound Media Console

Review: SyncTV (beta)

Philip Stamps — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:32:47 +0000

In the weeks since installing the software I believe I’ve caught a glimpse of the future and its one where physical and digitally distributed media can happily coexist.

Review: SyncTV (beta)

My HTPC Could Wake the Dead

B.Greenway — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:46:35 +0000

That title should have actually read: My HTPC Could Wake the Dead, but its getting much quieter. It’s been quite a while since I’ve discussed HTPC’s (mine in particular) so I thought a quick re-cap and update of where I’m at with my system might be in order. Late last summer I picked up the [...]

My HTPC Could Wake the Dead

Late to the Party, Better Late Than Never: Xbox 360

B.Greenway — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:41:06 +0000

Late to the Party, Better Late Than Never: Xbox 360

My Top Five Tips for Building a Windows Media Center PC

B.Greenway — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:24:44 +0000

Over the past few weeks I’ve been experimenting with several different streaming media devices in my home theater with varying degrees of success, ultimately I came back to the idea of a HTPC. This all goes back a few years and my “Rule of Three”, the rule of three pretty much goes like this, if [...]

My Top Five Tips for Building a Windows Media Center PC

PS3 as a HTPC, Close but no Cigar

B.Greenway — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 15:17:18 +0000

Over the weekend I decided to install Linux on my PS3 in hopes that I could add HD media streaming to the machines list of capabilities, no dice, not yet anyway. Before I get too far ahead of myself here, I’ll back up and try to share enough about the installation process and what you [...]

PS3 as a HTPC, Close but no Cigar

Digital Downloads Not Down

B.Greenway — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 18:43:15 +0000

According to this Reuters article “Annual consumer spending on Internet downloads of movies and TV shows will top $4 billion in 2011″. Okay, that part doesn’t surprise me all that much, after all that’s still relatively a small portion of the physical home video market, (estimated at 16.3 billion for DVD alone in 2005) the [...]

Digital Downloads Not Down