HP 864n MediaCenter - My Experience So Far

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From: Tony Whitaker (tony1964_at_mindspring.com)
Date: 03/15/04 

Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 12:31:19 GMT

I bought a refurbished Hewlett Packard 864n Media Center PC from
Tigerdirect.com 2 weeks ago, and I thought I'd post my experience so far to
help others who are thinking about a purchase. Being almost completely
ignorant of "Mediacenters" before my purchase, there were some things I was
worried about.

I'm quite happy so far, and I recommend this computer.

1) There is an S-Video input on the back of the computer (Tiger Direct's ad
page mistakenly calls it an S-Video OUT causing me to worry there was not
S-Video IN).

2) It comes with a composite video to S-Video adapter for devices without an
S-Video output (I didn't know you could do that before).

3) It has software that will allow you to copy VHS tapes and Laserdiscs to
DVD. I've very happy with the results from Laserdiscs - less happy with the
results from VHS (but I expected that)

4) When buying DVDs, look for a warning sticker on the package that says you
can't use the media with 2.4x burners like the one in my 864n. I bought some
Maxell DVD+Rs that were turning into coasters. Then, I saw the yellow
warning sticker - "these don't work on 2.4x burners" (paraphrased). Sony and
Memorex (Memorex and Maxell are confusingly similar names, aren't they?)
DVD+RWs work great.

To copy a Laserdisc or tape:
a) First you capture the video using Arcsoft Showbiz which comes with the
coputer. To capture video using the S-Video input, you must get an update to
the software using a menu option in Showbiz. Without the update, you can't
select the S-Video option. Of course, this is a 1:1 time task - it takes 2
hours to capture a 2 hour movie.
b) After capturing the video, you use Sonic MyDVD to burn it to a DVD.
Showbiz is only capable of capturing .wav audio which means you can't record
most movies to a single DVD. You can only fit about 1-1/2 hours on a DVD.
But the quality from laserdiscs is excellent IMO.
c) I haven't figured out how to add chapter stops using Showbiz and MyDVD. I
did find TMPGenc DVD Author (30 day free trial, $68 to buy) that does a nice
 job of adding chapters and allows you to reencode the audio so you can fit
a 2 hour + movie onto a single DVD. There's a loss of quality, though, and I
had audio synch problems on the 1st tape I tried to copy. I used TMPGenc DVD
Author with captured video from a laserdisc, and it looked very good (not as
good as a straight burn using MyDVD) and I didn't notice audio synch
problems, but that may be because there isn't much dialog in Roman
Polanski's "The Fearless Vampire Killers".

If anyone can explain to me how to add chapter stops using Showbiz, I'd
appreciate it. It allows you to mark "split" points, but I can't get them to
turn into chapters on the final DVD.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: HP 864n MediaCenter - My Experience So Far
    ... Are you sure that it is not a S-Video to composite adapter for devices ... > 3) It has software that will allow you to copy VHS tapes and Laserdiscs to ... To capture video using the S-Video input, ... > the software using a menu option in Showbiz. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter)
  • Re: DVD-making "capture" questions...
    ... To make DVD's that will play in "set top" players, ... To "capture" from camera's, utilize firewire, the file will automatically be ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.moviemaker)
  • Re: DVD-making "capture" questions...
    ... Capture being the operative word. ... DVD Authoring software to author your DVD? ... And of course there aren't any DVD players that play MPEG WMV or AVI ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.moviemaker)
  • Re: Capturing from VHS/DVD recorder player
    ... I will be getting that ADS USB device. ... VHS video is copied to and digitalized for the DVD disc. ... For analog capture from either my Cable TV box, DVD player or VCR, the ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.moviemaker)
  • Re: DVD-making "capture" questions...
    ... Capture being the operative word. ... DVD Authoring software to author your DVD? ... And of course there aren't any DVD players that play MPEG WMV or AVI nobody ... Getting external video into a PC then onto a DVD that will play in a set ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.moviemaker)