Re: Anybody's machine working most of time?

In a similar vein, consider the advances in audio components. When I was
young, the big thing was "transistor radios", although many of us still had
tube radios. Then there were the "cheap Japanese knockoffs". My ears could
definitely tell the difference. As time marched on, I could still tell the
difference between a $500 audio system and a $5,000 audio system. And if my
ears couldn't tell the difference, I could _see_ the difference on an
oscilloscope. I had a boss in 1981 that spent weeks and thousands of dollars
tweaking his stereo system to make the audio as perfect as he could. There
then came a point, oh, call it 5 or 15 years ago, that I could no longer
tell the difference between a $500 system and a $5,000 system, even with a
scope.

Similarly with video. In 1975, Sony had the best picture tubes. Line them up
beside all other manufacturers TVs and the difference was obvious. I sold
TVs in a Best Products store then (similar to today's Circuit City or Best
Buy). When a guy came in and said "I want a 23 inch TV", I'd show him the
lineup and he'd automatically spend the extra bux for a Sony. It was really
no contest. Today, the picture on most TVs, even the cheap ones, has reached
the point of "best possible". Or had, until plasmas, DLPs, and LCDs came
along.

Media Centers are still in the early stages of this curve. For some of us,
they're just not yet good enough. For others of us, they are. They will
continue to get better. Once the US shifts to digital-only TV (end of 2006
unless Congress resets the date again), the quality will rapidly improve.
And especially once the display portion gets better (I'm still waiting for
that 1-inch thick 84-inch diagonal OLED flat panel), then there will no
longer be a discernable difference between the $500 tv and the $5,000 tv.

Dana Cline - MVP
"Tiny Tim" <_tim_dodd@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:426f9b79$0$544$ed2619ec@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> You make an interesting point here. The truth of the matter is that,
looked
> upon as a PVR rather than for its other functions, the MCE PC relies
almost
> exclusively on the performance of the tuner card and video card for the
> quality of the picture. The disk(s), CPU, memory, cooling, casing etc are
> all relatively inconsequential. They basically are either up to the job or
> they're not. There are not degrees of quality in these components that
> contribute hugely to the success/quality of the MCE experience.
>
> But a tuner card costs around £50 (not much in the great scheme of things)
> and unless it performs the tuner/receiver functions itself then capture
> quality is going to be badly compromised by using pitiful composite feeds
> for video or less than perfect s-video. If using an external STB to feed
the
> signal we really need RGB/component/digital capture to retain satisfactory
> picture quality before it enters the realm of mpeg encoding and decoding
> again. Better yet (for the UK market) give us a satellite tuner/encoder
card
> that will work with Sky. Fat chance!!!! :-(
>
> The same goes for video cards. It doesn't really matter how much you spend
> on the card. Above a certain point more money just means faster frame
rates
> for games. It has next to nothing to do with improving the PQ sent to a
CRT.
> Again, a functional card will cost about £50. I don't think spending more
> will help.
>
> In the UK you can get a digital tuner card but the channel choice is so
> pitiful it is not worth the effort. If you get a digital card you can't
> capture from our satellite or cable providers. So the UK choice is to have
> reasonable quality but hardly anything to watch, or masses of choice but
> poor PQ. Why is there no RGB capture solution within MCE? Is that the
fault
> of the hardware manufacturers or MS? I don't know or care. Just fix it!
>
> Well as far as I know
> "dwswager" <dwswager@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:1114609022.285287.34920@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >I know we are getting a little far afield, but I want to throw out a
> > general question:
> >
> > Is this as good as it gets? Is the quality of the components
> > (hardware, Drivers, Applications, etc.) we use as good as we can
> > expect?
> >
> > For comparison, look at other Stereo or Home Theater electronics.
> > There is a definite curve of equipment performance. At the low end are
> > the Asian mass market guys like Panasonic, Samsung, etc. You step up a
> > little to Yamaha, Sony. Move on to something like say NAD. Then
> > Rotel, Adcom, B&K. Going on to up to Parasound, Krell etc. Where one
> > decides that diminishing returns kicks in or accelerates or where one
> > sets a level of performance beyond which any increase is de minimus is
> > not really the issue.
> >
> > Looking at MCE PCs, the most expensive I've found is the Niveous Dinali
> > series with HDTV. You can price it out between $3999 and $5700. At
> > the low end with a 3.2 Ghz P4, 1GB PC3200 RAM and 2 160GB Hard Drives
> > you pay the $3999. But these are the same components I can use and
> > let's say they paid $1500 for the computer components. That leaves
> > $2500. What your buying for $2500 is a nice honking heatsink case with
> > all passive cooling and integrated input jacks on the back. But this
> > is still the same computer Dell could sell you for about $1200 in a
> > reasonable plastic skinned case with fans.
> >
> > Where are the $3000 higher peformance PCs? The question is, have we
> > wrung all there is out of this stuff that there is nothing left (at
> > least yet) and pushed the margin on this stuff that low? Or is it that
> > there is no market for higher end stuff (or the market is there but not
> > yet exploited)?
> >
> > I just find it odd that the most functional part of my Home Theater
> > setup will most likely be the cheapest. It will certainly be the first
> > thing replaced long before my speakers or amplifiers.
> >
>
>


.

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