Are servers the new media?

[kloneman]

Originally Posted by Lotus

With a HTPC there is currently only one way to get 1080p and NextGen audiocodecs that HDMI 1.3 card which states it only supports Windows.

Restating this does not make it fact, especially for the video portion of your statement.
The phrase "NextGen audiocodec" does confuse me though. I believe you are referring to the current codecs for Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio, since that's apparently why most people want version 1.3 of the HDMI standard.

DTS Master Audio content creation and playback are possible on the Mac using DTS-HD Master Audio Suite. (http://www.dtsonline.com/pro-audio/mas_prodspec.php). It contains an application called DTS–HD StreamPlayer™ — A standalone real–time decoder that provides confidence monitoring and playback of all DTS streams, with synchronization to QuickTime video. (Funny about that Apple QuickTime being the Filesystem used in MPEG 4, and hence all those derivatives). This is not a consumer system, it is a professional system, but it illustrates that both content creation and playback are not only possible on a Mac, they are actually done on a Mac.

Regarding the other format (Dolby TrueHD), here's a link to some of that content creation stuff you refuse to believe in.
http://www.dolby.com/professional/pr...ions_dvd3.html

Again, current state of the art content creation and playback (albeit PROFESSIONAL vs CONSUMER grade) on Macs. This one can also be yours as part of a hardware/software bundle for only $11K (that puts it just out of my reach by almost a dozen $K, grin). There are other packages that can do this for much less (they do not use an encoding server with multiple clients). I have not looked into consumer-grade equipment yet.

Originally Posted by Lotus

Today you can't build one with the same functions as a PC.

I don't want the same functions as a PC. I want performance, ease of use, and stability.

Originally Posted by Lotus

"You might not be but currently the best way to run a HTPC is with a PC vs an Apple. "

That is the sentence that sent you out on your hate filled messages. Sorry no mention of Falcon there. You can't even admit to what you took offense to. That's a lot of hatred for PCs.

I plainly stated what I took offense to and why. Are you admitting to trolling? Your mention of Falcon occurred earlier, than this one. The mention was in your initial comment to me in this thread, and several others in the "Why Apple doesn't put Blue Ray or HD-DVD players in their computers" thread.

Originally Posted by Lotus

There is also a MAJOR difference in hardware. Some hardware is made better and better supported with DRIVERS THAT WORK. My system runs smoothly because the hardware is top notch and the software drivers are too. I feel for the people that buy poorly made and supported machines like Dell, HP, etc.

The hard drives you and I would use to store our content are likely to be the same. The processor is probably the same. The build quality of the Macintosh hardware is equal to or better than Windows PCs, while the build quality of the OS, and application software is superior to that on the Windows side.

I thought your systems ran thusly:

Originally Posted by Lotus

I own multiple Falcon NorthWest computers (PCs) and they lock up/crash about once a month if that. There is definately something to be said about a quality built PC over say Dell or HP. I'd also say it's never locked up while "working," but while playing poorly coded games.

I also fully believe in keeping my system clean of un-needed programs running in the background.

Originally Posted by Lotus

I don't assume it: I read it on the warranty card. Also the Addon connects via a USB cable.

I don't read warranty cards for Game box addins, since I don't by them, but I do read warranty cards for the computers and peripherals I purchase and use.

The USB interconnect method that is common to the Game box HD-DVD add-on does not grant mysterious HD-DVD playback properties to the possibly obsolete PC to which it may be attached. It is a "Universal Serial Bus", and it could be version 1.0 in the host CPU, which obviously won't be capable of dealing with the bandwidth requirements of all of the information in the HiDef disks, especially if it were a full up BluRay system with the lossless audio.

The situation regarding your hacked game box is different for the PCIe peripheral card and a Macintosh that can accept it because the card and the CPU both current generation (V2.0 of the PCIe standard) technology, AND the hardware compatibility exists for the other pieces. Don't you get the difference???

By the way, In case you haven't guessed, I don't do much gaming either, so that analogy was a stretch anyway. (I dropped many quarters into Asteroids, Galaga, Galaxian, and Defender machines long ago)

I am keenly aware however, of the market forces that Game boxes are placing on computer development, as well as the market forces that are being placed upon it due to telecom factors. Some of these are good, like the push for more realistic video (and the resulting availability of higher performance graphics cards to off load this chore from the general purpose CPU), and the push for longer battery life. There are some that are not so good, like the push for longer battery life at the expense of processor power, for those of us who like to get serious work done on them.

Originally Posted by Lotus

Right. They don't have a driver for Apple or Linux so they won't support the card being used for either. Which is exactly my point.

There are companies that fill this nitch, by providing 3rd party drivers that are possibly better than the OEM drivers. This is not always the case, and there are always those who figure things out for themselves and then let everyone else know what to do. When enough market pressure exists, the OEM will provide the driver directly. That pressure comes, one user at a time.

Again, I am not interested in a multimedia server based upon windows. I am interested in a multi-media server based upon something better.

[Lotus]

Kloneman- I asked you to take it to PM. Instead you're ruining a very good thread. Please stop. You just want to talk talk talk about Apple.

We don't care.

Nothing you say will make a HDMI 1.3 card that supports Mac use automatically appear and make my statement false. Today they don't exist. You can argue all you want that some day they will, until then the best way to build an HTPC is with that card.

So please stop arguing a pointless arguement. Again you were asked nicely to not do exactly what you're doing:

Ruining a thread about Servers being the new Media.

[kloneman]

You asked (past tense???) me to take it to private message exactly when? You should have done so via a private message, instead of here.

I'm not ruining the thread, and I don't care that you (aka the royal "We") don't care about what multimedia server options exist that are important to me. You've made that obvious.

Originally Posted by Lotus

Kloneman- I asked you to take it to PM. Instead you're ruining a very good thread. Please stop. You just want to talk talk talk about Apple.


We don't care.

Nothing you say will make a HDMI 1.3 card that supports Mac use automatically appear and make my statement false. Today they don't exist. You can argue all you want that some day they will, until then the best way to build an HTPC is with that card.

So please stop arguing a pointless arguement. Again you were asked nicely to not do exactly what you're doing:

Ruining a thread about Servers being the new Media.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by kloneman

I'm not ruining the thread, and I don't care that you (aka the royal "We") don't care about what multimedia server options exist that are important to me. You've made that obvious.

"Royal We?" Attacking me isn't going to make that HDMI card appear.

I'm not giving advice that HTPC is the better solution for any other reason than currently the card doesn't support another OS. It has nothing to do with me owning a lot of PCs.

I've asked you not to turn this thread about "Are Servers the New Media?" into a fight about whose OS has a bigger *****. You win though. Your OS has a bigger *****.

Can we move back on topic?

[kennyt]

Well, I am finally finishing loading all my and my wifes discs onto the HD, I will keep two copies of it backed up in separate places (total cost, well almost nothing nowadays) and will train her in my simple Aiport express server system (I have other ways of streaming, but her computer is close by and she has figured out iTunes so...)

From here on out it will only be necessary to upload discs as I buy them.

I currently keep all my hard media in large 'books' of them and the front cover info, it really saves on space especially with nuge #'s of CD's. I would love to do this with all my movies as well, and likely will soon.


For me, my server is key, I will keep my actual media for ultra critical listening, but when I am cooking or just hanging with friends, I really don't need to have to change discs, and this is the key.

I have always sayed convienence is the king of reasons to upgrade formats, and to me the music server is a HUGE jump in convienence....

Few more discs and it is all over except the obligatory new back up and third coppy....

[kloneman]

Originally Posted by kennyt

Well, I am finally finishing loading all my and my wifes discs onto the HD, I will keep two copies of it backed up in separate places (total cost, well almost nothing nowadays) and will train her in my simple Aiport express server system (I have other ways of streaming, but her computer is close by and she has figured out iTunes so...)

I have all the laptops here set to server the iTunes libraries and the iPhoto albums. I also have a tower that serves... I have not upgraded everything to Leopard yet, so I don't have Time Machine backing everything up that way yet - I did have some other ways of doing backups though, with a "cron job"...

Originally Posted by kennyt

From here on out it will only be necessary to upload discs as I buy them.

I currently keep all my hard media in large 'books' of them and the front cover info, it really saves on space especially with nuge #'s of CD's. I would love to do this with all my movies as well, and likely will soon.


For me, my server is key, I will keep my actual media for ultra critical listening, but when I am cooking or just hanging with friends, I really don't need to have to change discs, and this is the key.

I have always sayed convienence is the king of reasons to upgrade formats, and to me the music server is a HUGE jump in convienence....

Few more discs and it is all over except the obligatory new back up and third coppy....

How much media did you transfer, and long did it take you? ( I take it that you are using 802.11n, but possibly 802.11g????)