Alienware unveiled a high-definition media server this week, targeting homes with terabytes of digital content to store. Systems integrators, distributors and even home builders can now join the Alienware Digital Home Channel Program to become an authorised reseller of the media server.
The Alienware High Definition Media Server integrates with home entertainment systems to create a centralised source for the storage, retrieval and distribution of digital content.Boasting 4TB of capacity, the server holds a lifetime's worth of digital movies, music, photos and more, all of which can be sent to multiple points throughout the home.
View: The full story @ vnunet
The Alienware High Definition Media Server integrates with home entertainment systems to create a centralised source for the storage, retrieval and distribution of digital content.Boasting 4TB of capacity, the server holds a lifetime's worth of digital movies, music, photos and more, all of which can be sent to multiple points throughout the home.
View: The full story @ vnunet
Last edited by Cansokid on 01 Feb 2008 - 17:59
It'll probably be like half the price.
Alienware = standard PC + $1000 case tax.
I guess those that can't build their own PCs, or don't have the time to, would get the Alienware.
I dare anyone to build one cheaper, if only because it costs something in the realm of $15K for the OCUR (Read: Cable Card reader) to be certified by cable labs. That's the big variable here - the cable cards. Now building your own server minus the CCs, I would agree 100%, but lets make sure we are comparing apples to apples here.
The **AA's claim that ripping their product to digital form is theft. Of course, it's not, but that's the **** they are spouting these days.
I bet they LOVE this product!
hmmm
This strapped along wtih a Pair of Carver Silver tube amps
And a set of the Amazing speakers
ooooooooooooh
Thos speakers have umph
At the local stereo shop when they was in there big days we coined them
Surfboard from hell
Pointless if the data's not backed up.
And I'd guess you'd probably want RAID6 or RAID 5 + hot spare for a consumer device.
Pointless if the data's not backed up.
And I'd guess you'd probably want RAID6 or RAID 5 + hot spare for a consumer device.
RAID5? All those parity writes and excessive disk IO just to get pairty... its slow... RAID1+0 would give you performance and stability... which is needed for a media server that serves HD content to possibly more then one person at one... now if its 1 person then sure RAID5 is great... but if you have it set to dump say 2 HD shows to its drives and play back 2 at the same time you might have a problem or latency problems
Pointless if the data's not backed up.
And I'd guess you'd probably want RAID6 or RAID 5 + hot spare for a consumer device.
RAID5? All those parity writes and excessive disk IO just to get pairty... its slow... RAID1+0 would give you performance and stability... which is needed for a media server that serves HD content to possibly more then one person at one... now if its 1 person then sure RAID5 is great... but if you have it set to dump say 2 HD shows to its drives and play back 2 at the same time you might have a problem or latency problems
http://www.alienware.com/product_detail_pa...cs.aspx#pdp-nav
Pointless if the data's not backed up.
And I'd guess you'd probably want RAID6 or RAID 5 + hot spare for a consumer device.
RAID5? All those parity writes and excessive disk IO just to get pairty... its slow... RAID1+0 would give you performance and stability... which is needed for a media server that serves HD content to possibly more then one person at one... now if its 1 person then sure RAID5 is great... but if you have it set to dump say 2 HD shows to its drives and play back 2 at the same time you might have a problem or latency problems
http://www.alienware.com/product_detail_pa...cs.aspx#pdp-nav
I am just saying what it would be better in...
And I think you're grossly over-exaggerating RAID5's performance hits, especially in a media storage environment (which is really close to the optimal environment for RAID 5)
http://image.alienware.com/images/product_...ms_back_big.jpg
/me wants!
http://image.alienware.com/images/product_...ms_back_big.jpg
/me wants!
the CMOS Clear tag is wrong, it points to the SPDIF jack.
it seems nice but i want to know the price.
* Standard 250GB x 4 with 250GB Reserved for OS partition in RAID 5
* Optional 4TB with 1TB Reserved for OS partition in RAID 5"
Surely they mean "with xxx reserved for data parity in RAID 5"? Gonna be some ****ed people if they get it expecting to get 4tb split across 1tb C: + 3tb D: and only finding 3tb altogether. Although I guess the use of the word reserved does tend to suggest that this amount won't be available
My roommate would disagree... he just had to buy 4 more 750gig hds for his 10TB server.
But then again you could store a lot of "illegal stuff" on there but that depends on your countries laws if its even illegal.
I was then transfered to the Corp sales agent who provided me with the price and a promise to email some more detailed information about the new server
Sit down now as:
Starting prices will be in the 5k range
From what I understand with these systems, you will be limited in upgrading due to the cable cards. I believe that you can upgrade hard drive storage, but I thought on AVSForum it was reported that you could not upgrade the processor unless it was before the system was run for the first time. Can't really confirm or deny since I'm not going to be getting a multi-thousand cable card HTPC any time soon - I think my wife would kill me.
I do think that this could be a steal at that price, especially when you look at one of the "cadillacs" of the HTPC world with cable cards, that being Nievus - http://www.niveusmedia.com/products/denali07vLE.htm ...and even with that monster of a system, you'll still need to pay $1500 for a cable card server - http://www.niveusmedia.com/products/dcr.htm ...yes I know its over the top, but when you want cutting edge and bleeding edge technology, and one with a bottleneck on it as with the cable cards in a PC, then you're going to pay for it. Having the rack-mount option just screams custom theater room, which when you see many that cost over $100K, this is really just a drop in the bucket. Especially when this would be able to replace other components in high end rooms like the HD player and the video processor for upconverting - which aren't cheap btw.
As the info page says:
Installers, Resellers, and Home Builders looking to create the high definition digital home of tomorrow with full home integration in mind. The Alienware High-End Media Server will only be sold through the Alienware Channel program and will not be available direct to consumers.
It isn't for the average Joe or even the average Neowin user, but that guy who has the movie theater in his basement with the 100" screen, 1080p projector and popcorn machine outside the door.
As for the comments of what to do with the space. That isn't really an issue if you think of it. Assuming you got 4 cable card HD tuners and the 4TB of space (1TB being reserved for the OS) that would leave you with 300 hours of dedicated HD storage. If someone is purchasing 4 HD tuners, I can easily see them recording multiple streams at once which would fill up 400 hours quickly. People that follow the DVR market realize that the biggest complaints people have is not having enough space to record HD. My Comcast box has around 20 hours worth of HD storage for instance.
Long Story Short - I want one but would prefer to build my own from scratch, but that isn't possible.
From what I understand with these systems, you will be limited in upgrading due to the cable cards. I believe that you can upgrade hard drive storage, but I thought on AVSForum it was reported that you could not upgrade the processor unless it was before the system was run for the first time. Can't really confirm or deny since I'm not going to be getting a multi-thousand cable card HTPC any time soon - I think my wife would kill me.
I do think that this could be a steal at that price, especially when you look at one of the "cadillacs" of the HTPC world with cable cards, that being Nievus - http://www.niveusmedia.com/products/denali07vLE.htm ...and even with that monster of a system, you'll still need to pay $1500 for a cable card server - http://www.niveusmedia.com/products/dcr.htm ...yes I know its over the top, but when you want cutting edge and bleeding edge technology, and one with a bottleneck on it as with the cable cards in a PC, then you're going to pay for it. Having the rack-mount option just screams custom theater room, which when you see many that cost over $100K, this is really just a drop in the bucket. Especially when this would be able to replace other components in high end rooms like the HD player and the video processor for upconverting - which aren't cheap btw.
As the info page says:
Installers, Resellers, and Home Builders looking to create the high definition digital home of tomorrow with full home integration in mind. The Alienware High-End Media Server will only be sold through the Alienware Channel program and will not be available direct to consumers.
It isn't for the average Joe or even the average Neowin user, but that guy who has the movie theater in his basement with the 100" screen, 1080p projector and popcorn machine outside the door.
As for the comments of what to do with the space. That isn't really an issue if you think of it. Assuming you got 4 cable card HD tuners and the 4TB of space (1TB being reserved for the OS) that would leave you with 300 hours of dedicated HD storage. If someone is purchasing 4 HD tuners, I can easily see them recording multiple streams at once which would fill up 400 hours quickly. People that follow the DVR market realize that the biggest complaints people have is not having enough space to record HD. My Comcast box has around 20 hours worth of HD storage for instance.
Long Story Short - I want one but would prefer to build my own from scratch, but that isn't possible.
Any one can add a cable cards aka ClearQAM card just not BS CableLAB one that why MCE blow rigth along with OCUR device and look NUMBER people that bought into that BS have non working sysrem, software problem, cable provider will tell you to pettey much to f@#k off there not install it.
OH I forgot MCE dosen't support QAM nor can do Multi-Source Input nor dose it have Client Software and it has major limited number of tune input of 4 max.
Last edited by SHS on 02 Feb 2008 - 06:04
Do you understand the difference between ClearQAM and a Cable Card? The majority of cable providers are limiting which channels can be soon over QAM to only local broadcast HD. Which defeats the purpose. Cable cards are not the same as QAM. QAM is derived from having a QAM ATSC Tuner Card on the PC.
As for the cable provider, at least in the US, they are required by law to install it. The system is no different than that of a Tivo with cablecard support for instance.
MCE doesn't support QAM - there are alternatives such as SageTV for instance. I don't recall ever pushing MCE in my post. The machine has windows and therefore can use any tuner program. But how can it not do multi-source input? When you set up the tuner card, you can hook up an external device to it. And how is 4 tuners considered limited on one box? The most commercially available DVR boxes only have 2.
Not that you'll read the whole thread, but there are 50 pages of information on Cable Cards on AVSForum over here - http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=771387 - Please look into it as to not be misinformed.
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.