Giga Pocket questions? RS vs RZ series VS HP media center

[Guest]

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Im debating buying sony vaio machine with giga pocket capabilities,
and within that series they have the RS series and RZ series.

Main difference is that the RZ series has xp media center costs $300
more.

While the RS series has xp home, mind you this series also has giga
pocket with PVR capabilities

What benefits will I get with Xp media center?

Are there any after market programs that will allow the RS series
enhanced capabilities and still be compatible with giga pocket

Thanks

tak2

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

tak2asprin wrote:

> Im debating buying sony vaio machine with giga pocket capabilities,
> and within that series they have the RS series and RZ series.
>
> Main difference is that the RZ series has xp media center costs $300
> more.
>
> While the RS series has xp home, mind you this series also has giga
> pocket with PVR capabilities
>
> What benefits will I get with Xp media center?
>
> Are there any after market programs that will allow the RS series
> enhanced capabilities and still be compatible with giga pocket
>
> Thanks
>
> tak2

Why Giga Pocket?

Have you checked out the $50 "Beyond TV" from www.snapstream.com? It's
what I use...and it won't lock you in to requiring a Sony PC, either.

It'll work with practically any PC with a Hauppauge PVR-250 card
installed (it supports other cards too, but the PVR-250 is an excellent
card - it's what I use), lets you schedule recordings remotely (and
helps you avoid/resolve scheduling conflicts), is extremely stable,
will soon have an update that lets you use multiple PVR-250 cards to
record multiple shows simultaneously, etc. It's one hell of a program.

To add to the convenience, if you add a Hauppauge MediaMVP to your home
network (you can add a wireless "G" adapter you you don't need to run a
cat-5 cable into the living room), your PC doesn't need to be anywhere
near the TV, and it plays back your mpeg-2 files beautifully. I'm SO
spoiled now, I don't know how I ever got along without it the
combination. I spend about 5 minutes cutting out commercials (including
exporting the new files) before I put them in the shared folder for the
MediaMVP server program, so I've gotten to the point where I just don't
watch "live TV" anymore at all since I have so many programs already on
my hard drives (I just added a 250 GB drive in addition to my 160 GB
drive). Hauppauge is working on adding Divx support to the MediaMVP -
when that happens I'll be a really happy camper.

Keith

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Also, any ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon TV tuner + video card with the latest
Catalyst drivers and MMC (multi-media center) available for download for
free at www.ati.com has everything you need to turn your ATI into a
'tivo' equivalent.

You can surf the channel listings, set programs to record, use the
remote to control the TV and other features, shift TV shows while
watching it live, record them to MPEG-2/MPEG-1/etc., etc.

Very nice and highly improved vs. the older 8.1 MMC or older versions in
that they included the 'easylook' theme wrapping that makes the whole
thing look like a 'tivo' or 'XP Media Center' box.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Take a good long look at this website for the best information (and
criticism)of Sony VAIO's. In particular, search on Giga Pocket, and
read carefully. Also be aware that if you want your Sony software
upgraded to match a later version....you'll have to go buy that later
computer, as Sony does not give or sell later versions to users with
older VAIO's! You also cannot purchase the Giga Pocket
hardware/software and install it on your machine. The software checks
to see if it is being installed on the correct computer, and refuses
to load if the hardware check fails.

I have an XG29 which came loaded with Win98, and ordered the W2K XG29
install CD's from Sony, only to discover that it wouldn't load, even
though it was an XG29.

Sony's "tech support" is infamous! Service is horribly expensive.
Attitude is worst of all.

http://b30.ezboard.com/bunofficialsony

Read carefully, then make up your own mind.

tak2asprin@yahoo.com (tak2asprin) wrote in message news:<908ef180.0404230737.7edef4fe@posting.google.com>...
> Im debating buying sony vaio machine with giga pocket capabilities,
> and within that series they have the RS series and RZ series.
>
> Main difference is that the RZ series has xp media center costs $300
> more.
>
> While the RS series has xp home, mind you this series also has giga
> pocket with PVR capabilities
>
> What benefits will I get with Xp media center?
>
> Are there any after market programs that will allow the RS series
> enhanced capabilities and still be compatible with giga pocket
>
> Thanks
>
> tak2