Chris Lanier's Blog

Chris, if you were going to configure one of these Dells for yourself, what components would you pick. Thanks!

Wow!  That almost makes me regret buying my Velocity Micro machine a few months back.  The Dell has better specs, and is no doubt quieter, for a little less than I paid in July/August.

Does anyone know if DELL is now or will be selling the OCUR tuners separately?  If so are they still $180 as an accessory?  Either way its about time that someone FINALLY got rid of the ridiculous markup of these tuners!

are the xps's silent?

<broken.record> And if there was a softsled option, these Dells would make great media servers! /<broken.record>

My HP m9000t + SonyStyle 2nd tuner both shipped earlier today....Paid roughly the same amount taking my Dell corp discount in account, but I probably would've preferred the Dell. The tuners on the HP are external, Dell's are internal I think. I got the dual-core, the Dell has quad-core which seems like overkill for recording/watching though.

So Chris: this deal seems very compelling but I am worried that I buy this machine and in 6 months Ceton or someone offers a BOCR tuner and obsoletes the system. Is this a valid concern of mine? Can a cablecard system be upgraded to a BOCR system or will “they” pull an OEM-exclusive ploy? I am confused about the impact of BOCR in general. Clearly it’s better to have a two way system for cable on-demand programming, right?

If you plan on guying the XPS420 and then buying a case to put it into be sure to buy a BTX case. The motherboard is BTX and will not fit into 99% of HTPC cases :(.

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What components can be replaced on these systems without compromising the OCUR certification? Can I add memory, HDD and/or a new video card?

You can absolutely add memory and HDD.  There is some indication that changing the video card might require either Vista re-activation or OCUR re-activation (there is a thread on www.thegreenbutton.com on this).  The effect of replacing the CPU is unknown.  Replacing the motherboard would absolutely require re-activation, and you'd have to replace it with an OCUR-enabled motherboard (which you can't buy).

I'd personally suggest that anyone considering buying this system, think about ordering it with the 2600 video card, and not the 2400.  There is a long thread in the HTPC forum on www.avsforum.com about 2400/2600 cards and relative performance, and the 2400 sounds borderline for some kinds of HD material.

I bought a Velocity Micro system several months ago - they were the low-price option, at the time.  I'm still happy with that system - for example, since that system is ATX, I will probably swap it to a rack-mount case eventually, where this Dell system would be harder to do that with.

On the other hand, this Dell system is coming in at around $700 less than the comparable 2-tuner VM system from a few months ago.

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Pingback from  Engadget HD  &raquo; Blog Archive   &raquo; Dell's XPS 420: now available with CableCARD

Just ordered this.  Let's see how it works out.  Somewhere I see that there's a registry hack to enable more than 2 tuners?  Could someone provide that?  I'm trying to order the 2 extra tuners from Dell, if that doesn't workout, I guess I'll need to shell out extra $$$ and get it from sonystyle.  Has anyone successfully recorded using 4 tuners?  Thx.

Use code N148DK363R6WB0 to save $200 off any $1,399.00+ Dell XPS. (valid 12/7/2007 12:00:00 AM - 12/20/2007 11:59:59 PM)

Use code 7D425SNMDPQF3N to save $200 off any $1,399.00+ Dell XPS. (valid 12/7/2007 12:00:00 AM - 12/20/2007 11:59:59 PM)

Here are a couple of coupon codes I tracked down. This will take of an additional $100 off the price of systems higher then $1399. It only takes a 100 off because Dell is already offering a hundred off. If you go with dual tuners, 2600XT, and 500GB HD it takes you to the final price of $1539. With the coupon and instant rebate it comes to a total of $1339.

I noticed that the 30in 3007WFP-HC monitor is not an option in the configure tool. It does not support HDMI but does support dual-DVI+HDCP. I have 3 questions:

1) If I buy the monitor separately, will I be able to view (and listen via external speakers) content recorded on Blue-Ray or HD-encrypted cable channels recorded via cable-card? (I'm wondering if the incompatibility with this sort of content and the 3007 is why it isn't listed as an option

2) Any reason to wait for the new 30in with Displayport (e.g. allows for viewing of cable-card or blue-ray content in a way the 3007 can't)

3) will I be able to stream cable-card recorded HD content to one of the new Linksys or Dlink Media Extenders (I have looked everywhere on the net for an answer to this and failed!)

Thanks!

Thx on the coupons.  I didn't use it but that explains why when I called in again for extra tuners, they threw a bunch of other discounts at me.  I ended up with base system + 4 tuners for $1350 plus a $150 gift card on top of that.  I'm still confused as to how they arrived that total but I'm happy.  Took about an hour before they were able to order 4 tuners though.

i have been looking at the 420 and cannot build beyond 2 tuners - do you need to call in to do that?  also is there any benefit to adding the 800mhz ram?   i mean what components are optimal for cablecard.  128mb on the graphics card seems a bit low and there arent any options above 256 which surprises me.  and guidance would be appreciated.

Yes, had to call in and argue for an hour.  Not a clue about the rest.  I have not recv'd my system yet.  Will let everyone know in a couple of weeks how it goes.  I plan to only use extenders so the graphics card doesn't matter to me.

Chris,

 Will it be possible to stream blue-ray content playing on the 420 to the Linksys DMA-220 or DLink DSM-750? In otherwords, can I get a blueray playing on my 420 to my 52in LCD TV via ethernet and a media extender v2? I can't seem to figure this out vis googling either! Thanks

Erik

Chris Lanier reports that Dell is offering CableCARD on it's XP420 range, and once the price doesn't...

Chris Lanier reports that Dell is offering CableCARD on it's XP420 range, and once the price doesn't

Does anyone know if the Digital Cable Tuners being offered by Dell will the 420 are the internal or external versions?

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