McPhee

Media Centre is limited to the codecs installed in Windows Media Player, so it can basically play anything. The only thing i've had trouble with is importing songs ripped in iTunes. iTunes does something wierd to the metatags that stops WMP being able to read them. Its a majour problem because the only option is to either rename every track, re-rep every track or pay these guys for they're plugin

yes bloomin char limit!!

Can't wait for rock band! Im holding off on a GHII purchase now until i hear more about this 10 frets thing, if the Xplorer ends up not being able to do solos in Rock Band then im not buying GHII The Drums sound awesome! Price-wise im guessing £30 for game, £15 for Mic, £45 for Guitar/Bass and £70 for the drum kit

Just tried it, harder than it looks

Microsoft haven't put a HD-DVD drive in the Elite because it isn't part of they're game plan. Look at everything they are doing, its all about digital media and digital distribution. In a few years time this (or the next) Xbox will be at the centre of that. There ain't much in it and its only going to get closer. On my last read film companies were holding back big name Blu-Ray titles to make sure they work with the final Blu-Ray spec (due towards the end of the year). HD-DVD was ready sooner so Sony rushed Blu-Ray out to early, this will end up kicking early adopters in the face Edited. HD-DVD and DVD are basically the same thing, its the compression techniques that are different. The 200GB figure is based on doing the same thing with a BD Its only my personal opinion but i'd prefer to max out DVD technology before moving on to something new (Blu-Ray) Theres also flash memory to consider, its increasing in capacity exponentially and will overtake optical media within 5-10 years (we could be a few years from 1TB flash drives) Theres no quality difference between HD-DVD and Blu Ray, they run the same footage at the same resolution and bit-rate. There will only be a noticable difference when 1920p panels are released, which would involve a new TV set, new BD player and new Blu Ray disks (none currently come with 1920p on them)

ooh colour coding so we can see who the biggest achievement whores hardest workers are :p

Don't know a lot about Front Row but as i understand it Media Centre is a bit more advanced. It's not just a piece of software for viewing AVIs, heck i'd use VLC if thats all it did. A Media Centre PC is the most advanced piece of TV viewing kit in the country. You can add just about any type of TV tuner, the interface is neat and Microsoft run they're own Freeview EPG (tv guide) which happens to be the best one around It's like Sky+ but without the subscriptions and you can do a lot more with it. Once you've recorded a program you can burn it to DVD, leave it on you're HDD for viewing later or transfer to a portable device. For those that want it there are some more advanced features too. You can use IR Blasters to get Media Centre to control you're existing kit. This doesn't work brilliantly, mostly because the Media Centre can talk to the kit but not the other way round so the system has a tendency to get confused and select the wrong channel. Theres even ways to get Sky working using a DVB-S card, a few extra bits of software and a simple hack. Unusually for Microsoft the kit is fairly easy to use too and the interface is great! Im not sure if Front Row can do these things yet but as i understand it Apple TV is currently limited to stuff from the network and the Apple Store? Theres no doubt in my mind that Media Centre is the most advanced piece of AV kit around at the moment, thats why there are loads of Linux based alternatives (like Myth TV) copying it. They wouldn't try to copy something that isn't at the top of the pile I'd do you a video demo but tbh my comp is a little on the slow side. Im running Vista but no Aero and it takes a few seconds to load stuff up. Add some recording software into the mix and my comp would probably start crying :p

Can get reasonably good ones for about £50 although as 'mellow says it probably ain't worth it. Why not just use component?

I have the same phone. 'Upgrade' from the Nokia N91. Its a better looking phone with better looking software but tbh the 'Walkman' is a bag of shite! No WMA support, the "shuffle" mode loops about 20 tracks in a random order, theres no search function and you cant edit track names Only got a 512MB card at the moment, will upgrade to 4GB soon. Oh and i agree about the headphones, although i don't they are too bad tbh (not sure if they're the same as yours). I can't stand noise canceling headphones, they freak me out!

More than you'd think Jasper. From figures i've been reading the proportion of Mac users that switch to Windows is about the same as those that switch from Windows to Mac. The difference is that there are more Windows users to begin with The only real answer is a dual Windows/Mac system or a tripple Windows/Mac/Linux for the truly hardcore!

If OS X does get released then i'll dual boot with Vista, decide which is better and then stick with that. May come as a surprise but i'd quite like OS X as my OS, i don't use my current comp for anything but web browsing, music, torrents and films. For that Vista has better features (Media Centre) but OS X may well run smoother

Splitter boxes are better. The cable just splits the signal whereas the boxes amplify and clean the signal. A decent splitter box can produce a picture close to the quality of the original image

I love the way Vista tailors itself to you're hardware. Im running on a Turion 64 1.6GHz, 512MB RAM and a 64MB ATi X700 and it runs fine. A little slower than XP and i can't play games on Vista but i gain all the advantages (bar Aero, which i can run but not without loosing a few seconds per program load) Can't remember exactly but it was some "joke" down the lines of "Get a Mac" For a first post in a new thread it was pretty bloody stupid even for a joke, but he's been PMing me since with complaints. I think i'll leave him out of it tbh, i've not seen him post anything useful in this board so its no real loss

Oh i know why they are doing it, it just seems like a battle that they are loosing. Maybe Safari for Windows will sort this, maybe not. At the moment SlimBrowser is the best for a basic clutter free browser in Windows, will be interesting to see how Safari compares

The later being the main reason. When i was at Uni we had to include IE and Firefox compatibility to pass, Opera got you bonus points but they weren't bothered about Safari. If the people being trained no are being taught like that then Apple have a long way to come with Safari. Im not sure they should bother tbh, Firefox and Opera are Mac compatable and are both brilliant borwsers with great compatability. They'd be better helping out Mozilla with a version of Firefox that is Mac specific, i.e. a proper OS X GUI

Public Vote: Should i let Fields back in this thread so he can edit his post back?

The demo looks good on my 15" CRT so i don't know where that rumour comes from. It will look shite compared to it on a HDTV but it's still one of the best looking games i've ever seen!

I've not tried it yet, tbh im not all that interested. It looks ugly and isn't likely to run any better than Firefox so until the final release i see no point trying

The comparison thread might come, im all in favour of it if its kept calm. Would be more in a guide format though rather than a debate

I don't understand all the science of it but i believe its part of the existing mobile phone network. Think 3G, but faster Unless you meant why not use a TV tuner, in which case its because this is more versitile for the consumer (live pause, rewind, fast forward etc) and will make the networks a lot more money

In a lot of ways, yes that is the main use. But the whole internet will be that speed and HSDPA cards will start going in to laptops too. I like the idea personally. IP TV really appeals to me, mobile IP TV even more so

Mobile Broadband. The one thing that might prove to be the thorn in the iPhones side and the inevitable reason i probably won't buy one. Basically the idea is to have a nation wide network running at (for a start) 4Mb/s. This will allow TV quality footage to be streamed out of the air and is therefore quite a big leap!

Might have known. For a first post that was blooming annoying! Ah well, im not going to delete it, the edit button looks more tempting. You're post can stay like that for a day or 2, then i'll let you back in Consider this the new type of punishment, more fun for me than telling you off and putting you on 'the naughty step'

By the looks of it the enviroment is going to be more alive. Thats the bonus of this generation, theres now enough processing power to have birds flying around, a traffic jam here, a crowd of people there etc. Thats what makes this game next gen too, it isnt the wall climbing thing

The thing with mobiles is they are heavily subsidised by the networks, therefore incredibly cheap. If you want a device to browse the internet on the go and listen to music etc then they make very good convergence devices TBH though i'd rather they did as you said. A phone that actually handled call and text well would be a godsend! The problem is i'd need a device that did the rest too, and as Archos aren't putting HSDPA in they're gen 5 models i'll have to wait for gen 6 or 7