Shawn: I think, for the most part, search engines have free submission, which is probably a better use for your friend's money (i.e. having him spend it on something else) than spending it on a submission company. My websites are starting to show up in search results despite not having spent any...
Asketh the Tim:
Not all burners will burn dual-layer DVDs. There is a new crop of them that should start coming out this month that will record dual-layer DVDs. I'm not sure if they are out yet, if not, they will be out VERY soon.
Tim: 1. Yes, most DVD recorders ARE capable of burning CDs, but I BELIEVE they are still slower than straight-up CD recorders, so you'll often find both on newer computers. 2. I BELIEVE if you do this strictly to keep back-up copies, this is ok. Most DVDs, though, have 8.5 GB of capacity...
Ad-Aware for me. The only thing it didn't get rid of was SandBoxer (PITA, IMHO), which was actually removeable with a link on their site, amazingly enough. It was/is great on everything else though. :)
Chris: You should try to get an educational discount. I know Apple does them, and it usually knocks about $200 off the top-of-the-line PowerBooks. I don't know how/if other manufacturers do it, but its certainly worth a look. :)
Video cap works fine on my AIW 7500. It hiccups sometimes with framerates, but I think thats more the problem of the clockspeed on the card and my comp (800 MHz). I'd go for it, AIW does great. If you'd like picture in picture and you've got another PCI slot, drop in an extra ATI TV wonder...
I wonder if this phenomena has anything to do with the rainbow effect on DLP projectors. Perhaps some people just have a higher sensitivity to flicker. :frowning:
Shawn: I'd recommend the TDKs (ESPECIALLY the certified plus CDs). They're expensive, and perhaps hard to find, but they do a great job. They also have the blue dye layer everyone seems to be talking about. As for your music CD-R: my guess is it wont play in your XBox without tweaking of...
Mando: For your receiver, you'd probably need either a coaxial/optical cable if your sound card has digital output, and a miniplug-to-Stereo-RCA (White/Red) connector if it doesn't. I'm pretty sure there are miniplug-to-digital-coax converter dongles you can use somewhere to convert miniplug...
Mando: I'd say a nice intermediate between computer speakers and a full-blown HT system is the Logitech Z-680 set... it's expensive (~$299 online), but I've heard it blows most computer speakers out of the water, plus they're surround and they can take DVD player/HT inputs as well as...
John: I've upgraded, but as far as I know, the alphabetization in Plus is identical to alphabetization in the non-registered version. Still, being a lifetime subscriber, I HAVE gotten my money's worth out of MM nonetheless, and I've had no problems porting keys onto new computers.
Shea: Thomas is right. Practically all consumer DVDs have encoding on them designed to prevent you from copying them either to tape or to DVD. Also, most commercial DVDs are dual-layer, which means they have about 9 GB of storage on them instead of 4.7. This means that even if you WERE...
Rob: Not a speaker expert, but I'd suggest going with either Logitech or Klipsch's newest 2.1 models. Not sure of the specific model #s on each of them, but a quick Google/Amazon/NewEgg search should find it for you. :) I was hoping your price range was a little higher... I was going to...
David: My guess is it'll be easier to replace your PC with a new one than it will be to replace the serial port on said PC with USB ports. Sorry, dude. :p)
Brice: I just bought an enclosure for my old 40 gig hard drive and I'm quite happy with it. The nice thing is that the old drive can be switched out if I get a new one. I'd say its worth considering if you don't mind putting it together yourself (admittedly not too bad). I bought mine from...
James: I'd kinda prefer to have the network card inside the computer. Unless there has been a HUGE increase in Audigy driver reliablility, I'll likely pass on it in the system due to the presence of only 1 PCI slot.
I'm mulling over my next computer, and I've pretty much decide on a Shuttle 8x8x12 PC with an All-In-Wonder and a Wi-Fi card taking up the 2 slots. I'm curious to know how the onboard audio stacks up against the SB Audigy I have now. My biggest concern isn't with sound quality, though, it's...
Funny, but it actually sounds like Windows more than Mac. Not only does my PC lock up at inopportune times (like when I'm 2 minutes into a DVD), it hangs with this god-awful, Emergency Broadcast System style drone. That whole diatribe the guy did about trying to turn the damn computer off...
Chris: I humbly suggest a Shuttle XPC (either an SN45G or an SN41G2) as a space-effective possible alternative. :) EDIT: Bleh. Didn't see that the whole point behind the project was integrating that big ol' TEAC thing IS the HTPC. I stand by my recommendation, though. ;)
Tony: You SHOULD be able to share printers among the network. There's a setup wizard in XP that SHOULD take care of the setup for you. I have a printer upstairs that's on a network, and I can print without a hitch (most of the time) despite the fact that the printer isn't physically...
Mitch: If you have an ATI Radeon/AIW 9700 card, you can get a $30 adapter that converts a DVI signal into a component signal. You can then use that to output to a HDTV. :)
Keith: Kevin is pretty much right. USB 2.0 is a revision of the original USB standard, designed to transport those big files quickly. You WILL need USB 2.0 devices to take advantage of the increased speed (which is, I'm guessing, slightly more than 40 MB per second in practice). Older USB...
Jason: Sorry to be late to the party, but I really liked my Saturn system. As was mentioned, the arcade fighter games are great. Be sure to pick up Virtua Fighter 2 and/or Fighter's Megamix (if you're a fan of the VF series -- FM was a combination of VF characters and characters from a...
I'd say a multiformat burner is a good idea so that whichever format ends up winning is still burnable in your system. Saving a few bucks won't matter if you're stuck with a dead format (ask anyone with a Betamax tape deck). :) Sony DRU-500 and up (DRU-500A, 500AX, and 510) all do + and -...
Steve: No. You can get an extra tuner card (preferably an ATI model) if you want picture-in-picture ability. I think ATI is now offering an updated media center program for 9000 series All-In-Wonders, so you might want to check out their site to see if the upgrade suits your needs.
Ron: One of the Tungstens (C, I believe) has Wi-Fi build in, but no stereo out sound. All PDAs are on sale till June 10th at Amazon, so you may want to take a look there. :)