A quad-core, Blu-ray, media-center desktop for $479.99

HP's ultra-compact Pavilion is stuffed with home theater-friendly features.

(Credit: HP)

If you're in the market for a PC to serve as the hub of your home theater, look no further than the refurbished HP Pavilion Slimline S3750F. It's compact, loaded, and on sale at Buy.com for $479.99 shipped.

As many of you pointed out in last weekend's post about the Nero LiquidTV TiVo PC, Windows Media Center offers some pretty killer DVR features.

I agree 100 percent, which is why there's a PC much like this HP sitting in my family room, connected to my TV.

The S3750F features a quad-core AMD processor, 4GB of RAM, a 640GB hard drive, and a Blu-ray drive/LightScribe DVD burner.

It also comes with an AverMedia ATSC/NTSC TV tuner, which can pull in analog cable or over-the-air digital signals. My advice: add a couple extra tuners so you can record multiple shows from multiple sources simultaneously. (Thursday night is just a bear this year, isn't it?)

HP supplies a remote for couch-friendly operation and 802.11n Wi-Fi for wireless-friendly operation.

My one and only complaint with this system (apart from the 90-day warranty, which I consider minor) is that it comes with Vista Home Premium, not Windows 7. And because it's a refurb, it's not eligible for a free upgrade.

Still, I'm running Vista on my media-center PC, and it's been absolutely fine and dandy. In other words, an upgrade isn't essential, IMHO.

Shop around a bit and you'll see this system selling for at least $800 elsewhere, and as high as $1,000 at many stores (including Amazon). A desktop this loaded for $479 is a real deal.

[ducttape36]

I agree that for vista works fine for a media center hub, but one feature you would really want that comes with windows 7 is media streaming. you can connect to your computer from anywhere and watch your recorded programs. I use it to connect to my home recordings using my netbook, and the quality is much better than expected.

but again, if you dont care about being mobile and can wait until your home to watch your favorite programs, windows vista media center is fantastic.

[wirelesscaller]

There are so many free third party software you can use to stream video such as orb, tonido, xbmc, and using dyndns you can log back into your system to access files. Win7 is great but I'd rather have this for the price than a newer win7 machine with horsepower for the price.

[benignotx]

Unbelievable deals on desktops these days, but I really only use laptops now...

[wirelesscaller]

Get this to hook up to your hdtv and remote administer it with the laptop, the times your laptop is off keeps it from being able to record TV shows.

[DosEquisXX]

I was having buyer's remorse for buying the Gateway Media Center tower from Woot the other day after seeing this. It was the same price but I had to buy some extras to get it right (mainly fans and a heatsink to keep the thing cool and quiet). I have an older PC with two tuners in it that I'm going to put into this new media center. The remorse went away when I saw this has no extra PCI slots. The extra TV tuners would have to be USB to work on this computer.

[Cruton502]

Ya, I just saw the same thing. All of the expansion ports are taken so no extra tuners!

[stampy932]

multiple tuners: i have the silicon dust network tuner and really like it. Dont need to physically install it in any computer as it just connects to your network. Has 2 tuners. Recommended!

[skaorsk8]

Wait, this says it only supports 4GB of RAM max? That seems like poor form.

[21degree]

Staples has an HP with Win7 64 bit for $299 w/o monitor. 3 GB RAM and a little less powerful but you add the tuner(s) and still have a killer machine running Win7, which has some Media Center upgrades. However, some apps don't run on Win7 64 bit version. Notable among the "missing" features is "send to" OneNote, one of MS' own apps.

The Windows vista thing is definitely a negative factor when considering this machine for a media center. Although I don't have anything against AMD quads, I would of preferred an Intel chip. Also, storage is always a concerned when going to a Media Center and I am not sure the single "plug and play" drive is the right solution. You can potentially loose all your files by relying on a single (even double) drive solution. The ideal thing would be to have a separate NAS unit. All and all ... this machine is a good start-up machine for someone that's entertaining the idea of switching to an MC machine.

[wirelesscaller]

For the same price I agree Intel is a better choice but this think is pretty fully loaded with wifi, tuner, and decent hardware the price difference between this and other Intel quad cores would allow the addition of either another hard drive, external hard drive, or a nas as well with about 1-2 TB of storage.

[wipster]

Too funny! I bought one of the new Samsung 61" DLP HDTVS's last year and purchased a similarly equipped HP Slimline (albeit with an Intel processor) on sale for about $500 and absolutely love it! I honestly don't use Windows Media Center much with it (I've got a MoxiBox with a 1TB HD running with Charter HD), but I use it for Netflix and BluRay, and DixX downloads, and Goggle Maps, and just about anything either computer or A/V-related. I rarely play DVD's or BluRays any more because so much is available either ripped or streaming and it looks and sounds great! It's so nice to just plug in the HDMI cable into my Onkyo receiver and just be done with it. The video and audio are just excellent. I also purchased a wireless combo keyboard/rollerball for use with this unit (all of $70) and it's just like a big remote control. One of the cooler things with this is using Rhapsody, as well as all the other music (and video) I have ripped, just great.

I've been so happy with this unit that I've recommended to every one that asks that they put a computer in thei system, along with a receiver. It takes the place of CD player, DVD and BuRay player, TIVO, and adds much more capabilties that you don't even know you want to see on your HDTV yet. I really don't understand why the computer manufacturers haven't wised up and made a CPU that is sized properly so it would stack nicely with the rest of your equipment. I've got this on it's own shelf, luckily behind dark glass because it sticks out like a sore thumb. Seems to me they're really missing the boat, as a system equipped like ours but packaged as A/V hardware would be a huge seller if marketed correctly.

[wirelesscaller]

Agreed, I think the Nvidia Ion with the dual core Atom would be perfect for most people (small, silent, and so much potential since it can be packed with a tuner, wifi, and made to look like other components with the right case or even a mini Mac for the Apple fans). I use an IBM thinkcentre by VGA to my hdtv (since it's 720p/1080i limited) using a nmedia keyboard which kicks tail, it's amazing how much you'll surf on the TV when setup and adds a whole new dimension to home entertainment.

[Chris1701a]

This would have been a good deal years ago but really just look at the TV tuner that's included. It's an analog tuner and almost all cable providers are doing digital conversion / reclamation and all the good channels are not digital so without at least a clear QAM tuner or cable card tuner this is pretty much useless these days.

[cancerman1013]

It's ATSC/NTSC so it will handle digital QAM just fine. I recommend also getting HDHomeRun though. Granted it won't do cable card required premium channels, though I think many people, including myself, are happy with the free HD channels that everyone gets, which typically include a few cable and movie channels, aside from the main networks.

[Chris1701a]

Sorry, slip of the keyboard... that last should have said "are now digital" instead of "not"

[crloftin]

Thanks for the comments... Almost made a $500 mistake...

[Chris1701a]

You can buy a Hauppauge HVR-2250 white box tuner for a little over $100, this card has dual analog and digital tuners so four total. (be aware that it needs a free PCI express slot) I've been using one for a couple months and so far almost all the the channels that I used to watch that were phased out of analog are available in Clear QAM (at least on my provider) which doesn't help you for some premium channels but TNT, FX, Spike and a couple others. The only disappointing thing is that out of all the regular broadcast channels (again from my provider) ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX there is only one that's broadcast in Hi-Def in Clear QAM.

[cancerman1013]

You may want to think of redoing the auto search for the digital channels as the lineup may now include more digital channels, but under different channel numbers (23.4305, etc) TNT, FX, Spike etc is actually now also broadcast in digital on my provider after the national switchover, probably so they can eventually phase out anolog from their line completely)

[cm_carr]

How does one go about adding a tv tuner and extra PCI slots? Is this as simple as opening computer case and plugging in a card? What are some of the better tuners to use? Also is this option better than just purchasing another HD TiVo? All comments and suggestions welcomed.

[cancerman1013]

Look into the Silcon Dust HDHomeRun external dual tuner..the internal PCI-e tuners run hot, and are not as reliable, IMHO. Plus, sometimes getting their particular drivers to work flawlessly with the hardware and media center can be challenging, if not rare.

[wirelesscaller]

I'm not a fan of the silicon dust (I own it and update the firmware every two months and still get the periodic "can't find tuner" or "all tuners busy errors", sometimes one of the tuners shows active and nothing is accessing it) but have been happy with my past usb tuners (kworld) and pci tuners (various makes) and currently pci-e tuner (mygica). When you plug in the card it'll come with software or you can let the machine look for the drivers online if necessary (most cases you'll need to run the disc and then have it search for a newer driver). There are many third party software that you can use as well such as xbmc to take advantage of the tuner. My personal experience is that most machines can use the tuner card and record hdtv but to play it back usually you need a powerful single core or dual core minimum (you can have an old pc record and stream or share the file on the network). Keep in mind hdtv eats hd space, windows vista and 7 will record in a raw state so you'll need a large drive if you record things in media center or if you use the program it comes with it may allow you to record in a different compressed format (mp4 with h264).

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

Hauppauge is the only tuner in my book. You pay more, but on board MPEG2 encoding rules

[cancerman1013]

Hey gang, Rick is right, this is a great deal! I bought a similar HP slimline last year for about $200 after upgrades, and that was a steal then. It's not a big deal if you don't get Windows 7, Vista has streaming too, so you can watch recordings from another media center PC. Since there's the PCI-e slot is already filled, if you want to add more tuners, I'd also suggest the SiliconDust HDHomeRun dual tuner. It's works like a charm! The cable line hook up to that (you might want to use a splitter for all these tuners) and connects to the PC via network cable (you won't need the network port anyway if you use wifi for internet connectivity). Don't forget, you alo get the Blu-ray/DVD player, and you can also use the Hulu desktop application and you've got a great home theater setup!

[cancerman1013]

Oh yes, I forgot, Netflix also has a streaming service that is part of media center now, so there's another plus! oh and youtube, etc. Once you get this, who needs to rent their DVR from their cable company (unless of course, you actually use OnDemand - you do know you can download stuff from the internet?) or pay for TiVo??

[cancerman1013]

Oh, and if you want to use more than just the media center remote to interface with the system, Logitech has some great, sleek media center bluetooth keyboards with touchpads and stuff.

[cancerman1013]

typo...I meant $600, not $200! Sorry for all the updates!

[wirelesscaller]

Agreed while win7 in nice and convenient there are great many free 3rd party ware that can offer more customizing options.

[jvbo]

That's an excellent deal Rick, right on..

[Chris1701a]

Many good idea's here but I would like to address some points that various people have made.

In response to cm_carr, either the motherboard in your computer has available PCI-Express slots or it does not and you'd have to look inside the case in order to know for sure. If you do have one or more available Pci Express slots then it's really just a matter of buying the tuner card installing it in the case and loading the drivers for it, attaching the wire of course and then setting up whatever software you use. Most people here are talking about Windows Media Center which I gather is included in Windows Vista, I use SnapStream Beyond TV which does the same thing but you do have to pay for it. (It's a one time charge with free lifetime upgrades)

As cancerman pointed out, it was my mistake that I didn't recognize ATSC as being digital capable as I'm used to seeing either Digital or QAM receiver. But still I believe that this is a single channel tuner and I frankly couldn't live without being able to record at least two things at the same time. I've had dual Hauppauge PVR-500's for years until I switched to the HVR-2250 and they are dual cards so up to four recordings at the same time.

Someone mentioned a preference for external USB tuners to internal because internal tuners are prone to run hot. I've only ever used the two Hauppauge tuners that I'd mentioned and the PVR-500's did run a little hot but I build my own systems and just added a fan to the case and no more problem. On the other hand the HVR-2250 is a superbly crafted card easily half the size of the PVR-500 and with double the tuners, you can see a picture here: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=hvr-2250&hl=en&cid=1536578600244701095&sa=title#p
and this tuner runs at a modest temperature. Also on the driver issue, I really believe these type of problems depend on the company, I never had a problem with the drivers for the PVR-500's. There was a problem with the drivers on the CD for the HVR-2250 (I got corrupt digital recordings) but downloading and installing the latest drivers from the manufacturers web site fixed that right away. Honestly if I have room inside the case, I'd much rather have something internal than some external box cluttering up the area and needing an extra power outlet.

[azdevo]

This is an excellent deal, especially considering that it already has an upgraded video card with HDMI. It is basically plug and play for the home theater user. I just put together a similar setup, but went for the larger box and Intel processor.

[Aldonsp]

Hi Rick Broida, do you the HD local channels come through, or do you have to pay extra for them to your Cable tv provider?

[rickbroida]

I rely solely on over-the-air HD channels.

[DetJMunch]

Sold out.

[fernanwb]

Has anyone had their order fulfilled on this? Mine, ordered on the morning of the 27th has gone from Processing to In Shipping back to Processing at least two times. They have my $$ but no firm commitment as to status as of 11-3.
??

[aandroyd]

it said 'sold out' when i first checked this deal, but i checked the next day and there were more in stock so i ordered one. it came last week.