Alienware Hangar18:HD Media Server unboxed

by Richard Lawler posted Mar 1st 2008 at 6:13PM

We've leered at Alienware's Hangar18:HD Media Server before, but with it finally available -- via custom installer channels only -- we can imagine it finding a place in our own media closet. Until thats the case, check out an unboxing of the unsurprisingly grey, sturdy beast, CableCard slots, hot swappable HDDs and Blu-ray drive splayed open for the world to see.

Filed under: Blu-ray, Media PCs, Other hardware, Others

Tags: alienware, cablecard, hangar 18, Hangar18, hd media server, HdMediaServer, rack mount, RackMount, unboxed, unboxing

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Xyzzy @ Mar 1st 2008 10:51PM

"Along with every HD video output you can think of, "

I can think of one it doesn't have... HDMI! Why the hell would they not have one of those?!

Neutral

CRiccio @ Mar 2nd 2008 10:07AM

It does...

It comes with a DVI-->HDMI converter. RTFA

Neutral

Xyzzy @ Mar 2nd 2008 10:11AM

I did read the article -- but my understanding was that you can't output audio over DVI, even with a DVI->HDMI connection. If that's true, that means no high-rez audio from the BD disks or other media you might have on the thing.

Unless things have changed and you CAN get audio out of DVI nowadays?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080205110644AA8Sv2i

Neutral

Papa Midnight @ Mar 2nd 2008 10:57AM

No but a little TosLink never hurt anyone.

Neutral

Xyzzy @ Mar 2nd 2008 11:45AM

But that won't get me TrueHD, PCM, etc, will it? I thought the only way to use the advanced audio codecs was HDMI or analog 5.1/7.1 outputs.

Seems like a stupid oversight for such an expensive piece of hardware (similar to the $2,000 BD player that doesn't include an ethernet jack, I suppose...)

Neutral

yaksplat @ Mar 3rd 2008 9:20AM

So, what does this do that media center, home server and an xbox360 can't do? Empty your wallet maybe? It does look pretty....

Neutral

Adrian @ Mar 8th 2008 1:55PM

for the consumer space yes, but in high end graphics environments or client - server environments, I'd go to Phantom Data Systems for bluray server solutions. Phantom Data Systems Blu Ray Server Solutions MAC, PC, LINUX compatible as well.
THey also have Solid State Drive arrays Solid State Drive Array

AG.

Neutral

Adrian @ Mar 10th 2008 9:43PM

Bluray Server from Phantom data systems definitely delivers 100 times the capacity and capability of DVD for sure. Great for PACS systems, high resolution imaging environments.

Neutral

Adrian @ Mar 19th 2008 11:09AM

Checked'em out Blu Ray Server Library Phantom Data really caters to the enterprise space.

G

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