cM :: MORLEY|DIGITAL

A little birdy brought this to me last week.

For full specs, read here.  I also received a mATX version of this mini-ITX powerhouse, the DG45ID.

This fulfills all the players I mentioned in my article I wrote for DailyTech last year entitled “Video Processing: A Race To The Bottom.“

That was nearly a year ago, and our options today are fantastic.  AMD’s 780G led the charge, followed closely by NVIDIA’s 8200 chipset, and now Intel’s G45 solutions are starting to enter the fray.  It’s a good time to be an HTPC enthusiast, that’s for sure.

Just to be sure, I did test the DG45FC @ 1080p over HDMI running H.264 content ~30Mbps with 2GB of RAM and an Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 and experienced about 28% CPU utilization.  Not bad in my book!  That was with Vista 32-bit and ArcSoft’s TotalMedia Theatre.

I’ve seen so many pie charts on who is winning the high definition media format race that I haven’t needed food in a month. But, hey, let’s face it, the best way to drive traffic is to talk about 1) Apple 2) HD-DVD vs Blu-ray or 3) Politics.  The thing is, none of us really knows for certain who is going to win. Sure, for some of us it’s our job to expound upon our earthly wisdom and crown a winner. As journalists, technologists, visionaries, yadda, yadda, yadda, it’s what we get paid for. Then we hold on to our butts and hope we’re right.

It’s really no different with Blu-ray and HD-DVD.

If I knew right now exactly who was going to be left standing I’d be able to make more money than the guy who invented the pet rock (like, a million dollars!) It would save on R&D time, focus marketing efforts, and speed up acceptance of the next generation media to come, as consumers never want to bet on a Betamax or Laserdisc again. Not to mention that people would think I was a Really Smart Guy™. The HD-DVD conglomerate and the Blu-ray mafia would love to convince you that they are both pounding the snot out of each other. And they have droves of marketeers with advanced certifications in PowerPoint to prove it. As the saying goes, there are lies, damn lies, statistics, and synthetic benchmarks.

The good news for you is that I’m going to tell you to skip all this data, don’t believe anything you hear about who is going to win, and just buy both formats.

Yup, jump in with both feet and your entire wallet. You really can’t lose. You do not have to choose sides. You do not have to pick the winner in the middle of the race.

Let’s break it down. You’ve got a two to $3,000 1080p HDTV, and probably spent at least as much on the supporting cast members – TV stands, receivers, speakers, etc. C’mon, admit it, you’re a gadget junky. I am too.

Now, if you’re a gamer, this is easy. Either buy a PS3 and a nice Toshiba HD-DVD player (or wait for the 3rd gen stuff that’s coming), or an XBOX Elite with HD-DVD add-on and a nice Samsung Blu-ray player. Or buy both consoles and get out for about $1200 and get some free movies along the way. And you’ll have a wicked time being able to play all the hottest 1080p video games as well. Seriously, is there a down side here, people? ‘Cuz I just don’t see it.

Or, if you’re an A/V purist and want nothing to do with “kids’ toys” – buy the upcoming Samsung combo player that is fully featured (unlike LG’s offering – but God bless ‘em for be the first to throw their hands up in the air and also refuse to take sides.)

There, you’re completely future-proof. You can quit reading all those analysts throwing numbers around or pontificating on which consumer wasteland vendor (Wal Mart or Target) has picked which format out of their ass to declare it a winner.

And once you stop reading what those analysts have to say, the ad click-throughs will fall, and their editors will tell them to get some new f’ing material.