HP Pavilion Media Center TV m7360n user reviews (Pentium D 920 2.8 GHz)

Pros The widescreen flat panel monitor I bought seperately

Cons I don't know where to begin

Summary I have been building my own computers since I was about 16, and for a few reasons for the first time in my life I decided to just buy an out-of-the-box system. Very big mistake.

I first bought an HP Media Center PC that was below this model (a refurbished one), as I didn't really need it to be a super power system since it wasn't going to be for everyday use. After having problem after problem with the refurbished system I brought it back to Best Buy and exchanged it for another one of the same model (except a brand new one). Surprise! Same problems over and over.

The 2nd time I went to exchange the PC I was told that literally all they had left were refurbished HP Media Center PCs, except for their top of the line one (nice and convenient considering they had 8 different HPMC systems there). That's a Best Buy thing though, nothing to do with HP.

So anyways, I figured what the heck, I might as well get a brand new top of the line system and then I just won't have to worry about problems. HAH!

The *DAY* after I was still eligible to return the system to Best Buy, all the exact same problems started happening again.

You know what, this is just going to be too long and boring, so I'll just summarize the bad parts:

- System freezes randomly

- System freezes not-so-randomly (at least once a day when I use the REPLAY and SKIP buttons on the remote while watching a video the entire system freezes.

- When the system freezes while it's recording, and you have to reboot, sometimes you'll lose everything that's been recorded, and other times it will continue recording (in 2 parts) after you reboot your computer. So far I've missed the last 10-40 minutes of over 10 movies due to this happening.

- Although the hard drive space *sounds* impressive, don't plan on recording and saving a whole lot of TV. Record, watch, delete. 2 recorded movies took up 25 gigs.

There are actually a whole lot more problems with this system, but typing this is making me feel worse about my purchase (and the fact that I can't return it), so I'm just going to summarize with this...

Don't buy this system.


*TIP*

If your HP Media Center PC completely freezes on you for no reason, and you're watching TV at the time (but it still keeps playing), try pressing pause. I've found that if you can pause the TV when the computer crashes, you can press CONTROL-ALT-DEL to bring up the task manager, and that will unfreeze the system. And no, you don't have to do anything once you open the task manager, you simply have to open it (fun problem, right?).

If you press pause and it DOESN'T work, there's nothing you can do but reboot.

Pros dual core processor is fast and powerful plenty of ram and big hard drive

Cons speakers don't sound good

Summary Best pc for the money. I wanted to customize a pc but kept getting way out of my price range. I found this pc and am 100% satisfied with it. I boutght the 19 flat panel lcd. Tv and dvd look great!
It has a big hard drive and lots of ram soplenty of power. Wireless keyboard and mouse is great too. I honestly don't beleive you can find a better pc for the price. I've had ine for a week now and I love it!

Pros Burn DVD labels, lots of memory, great harddrive space

Cons Much of the software is limited or requires upgrade after a short usage limit

Summary Havn't had any problems at all. Tech support was even fast, called once about hook-up. The 2 gig of mem 300 gig HD, I've had no problems like locking up. The lightscribe burned labels on home DVD, beautiful and every burn perfect so far. Firewire hook-up worked great for mini DV camera. Great looking machine. The muvee software required upgrade after only 3 movies made (edited). The Sonic edit software burner/label burn software is limited without upgrade, but works great, although timely, no bad burns so far. It worked great to place chapters with-in the home movie DVD's, selectable starting points. I'll upgrade the software later, but overall very happy with the CPU (computer). The Media Center portion in XP Media Center is a whole nether program with a refreshing new look. I am still experimenting with it but fun. Has D: recovery, no recovery disk. You can make your own RD or like I, buy the recvy disk for around $20 with shipping. Oh you must buy the special disk to be able to burn labels. I got 60 pack for less than a dollar apiece. Can also download pics from memory storage chip/stick easily, no hook up required. Enjoy!

Pros Great fast Intel Dual Core. Two 1GB sticks of memory giving you room for two more sticks for expandability. Liquid Cooled processor is great for overclocking.

Cons Limited expandability. All PCI slots are occupied. Very crammed interior. (Take the 56k Modem out for an extra PCI slot)

Summary Overall a GREAT computer for the price. If you are doing gaming or video editing, invest in a better graphics card and you will fall in love! SATA is fast and efficient for file transfers, installs, gaming, and editing.