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HP z558 Digital Entertainment Center All-in-one entertainment source with 600GB of hard drive storage |  |
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| Product Reviews from Amazon.com (Rating System 1 to 5) |
| Review | Rating | Last Updated | Good enough at $685 price tage
I purchased the z558 in November 2007 and have been pleased. Judged as a Home Theater PC (HTPC) it can't be beat at a price under $700. You won't be able to build a system like this for less than $1,000, even if you buy dated hardware from an avenue such as Tiger Direct. Current budget PC's costing the same have little of the functionality and features. The unit is far from perfect however, and is a little dated when considering some of the demands that you may want to use it for now and in the future.
My bggest complaint with the z558 is that it will record High Definition video only from Over the Air broadcst (ATSC). Forget about using the z558 to record HD cable and satellite TV (NTSC). This was a big dissapointment, since I had dreams of paying $5 for a Dishnetwork PPV movie, instead of $20 or more at the store, recording the movie on the z558's hard drive, and having a collection of High Def movies and TV shows networked throughout the house. Instead, I had to pay $149 for a Dishnetwork DVR (after $100 rebate) and could not use their free HD Receiver in conjunction with the z558 as the recorder. My Dishnetwork DVR does not allow other devices access to recorded material on its internal or attached drives.
Obviously, you can use the PVR function with cable/satellite using composite and coax connection, but this is not going to appease audiences that are accustomed to High Definition video and Digital sound processing.
The z558 replaced my juke box CD player very handily, albeit expensively. Having the ability to access over 300 CD's through the XP Media Center software makes the purchase worthwhile. No longer do I have to use a system to determine which disc is in what slot and grab a jewel case to find songs. Media Center stores the music by Album, Artist, Genre, Song, and Playlist. It also has a search function. However, browsing by Artist and Song is tedious because the list must be scrolled alphabetically. Though I have just over 300 CD's burned to the hard drive, there are more than 600 artists, and scrolling is fairly slow even when using the page down button. Simply including alphabetic search buttons at the top of the page would make a dramatic improvement.
The radio reception is great. Wireless connectivity at 54mbps is great. DVD playback is fine. Therefore, sharing music and photos with multiple computers wirelessly works great. The LED display at the front of the unit is fairly useless since the same information is already displayed in Media Center and much easier to see on the TV/Monitor screen. I would like to use the space for a Blue Ray disc player in the future. The unit has nearly every kind of connection possible for Stereo, TV, and camera. You will need a DVI to HDMI adapter or cable, or VGA cable, if you plan to use with a HDTV. Svideo, DVI, Composite A/V, and Digital Coax cables were included. Unfortuneately for me, using an HDMI adapter was not possible because it blocked my other HDMI TV connections due to the width of the DVI connector. A DVI-HDMI cable can be purchased at a fairly inexpensive price however. Picture quality when using Svideo and composite connections is terrible.
I did experience a few software glitches. The included Norton Anti Virus Suite caused Wireless connectivity problems with my network and seemed to conflict with XP Media Center. I was able to resolve the issue, but it was not easy. An error message "no disc in the drive" began popping up when I used Media Center and was fixed very easily by going to HP's support web page. When copying VHS tapes to the Z558, the capture software worked fine recording video, but the audio quality was bad when compared with the original. I had to use the z558's High Definition audio input instead of the composite and suspect this was the source of the problem.
In summation: the unit has works very well for me as a CD player and is adequate for DVD play. Music and photos can be streamed across my wireless network from the z558 flawlessly. It's remote control and specially designed keyboard are a plus. However, the keyboard gives up functionality that many PC games will require. Also, the z558 fell short in its use as HDTV Satellite DVR and for burning VHS tapes. Thus the z558 falls short of providing total HTPC functionality in the age of High Definition Television. In fact, Sony's new playstation may be a better purchase for those who do not need PVR/Tuner capabilities, but would like computer network and hard drive capacities, a Blue Ray and upconverted DVD player, and good game play. There are many devices with hard drive designed for playing digital music and video, from manufacturers such as the Apple, Mvix, Tvix, Yamaha, and the list goes on. Though most of these devices are less expensive, they do not offer PVR capabilities, full PC capabilities, and fall far short of the z558's functionality as a total media player. | 4 | Today | I wouldn't recommend it...
The product is a great idea with awesome potential and the Windows Media Center software was awesome and does great stuff, but I had no end of problems with it. Upon arrival the keyboard was broken, HP promptly, and without any trouble, sent me a new one in the mail (great support from HP all around), once I got the new keyboard I began trying to set up the product which was fairly easy to do, but once I had it up and running it was prone to strange behavior. It would be fine and then suddenly begin playing back in extreme slow motion, or with jerky video. DVD sound would get messed up. It seemed to run EXTREMELY hot and got very very loud some times.
Maybe I just had a defective unit, but for the 700 dollar cost I expect to not have to worry so much about the product. The potential is very high, I was tempted to exchange the product for another to see if it would work better, but I didn't want the hassle of a second return if it didn't. If I were to find one that worked without all the problems and noise I'd like it more than a standard DVR/Tivo but until they make the technology better I'll stick with specialized hardware I think | 2 | Today | PIECE OF JUNK!!
This is the worst waste of money. I have had to replace 3 video cards, 2 motherboards, a fan and NOW I am waiting for a tech to come out and replace the power supply, and it has been turned off for a week!.Yay Me! After the 3 service calls in the first 6 months I purchased the extended warranty. Good thing This machine is loud, the keyboard is of poor quality and the machine gets HOT!!! It reminds me of HAL, it wakes up in the middle of the night and starts doing things and WON'T SLEEP!
I bought this for media storage and as a DVR. I have since went back to my cable company and have a DVR from them. You can't hear tv when a FAN is blasting, that is when the fan is working.
So..... DON'T BUY THIS. Save your hard earned dollars and headaches. It just won't do what it is supposed to. So sad. I will never buy an HP product again. | 1 | Today | Bought it just before Christmas
Bought this unit just before Christmas and absolutely hated it. The inital setup was not as straightforward as the instructions seemed, and had repeated issues after setting it up. there was no sound, the personal media drive didn't work, and the video hardware needed to be reinstalled after every bootup. I seriously questions if thi was the experience $2200 bought me. HP send me a box, and I had it back 10 days later completely working with all the current updates applied. Have loved it since.
This box does everything it says it can, flawlessly. I have recorded live TV from a satellite TV(DTV), had a DVD on pause (the MCE DVD player does not have a resume function, but the included HP software does, I justhaven't used it), and watched a over the air HD Eagles game at the same time with not noticable problem. The computer I built to do this *did* have trouble doing more than one thing at a time. I think HP did a great job of matching the hardware and software to make things run smoothly.
The look of the case is top notch. The doors open smoothly, and have catches to keep them closed. The front of the case is brushed black metal, which looks at home with my other AV equipment. The only annoying item is the brightness of the power button: it's blue, and in a dark room stands out like a beacon. The LCD screen is also very bright, and distracting, but you get used to it. On the positive side, it displays the currently selected media or channel, so that is helpful, especially when the TV is off. The machie itself is relatively quiet, so fan noise isn't an issue, especially with a TV going.
The AV hookups are a bear. I know my way around AV equipment, and what's back there is tightly packed and intimidating. I strongly suggest a cable manager of some sort, otherwise the sheer weight of the cabling will eventually break something, trust me. Also, the IR blasters are a bit cheap. the adhesive on them barely works, they have an additional LED that actually flashes RED to distract you while they change channels, and BOTH have to be connected in order for MCE to properly change channels.
Those have been my inital impressions. I continue to use it, and the software takes a lot of playing with. I don't fault HP for MS MCE, but your enjoyment of the box is dependant on MCE. The box is great, MCE is a bit trying at times. There are lots of resources for MCE, and lots of plug-ins that extend it's functionality. There are also lots of software that do what MCE does just a well, and for HP's part, they used high-end parts that are universally supported in almost all software. I would suggest using some type of HD imaging app before doing anything that would break MCE though.
I strongly suggest extending your warranty after the inital 1yr. I do not want to have to track down replacment part for this thing in two years, I'll let HP do it for me. For the $100 or so they want, that more than covers the cost of replacing ANYTHING inside of this box. The audio cable, personal media drive, tv card, and memory they replaced would have run about $500 alone.
Would I buy it again, probably. Can my wife operate it, yes. Does it work, yes. Was it worth the inital $2K, NO. Now that they are down around $900, they are a must have for anyone who wants Tivo functionality and more, but doesn't want to roll thier own. | 5 | Today | so far so good
This system, the z558 is quite stable... the previous one I got was the HP z556 and it wasn't so stable. (It froze once in a while and let me come back 20 minutes or a few hours later so I can operate it again). This one, the z558 never gave me the problem. I can record two TV programs at a time, and even record one more over the air HDTV program. How about that!
This system includes 600GB of storage and is quite good for storing your TV shows... how about saving all the Seinfeld or Friends in the hard drive?
I think one issue I have is with the clock... it seems hard to set and then it seems like it cannot be set in Media Center... you need to quit Media Center and work with the really tiny "Date and Time" dialog box to set the time... which is quite hard to see on the HDTV. Other than that, good job, HP. This is a great product.
| 5 | Today | Ya Baby, this is awesome!
This product makes me want to invest in HP. It has an nice looking case, will fit in a equipment rack (mine in the future) it can take the place of your DVD player, your CD player your home computer, your cable box and your Tivo. It records uncompressed HD TV with the help of a HD antenna. I watched "24" recorded in HD and skipped thru the commercials with the skip fast forward on the keyboard. It has two 300 Gig hard drives one of which is removable. Not to mention the network capabilities.
I'm thinking of buying a second one to view recorded HD content on my downstairs HD set.
The only thing I would like to see is a 2nd zone audio out to listen to music on my whole house audio system. Other than that AAAAA+++++.
Best new must have.
| 5 | Today | The HP DEC is near perfect
I have a problem with some of the reviews where people focus on the hardware. The real driver for these media centers is the software. The hardware itself is more than sufficient to use as a progressive scan DVD, DVR, music player, slide show presenter and digital movie player.
Issues with performance or functionality are really limitations from the Microsoft XP Media Center OS. But the rollup 2 has really solidified the product, yet there is still room for improvments (hopefully from longhorn - next generation Windows).
The Keyboard is quite good for the use it was intended for and the Media Center Remote is the primary means by which I use the system (and it is really quite good) so I do not have any real complaint as to the human interface to the system.
Media performance for music, dvd and video is excellent, my only complaint is that the NTSC tuners in the unit do not upconvert to provide a cleaner image on HDTV's.
If the HP z558 had HDMI, cable card slot and component inputs, it would be perfect. But as is, it is a more than capable media center.
| 4 | Today | I absolutely love mine!!!
I guess I am alone here in my review because I absolutely love this device. I had a few problems with the software initially but other than that no real issues.
Setup was a breeze and it is networked with my other computers so I can listen to the music or watch my recorded TV programs on them.
I also purchased the Linksys media center extender and was amazed at what I could do with it. I could watch my recorded TV programs on my other TV and even watch the channels from my DEC on another television while watching another station on the DEC. Of course, I could listen to music and view my pictures. I am still in awe at all that I can do.
This is so much more convenient than my TiVo and no monthly fees! I highly recommend this unit. It's just too bad that it is so expensive. | 5 | Today | Slick Looking - Components are older technology - Keyboard sucks!
Picked one of these up the other day, mostly for the slick design and for the wireless keyboard with trackball type mouse controller. But that's all it has, is looks...
After using the keyboard, it quickly became tedious to use, since not only are the keys hard to push down, they are in a tight proximity of each other and not in the usual places, and the wireless is hit and miss, possibly because it runs at only 49MHz frequency. It will miss keys here and there, so you have to type very slooow, and check your work very often, and with passwords where you can't see what you are typing, good luck! It quickly becomes a tire... There is no number pad and the trackball mouse is skippy and lacks a scroll feature...
The processor is 1 "generation" older than the current dual core intel processors and the RAM is standard DDR instead of DDR2... Come on, the dual core Pentium D has been out for more than 6 months, what is taking HP? Is it because P4 is inscribed on the casing and they don't want to reinscribe the case?
Unless HP updates the components and the keyboard, this is a terrible value and a POS.
UPDATE: The processor in this POS is now 3 full "generations" behind the current Intel Dual Core technology, is HP smoking dope or something, maybe it's the people putting $2000+ into this archaic machine... | 1 | Today |
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