Aldi Medion pc coming back on closeout?

Page 3 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
B

BigEdMuustaffa

Golden Member
Jan 29, 2002
1,361
0
0
Originally posted by: thebruiser
I looked at the manual for both the mobo and the graphics card. Neither of them shows any video input connections, although the Ti4200 shows video out connections. Someone who has cracked the case will have to answer as to what is the device that is actually capturing the video. I just know that it does capture.
Click to expand...



The front panel (connect XL) has composite in and S-Video in. There is also a firewire in for digital video. I use the firewire for digital and use the pass-thru on my digital camcorder to input my older Hi 8. I installed a Pinnacle PC TV Pro card for TV tuning and capturing through the coax input. Unforntunately there is no component input for video capture on this computer nor on my tuner card. The best quality input you can use for analog video I believe is the S-Video input on the front Connect XL panel. I am not sure of the specs for S-Video versus firewire. I believe they both carry video and audio signals. USB 2.0 which this computer has is faster by a small margin then firewire, but not sure if it carries audio signal as well. I am not 100% sure on the audio/video thing, but there are plenty of websites out there that will explain all the differences.....good luck. :)
 
DrPizza

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
49,601
167
111
www.slatebrookfarm.com
:) Well, of course I knew the 120GB was a hard drive.... But, if you knew me, you'd know I have a few hard drives just laying around on my desk (in static bags) that I swap in and out of my computer all the time. Harddrives don't get scratched like CDR's, and I'm absolutely horrible about labeling CDR's (as well as there are just too many of them). Since I've got a few older under 10GB sized hard drives, I occasionally pop them into the computer and backup important stuff on them. (keeping them stored out of the computer, or even laying on the bottom of the case inside (in a static bag) minimizes any chance whatsoever of a virus attacking my data.)
 
B

BigEdMuustaffa

Golden Member
Jan 29, 2002
1,361
0
0
Originally posted by: DrPizza
:) Well, of course I knew the 120GB was a hard drive.... But, if you knew me, you'd know I have a few hard drives just laying around on my desk (in static bags) that I swap in and out of my computer all the time. Harddrives don't get scratched like CDR's, and I'm absolutely horrible about labeling CDR's (as well as there are just too many of them). Since I've got a few older under 10GB sized hard drives, I occasionally pop them into the computer and backup important stuff on them. (keeping them stored out of the computer, or even laying on the bottom of the case inside (in a static bag) minimizes any chance whatsoever of a virus attacking my data.)
Click to expand...


Well then I'd say: They aren't removable hard drives they are refferring too. They mean cd or dvd drives or memory cards as removable. You're probably better off looking in the posts for those devices that places like PC geeks or such sell that turn internal hds into removable ones....:)

 
DrPizza

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
49,601
167
111
www.slatebrookfarm.com
I've thought about doing that so many times... I've just never bothered to purchase one to make a hard drive an external hard drive, or purchase the thing that will allow you to just slide your hard drive in, as it only takes me about 30 seconds to just pop the case open and swap them. It'd be nice to avoid the shutdown and reboot times though.

with the "non-removeable hard drive", I had visions of some sort of proprietary computer with the hard drive soldered in place. (eeek!)
 
B

BigEdMuustaffa

Golden Member
Jan 29, 2002
1,361
0
0
Originally posted by: DrPizza
I've thought about doing that so many times... I've just never bothered to purchase one to make a hard drive an external hard drive, or purchase the thing that will allow you to just slide your hard drive in, as it only takes me about 30 seconds to just pop the case open and swap them. It'd be nice to avoid the shutdown and reboot times though.

with the "non-removeable hard drive", I had visions of some sort of proprietary computer with the hard drive soldered in place. (eeek!)
Click to expand...



Nah, when they say "non-removable" they aren't taking into account folks like us who dabble and dig around inside, they meant, people who are afraid to remove the tag on furniture because of the "under penalty of law" statement....;)

 
SearchMaster

SearchMaster

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2002
7,791
114
106
It'd be nice to avoid the shutdown and reboot times though.
Click to expand...

You're not going to find any hot-swappable IDE drives (as far as I know). USB, Firewire, SCSI (sometimes)? Yes. But not IDE. So even if you buy one of the removable kits, you will still need to shutdown.

*edit* forgot to close the italics tag
 
B

BigEdMuustaffa

Golden Member
Jan 29, 2002
1,361
0
0
Originally posted by: thebruiser
Originally posted by: BigEdMuustaffa
Does anyone know of a telephone number for ALDI customer service, maybe like corporate? thanks..........
Click to expand...

1-866-633-4660
Click to expand...



Thanks dude, but that's the number for Medion USA Tech support. I'm looking for a phone number for ALDI customer service......USA headquarters.....:)

 
T

thinlizzie

Senior member
Jan 10, 2002
418
0
0
Okay I will try to answer the questions I just read from a bunch of folks, so fogive me if I don't recall all the questions...

Quiet = extremely, new passive cooling system plus WD 120gb drive is supper quiet!!

Video capture = from the front of the connectXL thing straight to the ti4200 (this is a special ti4200, 8x AGP with a connector for video capture.

TV tuner = No, sorry there isn't one. My Creatix Modem only has phone RJ11's on it, no TV capability. No way to connect a coax signal to it. I don't care what the specs say.

HD removeable? Yes same as any other with a phillips driver and the removal of 4 screws.


I think that's all of them - that I can recall... Oh, their customer support I had to test once and it was good and fast. Everytime I re-booted the OS would lose track of the flash card readers (they wouldn't show up as drives in the device manager). I emailed them about this problem and provided me with a firmware flash utility that had me back up in a jiffy (next day). It was fine until I upgraded to XP Pro, then I lost the "drives".

Yes, the store is a complete hole, a veritable 3rd world shopping experience, but I didn't care, I wasn't living there just buying a PC. Aldi is just the Germans exploiting the poor Americans who can't afford to shop anyplace else.
 
T

thebruiser

Member
Dec 8, 2002
101
0
0
My local Aldi's is clean and well lit, but it's not in a rundown part of town.

Regarding tv capture capabilities. You can capture tv by using the PowerVCR program. But, you will need either a VCR or a tv with S-video out capabilities. Of course this means you will have to program your vcr, which kind of defeats the purpose of PowerVCR. To find out more about the PowerVCR capabilities, go to gocyberlink.com.
 
T

thinlizzie

Senior member
Jan 10, 2002
418
0
0
I drive by that corporate office every day. Looks like any other. They are a legitimate business that has been around a long time.
 
Z

Zepper

Elite Member
May 1, 2001
18,998
0
0
A lot of Aldi's store brand's are equal to or better than the name brands. I go there specifically for some items and often end up picking up others. If you make cherry pies or other recipes that use cherry pie filling, their filling is the BEST. Also their saltine crackers easily beat Nabisco and their equivalent of Keebler Club are tasty. Just because it's a bit stark and self-serve doesn't mean the stuff they have is low quality.
. Plus their specials are usually very high quiality for the money - the computer specials often have campers waiting in line for the store to open.
. The snobbish comment above must be from someone with more money than sense...
..bh.
Aldi is :cool:
 
B

BigEdMuustaffa

Golden Member
Jan 29, 2002
1,361
0
0
Originally posted by: thinlizzie
I drive by that corporate office every day. Looks like any other. They are a legitimate business that has been around a long time.
Click to expand...




Oh, I know they are legit, I'm just trying to get a $200 credit...;)

 
T

thebruiser

Member
Dec 8, 2002
101
0
0
Originally posted by: BigEdMuustaffa
Originally posted by: thinlizzie
I drive by that corporate office every day. Looks like any other. They are a legitimate business that has been around a long time.
Click to expand...




Oh, I know they are legit, I'm just trying to get a $200 credit...;)
Click to expand...

If they give you the credit, let us know, because I paid the extra $200 as well.
 
Y

Yo2

Golden Member
Jun 12, 2001
1,456
0
0
Very good information on the system - thanks

Yo

P.s.: cool website too
 
B

BigEdMuustaffa

Golden Member
Jan 29, 2002
1,361
0
0
I know a few of you who got this back in Nov, have added a few more things to the system like a hard drive or a floppy. Some I think have even changed the power supply. Any comments on that? :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom