Product Description
Includes: wireless Keyboard w/ Integrated trackball, remote control, DVI-D cable, S-Video cable, L/R RCA Audio cable, 2 Infrared blasters, 2 RF Coaxial Video cables, 1 Coaxial Video Splitter, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 with Update Roll-up 2, Norton AntiVirus w/ 1 year subscription, WinDVD Player, & more. HP z556 Digital Entertainment Center - The z556 is a computer that has been specifically designed to integrate seamlessly with your home theater setup - without sacrificing your computing experience! It provides the best of all worlds - a powerful computer system that's powered by an Intel Pentium 4 Processor 630, a built-in PVR that provides TV viewing, pausing and recording, a DVD player and recorder, an FM tuner, and much more. Storage 250GB 7200RPM SATA DVD SuperMulti Drive - (write) 8x DL DVD+R, 16x DVD+R, 8x DVD+RW, 16x DVD-R, 6x DVD-RW, 40x CD-R, 32x CD-RW / (read) 16x DVD-ROM & 40x CD-ROM Lightscribe Direct Disc Labeling TV & Video 2 NTSC TV Tuners 1 ATSC TV HD TV Tuner 14-Day Programming Guide NVIDIA GeForce 6600 x16 PCI Express Graphics Card with 128MB of DDR Memory Audio Intel High Definition Audio with 7.1 Surround Sound Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound Supports playback of MP3, AAC, WMA, & WAV files FM Tuner External Ports Rear A/V - 1 DVI-D, 1 VGA, 1 Component (YPbPr), 1 S-Video, 1 Composite, 8 RCA Audio, 1 Toslink Optical Digital, & 1 Coaxial Digital TV Inputs - 1 RF Coaxial for Standard TV, 1 RF Coaxial for Digital TV, 2 S-Video, 1 Composite, 2 Sets of RCA Front Headphone, L/R RCA & Microphone In 6 USB 2.0 (2 front) / 2 FireWire (4-pin front / 6-pin rear) Front 9-in-1 Media Card Reader - supports Secure Digital, xD, Smart Media, MultiMedia Card, Compact Flash Types I/II, Microdrive, Memory Stick, & Memory Stick Pro Monitor is not included
Customer Reviews:
HP Z556 DEC...Good, Customer Support...Bad.......2007-08-26
Although the HP Z556 Digital Entertainment Center offers some great Media Center features, I can't say the same for HP support. I purchased this particular type of CPU for my fledgling home theater room, hoping the unit would provide the "brains" to control all of my A/V components. The problem is I haven't been able to use it! After receiving the unit, and upon powering it up, there was no response (defective video and mother boards). After myriad attempts to troubleshoot the problem with HP support (one hour on chat and three hours on the phone), I was finally told to send it back to HP for bench repair support. Long story short, after receiving the unit back and powering it up, the video worked fine, but the audio did not (another 4 hours on the phone). Additionally, an HP certified technician has made two visits to my home with a third planned for later. WHAT'S THE DEAL? Good customer service would dictate that if you purchase a "new" product that is proven to be defective, that it should be exchanged for another "new" product that works...no questions asked! I anxiously await the day I can finally use a properly working unit in my home (it has been almost a month since I purchased the CPU). To HP: a five-star rating on such a wonderful concept and design, but a one-star rating on inadequately meeting the needs of the customer.
Great buy after the price drop - Great custom designed HTPC.......2007-06-09
To the contrary of all the negative review I found the unit to be pretty decent. I think the big thing is that I bought it for $500 instead of $1500 that everyone else seems to have bought it at.
You should fully understand what you are buying though:
- This is a PC not a TiVo or a DVR unit, so you have to wait for the machine to boot up/wake up, you need to install software on it and you have to treat it like any other PC with updates, defrag, AntiVirus updates, firewall setup, router setup, etc. You may experience crashes, etc, but that's mostly due to your setup or if you are running some extra software other than mediaplayer on the machine.
If you are expecting some super easy to use machine like a DVD player, this is not for you.
- This is not a NORMAL PC: if you want to use it for gaming, it probably doesn't have the best in line hardware for more recent games. If you want to use it to type a document, send and e-mail, etc, you need an HDTV, and you need a coffee table together with a wireless keyboard and mouse set that's better suited for that purpose than what's bundled.
I looked at many home theatre PCs (HTPCs) before I bought this one. These are what I like about the unit:
- It's easily extensible - HDD replacement is fairly easy, same with RAM
- GREAT chassis design: it looks great, it has memory card readers, USB, firewire, etc on the front for things you want to easily and quickly feed to/attach to the machine.
- The grouping of connectors on the back pannel is very nicely done, looks pretty close to a home theatre receiver unit unlike a PC which has connectors on edge of cards. You should look at the back of your PC and you will immediately see what I mean: there are connectors for 7.1 speaker set, TV ins, 802.11 antenna, SPDIF coaxial and optical sound output, 4 more USB ports, etc
- To the contrary of what one of the reviewers says it DOES have the normal coaxial stereo output jacks (on the back)
I think this is much more worth than HP's higher end ones (Z565, etc) at over $2000.
Note that you most likely need to add more software for different stuff, so those will add to the cost.
More than adequate PC.......2006-10-19
I bought this Media Center PC in January 2006 just in time for the Superbowl. I bought it with the HP LC3200N High def tv. The two work beautifully together. Like all DVRs, the Z556 performs quite well at recording programs as well as whole seasons of shows. The hi def tuner is a great addition. All told, the Z556 has been a good replacement for my desktop PC. I waited to write this review until I had several months to appraise the quality of it. Now, for the negatives. I replaced the RAM with 4-1 GB PC3200 sticks. Unfortunately, the 4th RAM position is buried under the DVD burner, so you have to physically remove the burner in order install it. Also, due to media content restrictions, there are very few tv programs that you can back up to DVD. This is true for most PCs that are running Windows XP Media edition. You would be better off with a stand-alone DVD burner for that. On the same note, some commercial DVDs (Fellowship of the Rings) will not play because the DVD is copy protected. Again, this is an issue with Windows. The other complaint I have is that HP does not include drivers for its own line of HDTVs. This makes it somewhat technically difficult to achieve the proper settings for the tv. That being said, given the technology of today, I would say this unit was well worth the money.
Slick Looking - Components are older technology - Keyboard sucks!.......2005-12-25
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.
Hewlett Packard could've done better!.......2005-12-01
I generally leave good reviews on Amazon, but alas I don't have much good to say about this unit. In fact the first one that was delivered from HP [...] had to be returned, it would not boot up past the Windows XP screen. So...a week later I got a second one that does work albeit poorly.
-It locks up and "crashes" a lot.
-The music files don't play,
-the DVD burning is very, very slow
-the LightScribe DVD label burning is even slower (29 mins)
-photos are not impressive...I have a digital SLR from Pentax
-the keyboard has to be aimed directly at the Z556
HP used somewhat older PC technology and they could've put newer hardware inside:
-the memory is PC3200 DDR SDRAM 512MB (upgradeable to 2GB)
If you consider that there have been earlier versions of this attempt at Digital Media Center, then I believe HP had several chances to improve on the idea. Clearly they did NOT.
Overall, this product is not worth the $$$...I paid $1499 via Hewlett Packard's online shopping.
This item is not for the faint of heart or technically challenged. I consider myself pretty "techno-savvy" and I have been very frustrated with this item. It is not very user friendly, nor is it state-of-the-art. I have ordered an extra 1GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM 184-pin DIMM to add another 1GB memory, hopefully this will improve performance. If it doesn't...it's going back to HP for a refund.
12/12/05 Update: It went back to HP for a refund! Coincidentally, the tech support person was very nasty on the phone. Bottom line...BUYER BEWARE !! This item is a HUGE waste of $$$
Product Description
Revolutionize the way you watch TV, plus upgrade your home entertainment options! The z565 Digital Entertainment Center connects to your TV or projector through HDM, VGA, component video, S-Video, or composite video, and lets you control everything with a remote, right from the couch.The HP Digital Entertainment Center will make friends fast with the rest of your home theater equipment. Enjoy digital or analog surround sound output through your A/V receiver. The black, brushed-aluminum finish looks at home in your living room or home theater. An ultraquiet design keeps your focus on your entertainment experience, not on your system.A single remote control gives you instant access to all your digital entertainment - TV, DVD movies, home videos, music, photos and FM radio. Three high-performance TV tuners and a personal video recorder (PVR) let you pause, replay and record from cable, digital cable, digital satellite, or over-the-air TV. Record up to three TV programs simultaneously. You can capture single episodes or entire series onto the HP Digital Entertainment Center. You'll never miss another episode of your favorite show!Make your own CDs or enjoy the ones you already have. You can even select individual songs, create play lists, or search for music by title, artist and album. It's like having a jukebox right in your living room!Play your favorites or download new ones and get ready for crisp, clear images and unbeatable surround sound from your big-screen TV.
Product Description
Revolutionize the way you watch TV, plus upgrade your home entertainment options! The z560 Digital Entertainment Center connects to your TV or projector through HDMI, VGA, component video, S-Video, or composite video, and lets you control everything with a remote, right from the couch.The HP Digital Entertainment Center will make friends fast with the rest of your home theater equipment. Enjoy digital or analog surround sound output through your A/V receiver. The black, brushed-aluminum finish looks at home in your living room or home theater. An ultraquiet design keeps your focus on your entertainment experience, not on your system.A single remote control gives you instant access to all your digital entertainment - TV, DVD movies, home videos, music, photos and FM radio. Three high-performance TV tuners and a personal video recorder (PVR) let you pause, replay and record from cable, digital cable, digital satellite, or over-the-air TV. Record up to three TV programs simultaneously. You can capture single episodes or entire series onto the HP Digital Entertainment Center. You'll never miss another episode of your favorite show!Make your own CDs or enjoy the ones you already have. You can even select individual songs, create play lists, or search for music by title, artist and album. It's like having a jukebox right in your living room!Play your favorites or download new ones and get ready for crisp, clear images and unbeatable surround sound from your big-screen TV.
Product Description
Stay connected.
The HP Digital Entertainment Center will make friends fast with the rest of your home theater equipment. Connect to your TV or projector through DVI, VGA, component video, S-video or composite video. Enjoy digital or analog surround sound output through your A/V receiver.
Quiet but sexy.
The black, brushed-aluminum finish looks at home in your living room or home theater. An ultraquiet design keeps your focus on your entertainment experience, not on your system.
Everything at your fingertips.
A single remote control gives you instant access to all your digital entertainment TV, DVD movies, home videos, music, photos and FM radio through Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005.
TV at your speed.
Three high-performance TV tuners (two standard-definition, one ATSC over-the-air high-definition) and a personal video recorder (PVR) let you pause, replay and record from cable, digital cable, digital satellite, or over-the-air TV. Record up to three TV programs simultaneously.
TV on your time.
Search for and record your must-see TV shows with the included Electronic Programming Guide. You can capture single episodes or entire series onto the HP Digital Entertainment Center. Youll never miss another episode of your favorite show!
Listen in.
Make your own CDs or enjoy the ones you already have. You can even select individual songs, create play lists, or search for music by title, artist and album. Its like having a jukebox right in your living room!
Leave a lasting impression.
Use LightScribe technology and software to burn custom, laser-etched CD and DVD labels. Its as easy as burn, flip, burn!
Focus on fun.
Transfer your latest and greatest digital photos using the front-panel 9-in-1 memory card reader. Use your remote control to create an impromptu slideshow your family will love.
Hold everything.
With the 250GB internal hard drive, youll have plenty of storage for many hours of recorded TV.
Product Description
Never miss another episode of your favorite TV show! It's easy with the z556 Digital Entertainment Center. And TV is just the beginning.
Customer Reviews:
could be pretty good, when everything is working.......2006-07-22
I just got this machine for a few days... and the first day, it already froze on me. so far, it froze a few times already. one time i needed to reboot, while the other times, after coming back a few hours later, i could see that it is running again.
the good thing about this system is that you can record HDTV, as well as SDTV, even with dual tuner SDTV. And in fact, you can record all 3 channels (1 HD and 2 SD all at the same time), but that probably will work the machine too hard.
The other thing is, the recorded HDTV cannot be played on any of my other computers. The SDTV could, but in order to make them into a DVD playable in any set top DVD player, you need to make it into a "video DVD", and it can take an hour or two (i usually leave the room and come back a few hours later). However, during this conversion process, the hard drive works very hard, as it needs to read a lot of data in the SDTV format and encode the data into the DVD format. it was almost like a stress test for the hard drive, and i don't know how long the hard drive can last if i do the conversion regularly.
another good thing is that it will search and show all the movies playing right now, and all the movies that will be shown next, on all the channels, and the movies are shown with a DVD box image, so it is very easy to browse and decide which movie you like to watch.
the first time i tried the recording, i tried to record some educational program from a local PBS station. and all the programs have the first 30 seconds missing. So it seems like the clock sychronization is not done so well. So I tried to adjust the clock in the Media Center settings. However, there was no such thing. I had to minimize everything and then look at the really tiny control panel and get the "Date and Time", and look at the tiny characters, and set the clock 30 seconds ahead of the official time from my cell phone, which gets the atomic clock time regularly.
I'd say the most important issue is that the machine will freeze, letting you wait a few minutes or 20, 30 minutes before you can watch live tv again, watch recorded programs, or set any program recording, etc. this is a very big issue for me for the machine.
maybe the freezing is due to the CPU not being to handle the recording and at the same time respond to the user's command. the higher end model is z558 and it has a dual core CPU and it may handle the issue better.
There was also one time when i watch live HDTV, the image would play for a half second, and stop for a half second, and this pattern went on for a couple of minutes, before i decided to give up on watching the program.
in all, it is hard to think of spending about 1500 bucks and get a machine that works partially. there are alternatives such as a sony HDTV recorder at about 799 bucks which sony has stopped making at this moment, and the sony XL1 and XL2 system. the simplest solution might be just to get one or two DVD recorders which is 120 bucks each, and record your programs onto DVD. that way, it doesn't have the freeze up problem, and your DVD will be playable in most set top DVD player.
Slick Looking - Components are older technology - Keyboard sucks!.......2005-12-25
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.
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