CUSA Amiga range will cost up to $25,000

[commodorejohn]

Oh hey, they finally got a website that doesn't look like total ass! Now if only they'd managed to get a website that doesn't require Javascript to display static page content, they might have a usable website that doesn't look like total ass!

[buzz]

Those who want to spend massive amounts of money on a htpc, are not going to by it from these guys that's for sure.

I'm still using my xbox1 as an htpc. El cheapo option ;-)

[Duce]

The screen is just a VFD in the original OEM case, and a poor one at that.  Just simple text display, no touch screen that I ever saw on those cases.  That's not to say they could not add one, but who wants to get up off the couch to go touch a touchscreen on an HTPC when it comes with a remote.  The stock case is well known for its' shoddy IR remote.  C-USA's solution may be a bit more elegant, I suppose.

So what is the deal here?  Is it a workstation or a HTPC, lol.  Selling $25,000 graphics workstations crammed with PCIe SSD's and Quadro's is one thing, but the HTPC market is a completely different beast where you're not only going against the other HTPC makers, but also against things like Slingbox, Roku, Boxee, AppleTV - and to some extent even the consoles, which can all run Netflix just fine.

[commodorejohn]

The stock case is well known for its' shoddy IR remote.  C-USA's solution may be a bit more elegant, I suppose.

Elegant like a fan that doesn't point at the chipset it's supposed to cool?

[Kesa]

What exactly do people do with a $25000 computer anyway? The only thing i can think of is Hollywood special effects. Just wondering.

[vox]

well they have revealed the case on their new website.

http://web.************.net/amiga

Didn't take me long to track down the case.

http://www.origenae.co.kr/en/htpc_s16t.htm

So that what "expensive" case he is using.

I found a review of the smaller version of the case.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Origen_ae/S10V/7.html

Give them their dues. It's a nice looking case. Shame about the bad photoshop with the Amiga badges.

Verrry nice case, however $350. Far far from $1000

Anyway, when its done.

All before that are concept stolen images on CUSA website :-)

[Duce]

Doing some digging around, those cases can be found on clearance for a couple hundred bucks these days - they are circa 2007/2008 vintage if my memory isn't failing me.  I used one years ago to build a HTPC for a buddy, and I threw some 6800's in it, so fairly old (but still attractive kit).
VFD was hard to see from a distance, and the remote was unresponsive most of the time.

Thermaltake and the other more known case venders have a lot nicer HTPC solutions these days, but the prices would still likely be prohibitive for most OEM's.  I'm a big fan of the below HTPC case, but the touch screen on HTPC cases is sort of a redundancy in the day and age of remotes, and it's not too cheap either:

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product_legacy.php?area=usa&model=lc18

[CritAnime]

I have a sneaky feeling that Barry has something else hidden up his sleeve. His pet Dammy has also been unusually quiet while all this has been going on. So either Dammy has dropped the ball again and said something he shouldn't of. Or these cases will be dropped, much like many of the "future models" that they touted have. In any case I wonder if they have permission to take the images and slap the commodore and amiga branding on it.

@Kesa
I am pretty sure he has mentioned that these things will be aimed at studio's. But I can't imagine a studio buying these things to be honest given the price and specs.

I also wonder if these will still be made by hand over at his US facility.

[jorkany]

It doesn't mention if it's touchscreen is capacitive or resistive. My money would be on resistive. Though it can apparently support a resolution of 1920x1080. The screen is supposed to be used as a media controller. So you can have windows media centre running on it while you watch something on the main monitor. If this is the case they have gone for, which it does look likes there is a cheaper one with a LCD screen instead, then I can imagine they would try to leverage some sort of gimmicky professional functionality in to it.

You could run your C64 emulation on the built-in screen. Have both your Amiga and C64 experience at the same time!

[Tripitaka]

I'm still using my xbox1 as an htpc. El cheapo option ;-)

Original XBOX for a £10 off ebay, then chip it and add a few hundred gig drive and an XBMC install. How could anything compete with such an awesome solution.
At about £50 total price I'm with you all the way buddy. Nice to see someone else on the same wavelength.
Got plenty of emulators for it too.

[spirantho]

You could run your C64 emulation on the built-in screen. Have both your Amiga and C64 experience at the same time!

Don't suggest that - he'll be calling it the Commodore SX64x or something stupid!

[CritAnime]

I can see it now.

The all new Commodore SX64X. With added touchscreen functionality and instant C64 emulation straight form the box. No need for a keyboard or mouse.

[buzz]

Original XBOX for a £10 off ebay, then chip it and add a few hundred gig drive and an XBMC install. How could anything compete with such an awesome solution.
At about £50 total price I'm with you all the way buddy. Nice to see someone else on the same wavelength.
Got plenty of emulators for it too.

can softmod it too, and of course, if playing media over the network, can probably make do with original drive (if you really want to do it on the cheap).

Great for emulation as you say.

Running a recent xbmc4xbox release ? (http://www.xbmc4xbox.org/)

[CritAnime]

Lets be honest, the XBOX is highly customizable. if you have the skills you can de-solder the RAM chips and replace them with larger ones. While this will not increase performance on normal xbox games, they are optimised for the original amount of ram, it makes emulation and other things far better.

[Tripitaka]

Lets be honest, the XBOX is highly customizable. if you have the skills you can de-solder the RAM chips and replace them with larger ones. While this will not increase performance on normal xbox games, they are optimised for the original amount of ram, it makes emulation and other things far better.

Very true, you can even do the double overclock mod if your a total lunatic. XD
Replacing the IDE cable is worth doing, it doesn't work for everything but loading times on some games are significantly improved.
Our old pal the compact flash IDE drive can work wonders too, HDD replacement that boots nearly instant. It's all good.

Makes you wonder why so many people just flog them for peanuts or throw them away. Very true of a lot of good old hardware. Take a look at pocket PC prices, you'll see many of them under a fiver on ebay, they still do all they did years ago and at that price just having one for a Skype phone is worth the effort.

http://pocket-hacks.blogspot.com/

[Tripitaka]

can softmod it too, and of course, if playing media over the network, can probably make do with original drive (if you really want to do it on the cheap).

Great for emulation as you say.

Running a recent xbmc4xbox release ? (http://www.xbmc4xbox.org/)

Mines chipped and I have a spare too but yes, softmod is even cheaper.

XBMC, bang up to date, I'm pretty good at keeping up with updates.

Well if CUSA are going into HTPC I'm not interested. The new C64 was an all around fail in my book and I have no hope off seeing anything better from them in the near future.