Customer Reviews

HP Pavilion Media Center TV m7360n PC (Intel Pentium D Processor 920, 2.0 GB RAM, 300 GB Hard Drive, DVD SuperMulti Drive with LightScribe)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although the HP Media Center works well, I've found that structurally the unit is not built very well. After four months of use the start button broke and I haven't been able to get HP to send me a new one. I even shipped them the broken piece and asked for a replacement and they refused. I now operate my new computer with the front face panel removed so that I can push the on/off switch. A lot of frustration in dealing with there customer service over a 50 cent piece.

HP seems to have released this computer before they got all the bugs worked out.

To begin with it simply would not recieve the TV signal. HP's technical support blamed it on my cable provider (despite my TV working fine) and had me reinstall the operating system(which didn't fix it). After struggling to fix this problem for over a month HP eventually released a new driver which did fix this problem.

Another problem occured when I tried to connect both a monitor and a TV to it. The TV signal was horrible, and it wasn't until I downloaded new driver from Nvidia that I was able to fix this problem. HP still has not released a fix to this problem, and their technical support didn't even seem to understand the problem.

As well the sound from TV programs sometimes cuts out. Other sounds work, but the TV program's sound quits working until it is rebooted. This seems to occur most often when it is recording another show at the same time. Again HP doesn't have a fix for this problem.

Now that I've got most of the bugs worked out, I like this computer, but I will avoid ever buying a newly released product from HP again. In the past I have built my computers myself out of quality components, and have a far easier time getting everything working. I had hoped that buying a prebuild computer would it easier to get things up and runnning, but it turned out that the opposite was true.

I've been using the m7360n for about two months now having upgraded from an older m470n model. Installation and setup was a breeze and all features function as advertised. This machine is super fast and the layout of connectors, card slots, etc. is well organized. Setting up the Media Center features was fast and easy and the picture and sound quality are great. I particularly like the removeable second hard drive (optional accessory) as I can transfer recordings to this drive and plug it into any other PC. The only negative I can think of (and this is a personal opinion) is the massive amount of games and other software that comes pre-loaded. However, a visit to Control Panel-Add Remove Programs quickly took care of this. I highly recommend this product to anyone considering a Media Center PC and the value for the money, reliability and tech support are far superior to Dell or Sony.

So my computer like this came with a 22" plasma tv monitor... and so I thought I was buying the most awesome computer ever, right? But I have never had so many problems with a computer before!! Especially not a new one! After I started using the media center, the computer started restarting itself, saying there was a fatal error because of some driver issue. Programs will freeze when opening, sometimes I have to manually turn it off because the "Restart" or "Shut Down" options under Start don't do anything, sometimes if I use task manager to close programs, they don't really close but it says they do... I have had this PC less than a month, and have had to call tech support 3 times so far with calls over 45 mins each, and two chat sessions, and they all came up with the same troubleshooting (which was wrong), or reformatting the hard drive... after I spent the first week and a half installing all my programs and transferring my files over. I don't think so. I do not expect to spend 2,000+ on a computer to have it have a virtual breakdown on me. The stuff that does work, however, is great. When the computer isn't having a nuclear meltdown, it is fabulous. I love the live recording of TV, gameplay is great on here, and I have had no internet problems. I could have gotten a gimp computer, maybe they are not all like that, but if you buy one and something like this happens to it, please post it so people know if it's the computer manufacturing, or just an issue with this one computer. However, mine is not exactly like this because the computer coming up now is a m7360n PC and mine is a m7367c PC, like the one I originally reviewed, but it had no monitor...although it is almost the same thing. Please check the pictures I added for more reference.

Trust me, do NOT buy this PC. I bought one 2 weeks ago
and am very disappointed. I even equipped it with a 3ms,
19" LCD and 5.1 speakers. I want crash it now.

The noise from the fan is very loud. Especially when a DVD
is in the DVD-ROM, it become an airplane and you are
beside that monster. Put it simple: you can NOT enjoy
any thing from the "media centre" of this PC.

If you just want a PC, don't waist your money
for the useless "media centre" package. If you want
to use the "media centre" function, you should go for
a quieter one. Now, I can't return it because it's not a
"defect" or I pay 15% restock fee.

Another problem of this PC: many DVD data or movies burned
by other PCs can not read by this PC's DVD-ROM or DVD-RW,
while other PCs can read them without any problem.
Also, HP installed 100s junk and monitoring services in the
system and make it extremely slow. Visible applications can
be removed easily, but invisible services is hard to identify
and remove.

i've had my m7357c, which is a little bit cheaper, the only difference pretty much is the amount of RAM (1.5GB) and the integrated wifi(which mine doesn't have at all), and i love it. i've had it for about 8 months now, and have had no problems at all with it. it come pre-loaded with a some junk programs which u should immediately delete, but other than that, its perfect, it has a great processor, great hard drive, good graphics card(pretty good for playing games, although i would recommend a better one for that, but for watching movies and general use is perfect), the lightscribe DVD super-multi drive is blazing fast for burning DVD's and CD's(depending on the discs you use), and all-in-all a great computer. although, i would definitely recommend buying some sort of anti-virus software, i use norton '06 and its great, haven't had a virus problem yet.

I have owned this computer since November. In more than 20 years of computer usage, I have never, ever, ever had a system with more problems. I have experienced all of the problems that Jessica mentioned, but because I need to review television programs for a living, these problems have cost me lots of time and some money. I'm averaging 2 fatal problems weekly and have had to go out and purchase a much more reliable Tivo to handle the recording functions. I can agree that when the system does work, it is wonderful but the frequency of problems far outweighs everything else.

I HAVE THIS COMPUTER, IT IS 8 MTS. OLD. A NEW MOTHERBOARD AND A NEW HARD DRIVE HAS BEEN PUT IN. A TECH COULD NOT DO THIS AND IT HAD TO BE SENT TO CA, TWICE. INCONVENENT,, PLUS THE FACT EVETY THING ON IT WAS OFF AND I HAD TO REFORMAT IT. THE STORE I BOUGHT IT FROM HAD PUT THE THINGS I WANTED ON IT( I PAID FOR THAT MYSELF) I HAVE HAD PEOPLE IN TO REDO STUFF ON IT AT MY EXPENSE. I WILL NOT BUY ANYTHING FRUM HP AGAIN. THE THING THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE SINCE IT WAS UNDER WARRENTY, IS REPLACE WITH EVERYTHING INSTALLED LIKE IT WAS WHEN I BOUGHT IT

We've had our HP computer for about a month now and haven't had any problems with it. I haven't tried all the functions yet but it does work fast and gets us online very quickly. It looks good and has tons of memory, hard space and enough cords and wireless devices to run a spaceship. The CD burner works great and from what I've seen, the Media Center looks easy to use, though I haven't had the opportunity yet. So as of now, I'm totally happy with it. If things change, I'll keep everyone updated. (Our model is actually the HP Media Center PC m7357c which we picked up at Costco along with a 19" flat screen monitor for $1445. I'm sure that it is basically the same model as the m7360n as the specs are the same. Costco usually has a slightly different model number to differentiate from the rest. Not only that but they offer a full refund up to 6 months of the purchase date.)

It is now April 2010 and computer is still working fine.