Media Center PC World

Verdict: A cleverly designed system with plenty of power and blissfully quiet operation.

Where to Buy: Please visit http://www.psile.com for an up to date list of where to buy. You can buy from Custom Computa and Mini-ITX in the UK.

Small-form-factor PCs are tempting with their promise of desktop power in a case the size of a shoebox. But there are plenty of pitfalls for system integrators: making sure the system delivers that power without overheating and attempting to get around the problem of squeezing in enough potential for future upgrades and expansion.

The striking-looking Psile case is made by Dutch company Nexus and has clearly been designed with hobbyists in mind. It opens up easily and is compatible with mini-ITX motherboards. The front, bottom and back of the machine are constructed from two pieces of 4mm-thick aluminium, while the sides and top are made from equally thick, glossy plastic, with an added foam layer inside for noise absorption.

The front is almost totally featureless, bar the slot-loading DVD drive and discrete Nexus logo. We received plenty of comments on the system’s looks, but everyday use revealed the plain front to be a significant drawback; with no USB, speaker or FireWire ports, we found ourselves stretching around the back every time we needed to plug in a peripheral. Even worse, the Psile has a woeful total of only two USB ports, plus a single FireWire port - you’ll need to invest in a hub straight away.

The motherboard sits on a heat-conducting aluminium platform, with airflow supplied by a 80mm fan. The cool-running Core 2 Duo CPU is serviced by a copper heatsink sitting immediately in front of the fan, and the rest of the components rely on conduction to ferry heat away. In practice, this means the chassis can get rather warm, so it will need reasonable airflow around it. We experienced no problems with system stability during our testing, however. There’s an interesting touch underneath the motherboard - a 2GB USB flash drive to make use of Windows Vista’s ReadyBoost technology.

The review system is built around a Commell LV-677DC mini-ITX motherboard. It’s based on Intel’s 945GM chipset and offers a good degree of expandability. Not all of the upgradability can be used - there’s a spare SATA port, for instance, but without the physical space to install another disk you won’t be able to use it. There are two mini-PCI slots, though. One is empty and the other is occupied by a Realtek RTL8185L WLAN card, compatible with 802.11a/b/g networks. In spite of the mini-ITX form factor, there’s also a full-length PCI Express slot, occupied by a Vista View Saber 2020 TV tuner. The tuner has a pair of analogue receivers onboard, which unfortunately means Freeview channels are out of the question, and the lack of a remote control also affects how enthusiastic we are about the Psile’s media-centre credentials. But, since the PCI Express slot is 16x, you could swap it out for a DVB-T model or a discrete graphics card, as long as the external 120W power supply can handle it.

The specifications are more than respectable. The 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo T5500 and 2GB of RAM will keep Vista running smoothly. In concert, the core components drove our application benchmarks to an overall result of 0.72. At this price, you’ll also get a spacious 500GB Samsung hard disk, which should see you through for quite some time. The only real performance compromise is graphics - with the PCI Express slot taken by the TV tuner, the LV-677DC motherboard has to rely on its integrated Intel GMA 950 chip. It all but precludes 3D gaming, but there’s sufficient power for Vista’s Aero effects.

The Psile is one of the most attractively styled small-form-factor PCs we’ve seen. Some of its good looks come from its otherwise impractical aversion to front-mounted ports, but there’s no denying that the corner-free chassis looks superb. It also offers a practical amount of power and accessibility for upgrading and repairs, although it already offers more than enough power and storage out of the box.

If you want to use this chassis to build your own system, www.mini-itx.com/store offers the case alone in either white or black, as well as supplying many of the components for the rest of the build. You can also buy the system fully formed by visiting www.silentpcshop.nl, a Dutch vendor that supplies the Psile Media Center PC to the UK for just €1,148 (€1,349 inc VAT). This translates to about £778 (£915 inc VAT), a price that compares extremely well to other small mini-ITX systems we’ve reviewed. The Shuttle XPC mini X 200M costs £720 (£846 inc VAT), but the Psile offers superior components. Evesham’s Mini PC is admittedly smaller, but offers even fewer ports and expansion options. The Psile might be bigger, but it’s a well-engineered design that also offers great value.

This article is about media centers in general. For the Microsoft application, see Windows Media Center.

The term media center refers either to a dedicated computer appliance or to a specialized personal computer software, both of which are adapted for playing various kinds of media (music, movies, photos etc.). A media center may also allow watching DVD movies and watching and recording television broadcasts.

The media itself may be stored, received by terrestrial, satellite or cable broadcasting or streamed from the internet. Stored media is kept either on a local hard drive or on a (wireless) network attached storage. Some software is capable of doing other tasks, such as finding news (RSS) from the Internet. Media centers are often operated with a remote control, connected to a television set for video output, and can sometimes function as a normal personal computer.

A media center can be purpose-built, modified or created by individuals by adding media center software to a PC or some other computer, for example an Xbox. Lately, some video game consoles (Playstation 3 and Xbox 360) with their network services can act as a media center devices by default.

Functionality and advantages

Typical, complete media centers offer the following functions to the user:
•    Integration of all forms of media, entertainment and communication functions including TV-reception (analogue TV, DigitalTV via terrestrial-, cable-, satellite-, IPTV-, webTV-networks), broadband Internet access, IP-telephony, video-telephony, e-mail etc. into one common user friendly GUI (graphical user interface) controlled with a remote control or wireless keyboard by the family members typically in the living room
•    Ability to receive digital media files (via direct video signal, computer network or USB)
•    Ability to store digital media (usually on a standard computer hard disk drive)
•    Ability to play back digital media through standard television or hi-fi equipment
•    Simplicity (compared to a computer equipped to accomplish transfer, storage and TV/hi-fi playback)
•    Cost savings (compared to a computer equipped to accomplish transfer, storage and TV/hi-fi playback)
•    Portability (compared to a computer equipped to accomplish transfer, storage and TV/hi-fi playback)

Though media centers are often built using similar components to personal computers, they are often smaller; media centers sometimes have hardware that is not usually seen in personal computers, such as receivers for remote controls, or television tuner cards. Media centers have not seen widespread popularity but are starting to take hold in the UK and the United States.

Common applications

There are several common applications for which media centers are beginning to gain popularity. Simply put, any application requiring the playback of digital media based files, but not requiring the full features and flexibility of a personal computer stands to benefit from the reduced size, reduced complexity and reduced cost of media centers when compared to similarly equipped PCs.
Common applications include :
•    Digital Sign Systems
•    Automotive Entertainment Systems (i.e. limousines, tour buses, car stereos)
•    In flight/room entertainment and Video On Demand Systems
•    Mobile sales professionals
•    Portable collections for travelers and audio/video enthusiasts

What Do These Various Terms Mean for PCs?

Introduction

Companies use a lot of terms to describe the capabilities of their PCs, especially when it comes to video and audio. Some of the most common terms that users will see include multimedia, media center and home theater. These terms can be very deceiving for the consumer as they have very specific connotations in terms of the features and capabilities. This article looks to explain just exactly what each of these terms mean and what features are associated with them.

Multimedia PC

This term originally came about for PCs around ten years ago and in general can apply to any computer sold on the market today. It was used to describe a system that had the ability to do audio and video playback. Pretty much every computer now has some form of audio output as well as a CD or DVD player which meets these criteria.

So, if pretty much all of the PCs on the market have these features, why do companies still use this term? It’s a buzz word that consumers can misconstrue in terms of the actual capabilities of the system. For example, a multimedia PC does not require a DVD capable drive. As long as it an audio card, it could technically playback music. It can also playback video that is streamed from the web. The simple fact is that a multimedia PC just has to have the basic capabilities not a full feature set.

Capabilities a multimedia PC will have:

* Audio playback via integrated or expansion audio card
* Processor and video card capable of video playback
* CD or DVD drive are common but not required

Media Center PC

The original use of the term media center PC was used to describe any computer that was designed to be integrated into a home electronics setup and viewed on a TV. This early definition has greatly changed with the development of notebook computers and software released by Microsoft.

Technically, any computer that is labeled as a media center PC ships with the Vista Ultimate, Vista Home Premium, Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system. The operating system comes with integrated features for playback of video and audio. Many of the features can only be used with additional hardware features but they are not required. This is important to note when shopping for a computer as it can be labeled as a media center PC but still lack some features.

For example, Windows XP Media Center Edition has the ability to play and record live TV. In order to use this feature though, the computer requires a compatible TV tuner card with the system. Similarly, a compatible remote will greatly enhance the Media Center interface, but it is not required. Because of this, consumers looking at media center labeled PCs should take a close look at the features and specifications to make sure they are getting all the hardware to take advantage of the OS.

Things to look for in a Media Center PC:

• Vista Ultimate, Vista Home Premium or Windows XP Media Center Edition OS
• Internal or external TV tuner
• Wireless remote

Home Theater PC

This term really more describes the computer design and not any specific features or specifications. Home theater PCs are designed to be included with or in replacement of a consumer home theater setup. They typically are designed to run with very little noise and come in cases that mimic those used for consumer home electronics. The systems themselves do not need to be capable of playing back audio or DVD, but they typically include such features.

The one thing that is common on most systems is the ability to connect to a high definition monitor or TV. This is typically done either though a digital DVI video connector used by computer monitors and found on HDTVs or through the newer HDMI connector. This can be tricky though as some newer content such as Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies have the capability of requiring copy protection compatible hardware. This means that the video card and monitor at some point will require HDCP support. This is still not very common on most PC hardware.

Most home theater PC systems will likely feature the Vista Ultimate, Vista Home Premium, Windows XP Media Center Edition, but this is not required. Many companies have software interfaces that can run on Windows 2000 or XP with functions such as TV playback and recording, DVD playback, radio and digital audio. ATI offers such a package with their extremely popular All-In-Wonder graphics cards.

Things to look for in a Home Theater PC:

• Integrates well with consumer home electronics
• Connects to TV via DVI or HDMI connectors
• Silent or near-silent operation

Conclusions

Hopefully this article has helped clarify what the various marketing terms companies are using when they advertise their computers. Even with this, it can be quite confusing. After all, a computer system can very well be described by all three of the terms at once, or only one might apply. The key is to know what to look for in the computer features when the company actually use the terms.

Answer: A Media Centre PC is any computer that runs either the Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Operating System, Windows Vista Premium or Ultimate, or other third party Media Centre software, such as SageTV or Beyond TV. Media Centre PCs allow users to enjoy digital entertainment on their PC or hook the computer up to a TV System. Media Centre PCs act like A/V Receivers. DVD Players, VCRs, CD Players, Televisions, etc. can be connected to the PC.

Media Centre PCs allow you to:

• Listen to music through speakers attached to your PC or through your home audio system.

• Watch TV programming (broadcast, cable, or satellite) on your computer monitor.

• Use your computer’s hard drive to record and store television programs and play them back later (time shifting), making the computer a DVR (digital video recorder).

• Edit your digital photographs and display them in digital slideshows.

• Edit your digital home movies.

• Listen to local and Internet radio.

• Record music and video files to CD or DVD format so they can be played on other computers, CD and DVD Players, sound systems, etc.

Many computer manufacturers offer Media Centre PCs, including, Dell, Gateway, HP, Custom Computa and Alienware, among others.