6/27/08 – Velocity Micro offers a wide range of home theater designed computer systems. Most of these fall into the modified desktop realm, using standard PC tower case designs not really suited towards a home theater setup. The Grand Theater model however is designed to integrate fully with your home theater and offers some surprising options. Let's see what Velocity Micro has to offer with this HTPC ..
Processor:
The Grand Theater system is based around the Intel Core 2 desktop processors. The base Core 2 DUo E4600 is a bit underpowered, but they offer a variety of options. For those that want extra performance because they are handling multiple video streams or do lots of video transcoding, one of the Intel Core 2 Quad processors are very beneficial upgrade. An Intel Core 2 Exteme processor is also available but the cost versus performance is probably not worth it.
Memory:
Memory should not be an issue for the CineMagix Grand Theater. Velocity Micro packs the system with two gigabytes of PC2-6400 DDR2 memory from Corsair with low latency for solid performance. An upgrade to 4GB of memory is available and recommended to decrease the potential slowdowns from heavy memory usage. It would be nice to see Velocity Micro offer an option for 8GB along with a 64-bit operating system to offer even more performance.
Hard Drives:
Storage space is critical for home theater systems that require a lot of digital video material. To handle this, the Grand Theater comes with a variety of hard drive options. The two drive options are setup in a RAID 1 mirror for increased data security with total capacity of 320 to one terabyte. Three of four drive options are available in RAID 5 stripes for performance are security with capacities ranging from 640GB all the way up to 2 terabytes. Single drive configurations are also available for those wanting to save a bit on the purchase price.
CD/DVD Drives:
DVD burners are a standard feature for pretty much every desktop computer system on the market. The base CineMagix Grand Theater comes equipped with a Lite-On 20x dual layer recorder with LightScribe. For those looking to support high definition DVD, Velocity Micro offers the choice of choice of either a Lite-On BluRay burner that also supports DVD media. This is a fairly expensive upgrade, but they also offer a Blu-ray reader/DVD burner combo drive that is more affordable. It is important to note that all of your gear needs to be HDCP compliant to use the BluRay playback.
Graphics and Display:
If there is any flaw with the CineMagix Grand Theater, it is the choice of graphics cards. While the ATI Radeon graphics cards are good for video playback, they lack the performance for those also wanting to use the system for Direct X gaming applications. The default Radeon HD 3450 is very limited in performance while the upgraded HD 3850 and HD 3870 will give acceptable performance. Only one GeForce card, an eVGA 8800 GT, is available for those wishing to use an NVIDIA based card.
TV Tuners:
The default configuration of the CineMagix Grand Theater comes equipped with the ATI TV Wonder 650 HDTV tuner card that supports ATSC and analog TV inputs. This is a common card for most home theater PCs, but users will definitely want to go with the upgraded ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner. This is a new card that allows the support of a standard ATSC or analog TV tuner, but also allows for support of HDTV via a CableCard from your Cable or Satellite provider. This is a huge step up for HTPCs and definitely worth the upgrade. It is possible to also have multiple tunres installed.
Audio:
Audio plays a central role in home theater systems, so it is kind of surprising that many HTPCs including the CineMagix Grand Theater rely on integrated audio solutions. The Intel HDA solution does support 7.1 audio, but only over mini-jack connectors. This prevents true surround sound if it is hooked up for a home theater surround receiver. It would be nice to see Velocity Micro offer an upgraded audio solution that supports Dolby Digital Live and DTS.
Software:
Software selection is quite limited with Velocity Micro systems. For the CineMagix Grand Theater, only two operating system choices are available. Users can pick either the 32-bit version of Vista Home Premium or the 32-bit version of Vista Ultimate. These versions are critical for their support of the media center features and the Digital Cable with HDCP. The only other software optiona with the system is a version of Norton Anti-Virus for security and several versions of Microsoft Office for productivity.
Overall Impressions:
One of the biggest flaws in most home theater PCs to date has been the support for HDTV. The majority of consumers receive their HDTV either through a cable or satellite provider and not via an antennae. Until recently, the only option home theater PC users had was support for antennae reception. That changed with ATI's release of the CableCard tuners to system integrators. Velocity Micro is one of the first to use such a tuner and it is a must have upgrade for the CineMagix Grand Theater. Not to get this feature really cripples this unit as a home theater PC.
In fact, the ability to hook the PC up to a cable or satellite provider for HDTV is a huge boost for this system. It is nearly perfect save for two flaws that could be corrected. The first is that the graphics cards options are fairly limited. In addition to this, the one card that does feature HDMI support offers little in terms of performance for 3D applications. It is fine if the system is just being used for home theater and not PC gaming.
The other problem is not as major, but still annoying. Most people who are going to purchase such a home theater PC are also likely to have home theater receivers for handling surround sound. The default audio solution does not support any form of surround sound output other than mini-jacks, not something surround receivers are designed to handle. It would be nice to see Velocity Micro offer one of the many cards that offer Dolby Digital Live as an option for improved audio support.
Even with these flaws, the Velocity Micro CineMagix Grand Theater is definitely one of the best home theater PCs available on the market. With small touches such as the option for either a silver or black case to match the rest of your home theater gear just add to that claim. If you really want a home theater PC, be sure to give the Grand Theater a close look.
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