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Introduction:::...
You
can't surf very far on the Internet without hearing the
now ubiquitous term "Home Theater PC" or HTPC
for short bandied about. But what exactly is a Home Theater
PC?
Ultimately
I think we have to blame Bill Gates and his visions of multimedia
convergence, whether his operating system was properly equipped
to cope or not.
One
definition I dug out for HTPC was "The HTPC may
take the place of a CD player, DVD player, deinterlacer,
or Personal video recorder. An HTPC is often connected to
an HDTV rather than a traditional Computer display. One
of the primary advantages of an HTPC is that the video output
is progressive scan and much higher resolution than standard
definition television."
Of
course here in the UK the chances of any kind of home entertainment
component being tethered to a High Definition TV are remote,
at least until Sky launch the first HDTV broadcast service
in 2006.
So
it seems the term is rather vague, meaning a PC that handles
at least one of the tasks traditionally handled by other
pieces of domestic hardware, tasks such as video playback,
audio playback, video recording, audio recording, time shifting,
TV broadcast decoding and so on, in which case we've been
using "HTPCs" for years without even knowing it!
I
think to be fair, the term HTPC to most of us means a PC
that's been placed into a slightly more living room-friendly
case and, if we're lucky, running software that makes controlling
the multimedia functions easier on our TV's pitiful 525
line resolution
Today
I get to review a product that not only aims to offer an
attractive, though not too tiny home for your "HTPC"
project, but one which at the same time makes controlling
it all as simple as pointing a remote control.
The
product in question is the LC10M from SilverStone, a company
renowned for the quality of their cases. The "M"
suffix denotes that this is the multimedia enhanced version
of the case meaning, as you've probably guessed, that there's
also a vanilla LC10 which comes sans VFD display, multimedia
remote and multimedia software.
But
I'm giving away the plot so let's do the specs then take
a look:
| Material |
Aluminum
front panel, 1.0mm SECC body
|
| Color |
Black |
| Silver |
| Motherboard |
ATX,
Micro ATX |
| Drive
Bay |
Extemal |
5.25¨
x 1
|
| lntemal |
5.25¨
x 1 / 3.5¨ x 4 |
| Cooling
System |
Rear |
Front
¡V 80mm intake, 2050rpm, 21dBA
Rear ¡V 2 x 60mm exhaust, 3600rpm, 25dBA
|
| Expansion
Slot |
7
|
| Front
I/O Port |
USB2.0
port x 4
1394 Firewire x 1
Earphone jack x 1
MIC x 1
|
| Multimedia |
VFD,
IR, remote control, iMon media center software |
| Power
Supply |
Optional
standard PS2 (ATX) |
| Net
Weight |
8
kg
|
| Dimension |
430
mm (W) x 163 mm (H) x 429 mm (D) |
In
case you missed it, that's 8Kg in weight, or 17.6 pounds
if you like it in old money. Considering it has an aluminium
front fascia you get some idea how heavy this chassis is.
Alternatively, it shows how sturdy it is, and as it's not
really designed to be humped from place to place we shouldn't
be critical that it's a bit of a "fat kid".
Anyway,
let's get to the pictures:
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