X-bit labs

Thermaltake Bach and Mozart HT PC Review (page 17)

Category: Multimedia

by Vasily Melnik

[ 01/28/2006 | 06:17 PM ]

Part 3: Media Center

All we have been talking about till now is just the beginning. The main component of the kit is the multimedia software shell called iMEDIAN which is in fact the very ingredient that transforms your PC into a multimedia center controlled remotely from your sofa.

Like with the software for the VFD screen and the remote control, we had no installation-related troubles with iMEDIAN. When you start up the setup application, you’ll get a welcome screen and are invited to continue:

Then you’ll be asked if you want to have your computer scanned for media files:

You’d better refuse as the process will take quite a lot of time, and it is useless to scan system folders, for example. If you’ve got a TV tuner installed in your PC, you can set it up right now:

You can use the tuner’s own software or the internal iMEDIAN viewer. That’s actually where the setup procedure ends:

The program installed, you can start it up from the remote control by pressing the big blue button or clicking the desktop icon.

Besides the icon, there will be a small indicator on the Desktop:

Carrying the program’s logotype, the indicator shows the volume bar. When the sound volume is being adjusted, the numerical value is shown on the indicator, too:

The program offers you its main menu right after the launch:

The Settings item is the most important when you are just trying to learn the capabilities of the media shell:

You are going to spend quite a while here, but you’d better get done with this once and for all and never return to this submenu anymore. So, there are six submenus here:

Let’s see what each of them means.