Having used the Personal Cinema
for well over a month, I've become accustomed to it's capabilities and
limitations. The breakout box is an extremely nice little package that can
easily be tucked away out of sight if desired. The Personal Cinema's support for
dual-monitors is unique, and it's something I've found myself using time and
time again. Native support for DVI monitors is another little extra that's sure
to please LCD owners. The additions of an industry standard remote control has
proved fruitful for NVIDIA as one of the primary complaints about the first
iteration of the Personal Cinema was the lackluster IR remote. The rather large
bundle of software allows customers to do be as creative as they'd like to be
with their video. Edit, chop, splice, transition, special effects and outputting
the final product are all available with a few click of a mouse.
However, the system is based upon the GeForce4 MX core, and as such it has no support for the advanced
DirectX 8.1 & 9 features incorporated in many new games. And the performance of
the unit isn't something to brag about either. The NVRemote's use is rather
limited and the audio capturing capabilities of the Personal Cinema seem to be
lacking. The sound captured through the composite connections of the breakout
box was quite grainy. I highly suggest inputting sound into your soundcard's mic
or line-in connector. Adaptation of the Titan TV EPG to be viewable at a
distance would greatly enhance its use from the couch. Maybe some sort of
plug-in could modify the web-based tool to be viewable at a distance.
The Personal Cinema accomplishes what it has set out to do, fill the multimedia void in NVIDIA's
lineup by vastly improving over the standard VIVO features, with the addition of remote
capabilities, direct to DVD recording and arriving with a large software
bundle to provide the customer with everything the card has to offer. I doubt
it'll be leaving my secondary system for quite a while.
