Black Boxes:
Gateway FMC-901 Family Media Center PC
PCs have made a long, slow migration into the family room. Along the way, they have created many aesthetic problems for all those valiant individuals who have decided to make the PC a part of their home entertainment center. A tricked-out tower-style CPU has many uses in the family room, but where do you put that big, ugly PC?
Gateway's answer is to turn that big, ugly PC onto its side and treat it the same way you would a home theater receiver or a DVD player. It's an elegant solution, to be sure, but the FMC-901 Family Media Center PC goes a few steps further. Just a few of those steps include a wireless keyboard and mouse, a flash memory card reader, FireWire, front-mounted A/V inputs and outputs, a DVD player and an FM radio tuner. And that's just the hardware.
Though the FMC-901 was specifically designed for use with a Gateway TV/PC monitor, we tested the unit's versatility by plugging it into an existing home theater environment that included a Sony Trinitron TV and a modest Sony STR-K740P Digital Audio/Video Receiver. With only minor setbacks in getting the wireless mouse and keyboard to work properly, we got the unit up and running in about an hour.
Tune In
One of the first things we noticed when plugging in the FMC-901 was the lack of any composite video output; only DVI, VGA and S-video connections are available. This means that in order to use the Gateway Family Media Center, you must have a monitor that has at least an S-video input. This might seem limiting, but it is actually a clever move on the part of Gateway to help make sure that nobody uses a bad monitor for this TV/PC. A standard television might work great for watching the evening news or Saturday morning cartoons, but it is not very good for viewing Windows XP applications. The FMC-901 looks best, of course, on a high-end progressive-scan HD display with DVI inputs, but if you can't afford such a treasure, a good television with S-video inputs will do. The image on our Sony Trinitron was good enough to view and read most of what appeared on the screen; some of the smaller fonts, however, were blurry and difficult to see.
Once you plug everything in, you complete your setup by configuring the unit's Windows XP Media Center software. In order to do this, you must first get your Internet connection up and running by plugging your DSL or Cable modem into the LAN port on the back of the computer. If it sounds like a complex procedure to get the FMC-901 working, it is. But don't be discouraged; the payoff is well worth the hassle.
Turn On
Okay, so now you've got everything installed and plugged in, your mouse and keyboard are working, the Internet is connected and the Windows XP Media Center software is installed. Now, when you turn on the unit, you should be automatically transported to the Media Center screen, which is an elegant interface designed to give you access to the FMC-901's primary features using only the remote control. If you want to use the standard Windows XP interface, you can press the Windows button in the center of the remote, or simply minimize the Media Center window.
Arranged in a circle around the Windows button on the remote are the following buttons, each corresponding to one of the FMC-901's family-room-friendly features: Live TV, Recorded TV, DVD Menu, My TV, My Radio, My Music, My Pictures and My Videos. Each of these is self-explanatory and simple to use. If you want to time-shift a television program, for instance, you press the My TV button, select Guide and then navigate to the program you want to record, then press the Record button on the remote. If you want to record one of your CDs onto the hard drive, you use the Windows Media Player. You can then access them later using the My Music button on the remote control. To view pictures taken with your digital camera, insert your flash media card into the slot in the front of the FMC-901, use Windows XP to copy and organize your pictures into folders and then press My Pictures to view them one by one or as a slide show. Videos, DVD and radio operate similarly. After setting up the content using the XP interface, you can access a simplified version from the remote control. You can even set up a standard Windows XP program, such as a game or video editing software, for easy access in the Media Center. An additional feature that shows you new and interesting ways to use your FMC-901, along with a little bit of advertising from Gateway's media partners, is found in the Online Spotlight.
PCs and TVs, Unite
All in all, the Gateway Family Room Media Center is a welcome addition to the home, offering popular PC/TV features like DVR (digital video recorder) time-shifting, MP3 and DVD playback, Internet radio, plus a wide range of other features that are very smart and very couch-friendly. For $800 more, the FMC-901X offers a bigger hard drive, DVD burning, more RAM and a better 3D video card. The setup of this unit is a bit of a chore, but for a product like this, that is to be expected. For ease of use, value and overall functionality, we give the FMC-901 a heartfelt recommendation.
SMART SPECS
Platform: PC
Operating System: Windows XP Media Center Edition
Processor: Intel Celeron 2.6 GHz
Memory: 256MB DDR RAM
Hard Drive: 80GB
DVD/CD: DVD/CD-RW combo drive
Media Cards supported: SmartMedia, CompactFlash, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, SecureDigital, MultiMedia Card
Other Features: FireWire, front-mounted inputs and outputs, wireless keyboard and mouse, Windows Media Center XP edition, Gemstar program guide, S/PDIF digital audio output
Company: Gateway, Inc.
Contact: (800) 369-1409
Web Site: www.gateway.com
Price: $999
Digg This!
del.icio.us
Technorati
Reddit