The idea of using your PC as the central control point for your home theatre has been bandied about for some time.You can do it with a standard graphics card with video output and your sound card, but the Xcard offers an all-in-one product with some extra features to boot.

The Xcard is basically a multimedia card that uses your PC as the primary source of media. You can play DVD and VCD movies as well as MPEG4, or even DivX clips, and MP3 files too. It will convert a variety of formats for display on standard or high definition television sets as well as VGA monitors in either 4:3 or 16:9 format with letterbox and pan and scan supported.

The card also can be connected to external Dolby surround sound systems, all controllable from the Xmedia player interface.

Installing the card is not difficult. It takes just a few minutes to fit it into an available PCI slot and link it to your graphics card and VGA monitor. However, there were some issues with uninstalling it and it conflicting with Norton Internet Security.

Once you have it up and running you can run your DVD audio through your external surround sound system rather than relying on your suspect TV speakers. If have a library of movies on your hard drive, or want to hear your MP3s blasting out of from your home theatre sound system, this is the way to do it.

The card also has connections for Dolby Pro Logic and Dolby Digital Surround Sound systems.

And you don't have to sit at the computer to operate it all as there is an infrared remote control system, consisting of a base that makes use of your serial port, and a handheld remote.

Xcard does what it sets out to do and turns your PC into a home theatre PC (providing you have all the extras such as a sound system, TV and DVD player). It also gives you a taste of what it would be like to have everything controlled from a central point and how much better your MP3 will sound played through some proper audio equipment.