Altech's Maestro Pro is a Home Theatre PC based on Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. It revolves around two Hauppauge Nova-T digital TV tuners - letting you record one program to the hard drive while watching or recording another. With the move towards digital TV in Australia this is definitely a boon, but note that if you rely on getting your TV signal through a set top box, you'll need an analog tuner instead.
It's powered by a 3.2GHz Pentium 4 processor, 512MB of RAM and a 200GB Seagate Serial ATA hard disk. The latter is nice and quiet (essential for the living room) though it probably won't be long before the capacity feels restrictive, so it could be worth an upgrade when purchasing. There's also an excellent dual layer 16x DVD+R burner and Gigabit Ethernet.
Altogether it's a fairly powerful package for Media Center and scored a respectable 3288 in PCMark04. Graphics come from a ^^^MB XpertVision FX6600 (with Zalman fanless heatpipe). A 3DMark 2005 score of 1126 illustrates that this is not a PC for the latest games though it is passively-cooled to keep noise down. However, Altech does realise that some people will want to use the Maestro Pro as a games console too and hopes to provide an upgrade option to a passively-cooled XpertVision 7800GTX soon. It sounds good, but expect to pay a hefty premium.
DVI, D-SUB, composite and S-video outputs all appear at the back to provide connection to your television or monitor (neither of which are included). Plus there are outputs for 7.1-channel audio and optical S/PDIF for pumping sound through your stereo or surround sound speakers. Only a wireless 802.11b/g card is missing. A classy Microsoft Optical Desktop Elite for Bluetooth keyboard and mouse are provided - great as many Media Center PCs fall down with the lousy range provided by peripherals with RF frequencies.
Media Center is compatible with IceTV's Australian electronic program guide (EPG), allowing you to browse and record from a seven day TV guide. The Maestro Pro comes with an IceTV 30 day free trial, after which it's about $3 a week. This represents the big problem with MCE in Australia. In other countries, Microsoft has agreements to freely display 14-day listings from all channels. Considering the raison d'etre of MCE is to record TV and sit in your living room, sorting out free listings must be a priority for Microsoft. It can't supply an operating system that requires users to pay over $100 in subscriptions each year and expect the technology to catch on.
This is a shame as the initially-clunky and bulky MCE systems have been refined to true living room appliances - as the Maestro Pro gives testimony to. It uses the Accent HT-400B Home Theatre PC case which measures 435 x 410 x 165mm (WDH) - about the same as a tall VCR. It comes in silver or black so it should blend nicely with any other AV gear. It's just a shame that the USB and FireWire ports on the front couldn't be hidden behind a fold-down flap as they're all that spoil the Maestro's non-computer look.
The front is also adorned with the iMon two line text display. It can be set to show a graphic equaliser, the name of the file playing, notification of new emails or even news updates from the internet. It is highly customisable and has its own remote (a mixed blessing as few people will want an extra two remotes in their living room). It's a shame the text is far too small to read from the couch.
If you're determined to jump aboard the MCE bandwagon and can live with the current EPG limitations in Australia then Altech's Maestro Pro is a decent choice. It's expensive but this is the price you pay for well-designed living room electronics these days.