Total Home Theatre PC is a company you’d expect to know about these things and you can tell it’s put a great deal of thought in to this system. The Ahanix MCE601 case was one of our favourites – while tall, it’s noticeably lower than the Altech and Claritas offerings. It also offers good functionality with a flap beneath the optical drive sporting a media card reader, two USB 2 ports, FireWire and two audio jacks. There’s also a digital display but it’s tiny.

It’s made of noticeably thicker Aluminium than the Altech case which helps mask the hard disk noise. Like the Altech, there’s only a 200GB hard disk included. However, there’s room for a whopping four more meaning there’s potential to outdo the TeraServer. Our only gripe lay with the two small exhaust fans. Most of our sound-meter readings rivalled the Altech but the rear reading was noticeably the highest we saw. While housing it in a TV cabinet helps (and the fact that it isn’t distracting when you’re actually watching TV) in such a finely balanced labs it was enough to drop crucial points.

The only other disappointments lay with the spec. An Athlon 3200+ and 512MB of RAM seems a little tight when compared with similarly-priced rivals. Still everything worked smoothly and without a hitch.

A major boon of this system is its integration with the iMON remote and software. While this is also provided by Altech, THTPC makes a lot more of it. Indeed, the way the company beams about it you feel they see the MCE 2005 interface as a hindrance. You can control almost everything via the remote – including, most usefully, the mouse. The iMON menu isn’t as polished as MCE 2005 but it’s fully customisable in what programs launch and how. It will even let you watch video through it.

However, there are times when you’ll need a keyboard and THTPC bundles BTC’s excellent device. Again, what it lacks in refinement it makes up for in ergonomics and functionality.

A mini joystick controls the mouse (far superior to the official MCE keyboard) and it has handles at either end.

It’s clear THTPC know a great deal about Media Center and we’re looking forward to seeing more kit from this company. But this month, this model just misses the award. There’s simply better value to be had elsewhere and the relatively low quietness score hurts it.