Many Media Center PCs look flawed in some way: they’re either living room-unfriendly desktop PCs, or bulky AV-style boxes that few people have room for. So we were pleased that this DreamVision not only measures just 95mm in height but also looks like something which belongs in even the most stylish living room.
Turning it on made us think it was broken as it’s very quiet indeed. Only the quiet clicking of the hard disk would be audible in a quiet room. The refined exterior contrasts with the crowded innards. Pioneer has crammed a lot in. There’s a dual-layer DVD writer, a generous 2GB of RAM and a 300GB hard disk. Expansion is possible via two spare PCI slots (one is low-profile) and a low-profile PCI Express 1x slot. The 16x graphics slot is taken up by an Intel graphics card that offers DVI and component connectors. It’s also HDCP compatible for playing encrypted HD content. The tuner is the excellent dual-digital HD Hauppauge model. We were a little bemused by the amateurish plastic ducting which drew the processor’s heat away with the power supply, though.
Using the MCE functions with the remote and keyboard/mouse controller proved smooth and responsive. Inside is a punchy 3GHz dual-core Pentium D CPU which scored 0.90 in our benchmarks – just 10 percent behind our high-performance reference PC.
Pioneer offers various upgrades, but adding X1300 graphics for $149 won’t suddenly make 3D games playable. We recommend moving the warranty from one year onsite to three year onsite for $262 extra and buyers may want to upgrade the 300GB hard disk to 500GB for $291 as the system’s main weak spot is lack of space for additional hard disks.
It oozes connectivity with optical and coaxial S/PDIF audio outputs joining the video outputs and eight RCA 7.1 audio connectors (replacing the usual 3.5mm audio jacks) at the back: Pioneer is clearly encouraging the use of proper home theatre speakers, not computer speakers. There are four USB 2 ports and a FireWire port. At the front, behind a flap, are two 3.5mm audio jacks, mini-FireWire, S-Video, composite and two RCA connectors, two-more USB ports and a media card reader that supports everything but xD.
Its other main feature is Viiv compatibility. While Viiv features like exclusive content and easy network setup practically don’t exist in Australia, the instant off function works. However, turning it on again requires stooping down to the case itself.
The final thing to note is Pioneer’s inclusion of Word Perfect Office and CyberLink’s excellent DVD Solution. The latter includes everything you need to view, create and edit video on your PC.
All in all, beyond hard disk capacity there are very few weak points. Almost every MCE box is ticked and the price is right. As such, the DreamVision becomes our Media Center PC of choice.
