Setup and Performance Music, TV, Radio, and Games

Copying music to the hard drive is as easy as pressing a button. The burning process allows you to do other things (listen to music, watch TV, whatever) and gives you a message when the burning is complete. The DMS-701 connects to the Internet and downloads the cover art and song list. In fact, when the burning process begins, it suggests the name of the band and album and asks for confirmation. It also allows you to connect to different databases on the Internet so that if the album is some sort of obscure import, you have a better chance of finding it. The unit comes standard with 280 MB of storage but can be upgraded to 2 terabytes (oh yeah, I said tera bytes).

If for any reason you can't find the album, resist the urge to allow it to be titled "Unknown" under the assumption that you'll name it later. If you do that more than once, the computer doesn't know that each "Unknown" is different and will place them all under the same heading. At that point, it is easiest just to erase it and start over.

Within the MCE interface, I could find no way of delineating a playlist (picking a bunch of songs you like and saving them) though there are a number of preset playlists which I found to be completely uninteresting. What you can do easily is set up a queue. What I would do is pick a number of albums that I had on the hard drive and select "Add to Queue" and "Repeat." You can also add individual songs but I was too lazy to do that. If you like a particular song, you can select it and hit "Buy Music." This allows you to search for additional versions, remixes, and other songs by the same band and download them.

Any of us that have used Windows Media Player is familiar with visualizations. Personally, ever since the days of the 3DO I've been a sucker for such novelties. Once I realized that you could enable visualizations either manually or change the settings so that when you started a song/album, it automatically initialized, I immediately chose the latter. My in-laws came to visit for a couple of days and were noticeably impressed. I know, it is a fairly mundane ability but it is just such things that impress the uninitiated. Plus it kept my two and a half year old transfixed. Sort of "baby hypnosis" if you will. Anytime I needed 5 minutes of quiet, I'd start some music and know that it would hold his interest. The best parenting technique...? Probably not. But sometimes five minutes is all you need to regain your sanity. I later realized that allowing visualizations to automatically start makes it impossible to get to the menu that lets you select the "repeat" and other options.

The only really strange thing I came across with music is that on the selection screen, some information would say "Unknown" but would then mystically appear once you hit play. Case in point, the Death Cab for Cutie album I reviewed recently, Transatlanticism , would be without the artist's name on the selection screen but it would show up on the track information on the screen and on the little blue LCD on the unit. I asked 2partsfusion about this and they were as confused as I was. This also showed up on an Interpol album I loaded.

Manufacturer's Note: 2partsfusion does offer for the audiophile custom DMS systems with more advanced audio functionality featuring higher-end audio cards from M-Audio and SoundBlaster as well as specialized software installations using JRivers Media Center or Charmed Quark Systems.

The Death Cab for Cutie CD is a hybrid SACD/CD. As I noted in my review, the differences between the two versions were undistinguishable to my ear. Sadly, with my review unit, it could not pass DVD-A or SACD information. I tried to burn a DTS CD to the hard drive (Diana Krall - Love Scenes ) but the unit wouldn't even play it - nothing but static. I think it is because it is a CD with a DTS track. It had no problems with the DTS DVDs like the Blue Man Group - The Complex . One word of caution, I found myself tempted to use the remote as if I were listening to music when listening to a DTS DVD. Not a good idea. With Porcupine Tree - Deadwing , I found that the "skip" button would do strange things (like freezing the computer). I had to remember to use the scroll buttons (as the menu on each screen indicates).

The Death Cab for Cutie, Marillion - This Strange Engine , and Barenaked Ladies - Gordon , along with a number of others were all burned successfully and playback was flawless. It is a really nice convenience to have all your music at your fingertips. Once the unit is networked, you can transfer all of your content from your computer to the DMS-701 as easily as dragging and dropping. You'll probably want to make sure that your music is fairly well organized when you do so or you'll have to do a lot of reorganizing on the DMS-701 (album (Title, Artist and Genre) and track (Title, Artist, and Rating out of 5) information can be edited).

Setup and Performance - TV

Ahhhhh... recording TV. For those of you who have never experienced this before, take my word for it, don't. Because once you do, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it. And giving it up is like going cold turkey after a '2 pack a day for 20 years' smoking habit. My unit came configured with two standard definition tuners allowing me to record one station and watch another or record two at once (having to watch one or the other while doing that). My last DVR was an early model from Dish Network which only had one tuner. This is a luxury that I don't know how I'm going to do without once I have to return the unit. Recording TV was as easy as selecting a channel and pressing "Record" or scrolling through the guide until you found a show you wanted to watch and hitting either "Enter" or "Record". Personally, I scanned the Disney channel once a week for a movie and recorded it for movie night with my son (usually Saturdays). I also kept a couple of episodes of Bob the Builder, Thomas the Train, and Clifford on hand for his grumpier moments. We were going to the library once a week to check out DVDs for him but this is so much easier.

Of course, you can pause and rewind live TV. The unit starts "recording" from the moment you start viewing the channel with a max of 30 minutes in its "short term" memory. I would have liked at least an hour as the default. One thing I would have liked to have seen that my Dish unit also lacked is the ability to rewind and record from that point. If you are watching a show and decide you 舗 d liked to have recorded it, you can't rewind to the beginning and start recording from there. If you pressed "Rewind" and hit "Record", it starts recording from wherever the show is playing in real time. You can hit the "Info" button and ask the unit to find other instances of the show and ask it to record that one, but I don't know why, if the show is already in memory, you can't just save it from wherever you want.

When setting up the TV, the area you live and the type of provider you have will be required. I have Comcast and the guide downloaded in a couple of minutes. It would occasionally refresh (though I rarely noticed when that happened) and for the most part it was accurate. Cartoon Network was a notable exception as their late night "Adult Swim" programming was often wrong. As I'm a huge Aqua Team Hunger Force fan, I found this particularly irksome as ATHF was often mislabeled as "Home Movies," a show that sucks. Well, it's OK but not nearly as good. The fast forward button skips 3 hours at a time and the scene advance skips 12 - both very useful options. If you were looking at the guide on my Dish DVR when the big hand hit either the 12 or the 6, the guide would bring you back to the current channel and timeframe. That used to irritate me to no end. The DMS-701 just updates the guide without moving you from the channel/time you are viewing. Very nice. One thing to remember is that the guide is normally only available from a digital network. The convenience of being able to see what you are watching and what is coming up with a button push can't be underestimated. Once you have enjoyed a feature like this, sitting there watching the TV Guide channel feels like a root canal.

Watching a recorded show is as easy as picking it from a list and hitting play. Once you stop playback, it will give you a number of storage options including "Keep until space needed", "Keep for a week", "Keep until I watch", and "Keep until I delete". Personally, I like the "watch" and "delete" options. Some of this stuff I'm just recording because I won't be home but I'm not wanting to keep it on the hard drive forever. The kids stuff, that stays - until I get sick of watching it and I'll delete it manually. The unit defaults to "Keep until space needed" which is my least favorite option.

The recorded TV list is organized in reverse chronological order (newest on top) with the opening screen being the last three or so recorded and the scheduled recordings. A maximum of seven programs are shown on the screen displaying the show's name and the date recorded. Personally, I would rather have the oldest recorded on top as I tend to scroll down and the fist incidence of a show I watch. I once watched a two part Scrubs in reverse order because of the organization of this screen. If you change the view to "Sort by Title", it lists them from the first to the last.

While the 2partsfusion DMS-701 has the ability to send out a DVI signal, it is a "garbage in, garbage out" situation. If you are watching standard definition TV on a less than optimal signal (like mine) the output will reflect that. I will say that I noticed increased graininess and some ghosting that wasn't apparent on my normal connection.

Setup and Performance - Radio

The DMS-701 has a standard over the air (OTA) tuner for FM radio that works well. You can program your favorite stations in manually or scroll through the channels in .2 increments. I didn't find a "seek" option where it scrolls automatically to the next strong signal - a glaring omission in the program. Well, actually there is a "seek" button but it just seeks up on increment each time. I was pleasantly surprised that you could rewind and record radio, I wasn't expecting that.

One of the things you can select in the "Internet Spotlight" is a couple of different Internet radio providers (at the time of the review, Musicmatch and Live365.com). Both these providers have free and premium areas, the latter you have to pay for. With all the free Internet radio out there, a way of integrating free stations would have been nice. Conversations with 2partsfusion revealed that this is by design within the MCE interface (see Setup and Performance - Other below) and that you can get those stations by exiting the interface and using a separate program. This would most likely require the user to grab the keyboard or have some serious macros programmed.

Setup and Performance - Gaming

I'm not going to lie to you; I really like my DTS. That is why I was so excited about the inclusion of the HDA X-plosion card. Passing though movies really isn't that big of a deal but upmixing games are. With the new job, another kid on the way, and general life issues I've been out of gaming for a while. The last single person game I bought was Diablo 2 and I was into City of Heroes for a while before we moved into our new house (a little over a year ago). Still, I felt obligated to test the gaming potential of the unit in general and the HDA card specifically.

Now, I must say that conversations with 2partsfusion revealed that they don't suggest doing this. The DMS-701 is really meant to be used as a HTPC - meaning music/movie storage, organization, and playback. Once you start installing games and doing your taxes and adding more and more programs - well, you are going to slow the machine down. But it is a PC and people are going to install games on it so I downloaded the Doom 3 demo. While I generally like the provided wireless keyboard for basic interface, the little mouse/joystick thing in the top corner is completely inadequate for circle strafing - even if it had worked for the game, which it didn't (actually, the joystick worked but the keyboard didn't). You'll have to either get a long cord for a PS/2 mouse and keyboard or a wireless one that works for this sort of game. I had neither so I was relegated to sitting near the unit while playing.

Let me say this, if you've never experienced gaming in you home theater with a real subwoofer providing the low end, you've never experienced it. My previous gaming experiences pale in comparison. Now, I did find the game to be quite sibilant on the top end but the bottom was simply amazing. The little bit I played for this review had me absolutely Quaking in my boots (pun intended) as I remembered what it felt like to be scared by a game. It was also really nice to have the sounds of the zombies/monsters clue you in to where they were. That is the sort of gaming experience that immerses you rather than involves you. I don't think it had the creep factor that would hold through the entire game like the Resident Evil games are so known for but at first blush, I was pretty impressed.