Few would dispute the fact that the entertainment system of the future will combine the best attributes of both a TV and PC, but debate continues to rage about the wisdom of entrusting all AV needs to a Windows-based Media Centre PC. Tipping the scales of trust are those models configured specifically to handle your precious media files, and designed to look good in the living-room. Such is the MediaPC4U system.

Based on the SilverStone Crown CW02 case (available in black or silver), this system looks rather like a high-grade amplifier, and so won't look out of place racked with other AV kit. More to the point, it actually is an amplifier, with a built-in 5.1-channel surround sound processor/amplifier card.

The all-aluminium construction and extra-thick reinforced dress plates in the front set off a sophisticated design with a backlit LCD panel and two big control knobs, one for function and one for volume. Front panel sockets are concealed discreetly under a hinged flap.

The case is big enough to accommodate an extended length graphics card, a CPU cooler, and lots of drive options. MediaPC4U will assemble pretty much any configuration you want with prices starting at £1,099.

Options include a choice of motherboards, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate operating systems, different specifications of AMD processor, a choice of coolers, RAM from 1Gb to 4Gb, one to five hard drives of up to 1Tb each, optical drives including DVD-RW, BD and BD-R, a choice of TV tuner cards including dual digital models and the optional SiliconDust HD Homerun dual DVB-T Network Tuner, a choice of Asus and Sapphire graphics cards with up to 1024MB onboard RAM, a choice of power supplies and fans, and a selection of card readers. Phew!

MediaPC4U media center pc rear

SLOT IN: You can fit full-size graphics cards in the ample casing

All the motherboard options will support Blu-ray and HD-DVD playback, and the system comes with a Windows Vista compatible 56-button infrared remote control handset. Wireless network cards, wireless keyboards, sound-proofing kits and cables are all available as optional extras.

Bit of a Diva

The system we auditioned comprises the SilverStone Crown CW02 Media Centre PC Case, MSI Media Live DIVA 5.1 100W (claimed) amplifier CPU, AMD 4850e dual core 2.5GHz processor, Western Digital Green Power 500GB hard drive, LG GGC-H20L Blu-ray optical drive, Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit operating system, and Arcsoft Total Media Theatre 2 software for native Media Centre Blu-ray playback.

We also had a SiliconDust HDHomeRun networkable dual tuner supplied by Nectar Electronics, bringing the total cost to £1,394.73. Naturally, Windows Vista includes Windows Media Center, your control system for playback of digital video and audio files and, of course, you get all the other functionality of a modern PC.

Easy hooker

The HDMI connection on the graphics card makes it easy to connect to a TV. A rather more fiddly process is the speaker connection for the amplifier card. You have to screw the bare ends of the speaker cable into an edge connector, and plug this into the amplifier board slot, a little awkward, particularly if you have thick speaker cables.

The key to the system is the combination of a motherboard and five-channel amplifier that is otherwise known as the Media Live DIVA 5.1. It features a socket to support a range of AMD and Sempron processors, slots for up to 8Gb of memory, and slots for PCI graphics cards.

The 5.1 channel audio amplifier circuitry features SPDIF digital and front audio pin outputs, and the video outputs include component video, VGA, HDMI and phono out.