Evesham Ebox

The Evesham Ebox is the first PC we've seen that comes with Windows Media Center Edition 2005. The update to last year's less-than-popular operating system still allows you to play music, arrange your photo collection and watch television or DVD movies through intuitive menus, but it has fewer of the bugs that plagued the original.

The Ebox occupies as much space as a DVD player and should tuck in neatly below your television. It uses a 3GHz Pentium 4 processor and 512Mb of memory. This is powerful enough to perform most tasks without any fuss.

However, the Ebox uses the Radeon X300 SE graphics card, which is aimed at basic users and is not suited to playing the latest 3D games at high resolutions.

We were also disappointed by the lack of storage space. Its 160Gb hard disk is enough for around 50 hours of high-quality video, but if you routinely record TV programmes using Media Center, you'll quickly run out of room. It is possible to upgrade it in the future and on the plus side, the recordable DVD drive supports DVD-RAM as well as plus and minus DVD discs.

The Ebox doesn't come with a monitor, but connecting it to your TV or monitor is easy. It comes with a range of cables, including two gold-plated co-axial cables. It can be operated using the wireless keyboard and mouse or, when in Media mode, the infrared remote control.

A major new addition to Windows Media Center Edition 2005 is its support for dual TV tuners. Evesham has supplied a pair of digital receivers that let you watch one channel while recording another, or record two channels simultaneously. Up to 55 Freeview channels are available, and you can pause and rewind live broadcasts. A 14-day EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) lets you schedule recordings.

A two-way aerial amplifier is included to help boost the digital signal, but this is no substitute for a roof aerial. We advise you to check the Digital TV Group website to check the coverage in your area before you make a purchase. The Ebox is well constructed, versatile, and good value.

Contact: Evesham 0870 160 9500
www.evesham.com

Also consider: Aopen XCube AV

See also:

Spire Inspire

A fast and attractive Media Center PC  07 Feb 2005

AOpen XCube AV

Fancy building your own home entertainment PC? This is a good place to start  17 Dec 2004

Moore Medio Home Theatre PC

Average specs let down an otherwise impressive system  29 Nov 2004

Digihome NS Optimum DH3.2

A computer that really can be the centre of a digital home  15 Oct 2004

Sony VAIO PCVRS502

No monitor but a budget rival to Windows Media Center.  04 Oct 2004

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