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Convergence, that's what the multi-media scene is all
about. In addition to conjuring up printed
documents, spreadsheets, charts and graphs, the
modern personal computer, for the average household, has
become more of an entertainment medium than anything else.
3D Gaming, music and video are all data types that today's
computers must process and handle in real-time.
As a result, virtually all of the available graphics
chipset technologies on the market, have the ability to
process and reproduce digital video in hardware, as
well as 3D graphical scenes. With the ability of
encoding and decoding in various DV formats, the average
end user has the power and potential to produce and view
near professional quality video and audio, with ease and
simplicity. Historically, these technologies
came in the form of discrete video processing cards for
the encode and decode of TV and DVD signals. These
days, folks like Visiontek wrap them all up in one neat
little bundle, like the XTasy Everything 5564 Personal
Cinema kit.
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Specifications and Features of the VisionTek
Xtasy Everything |
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All the toys, even
the clicker... |
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Intelligent TV
The power to
pause digitally, instant replay, commercial bypass,
record and timeshift live TV
Easily schedule and organize the recording of your
favorite TV shows
Preset Good, Better, Best
and Customized Quality
recording settings
? Thumbnail channel surfing
? Still frame capture
? Closed captioning
? Electronic Programming Guide
Personal Digital Video Recorder
Digital VCR with real-time MPEG2 compression for
your PC
Record TV shows or home videos
on your PC
Superior Quality DVD Playback
Supports DVD, MPEG1&2, SVCD,
VCD, and CD
? Bookmark your favorite scenes
? Capture snapshots
? Zoom-in clone, and pan
? Microsoft® DXVA compatible
High-Quality Video Editing
& Publishing
Easy capture & output
Create your own home video from your TV, VCR,
camcorder, or Web Cam
Scene Detection lets you find and display separate
scenes for
quick editing
Create and post streaming video and share it on the
Web
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Spice up your movies with title effects, transitions,
animations, audio tracks, and more
Fast rendering & post-production
High-resolution Video Conferencing
MPEG1 and MPEG2 quality with Microsoft
Multi-function NetMeeting, and other supported
software
Industry?s First Multi-function
Wireless Remote
Single remote controls CD/DVD playback, TV, DVR,
and Electronic Programming Guide
Video Output to Monitor,
TV, or VCR PERFORMANCE
Industry?s Best 2D/3D
Graphics Technology
GeForce2 MX400 64MB AGP
TwinView technology
Dual VGA and S-Video/TV in +out connectors
Real-time AVI, QuickTime, MPEG1, MPEG2 capture (VCR to
DVD resolution)
Real-time MPEG2 Timeshifting Playback
Xtasy Everything 5564 comes with a 3 year warranty
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The
heart of this bundle is the nVidia based GeForce2MX 400
graphics card. The card has 64MB of standard Synch
DRAM. It also has two VGA connectors on its header,
which gives it Twin View / Dual Head capability for
multi-monitor support.
Along with the
GF2MX 400 you get a break out box which allows
for input of TV Cable or Antenna signals, as well as
S-Video and composite sources. It is based on
nVidia's Personal Cinema
technology and has a plethora of options. It has a
TV-Tuner section internally that will decode either cable
TV or broadcast signals. However, that is not all it
is capable of. Effectively this unit could take
input from just about any other video source including DVD
Players, VCRs, and Camcorders. Visiontek also
bundles in all the cables you would need, to
interface these sources to the
breakout box.
Click On
Images To Enlarge
Interestingly
enough, the Personal Cinema break out box also comes with
a built in infrared remote eye. This allows for
"line of site" remote control of the unit and all its
functions. The user can perform anything from basic
channel switching, to one touch record of any video
source, including TV broadcasts and DVDs.
This setup is
the techno-couch-potato's dream come true. Not only
can you play, record and edit with this unit but you need
not even get up to click a mouse. Frankly, the average
users may only touch upon a few of the basic functions
that this kit has to offer. However, ease of use and
a short learning curve, may have folks using their PC for
things that they had not thought of previously. For
example, plugging in a Camcorder via an S-Video cable to
the break out box, would allow you to convert analog taped
videos to MPEG2 or AVI video format on your computer.
Imagine sending the Grand Parents clips of little Jimmy
that would otherwise have to wait for a holiday pilgrimage
in order to be seen. We think you get the idea.
Now if we could only get some of the HH Tech's to put down
the remote and get back to work.
Let's set
things up and roll it.
Setup, Software and Drivers
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