Installation/Remote

Whenever you have a card as flexible as the Personal Cinema is, installation always becomes a concern. Sure, you’ve naturally got to worry about installing the hardware and all its underlying connections properly (and no, we’re not just talking about installing the graphics card in the AGP slot) but what can be equally challenging, and frustrating, is the software installation routine. First generation Personal Cinema software was notoriously difficult to install, you practically had to follow a very strict installation routine that wasn’t clearly documented.

Fortunately, NVIDIA has learned from its mistakes, its latest Personal Cinema software is easier to install. Simply run the setup routine off the Personal Cinema CD and the drivers for video capture software, television viewing, and NVRemote control unit are installed. Once this is accomplished, you’ll need to reboot and install the video input drivers. In our case, some of the components weren’t WHQL-certified, making installation more of a chore. Again, this isn’t the seamless install experience of ATI ALL-IN-WONDER, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. It is a bit surprising that it takes two CDs to get everything up and running however.

Once you’ve got the board installed, you’ll also need to hook up the A/V pod and the RF receiver for the remote control unit. You’ll need an available USB port to accomplish this. After you’ve got everything plugged up, you should be ready to start watching/capturing television on your PC. The whole process should take between 5-10 minutes. On another installation note, we would like to see NVIDIA add reinforcement to the connector for the A/V breakout box though, a locking mechanism is present, but we were still able to pull the connector off of the card.

NVRemote vs REMOTE WONDER

NVIDIA USB RF receiver

NVRemote

Another area NVIDIA addressed over previous Personal Cinema offerings is its remote control unit, NVRemote. Like REMOTE WONDER, NVIDIA’s latest remote is manufactured by X10 and shares many of REMOTE WONDER’s traits. For instance, both units are radio frequency (RF) remotes, this is a dramatic improvement over previous Personal Cinema remotes, which were infrared (IR) based and required line-of-sight to operate. As you can see in the pictures, both remotes are practically identical in design.

Remotes up close

Bottom of both remotes

There are a few key differences however. While REMOTE WONDER has six programmable buttons that can be programmed to perform practically any function imaginable, NVIDIA’s remote doesn’t offer programmability. NVIDIA’s NVRemote has a larger thumbpad for mouse control, although it doesn’t pivot as much as REMOTE WONDER and has a sponge-like feel that doesn’t provide as much tactile feedback. Keep in mind that this is highly subjective however, and may just be limited to the characteristics of our review unit. We certainly did prefer the NVRemote’s buttons for channel control (including the numeric keypad) and volume. NVIDIA’s up/down selector for the channel and volume buttons are larger and raised higher and have a crisper feeling than REMOTE WONDER, whose buttons are too mushy for these functions. NVRemote has slightly more heft than REMOTE WONDER, which may be a positive or negative depending on your tastes and preferences.

Overall we have to give NVIDIA credit for moving to an RF remote, although we would like to see programmability added to the feature set. The buttons are there, NVIDIA just uses them for specific purposes (for instance, taking snap shots, or zoom). As a final note, batteries are not included with Chaintech’s Personal Cinema card, while the ATI board ships with four batteries.