InterVideo Home Theater Mimics Microsoft's Media Center Experience Remote Control Included Eric Grevstad
Mon 12/15/03 -- You need to buy a new Media Center PC to get Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition, but any Windows XP or Windows 2000 user can get InterVideo Home Theater for $100. The digital entertainment package offers a complete solution for watching and recording TV programs, viewing DVDs or Video CDs and photo slide shows, and enjoying personal digital-music libraries.
Bundled with a 36-key remote control and USB receiver, the software performs an automatic channel scan for antenna- or cable-based TV tuners and lets users record TV programs to the PC's hard disk, with a Channel Surf function showing 16 channels at a glance for easy selection. InterVideo's WinDVD engine provides smooth playback of recorded programs and downloaded video clips as well as DVDs or VCDs.
The built-in Picture application shows thumbnail images of digital photos (or still images captured from video) that can be sorted by name or date; sent to the printer via remote control; or organized into slide shows with transition effects and background music from a playlist folder. The Music module makes it simple to sort songs by title, artist, album, or genre, with Dolby Digital 5.1 multichannel sound card or home-theater digital output support.
