Tangent UltraBox

At 6 inches high, about 12 inches deep, and 8 inches wide, the Tangent UltraBox Multimedia PC isn't much bigger than a shoebox, but it packs plenty of entertainment-friendly features.

For starters, you can play audio or MP3 CDs on the UltraBox without having to boot up the PC (though you do have to boot the PC to play music stored on its hard drive). The UltraBox also has a built-in AM/FM radio, with 12 channel presets (6 for AM, and 6 for FM). A separate power button controls the audio system, and a remote control lets you change stations from afar. The UltraBox's integrated audio functions may be convenient if you want a basic audio source, but we wouldn't suggest trying to replace your living room's dedicated stereo equipment with it.

You can also use this unit as a TiVo-esque DVR to record TV programs and watch them later. Our review unit came with a TV tuner card, a dual-format DVD rewritable drive, and InterVideo's WinDVR software--a basic TV time shifting program that uses an online program grid. Though it's nowhere near as easy to use as a dedicated DVR device such as a TiVo, it does allow you to capture live TV broadcasts and either store them on the 80GB hard drive (larger configurations are available) for later viewing or burn them to DVD. Equipped with a 2.8-GHz Pentium 4 CPU and 512MB of DDR333 memory, our review unit earned a 120 score on PC WorldBench 4--not the best performance we've seen from this configuration, but well within the acceptable range. The NVidia GeForce FX 5200 graphics card with 128MB of memory is adequate for all but the most graphics-intensive games.

We found the 17-inch Neso LD700V LCD monitor disappointing. Colors appeared oversaturated and unnatural during DVD playback, and skin tones in digital photos looked unnatural. Text fared better, with sharp, legible text at all but the smallest font sizes. You can tilt the LCD panel to an optimum viewing angle, but we found the design cumbersome to use and unsteady in some positions.

The UltraBox has a wide array of ports, many of them located on the front of the case behind a panel for ease of use. Two USB 2.0 ports are on the front, and two others are on the back; in addition, two FireWire ports (one four-pin and one six-pin) on the front let you connect a digital video camera. You also get an optical SPDIF-in port, and a six-in-one flash memory card reader.

The UltraBox's chassis looks interesting, but it isn't unique; we've seen this case design before, most often as a bare chassis available for building your own system. Its small size leaves scant room inside for upgrading. Our review model had one easily accessible open slot for extra memory, but no available bays or PCI slots. Consequently, if you want to increase your hard drive capacity, you'll have to remove the existing hard drive or use an external model. At least taking off the case is easy: You undo three large thumbscrews on the back, and the three-sided case cover slides off.

The Logitech Z-340 speaker set--consisting of two solid, rectangular satellites and a subwoofer--produced mixed results. In our audio tests of a DVD movie soundtrack and vocal music, trebles sounded clear and satisfying, but bass notes were flat, even at high volumes.

Tangent's documentation consists of a coherent, nicely illustrated setup poster. The software bundle included the DVD authoring program DVD Movie Factory 2 and Ulead Video Studio, a video editing program, along with Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon and several other games.

Upshot: This compact PC packs an entertaining punch, and it would work very well as a media center; because it lacks Microsoft's Media Center operating system, however, the interface isn't as clean to use.

Mick Lockey