Soundgraph iMON MMPlus review

Verdict:

Review Date: 19 Oct 2004

Price when reviewed: inc VAT

Reviewed By: David Ludlow

Our Rating 4 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

Having a media server is becoming more popular thanks to WiFi proving a convenient method for transmitting pictures, music and video through the house.

It makes sense to connect the media server to a TV and use it with a remote, rather than bury it in a cupboard doing nothing.

The latest product to offer this service is the iMon MMPlus. It comprises a remote control, infrared receiver and Home Theatre PC (HTPC) software, called Multi-Median.

Initial installation is a doddle and very user-friendly. The remote control receiver has pictures to make it easier to select the correct remote control, while its driver can be configured manually so that keys can be remapped. This is useful if you want to use the remote to control another application.

Its default configuration is designed to work with Multi-Median, though. This is a very simple application that does most of the same things as Microsoft's Media Center. It looks in your PC's media directories, My Music, My Pictures and My Videos, and lets you select files via the remote control. In this respect it is simple to use and it's good to see that music is browsed by ID3 tags, not a rigid file structure.

But the software isn't so great with the TV and DVD options. It won't play DVDs straight out of the box as you need a DVD Codec. This means buying some DVD software, such as Intervideo's WinDVD. The TV function will record programmes via a tuner card, but lacks more advanced scheduling and electronic programming guide (EPG) options.

Provided TV isn't that important to you, the music, video and picture options are excellent and the easiest to set up we've ever seen. For this reason alone, it's worth £30.

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