Performance and Support
Performance
Comparing the performance of the T2.e/MCE2005's EPIA MII core to other recent x86 PC systems using regular applications and tests is a wasted exercise, instead the way to guage performance on an MCE2005 PC is to use it for an extended period of time and note down the points where things don't feel right. The best consumer electronics never have you thinking "this is slow", at any point.There are a few key points where the 1.2GHz C3 processor running the unit isn't up to the task. It can't playback high-resolution video content without performance problems. While there's no HDTV tuner in the device (and never will be in this incarnation), it's not unreasonable to expect people to have access to HD content which won't run well on the EPIA-based T2.e/MCE2005. The remastered version of Terminator 2 for example, encoded in WMV9 at a HDTV resolution, will be unwatchable. The same goes for captured HDTV broadcast content.
Feed the unit a DVD with subtitles and during subtitle display the video drops to half speed. The MPEG2 engine on the CLE266 bridge is bypassed with the FX 5200 installed and the CPU seems to be doing the subtitle stream decoding in its absence. It simply can't cope and you get ~15fps video at subtitle points. That was verified with retail copies of the Lord of The Rings trilogy, a retail copy of Big Fish and the Mandarin version of the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon UK DVD (making that version unwatchable on the T2.e for me). A different version of the DVD decoding engine being used might fix the issue, however without an easy online update mechanism in place for customers, it's not the easiest thing in the world to remedy on units that have already shipped.
There was also a configuration issue where the hard disk was set to spin down fairly soon after no activity, meaning pregnant pauses at points while time-shifting TV content and browsing the media collection on the disk. Easily remedied by Tranquil during device configuration though, which should be done by them in shipping units to save you trying to do that via your TV, on which Windows' dialog boxes aren't always the easiest to use.
Otherwise, the 1.2GHz C3 and the system as a whole was up to the job. It's the subtitled-DVD issue that will annoy people the most. Again, not being able to correctly watch subtitled discs on a near £1000 device isn't something I expected to see.
In terms of storage performance and capacity, the 160GB Spinpoint was good for just over 100 hours of recorded TV for me, storing a couple of music albums on there too. Of course, MCE2005 can access media across the network to playback, and other PCs on your home network can view recorded TV with a client player application, so you're not limited to sitting in front of the T2.e to watch TV you've recorded, rather you let the T2.e stream it to you elsewhere.
Support
Support on a device like the T2.e/MCE2005 is a paramount consideration, given their nature. In this area, I have confidence that Tranquil won't let you down. They're a very courteous bunch of people to deal with and if guys like Ed, my liason at Tranquil for the review sample, are manning Tranquil's support infrastructure, contacting them for whatever reason will be a pleasant experience.There's a one year return to base warranty, which I'd have preferred to have been three year, given that it's still a PC internally, but I'm pretty sure that Tranquil will split the transport costs with you. I'll confirm that as soon as possible.
