Fantec R2650

An attractive proposition: that's how we'd describe the Fantec R2350 which comes with a HD digital TV tuner, video inputs and an external LCD screen.  Better still, it can decode DTS audio signals and has its own BitTorrent client.  Will that be enough to allow it to rival the Dvico Tvix 6632N?  Let's find out.

Handling: a decent interface with a useful screen

We're already familiar with the outside of this media centre, which uses the same body as the MM-FHDL.  It has the same colour LCD screen which allows you to find the content you want with the TV switched off.  That's handy, but the use of this feature is limited by the small size of the screen, which means you can't really see it from more than half a metre away.  Even worse, because it uses TN technology, the viewing angles are dreadful and you have to be looking straight at it to be able to see what's going on.

Fantec hasn't exactly put a huge amount of effort into the main interface either: it's identical to the one found in all of its other media centres.  In fact, it's the basic interface supplied by the chip manufacturer, and all Fantec has done is tweak the colours a little.  The end result is a user interface that looks attractive enough, but whose features are very limited compared to the best of the competition.  You can't display a video jukebox or look at thumbnails of your favourite photos for instance.


Decoding: great for HD

The chip that Fantec is chosen is the RTD1283DD, which is at the top of Realtek's current range.  The good news is that it's capable of decoding all of the most recent codecs and high definition video--and better still, it can decode DTS audio and send stereo audio to your television's speakers.

To look at it in a little more detail, the R2650 can decode the MPEG-1/2, MPEG-4 ASP (DivX, XviD), MPEG-4 AVC (H.264, x264) and VC-1 (WMV) video codecs in both standard and high definition.  Be careful with x264 video encapsulated in MKV files, as we couldn't get them to play if the bitrate was over 38 Mbps.  That's no doubt an optimisation problem, as the LG MS450H, which has a less powerful chip, pulls this ceiling up to 50 Mbps.If, however, you use the M2TS container format, you can reach much higher bitrates--we went up to 90 Mbps.


La liste des conteneurs supportés est également très bonne avec l'AVI, le DIVX, le MP4, le MKV, le WMV, le MOV, le MTS et le M2TS. Un bon point ensuite avec la parfaite gestion des sauvegardes de DVD (RIP ou ISO) où menus, pistes audio et sous-titrages restent actifs. Pour les sauvegardes de Blu-ray, on perd les menus mais on conserve le multi-audio et sous-titrages (PGS).

La gestion audio est très bonne avec le MP3, l'AAC, le WMA, l'OGG, les M4A et le FLAC. En revanche, les tags ne sont lus que sur les MP3 et il n'est pas possible d'afficher la pochette des albums. Enfin, aucun problème avec la gestion des photos (OK jusqu'à 21 Mpixels). Il est possible de tourner les images et le temps de zapping est compris entre 2 et 3 secondes.

Connectivity: Ethernet as standard, WiFi an option

This media centre has just about all the connectivity it needs.  There are HDMI, composite, component and SCART outputs, along with coaxial and optical audio.  Two USB host ports allow you to connect memory sticks or external hard drives, but unfortunately, they're stuck at the back, where they're useless.  It's something that really irritates us.

Network connectivity is handled by a 100 Mbps Ethernet port and the 802.11n WiFi module.  To use wireless, though, you need to use an extra USB dongle that isn't supplied.  There are a lot of network features, including UPnP, Windows shares and access to the media centre from other PCs on the network.  The data transfer rates for copying files from a computer to the media centre a particular slow: 5 MB/S or 1.7 MB/s over WiFi.  That means video you stream over the network is jerky if you attempt to use a bitrate above 34 Mbps, or 20 Mbps over WiFi.

Finally, there's a BitTorrent client which allows you to download files using the service.  That's very handy because it only uses 20 W while working and 0.7 W on standby.  There isn't, though, any access to Picasa, YouTube or other online services.