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ABS Ultimate E2 Media Center PC First Look

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ABS Ultimate E2 Media Center PC First Look
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ABS Ultimate E2 Front

The Ultimate E2 Media Center PC by ABS Computer Technologies is a home media computer powered by Microsoft Windows XP Media Center 2005. It is designed to fit into your home entertainment system, dropping the traditional desktop chassis in favor of a more vertical look similar to DVD players and audio receivers.

The E2?s Microsoft Windows XP Media Center 2005 features are many and offer the home entertainment fan a great deal of control over his or her audio and viewing experiences. At the heart of this latest version of Windows XP Media Center is an easy to use navigation system which displays the available functions (i.e. watch TV, listen to music) your E2 can perform. You can navigate through the menus of this system via a keyboard, mouse or, especially in the case of the E2, a wireless remote control.

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When you choose a selection from the E2?s navigation menus, you can then browse thumbnail images of your music, photos and videos to easily find the entertainment options you are looking for. If your E2 is hooked up to a network, either through an Ethernet cable or wirelessly, you can also browse other computers to find entertainment related files.

ABS Ultimate E2 Front 2

Another useful function of Windows XP Media Center 2005 is easy integration into your existing home entertainment system setup. After connecting to such devices as HDTV capable monitors and 7.1-speaker surround sound equipment, wizards help you to configure things like the TV signal, display type and video playback quality.

With a comfortable navigation scheme and tight integration into your existing home entertainment system, the E2?s full load of features can be used to their potential. Photos can be directly imported from digital cameras, blemishes touched up and slide shows created with accompanying music.  Live television can be viewed and recorded on the E2?s hard drive at the touch of a remote button. Programs being viewed can also be paused, rewound and fast forwarded through to find that one tear jerking moment.

Besides photos and television, the Windows XP Media Center powered E2 is also capable of playing audio files like MP3s and WMAs while displaying the album cover. All of these entertainment related experiences can be shared around the home through the use of Media Center Extenders and also taken on the go when transferred through syncing to a compatible Portable Media Center or digital audio player.

ABS Ultimate E2 Back

On the hardware side, the E2 is loaded with plenty of muscle to support the robust needs of its operating system. The Intel based Pentium 4 system (with multiple choices for specific processors) uses a low noise power supply to keep the fan from interrupting your movie viewing. It is configured to support up to 2GB of Corsair DDR SDRAM memory and ABS offers options for up to 500GB of hard drive storage as a place to hold favorite music and videos.

Also on the hardware docket is an ATI X300 PCI-Express video card with 128MB of video memory, a dual TV tuner card with added FM radio functionality, a 16x DVD-RW double layer burner with direct to DVD recording, built-in 7.1 audio channel and an onboard 802.11B/G wireless card.

For more information, visit ABS Computer Technologies.

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Andrew Beehler
Andrew Beehler
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Andrew Beehler has been with Digital Trends since 2009 and works with agencies and direct clients. Prior to joining Digital…
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