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Overview
Did you ever wish you could utilize your television as a
monitor and surf the internet, display your video files, and listen to
your audio files? PRISMIQ, one of the real leaders in innovative technology,
has bundled several functions into a solid package that can immediately
expand your computer’s capabilities onto other platforms. The PRISMIQ
Media Manager is versatile, easy to use, simple to set up, and works like
a champ. We are pleased to introduce you to this most excellent product!
Why
The most typical home configuration has the computer in
the bedroom, usually in a corner work area, nearby the bedroom television.
The second most popular is to have the computer in a family room, usually
in a work area, near the main entertainment center (standard or HDTV).
Both devices (television and computer) are run separately, and never the
twain shall meet.
 However,
your computer does store a lot of entertainment files: those digital pictures
of the family vacations; the downloaded and ripped CD music files; and
the digital video files. Also, the Internet contains a limitless amount
of information – your local weather, stocks, and music streaming
are all available, as well as browsing the Web itself.
Rather than keep your television tuned to FOXNEWS or MTV
during the day/evening, wouldn’t it be nice to interface your television
to your computer? You could stream music, stock quotes, local weather
forecasts directly to your television, or browse the Internet… or
you could use your computer media player for audio/video files –
perhaps even running a screensaver scrolling through your favorites –
displaying your pictures (varying the display time for each picture) to
accompanying favorite music!
Now that is using technology to improve your lifestyle,
and it is getting more out of the technology that you DO already have.
Out of the Box – It Works!
We were very interested in PRISMIQ, because they are very
innovative in taking existing technology and making the technology work
for their customers.
With the PRISMIQ Media Manager and Media Player, we were
frankly astounded at the simplicity of their systems. As shown in Photo
1, the PRISMIQ system contained a command center that is placed near the
television, it has a handheld remote control unit and a wireless keyboard,
and it has cables (S-Video, Audio (R/W) and video (Y), power input, and
either a Wireless-G network card or an Ethernet cable… and a CD
disc for the software.
We first took the CD disc, fired up the computer, and ran
the Media Manager/Player software. The program started up and was installed
in under 2 minutes. Interestingly, when running the setup, it asks you
about your State and zip code (I erroneously assumed it was part of the
registration process)…
We then took the command center, and installed the wireless-G
card (54 mpbs) [Note: while I used the Wireless-G connection, it also
works with an Ethernet cable… consumer choice], plugged in the power
cord, and hooked the outputs (S-Video and R/W audio) to the television
Video2 inputs. We re-checked the connections, turned the television on
and selected the Video2 input, and turned on the command center, and immediately
noticed that the command center was promptly communicating with the computer
– checking to see if any firmware upgrades were available (they
were)! It downloaded the firmware upgrade automatically and that was that…
command center operable!
We then put the batteries in the wireless keyboard, and
it was immediately communicating with the command center. I pressed the
Internet key, and I was immediately linked to the Internet – GOOGLE
was set as the homepage (my bedroom television resolution is 480i so the
picture is limited by your monitor resolution) and I was ready to surf…
BUT – at the bottom of the screen was my local weather forecast!
The media center had programmed itself for my city and already gone out
and grabbed my forecast!
WAIT A MINUTE! I must stop here and enjoy the moment. How
many times do you get a new product and have to spend several days learning
how to work the damn thing? Happens to me all the time and I have a degree
in Nuclear Physics… PRISMIQ Media Center and Media Player were so
easy to install and so intuitive to operate that I was absolutely floored…
plus it virtually programmed itself! Now this is a product that doesn’t
even need a “Dummy” book to learn to use!
So, for easy of use and making it simple, the PRISMIQ Company
is awarded the NextGenElectronics Consumer Technology Appreciation award
for 2004.
Fine Tuning
OK – you actually do get an instruction manual. So
after my amazement faded, I decided to read the brief manual on how to
operate the media center on my PC (I didn’t need to read anything
to run the television portion of the system).
The program has an opening screen that contains a Windows
Explorer-type list on the side. It listed my computer, and allowed me
to select my audio and video/picture file locations. I selected the file
containing 1127 1-Meg jpeg files of my European vacation, and I selected
the file containing my transcribed CDs. The program then displayed the
contents of the picture files in thumbnail format, and I was able to create
a “new” slideshow folder by drag and drop, and put my very
favorite pictures in the slideshow folder.
The program started “processing” all my files
in background for faster access in the PRISMIQ programs. While this occurred,
I right-clicked on my new slideshow file and it pulled up a screen that
allowed me to enter the duration each photo would be displayed (I entered
8 seconds) and also what sound file would be played (I entered the audio
file location). All done. Complete setup in less than 10 minutes.
Now, I must admit that I probably should have gone to the
screen entitled “Stocks” and added the stock ticket symbols
for all the stocks that I own that are always declining in price (in case
I want to thoroughly depress myself)… that way the Media Center
would “stream” my stock quotes to me. I did add the symbol
for Home Depot, and verified it did add that to the stock quote stream…
so that is pretty easy too.
I then went back to the wireless keyboard and clicked on
SLIDESHOW – and the television changed to display my slideshow to
the accompanying audio files! This is neat!
Later that night, as my wife and I turned in for the evening,
she ask me about the weather for tomorrow - I decided to surprise her
(typically that is a bad idea) – I changed the television input
from Cable to Video2 and here was the PRISMIQ Media Center… it had
our weather forecast… she was pretty impressed… then I started
the slideshow (music and pictures) and she actually smiled and asked me
how many days it took me to be able to do that. Naturally, I didn’t
tell her. It is much more effective to just say “it was worth the
effort”… and to keep alive the myth that she must keep me
around to “run all these things” (of course, that is true
regarding operation of the television and VCR).
Summary
The PRISMIQ Media Center and Media Player is a solid,
easy to use product that gets high marks for easy installation, easy use,
and for bridging the computer and home entertainment center technologies.
The system is delightfully easy to install and operate, and completely
delivers.
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10 / 10 |
OVERALL SCORE
96%
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10 / 10 |
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9 / 10 |
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10 / 10 |
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9 / 10 |
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9.6 /
10 |
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