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Specialisation has always been a key term in the PC market, and with the Dre@m Machine, Packard Bell is trying to snare a newer breed of specialist PC user - home movie makers.
Home movie making has really started to take off and PCs built for the task have traditionally been very expensive. While the £1499 price tag is no snip, it's the cheapest dedicated package of its kind that we have seen.
The Dre@m has a DVD-RW drive, which allows owners to record 4.7Gb of information onto a single DVD-R disc. These hold approximately seven times more data than a CD-R, so those who see their work as an opus to match Stanley Kubrick's lengthiest outpourings will have plenty of space to play with.
When recording to DVD, you won't have to compress the data as much as if you were doing the same to CD-R either. So as well as simply making longer films, you can enjoy better picture and sound quality too. These home movie masterpieces can then be played on any standalone DVD player - great for showing off your handiwork to friends and family.
However, you have to record your movies onto DVD first and this isn't a flawless process. The chances of problems with CD-R creation can be minimised by using a burn-proof drive, but that isn't yet available for DVD-RW.
This is a particular worry when you consider that DVD-R discs, though physically similar to CD-Rs, are far more expensive at £15 a pop, and throwing away a few spoiled ones could leave a serious hole in your wallet.
In other respects, though, the PC is hard to fault. It has FireWire slots, one at the front of the PC, which is ideal for plugging in a camcorder and downloading footage fast. Once you have the movies stored on your PC, you can watch them on a television screen thanks to a TV-Out socket.
The system also contains a TV tuner, which facilitates the opposite - allowing you to watch TV on the PC monitor if you feel the need. However, the 17in monitor is not ideal for this. As well as having a very curved screen, it has two jug-eared speakers hanging off each side. These do a decent job of normal PC noises, but to do justice to awe-inspiring movie soundtracks, a better set-up is needed.
A more serious flaw than a lacklustre monitor is that the system didn't match our expectations in the performance tests. The Intel Pentium 1GHz processor is speedy enough, but 128Mb of memory isn't generous for a machine designed with video editing in mind.
More crucially, video editing is extremely tough on hard disks and plenty of space is a priority. Although 40Gb is good for ordinary home PCs, in a machine that wants to be a video-editing specialist, it's really not that much.
Overall, the specification is still pretty decent. The GeForce2 MX graphics card will allow games playing, if you're getting fed up with the rigours of cinema.
The listed limitations might put off more advanced video editors enticed by the DVD-R capability of the PC. At the other end of the scale, it's not ideal for absolute beginners, as the price of a digital camcorder must be added to PC cost.
With this in mind, we fear that for all its innovations, this machine may not be a dream for everyone.
Contact
Packard Bell: 01628 508200 www.packardbell.co.uk
ALSO CONSIDER
Tiny Home Movie Maker 1300
Better for beginners than enthusiasts
£1599 ****Reviewed in Computeractive, issue 88
See also:
If the idea of burning your home videos onto DVDs gets your heart revving, this could be the kit for you. 07 Jan 2002
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