Arctic MC001-BD Blu-ray HTPC Media Center Review

Manufacturer: ARCTIC COOLING AG
Product Name: Home Theater Entertainment Center
Model Number: MC001-BD
Price As Tested: $599.95 (factory direct from Arctic)

Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Arctic.

Home entertainment is quickly changing, and computer techology has become integrated with the personal space. Data storage and playback is becoming more diverse and streamlined by the second. More and more entertainment can be found on the Internet; TV shows, movies, music... the list goes on. To keep up with the demand for instant entertainment, manufacturers such as ARCTIC are designing devices that are ever more sleek and quiet, usually with an array of features to keep the consumer content in their own personal empire. If you are looking to update your home theater with personal entertainment devices, or simplify your leisure time, there are many new Windows Media Center devices emerging on the market. In this article Benchmark Reviews tests the Arctic MC001-BD Entertainment Center with Blu-ray player to see if this Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium HTPC can combine the benefits of a personal computer with multimedia streamer.

With the Arctic MC001-BD Entertainment Center, you are able to watch TV (with record, pause, and playback) either traditionally or online. It supports 1080p high definition movie viewing with 7.1 channel surround so your movie experience is theater quality. It is capable of multi-room entertainment so you can streamline your library and access different potions of your music library simultaneously from different rooms in your home. The Arctic MC001-BD has a low power consumption and an attractive sleek design. There is also a Free Remote Application for iOS and Android devices so you can use your phone or tablet as a remote. With all these features I'm excited to start the testing to see if the Arctic MC001-BD Entertainment Center is as good as it sounds.

Closer Look: Arctic MC001-BD

The Arctic MC001-BD is a custom-designed HTPC device that features Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Media Center and offers Blu-ray Disc playback. It's best to think of the Arctic MC001-BD as a fully-functional computer system, with the added bonus of Media Center functionality. Presently the Arctic MC001-BD is only avialabloe factory direct from Arctic for $600.

The Arctic MC001-BD Entertainment Center is very sleek and has an attractive design. The unit is half shiny black plastic and the other half is silver aluminum. It measures 65mm x 275mm x 161mm with the stand.

As you can see in the picture above the Arctic MC001-BD has vents along the top and on the upper portion of the black side to assist with the passive cooling.

There are vent slots in the upper portion of the silver side, as well as at the bottom, also to assist with the passive cooling (more on this in the next section). Arctic advises that you keep the unit on its stand to maintain optimum cooling.

As the above picture depicts, although it is difficult to see with the shiny black, the front of the MC001-BD has a 4x Blu-Ray drive on the lower right portion and SD card reader at the lower left with a microphone and headset port directly above it. There are two USB 3.0 ports directly above the headset port. The power button and activity LED are then above the two USB ports and the IR receiver is above the Blu-Ray drive.

The rear of the MC001-BD contains the wireless connectivity on the very bottom, next to the power connector. Above that are the five USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet RJ45, HDMI and VGA connectivity, Optical S/PDIF port and the 3.5mm audio I/O jack. All of which is surrounded by still more vents for cooling as you can see above.

Arctic MC001-BD HTPC Details

If you're curious what specific technology resides inside the Arctic MC001-BD, you'll find it listed in the detailed hardware report created with AIDA64.

At the center of Arctic's MC001-BD HTPC is a dual-core Intel Atom D525 processor, operating at 1.8 GHz. A custom-designed ECS TIGD-IS motherboard supports 4GB of installed DDR3-1333 system memory, while an AMD/ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5430/5450 series GPU supplies ample graphics performance with high-definition HDMI output.

While the MC001-BD may have a compact profile, Arctic manages to fit in more hardware features than notebook computers of the same size. You'll have the choice of using either analog D-SUB VGA video output for older displays, or 1080p high-definition digital HDMI output for new HDTVs and monitors. There's a wired Realtek 10/100/1000 Mb/s Gigabit Ethernet connection available, which supplements the built-in IEEE 802.11 WiFi-b/g/n wireless adapter.

Realtek ALC892 7.1 HD audio delivers a choice of analog or digital output on the Arctic MC001-BD HTPC. Analog 3.5mm audio I/O jacks support most older connections, while an optical S/PDIF TOSLINK connection offers digital output directly to updated receivers or devices.

With the sides removed to expose internal components, you'll find large passive heatsinks to help cool the Arctic MC001-BD. Because this HTPC is completely silent and without the aide of a single cooling fan, it's advisable to ensure the device has adequate ventillation around all vents. Thermal transfer pads and copper heat-pipe tubes help remove heat from the CPU and GPU, while other critical componens utilize the metal side panel as a large heatsink.

Under normal circumstance the Arctic MC001-BD HTPC operates within safe temperature ranges, however it's not difficult to overheat the passively cooled Intel Atom D525 processor if multiple CPU-intensive applications are running. Although the BIOS features a thermal warning and shutdown feature, we discovered that some high-bitrate MKV video file playback would occasionally cause system alerts. Ultimately it was decided to disable these alerts and remove the auto-shutdown capability so that extended movies could be enjoyed.

Arctic MC001-BD Features

The Arctic MC001-BD is full of features. I've summarized a few below:

Passive-Cooling System for Complete Silence

The Arctic MC001-BD is passively cooled without the use of fans. This makes the MC001-BD silent, which is ideal when listening to your favorite music or watching a movie. Who wants the buzz of fans to compete with Nine Inch Nails or the gunshots, explosions, and action of your favorite movie?

Optional TV Tuner Integrated

The Arctic MC001-BD can come equipped with an optional integrated TV tuner. This allows you to record and watch your favorite shows. It also allows you to pause and watch anytime with Windows Media Center. You are able to gain access to all major TV stations online as well, so you can catch up on your daytime dramas or your evening comedies.

Full HD Cinema at Home

If you are looking for a true cinema experience at home, the Arctic MC001-BD supports 1080p HD video with 7.1 channel surround sound. With a little popcorn and candy you can make your home your theater while streaming your movies or watching your personal DVDs or Blue-rays.

Remote Control Application

Arctic provides a free remote application - Remote MC - for iOS and Android devices that will turn your phone or tablet into a remote control. No searching for the remote anymore. Now you just need your smartphone.

Multi-Room Entertainment

With the Arctic MC001-BD you can consolidate your music with Windows Media Center into one library. With Arctic's Audio Relay (which they so generously provided, and can be purchased for an additional $132.60), you can listen and have access to your music from any room in your home, even while a movie is playing or others are listening to music in another room.

Wide Compatibility

The Arctic MC001-BD is compatible with most multimedia formats. The following are just a taste: MP3, M4A, WMA, WMV, AVI, MKV and H264.

Out-of-Box Experience with Windows 7

Windows 7 Home Premium comes fully configured on the Arctic MC001-BD so it's ready to play with right out of the box. It is already set up for multimedia use so it's less hassle for the average user.

Performance at Low Power Consumption

All of the hardware used in the Arctic MC001-BD is geared toward using the least amount of power possible while having exactly the right amount of power for your applications and programs to perform optimally.

Living Room Design

The Arctic MC001-BD is 4 cm thick so it can fit just about anywhere in your living room. With its sleek narrow chassis it will look stylish in any home.

Multi-Port Interface

The Arctic MC001-BD is equipped with two USB 3.0 and five USB 2.0 ports, as well as a 4-in-1 memory card reader. It also comes with all the standard audio/visual jacks necessary for connection to your TV/sound system.

Arctic MC001-BD Specifications

Below is a table provided by Arctic listing the specifications of the Arctic MC001-BD Entertainment Center.

HTPC Testing and Results

We determined the best way to test the Arctic MC001-BD was everyday use. So, for our own convenience during testing we used a wireless HTPC keyboard/mouse combo with the MC001-BD. Although, if you've got a SmartPhone handy when using the MC001-BD, Arctic's free-for-download Remote Control Application for Apple iPhone and Google Andriod phones is avialable. Since we preferred the media center keyboard, one of the USB ports at the back of the HTPC had to be utilized for the receiver dongle to prevent physical interference with opening the Blu-Ray drive, as both front USB ports are placed close enough to the optical drive that anything plugged into them needed to be removed before you could access the tray. This can be a pretty large downside for people who don't want to use a smartphone or tablet as a remote.

For those who would rather not use a smartphone or tablet as a remote, Arctic offers their own media center remote, the MCR1 IR Media Center Remote Control, for $17.95. Or they also offer a keyboard, the K481 Wireless Keyboard with Multi-Touchpad, for $39.73.

Anyway, on to testing. First, I wanted to see how well the MC001-BD would handle video viewing online so I made sure to find some 1080p videos on YouTube. For the most part the viewing was flawless. The 1080p videos that were cartoons or computer generated were, of course, perfect. Certain other videos had a bit more difficulty. For example, a Bollywood music video with a bright white background with significant movement and audio had some slight but noticable stuttering on playback. A Planet Earth video with extremely detailed landscapes with background music played well, but exhibited occational stuttering throughout. Although, if I wasn't looking for it I might not have noticed it. For those videos with slight stuttering, it's unclear as to whether it was due to our connection speed or the users video itself. While perusing YouTube I found other 1080p videos that played perfectly. These mostly consisted of music videos or short how-to DIY guides.

I moved on to the TV station websites next. Most TV stations online decide how you will view a show depending on your connection speed. Those that offered HD viewing (ex. NBC and SyFy) stuttered through the first portion of the video then automatically switched over to a more connection-speed-compatible mode for the remainder of the show. Usually the quality of the videos suffered pretty significantly each time this happened. So, then I decided it was time to give HULU a try. I wanted to test if this would be a running theme with all TV viewing sites. I had no problems viewing 480p content with no stuttering and no quality issues. I was a bit disappointed that our MC001-BD did not come with the optional TV tuner so I was unable to record, pause and play my favorite shows while I watched them. Oh well.

Next we decided it was time to view downloaded video files to see how well the MC001-BD could handle a variety of file types. We attempted to watch a lossless 1080p MKV video file at one point. We thought it would play with no issues as MKV files are listed as one of the many compatible multimedia formats the MC001-BD is able to play, and we hadn't had any issues with other MKV files up to that point. But this wasn't the case here. The video froze multiple times within the first few minutes of viewing. It appeared to be too much for the MC001-BD to handle. We determined that its bit-rate was just too high so it continually dropped frames during playback. The audio played just fine while the video continually got stuck. We had this happen with a few other MKV files but not quite to an unviewable degree, as in this case. Other file types didn't pose an issue.

To round things out, I watched a few of my favorite movies with the Arctic MC001-BD, both on DVD and Blu-ray. The Entertainment Center comes with CyberLink PowerDVD 10 so playing my Blu-rays and DVDs was no problem at all. We just had to make sure we had the latest update for PowerDVD 10. DVD's, of course, posed no problems for the MC001-BD. As for Blu-ray's, the video quality appeared to be better then playing the Blu-Ray on our PS3 and it felt like I was watching my movie at the theater, minus the kid behind me kicking my seat. The only issue was the tray and its proximity to the USB ports as I mentioned above.

Arctic MC001-BD Final Thoughts

I found the Arctic MC001-BD Entertainment Center to be an attractive unit that would fit perfectly in most household entertainment areas. It is sleek and small enough to fit anywhere. It also gives the homeowner a choice of facings to use, silver or black, if they need to display the unit from the side. The Arctic MC001-BD is virtually plug-and-play which is great for the average user. Not much tweaking to do and it's easy to use. The programs and applications open quickly and the MC001-BD runs pretty quiet. It is able to connect through various ports and has several USB ports to choose from.

It has plenty of attractive features that most users would find appealing. Being able to keep all your media in one place, play your music in whatever room you choose without having to lug a computer or laptop with you, HD video quality, it's compatible with a wide range of multimedia formats, it has Windows 7 and CyberLink PowerDVD 10 pre loaded, etc. All of these features are desirable, and getting them all in one nifty little package is even better. Especially when that llittle package runs quiet.

There may be a few issues that could be a problem for some. The first is the two USB ports in the front are a little too close to the Blu-ray tray. If you want to open the Blu-ray tray you have to remove anything in the USB ports. There is also the possibility that the Entertainment Center may overheat if it is placed in an area with limited air-flow. This could be a pretty big problem for some. It is best if you decide to purchase the Arctic MC001-BD, that you don't place it in a cabinet or other enclosed area, and make sure there is plenty of space around the unit so that airflow isn't impeded in any way. Another issue is the dropped frames if the MC001-BD can't accomodate the bit rate. This is not going to be a problem for the average user who may not download certain file types for playback but for more tech savvy people who demand the most from their HTCP it may be a frustrating issue. I found it to be a minor annoyance but others might place more significance on that particular piece of information.

Arctic MC001-BD HTPC Conclusion

Performance: The Arctic MC001-BD is a very user friendly product and great for the average user. It works well right out of the box without much tweaking needed. It performed well for every-day use. It started quickly with no lag time, all of our movies and TV shows played mostly uninterrupted, I surfed the web without a problem, and it was extremely quiet throughout. There were some dropped frames occationally and certain MKV files didn't play as well as we'd have liked but otherwise the MC001-BD performed great.

Appearance: I really like the look of the Arctic MC001-BD. It is small and sleek and fits anywhere I'd like in my entertainment room. The fact that it has silver or black to choose from, I find to be a plus. You can match it to your existing black devices or if you want it to stand out you can shift it to show the silver aluminum side.

Construction: The construction is intelligently designed for passive cooling. Using the metal side panel as a heatsink and providing ample vents helps the MC001-BD stay cool during every day usage. It has a custom designed ECS TIGD-IS motherboard, and as I mentioned above, the MC001-BD provides more hardware features than notebooks of the same size. The unit provides USB 2.0, Ethernet RJ45, HDMI, VGA, Optical S/PDIF, and 3.5mm audio I/O jack. Plenty of connections to choose from, D-SUB VGA video output for older analog devices or 1080p HD digital HDMI connections for newer devices. With all the hardware features, connections to choose from, and passive cooling to run silently, I'd say mission accomplised.

Functionality: The Arctic MC001-BD is a feature rich product. Although, to use some of the features, one needs to purchase additional peripheral devices. But for our purposes, the features we were provided worked flawlessly. It is quiet, attractive, played our DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, connected wirelessly to the internet, played HD and 1080p content, etc. Therefore it functioned mostly as promised.

Value is very subjective. The Arctic MC001-BD Entertainment Center is listed on Arctic's site at $599.95 without the TV tuner. Considering that it is a PC, has a Blu-ray Player, has Windows 7 and CyberLink PowerDVD 10 already loaded, plays HD content and 1080p or analog if you prefer, I'd say this is a pretty good value for the base model. The peripheral devices aren't horribly expensive either. As far as value goes, my opinion is, this is a great deal.

Final words or recommendation.

The Arctic Cooling MC001-BD is a great decision if you are looking for a silent, feature rich, high definition media device for your entertainment area if you don't plan on running too many CPU-intensive applications simultaneously. It's passive cooling and sleek, compact design make it perfect for beside the TV. It has ample USB 3.0 ports and other various ports for connection to your entertainment devices, older and new. It's plug-and-play ease of use is a very attractive feature, as well. Access to the internet is easy too, thanks to the WiFi. I recommend the Arctic MC001-BD Entertainment Center for anyone who is looking for a media device to use for internet, movie playback, TV shows, and music. I don't think it's quite equipped for anything more complex, so it's perfect for the average user.

Pros:

+ Silent
+ No install of Windows 7 needed
+ CyberLink Power DVD 10 pre-installed
+ Practically Plug-and-Play
+ Appearance is attractive
+ High Definition Media Playback

Cons:

- Placement of USB Ports too close to Blu-Ray tray
- Needs ample ventilation due to fan-less design
- Many features need additionally purchased peripheral devices

Ratings:

• Performance: 8.25
• Appearance: 9.50
• Construction: 9.00
• Functionality: 8.75
• Value: 7.25

Final Score: 8.55 out of 10.

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