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FB123 CMYKDHS 27-APR-2005 PAGE
308
FIRST
FIRST
8Herald Sun, Wednesday, April 27, 2005 connect
-
Wintal of content
Wintal’s AV receiver
gets the thumbs up
from Peter Familari
FROM the same factory in China
that builds the well-regarded
Cambridge Audio gear for the
UK comes Wintal’s first AV receiver.
It’s the $799 AVR3015, which,
when it comes to price, build and
features, is a very desirable entry-level
machine.
The Wintal earns big brownie
points for flexibility. It can be set in
5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 channels of surround
sound.
The 5.1 is the standard format used
by most DVD movies. It provides
three channels across the front, and
two channels of sound at the rear (of
a seated viewer). The clumsily named
.1 channel is used to carry bass.
Setting the Wintal to 6.1 adds a
third speaker at the rear.
And yes, 6.1 is a legitimate format
developed by US brand DTS. It’s
called DTS.ES Discrete.
About a dozen movies available in
the US have the extra rear channel.
One that’s sure to ring an audio-
phile’s bells is the extended version of
The Lord of the Rings.
But 7.1, for those who care about
these things, is not a format.
It’s a processing method used to
split the rear channel signal so it plays
through an additional pair of left and
right rear-channel speakers.
No extra information is carried on
those channels.
So what’s the point? And who
wants four rear speakers?
Surround-sound buffs. Especially
those who swear they enhance the
DVD experience by moving an exist-
ing pair of rear speakers to the sides of
a room and putting the extra pair in
their place. Whatever.
As well as DTS.ES Discrete, the
AVR3015 plays back Dolby Digital
and Dolby Pro Logic 11x, which is
Dolby’s version of a seven-channel
surround system. Unlike DTS, it isn’t
discrete.
The Wintal is said to be rated at
7X130W.
But at this price, and given the size
of the transformer and power supply
carried by the receivers, the best way
to find out whether there is adequate
power for your speakers is to do a road
test.
Used to power Wintal’s ML500
series speakers and later B&W’s
versatile DM603 speakers, the 3015
generated respectable amounts of de-
tail for DVD movie soundtracks and
provided above-average integration
between all the speakers.
Playing back the battle scene at the
start of the Master and Commander
DVD, the Wintal seemed to have bags
of drive.
Cannon shots ripping apart a ship’s
timbers were steered fairly precisely
to the relevant speaker in a nice blend,
without discernible gaps.
It also did an adequate job of
rendering bass, which was informative
without sounding overbearing.
In surround mode, the overall
balance, save for traces of hardness
and a wee bit of compression in
dynamic scenes, was involving.
In stereo mode the Wintal was just
adequate playing back CDs. Still,
most surround receivers don’t cut the
musical mustard in stereo.
Yet when you consider its sturdy
build and performance in surround
sound, it adds up to great value for
money from Wintal, yet again.
ATAGLANCE
WINTAL
What: Budget surround
receiver
Model: AVR3015
Price: $799
Wintal: 1800 337 366
The Wintal produces
plenty of detail for a
receiver at this price.
Overall tonal balance is
satisfying, but it will
compress and sound a
trifle hard during scenes
with ripping dynamics.
Stereo mode is
adequate, but the
feature count and value-
for-dollar is high.
The PC built
just for kids
Ear, ear: the
Mickey Mouse
flaps conceal the
speakers.
Pretty-well-grown-up Dave Bullard has a ball
playing with the new Disney Dream Desk
BUYING a computer can be
difficult, particularly if you’re
buying one for the kids.
How big? How powerful? Can it
play DVDs? Does it have kid-
friendly software?
Will the kids be safe on the
internet? Will it be compatible with
the family camera? Can the kids use
it for homework?
Disney has removed the guess-
work with the Dream Desk desktop
PC, delivering a product kids (and
parents) can use straight out of the
box.
Made by Germany’s Medion and
sold at Target stores, it is instantly
recognisable as a Disney product. It
is bright blue and yellow and has a
14-inch LCD monitor with Mickey
Mouse ears (which house the speak-
ers) and a chunky, kid-sized Mickey
Mouse mouse with scroll wheel.
Importantly, kids recognise it as a
computer for them. It’s just plain
exciting.
One of the attractive features for
kids is the digital pen that stands in
a holder on the keyboard. Like the
tablet pens used by graphic design-
ers, moving the pen over a surface
moves the cursor on the screen.
Tapping the pen is like a left-
click, and there’s a button on top for
right-clicking and scrolling.
Other than the look and feel of the
Dream Desk, kids are interested
in cool software, and there is
plenty here.
Three applications make this PC
stand out: Disney Flix, for editing
home movies shot on a digital
handycam; Disney Pix, for making
original drawings and painting, and
even adding Disney characters to
your own photos; and Disney Mix,
for making music.
Games included are Disney’s Jun-
gle Book, Disney’s Extremely Goofy
Skateboarding, and Disney’s Adven-
tures in Typing with Timon and
Pumbaa.
On the productivity side, there is
Microsoft Works 7.0, which allows
older kids to do word processing and
work with spreadsheets. Outlook
Express is the email program and
Music Match Jukebox takes care of
MP3 management.
But it’s security that parents
worry about, and that is taken care of
by eTrust Antivirus (free 90-day
subscription, then about $30 a
month) and Coolspot Family Filter
(free 60-day trial, then about $38 a
month).
The latter allows you to block
certain categories of internet pages,
programs and files and can be
configured for each user. A dedi-
cated button launches the program.
Other buttons take you to the
Disney website or control CDs and
DVDs. There’s also a volume knob.
The Dream Desk runs a 2.66GHz
Intel Celeron D 330 processor and
ATI Radeon 9100 Pro graphics
accelerator.
There’s 256MB of RAM, a 40GB
hard drive and a combo disc drive
for playing DVDs and playing and
burning CDs.
There’s a built-in modem for dial-
up internet, and an Ethernet socket
for broadband or networking. Audio
in/out and four USB sockets on the
back of the PC are complemented by
another two USB sockets — plus
headphone and mic — on the front.
All cables at the rear are neatly
hidden by a sliding cover, as are the
ports on the front.
Speaking of hidden . . . I’ll bet
you don’t find the on/off switch for
a while.
Don’t ask me. My lips are sealed.
AT A GLANCE
DISNEY
Model: Dream Desk PC
Price: $1699
Target: 1300 130 000
A lovely PC for kids,
well-designed inside and out.
The monitor isn’t the best on
the market, but the ears save it.
