DigiTheatre Speaker System

Reviewed by: Stuart Fairclough (stuart@mpcc.org.uk)

Hardware	DigiTheatre Speaker System
Manufacturer	VideoLogic

For the man who has everything or, to put it PC (politically correct), what I really mean to say; for the persona of no particular ethical, political or sexual persuasion, who having due regard to the well being of his or her fellow man or woman; has the bees knees of a PC system and would rather fancy the equally bees knees of sound systems to go with it, then the DigiTheatre Complete Home Cinema System from those very nice people at VideoLogic, should do very nicely thank you...

Now before we go any further, I'll get the nasty bit out of the way from the right off... the whole package will set you back œ249 but before some of you decide to read no further or conclude that, for that kind of dosh you can go out to the travel agent's, get a holiday for 8 in sunny Majorca for 14 days; drink yourself in to a stupor every night and still have change left over to fill your car up with a tank of go juice; I would request you to indulge me by reading on, just to see exactly what you're likely to get for one's hard earned wonga!

Contained in one mighty box are no less than 6 speakers, a bass subwoofer speaker and amplifier combined, a decoder, wireless remote control and oodles of wires. So what exactly is the DigiTheatre? The DigiTheatre is, in simple terms, a complete Dolby Digital surround sound amplifier and speaker system. By channelling a stereo or digital sound source through the compact decoder unit you will not be able to hear sounds from your computer games like you've never heard before. Get right to the heart of the action and experience DVD movies as they should be heard with amazing Dolby Digital (AC-3) 5.1 surround sound.

With a separate decoder box, slim line remote control, and six dedicated speakers including subwoofer with integrated six-channel amplifier, DigiTheatre is a complete Dolby Digital surround sound system. Its dedicated full-range speakers provide a spacious sound stage, fast and precise positioning of effects, exceptional detail and thunderous bass.

Styled in charcoal and black, DigiTheatre is equally suitable for stand-alone DVD players in the living room or DVD-capable PCs. Fully compatible with earlier surround sound standards, it produces Dolby Pro Logic sound from Pro Logic-encoded material played on your Nicam VCR or TV, and spacious surround sound stereo from any standard stereo input.

Setting up the system was fairly painless, as the instruction manual was made very clear and easy to understand. I tried the system both on my PC and my TV/video set-up unfortunately not located (as I would suspect most PC's), in the same room. From both sources the result was like immersing yourself in a bath of sound... the sound was crystal clear with enough mountainous sound to keep the neighbour awake for a week. Even at the top end distortion was non-existent and if using with your PC you are lucky enough to have a sound card (such as the Videologic Sonic Vortex2), which is optimised for both 2 and 4 speaker systems, then flying around Monaco in a Jordon F1 2000, is like being there; the crashes almost hurt as much! Connecting the system to your existing TV will turn the sound output into a true Dolby Digital surround sound; again experience a totally emissive entertainment experience.

I couldn't really fault the DigiTheatre because it simply delivers what it promises, fantastic clear sound which can be individually adjusted to suit each and every individuals personal needs without even getting up from the armchair or moving out of your computer chair.

My only one real gripe with what obviously is a high quality product with a fairly high-end price tag: is the speaker wires that are provided... too thin and flimsy! The wires supplied although in sufficient lengths for most needs, are those horrible bell like cable wires and of course they won't lay flat and tend to adopt their own inflexible position, so permanently securing the wiring is essential. This in reality means that the system is not intended to be packed up with your PC every time you decide to take your machine round to your mate's house. If you're going for this system then give some consideration to where you're going to place the speakers and where you're going to hide and fix the wires.

The DigiTheatre has received oodles of awards from some pretty big boys in the business so they can't all be wrong but to round up... If your PC is located in the same room as your TV/VCR set up and you're looking for the ultimate sound package to compliment your home entertainment system or you want to add Dolby surround sound to your TV/VCR set-up, then the DigiTheatre is for you. For the PC user, unless you have a permanently set-up system and you intend to more or less permanently secure the DigiTheatre in and around your PC, you might want to consider an alternative. On the other hand if you already got the mega-donuts of a PC with a trillion gigabytes, a 30" monitor and CPU that would run the country from your own backyard, then what the hell, you're someone who's not worried about a little thing such as the cost; go out and buy it!