Tranquil PC MMC-12 review

Stylish but huge

I guess if you are willing to pay the price, then you have the space, but it won't be making it into our living rooom.

By tirons1 on 27 Jan 2012

Huge?

It's no bigger than a Blu-ray player! :)

By SashaMuller on 27 Jan 2012

Looks nice, but...

A media centre with an 80 GB drive and no tv tuners? Hmm. That's an interesting description. I'm surprised Microsoft lets them use the name.

By Grace_Quirrel on 27 Jan 2012

Its a 'Modern' Media Centre

@SashaMuller & Grace_Quirrel
The emphasis today is on a 'distributed' model. The Media centre simply supplies the CPU\GPU power and a home for the DVD\Bluray.

Its looking extremely likely that we will 'consume' (ugh) media differntly in the near future.

Netflix, LoveFilm et al will provide on demand streaming and\or Terrestial 'catch up'.
We'll be using more sophisticated set-top boxes and\or dedicated media servers (like WHS2011) to download \ record \ watch 'Live' TV. These can be placed anywhere in the home.

So gadgets like these could be the wave of the future. They could (sadly) also be a blind alley....

By wittgenfrog on 27 Jan 2012

Gorgeous??

"it could be easily mistaken for a high-end Hi-Fi separate."

From the 80s, maybe. I guess it's in the eye of the beholder, but it looks uncomfortably like a rack-mounted server with go-faster fins to me...

By petermillard1 on 27 Jan 2012

I'm with Grace_Quirrel

80Gb for a media centre and no TV tuner, really just a dumb box that can stream. Looks great but has some limitations for the price

By andyw35 on 27 Jan 2012

ummm?

why this over an xbox or ps3?

By Peza1 on 27 Jan 2012

Asrock ION

Why pay so much when you can buy an AsRock ION 330 for £250ish that is quiet, can play HD Bluray and has a larger HD.

By DaChimp on 27 Jan 2012

please enlighten me

I've been looking to put something in the livingroom for ages so we can watch the iPlayer, 4OD and Sky Player with HDMI. So far we've been using my daughters Asus laptop on the HDMI cable and it's pretty good.
In the 'boys' room we have a PS3 and a small flat screen TV and it's proving to be really good for TV, again with iPlayer, MUBI, 4OD all 'built in', and it streams music from the main PC.
So... I'm seriously thinking of buying a PS3 for the living room to use exclusively as a media centre, so why would I want to fork out an extra £400+ for one of these? What point am I missing?

(btw we have a Sky Box too)

By caulfiek on 27 Jan 2012

soon to be made redundant by the rasperry pi, or smart TV's very soon.

By Jaberwocky on 27 Jan 2012

Questions

If you're looking for a cheap, basic media streaming device, this isn't it. This is something for the person who wants a PC to supplement a reasonably high-end AV system.

If you don't want or need the flexibility of a PC, then a console is an obvious choice. Especially if you're a bit of a gamer. Neither console is exactly silent, though, and they're necessarily limited in what they can do, and what formats they support. A PC will play anything, given the right software, and is highly customisable.

TV tuners present another question. Depending on what type of set-up you have - terrestrial, cable, satellite - you'll want a different tuner. Or maybe not want one at all. There is no point bundling one by default. It doesn't make the MMC-12 any less a Media Centre PC. I'd go the twin-tuner DVB-T2 route, but I've also used Silicon Dust's HDHomeRun network tuner, and it's a fantastic bit of kit.

The 80GB SSD is ample, at least in my opinion. A NAS device is a far better place to store media than on the PC itself, and should you really want internal storage, then you can add a 1TB 2.5in laptop HDD to the empty bay.

If you're on a tight budget, the likes of AsRock's ION 330 are ok, but the CPU is dog-slow - I'm not convinced it'd even handle playing back a Freeview HD stream and recording another. I know I'd like a bit of horsepower in my living room PC, just so everything stays smooth and responsive, even under duress. I've never been a fan of Atom - for anything.

The extra CPU grunt in the MMC-12 also allows the use of better quality renderers, such as MadVR, alongside free players such as Media Player Classic Home Cinema. The picture quality improvement from using MadVR is not inconsiderable, either. The upscaling is simply stunning.

Yes, you could buy the individual parts, an off-the-shelf Mini-ITX case and put something together for cheaper, that's in no doubt. That, however, is something you could say of any PC. If you're capable of building your own, then do, it'll save you a packet.

By SashaMuller on 27 Jan 2012

Or, how about

*ahem* a Mac Mini? And if you really don't want OSX put Window on it.

Plus you get a processor capable of doing some real work if you need to.

I can tell you from personal experience that a closed MacBook Air sitting under the TV makes a very attactive HTPC.

By daveandrews1 on 27 Jan 2012

Mac Mini is another good option...

Bear in mind, though, the MMC-12 is much more upgradeable than the Mini.

Once Ivy Bridge CPUs come out, you should be able to drop in a faster, cooler-running CPU with nothing more than a screwdriver and a BIOS update.

And then there's the optical drive...

By SashaMuller on 28 Jan 2012

@SashaMuller

Good point, but I still think a laptop makes for a great small htpc, let's face it, it's always going to be more compact than pretty much any traditional case. And a damn sight cheaper too.

By daveandrews1 on 28 Jan 2012

Nearly perfect

If this a had a pair of Digital tuners built in i'd be straight on the phone to buy one. It's pretty much perfect for me, however as with all Tranquils HTPCs it has no tuners which is just stupid.

My existing HTPC has two built in so I bought a USB HD one (about £80) so I had 3 tuners, however the USB one is simply crap and regularly looses signal.

By JStairmand on 30 Jan 2012

customer feedback

has anyone bought one of these? tranquil have bad feedback on pcpro.co.uk for an order for a different model, I'm wondering if that was a one-off or the norm.

By SLord2 on 30 Jan 2012

Price

I will be building a media/gaming pc when the low TDP Trinity APUs are available. The price will be around £500 including a DC-DC PSU that's £75 alone, a BD-RW, adequate gfx card & dual freeviewHD tuner.
I can only assume the case makes up the extra cost of this.

By dubiou on 30 Jan 2012

The Media Centre PC is dead

The time for a PC based media centre has passed. They have been overtaken by Sky/Virgin/Freeview for recording TV and by XBox/PS3 for streaming (and my PS3 plays Blu-Rays very nicely). Sorry, but this box is pointless, especially at the price.

By llcoolj40 on 5 Feb 2012

I love it, Just got mine

I just got mine, i can't take my eyes off of it, the quality is amazing. I can appreciate it jsut by holding it. The price is slightly higher than other competitors, but it is also much lower. With quality like this people should spend that extra. This is like a car or most things in life if it ticks most of the boxes and looks great........ GO FOR IT

By Jwobble on 9 Feb 2012

Very high hopes and very disapointed

This truly does look like a nice bit of kit and I had such high hopes for it as a HTPC but even though I placed an order on the 5th of Jan, I am still waiting for my unit to be made or shipped. Originally I was quoted a time of 5-10 days for the build but it has already been 4 to 8 times that long and I don't know if I am any closer at all. Tranquil really have a long way to come when it comes to customer service. I have made numerous requests for a simply status update or when I can actually expect my unit to be shipped and each time the Support staff are very polite and say they can't get in touch with the production staff straight away and will email me once they get on to them but I am actually yet to receive any emails. I have really tried to be patient but I honest feel like I should be getting in touch with my banking institution for being ripped off. I would be very cautious about placing an order with TranquilPC again.

By starkles on 14 Feb 2012

Thanks starkles

liked the product but glad I didn't buy one

By SLord2 on 27 Feb 2012

A-List... not so sure

Move on 7-weeks from 'starkles' post and I'm having similar problems. I placed an order on 10th March and expected they might have a backlog of orders after the review. After the initial confirmation of order etc and a query from them regarding a tuner card, I have received no updates. I contacted them on 4th April to request an update and was told "I have requested for an update from our production manager. As soon as I have received a response I will be in touch". Fair enough. But still nothing by today, so I have just sent another update request.
It's a bit shoddy to be honest - I think most people would understand if they are struggling to fulfil demand and there are delays, but they need to at least be able to communicate this to their customers.
Can the product remain on your A-List if their customer service is falling short and long delivery times not communicated?

By mrjaf2002 on 16 Apr 2012

A-List... not so sure

Move on 7-weeks from 'starkles' post and I'm having similar problems. I placed an order on 10th March and expected they might have a backlog of orders after the review. After the initial confirmation of order etc and a query from them regarding a tuner card, I have received no updates. I contacted them on 4th April to request an update and was told "I have requested for an update from our production manager. As soon as I have received a response I will be in touch". Fair enough. But still nothing by today, so I have just sent another update request.
It's a bit shoddy to be honest - I think most people would understand if they are struggling to fulfil demand and there are delays, but they need to at least be able to communicate this to their customers.
Can the product remain on your A-List if their customer service is falling short and long delivery times not communicated?

By mrjaf2002 on 16 Apr 2012

Disappointment

Placed my order March 2012 and finally received my MMC 125 today 9 May 2012 ... very disappointed in what I received. No documentation nothing. The case could use better finishing ... Be careful many sharp machined edges.

Customer service what customer service??? I must have sent 20 emails but only received a response 3 times.

By NewGeorgian on 9 Jun 2012

Word of warning

Echoing many of the posts above... I paid for a MMC-12 in March and waited 11+ weeks for delivery. The case is discolored and the remote is broken. Five weeks later despite many, many emails, the matter is still unresolved and I have had to complain to Trading Standards. I'm a grand poorer with a sub-standard paperweight.

By Gubbins on 8 Jul 2012

BIG WARNING

Sorry for my english.
I've been waiting 19 weeks and still no news of my pc.
It 'a nightmare.
Stay away from tranquilpc, my worst experience in the IT world since 1995.
Guido

By guidom on 17 Oct 2012

Do not buy from Tranquil

Ordered MMC in February. After months of excuses and missed delivery dates still not received in November. Cancelled order and they refuse to repay. Now having to dispute through credit card company. Do not give them your money.

By Tooting on 18 Nov 2012

Don't go near Tranquil

Tranquil are a disgrace, six months and not one communication other than to say they had my money. Getting any response out of them is impossible. I've had to resort to the Small Claims Court. AVOID

By holloway on 14 Dec 2012