Previously, high-end media centres cases have generally been fitted with Vacuum Fluorescent Displays, which are usually too small to read from the couch. The Fusion Black and the SilverStone GD01MX cases are both fitted with SoundGraph's iMon OEM Type A, a 96x16 pixel LCD that is compatible with Windows XP and Vista media centre editions. The display's large size means it can be easily read from five metres away, plus it's capable of displaying 2-byte Asian characters.
You can customise the font, size and style of the displayed text, as well as brightness and scroll speed. Unfortunately is only has a roughly 45 degree horizontal and vertical viewing angle, at which point the entire display turns bright. This means the display casts a lot of light around the room, but the viewing angle is wide enough that it doesn't impact on viewers.

The SoundGraph LCD is the ultimate accessory for a lounge room-based computer. Thankfully it's also available as a standalone product in the form of SilverStone's MFP51, fitting in a standard 5.25 inch external drive bay, for those who don't want to abandon their existing case.

The supplied iMon Manager software offers a choice of six settings for the information it displays - Graphic Equaliser, System Information, Media Information, Email Check, Daily News and City Information - each of which is customiable. Daily News runs off RSS feeds, with a handful of US sites included by default but thankfully you can add your own. City Information offers a choice of several hundred cities, with temperatures in fahrenheit or celcuis. There's also an Automatic mode which jumps between the settings according to what your PC is doing at the time.

If you're building a lounge room PC, then most of these information display options are just novelties. Do you really want to be disrupted by an email when watching a movie, or have all the day's terrible news scrolling in front of you whilst trying to wind down? Graphic Equaliser and Media Information are obviously the two of interest to media centre users, but the Media Information setting can be frustrating if you expect it to mimick the readout on your other AV devices. When you're watching a television show it repeatedly scrolls the name of the show, with a progress bar telling you how long its got to go. This can be frustrating if you also want to see what channel you're watching or what the time is.

Thankfully the iMon software accepts third party plugins such as FrontView <mediacentermagic.com>, which integrates tightly with Windows' media centre interface and lets you control the display to the nth degree. You can also play around with Girder and LCDSmartie.

The LCD readout is accompanied by SoundGraph's very impressive iMON PAD Remote Controller. Along with all the AV buttons you'd expect on a television or DVD controller, the remote also features a 4-way pad which you can toggle between mimicking the cursor keys and controlling the mouse. Even when troubleshooting you'll rarely need to leave the couch thanks to left and right mouse buttons along with the Windows key, Enter, Escape, Application Launcher and Task Switcher.

The remote's infrared receiver is built into the LCD, which in turn is wired into the computer's power switch so you can use the remote control to power up and shut down your computer just like a consumer electronics device. By default the iMON PAD is overly sensitive, so when you're navigating menus with the pad it's easy to go sideways instead of up. Tweaking the repeat rate helps but it still requires a delicate touch. If you're using the iMON PAD in the lounge room, you'll be disappointed to discover it can't be programmed to control other devices such as your television and amplifier.

If you buy the display seperately, as the SilverStone MFP51, it's very easy to install. It just screws into an external drive bay just like an DVD burner. The hardest part is connecting the wires from your computer's power switch to the pins on the back of the display. The pins are almost impossible to get to and we suspect it was designed by an engineer with tiny fingers and a twisted sense of humour. You can't buy the MFP51 in Australia yet, we got ours shipped in especially by SilverStone. Australian distrubtor Altech Computers supplied the two cases.

So if the Antec Fusion Black and the SilverStone GD01MX are both blessed with this sexy SoundGraph LCD, how else do they compare? CONTINUED