Complexity and power are often intertwined: you can’t have one without the other. Or, can you?

With version 3.0 of the Intel® Digital Home Capabilities Assessment Tool (DHCAT), the team had one mission: make it simple. All the feedback we got from users told us that DHCAT was too hard to set up and run. You talked, we listened.

Today we proudly announce the arrival of Intel® DHCAT 3.0, which adds new features, improves existing ones, and most importantly, is now much easier to use. It’s available for free exclusively here at ICF, and you can order your copy today.

Click Next to learn more about what’s new and here today, and what’s coming soon to DHCAT 3.0.

Hard to Make Simple

“User interfaces are easy to make hard, and hard to make simple.”

- Don Norman, The Design of Everyday Things

The Intel® DHCAT project has had some pretty lofty goals from the get-go: we’re trying to change the way the world views PC platform performance, get past raw speed, and measure quality of experience. Much easier said than done. This was compounded by the complexity of Media PCs, and we learned that while the platform may be complex, measuring it shouldn’t be.

In DHCAT versions 1.x and 2.x, the tool required that the system have:

• A TV tuner card installed
• A media installed and correctly configured
• Third-party software installed, such as DivX and an MPEG-2 decoder

Based on user feedback, Intel® DHCAT 3.0 no longer requires the presence of a TV tuner card or a media server. The tool now only needs to have the DivX * video codec (current version 6.7) and a commercial MPEG-2/H.264 decoder like CyberLink*’s PowerDVD* Max or Ultra (current version 7). These are both available online, and can be found here:

DivX* Pro

PowerDVD* 7 Max or Ultra

Couple of things to note: These applications should be installed BEFORE you install DHCAT 3.0. The installer will check to see if they are there, and if not, will let you know. You can get the trial versions of both pieces of software, and they will work with DHCAT 3.0.

The trial version of DivX* Pro is free to use for 14 days, and will work just fine with DHCAT 3.0. However, if you’re planning on testing multiple systems, we would recommend purchasing a full version of DivX* Pro to make testing easier.

Currently there are no free or trial versions of H.264 decoders available on the market. To get H.264 decode functionality, you will need to purchase a full version of PowerDVD* 7 Max, which costs about $60 USD direct from Cyberlink’s web site. The trial versions of these applications do not include the H.264 decode. So you do have to shell out $60 bucks to test your system with DHCAT 3.0. The good news is that you get yourself ready for that blue laser optical drive you’ve been thinking about adding. Keep reading, because soon you’ll be able to get a good estimation of your system’s media capabilities for free right here at ICF.

Up and Running

Once installed, Intel® DHCAT 3.0 is VERY easy to run. A test run can be kicked off in two mouse clicks. Test time has been reduced to around 30-40 minutes, depending on system. Results are much easier to understand as you can see from this top-level results screen:

The goal was simple with our results screen: Make it simple. Simple as in your cousin who knows nothing about computers or benchmarking can look at this graphic, and within 10 seconds, understand what a system can and can’t do for them in language they understand.

More detailed views are of course available, where you can drill down into much deeper levels of detail.

Coming Soon: DHCAT Goes Online

We’ve got more good stuff coming. This includes the online results browser (ORB), where DHCAT users can upload their results, and compare themselves to others. There will also be a Rate My System feature where you can get an estimation of their current systems’ capabilities, without even installing DHCAT! This will be a great way to take Intel® DHCAT 3.0 for a test-drive before you order your copy.

The ORB will let you compare results from multiple systems, and see how yours stacks up.

Come and Get It!

Intel® DHCAT 3.0 represents a lot of hard work by our development team, and its greatly simplified results screen is the product of consumer market research we conducted while building this tool. This combination of new features tested (H.264), simplified configuration, and We’ve got more good stuff coming. This includes the online results browser (ORB), where you can find out in a matter of seconds how your current system rates. To really drill down, you’ll want to order your free copy of DHCAT 3.0 and really put your system through its paces.

As always, we want to know what you think about DHCAT, so get your copy, take it for a spin, and let us know what you think. We look forward to hearing from you in the forums.