Entered CNET Catalog: 03/09/2002
SKU: S370
Manufacturer: ABS Computer
Product summary
The good: 17-inch LCD; 100GB hard drive with 8MB buffer; DVD-RW drive.
The bad: Tepid warranty; mediocre DVD-creation software.
The bottom line: ABS's All U Can DV offers budding directors an opportunity to hone their skills, as long as they can get past the middling software bundle.
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 03/21/2002
Everything it takes
ABS stocks the All U Can DV with a long list of digital-video-oriented components, yet its price is reasonable compared to that of other DV systems we've tested. None of this would be possible without the ATI All in Wonder Radeon 8500DV graphics card, which provides a TV tuner, an IEEE 1394 port, and analog inputs and outputs that make getting video into or out of your PC a snap. For optical storage, you get a 16X Pioneer DVD-ROM drive and the Pioneer DVR-A03, a DVD-RW drive that also writes to CD-Rs and CD-RWs. Its 100GB Western Digital drive includes an 8MB cache--four times the usual amount--which is very helpful when you're streaming video to and from the drive. The 17-inch Hitachi CML170 LCD, with its 1,280x1,024-pixel native resolution, is a welcome switch from a CRT when you're staring at the screen for hours on end--and it takes up less room on your desk, as well.
The system sounds as good as it works, too. Forget the vestigial speakers located in the lower bezel of the LCD; they're tiny, and they're tinny at higher-than-moderate volumes. ABS might have thought so, too, because the company bundled an Altec Lansing 641 speaker system as part of the package. The 4.1 set tips the scales at almost the same weight as the computer, but it's worth it; the four satellites and the subwoofer pump out 400 watts of plaster-pulverizing audio power.
Conservative performance
At the heart of the All U Can DV lie an AMD Athlon XP 2000+ CPU and 512MB of DDR SDRAM. You'd think that ABS would combine that with the 64MB graphics system to blow other comparable systems out of the running, but the system has one handicap: Its gigabyte motherboard uses the AMD 761 chipset rather than one of the edgier, third-party chipsets. The result is somewhat conservative performance; while the All U Can stuck close to other DV systems we tested, such as the 2GHz Pentium 4-equipped HP Pavilion 750n, it was about 3 percent to 7 percent slower than similar Athlon XP 2000+ systems on productivity applications. Its gaming performance was strong, however, at 157.1 frames per second in Quake III.
Subpar software and support
The All U Can DV system fails its target market when it comes to its video-editing software, which is bundled with the graphics card. Ulead VideoStudio 5.0 is a competent low- to mid-level editor with a few minor quirks, such as an inability to render in AVI format a clip that's longer than about eight and a half minutes. MyDVD, the DVD-authoring software, gets the job done, but its interface and terminology can be confusing. Plus, VideoStudio 6.0 is now available. Not only does it improve upon its predecessor in various ways, but it also includes its own DVD-authoring facilities, removing the need for a separate application. Unfortunately, we don't know when the new version will filter into the graphics-card bundle offered with this system. As a stopgap measure, we recommend purchasing an upgrade directly from Ulead.
ABS's service and support is also disappointing in some ways. The three-year parts warranty and lifetime labor warranty are good enough, but extension and onsite-service options are not available. Phone support is toll-free, but it's available only during business hours.
Balancing the pluses and minuses
The ABS All U Can DV is well equipped for digital-video editing, with a solid computing foundation and a long list of useful components. Its big LCD and great-sounding speakers add to the enjoyment of playing back your creations. However, the system's shortcomings in service and software mean that novice users may want to look elsewhere.
| Performance test 100=performance of a test machine with a PIII-800, 128MB of PC133 CL2 SDRAM, Creative Labs GeForce Annihilator 2 32MB, and Windows 2000 (Service Pack 1) Longer bars indicate better performance
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| Quake III Arena test Frames per second; longer bars indicate better performance | ||||||||||
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ABS All U Can DV Windows XP Home; Athlon XP 2000+ 1.67GHz; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; ATI Radeon 8500 64MB; Western Digital WD1000JB 100GB 7,200rpm Compaq Presario 8000T MyMovieStudio Windows XP Home; Pentium 4 2.2GHz; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon 32MB; WDC WD1200BB-60CJA0 120GB 7,200rpm Dell Dimension 8200 Movie Studio bundle Windows XP Home; Pentium 4 2.2GHz; 256MB RDRAM 400MHz; Nvidia GeForce3 Ti 500 64MB; Western Digital WD1200JB 120GB 7,200rpm HP Pavillion 750n Windows XP Home; Pentium 4 2GHz; 1,024MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; Nvidia GeForce3 Ti 500 64MB; WDC WD1200BB-22CAA0 120GB 7,200rpm Sony VAIO PCG-GRX590 Windows XP Home; Pentium 4 2GHz; 512MB RDRAM 400MHz; Nvidia GeForce2 MX/400 32MB; Maxtor 536DX 100GB 5,400rpm The ABS All U Can DV stuck close to other DV systems we tested, such as the 2GHz Pentium 4-equipped HP Pavilion 750n, but its application-performance scores were 3 percent to 7 percent slower than those of similar Athlon XP 2000+ systems. The ABS's gaming performance was strong, however, at 157.1 frames per second in Quake III. |
User opinions
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9/10
I love my ABS Computer
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1/10
You might as well flush your money down the toilet!
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3/10
Bad pc
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User Rating: 
6/10
cost too much
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