ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre Platinum is a great media player including play for standard definition movies and CD's as well as high definition Blu-ray and HD-DVD's in full surround sound.
TotalMedia Theatre Platinum includes the software media player that includes support for high definition media including Blu-ray and HD-DVD as well as high definition media such as camcorders. The player will also play all those regular definition media such as DVD's, CD's along with media and audio files using Codec's including Dolby Digital and DTS-HD Master Audio.
The high definition theatre experience comes complete with full 7.1 surround sound support including HDMI pass through of audio for use with an external receiver audio system. The SimHD plug-in adds up scaling of standard definition movies to high definition to improve clarity and color that works fairly well.
While the best you can play your regular movies may be standard definition up converting them to high definition is one way to enjoy those movies in even better quality. The SimHD feature is a filter that cleans up the picture and tries to scale it up to 1080p but it may not be worth the extra expense.
SimHD is easy enough to leave off for regular movies and did not really miss it all that much but if you're watching on a larger television or screen it may be something of a bonus feature you would want to have. It does make some scenes and objects clearer but these are simply fleeting glimpses at a whole and may not be all that much when taken as a full movie.
Other than the SImHD the ArcSoft media package of Theatre 3 Platinum is a great way to watch movies and Blu-ray discs from your computer in full surround sound.
The media player's screen and menu interface is easy to use and pretty self explanatory while the help and settings are simple to use as well. Finding things you need for setup was simple and going through the pages one by one shows just about everything you could think of for both setup and use of the player.
You can customize the player some with various colors to accent things on your desktop or to ones you prefer but that about ends the customization. You can undock a mouse control panel for movies like Blu-ray that does not allow mouse use but that is really all for moving parts of the program around.
The mouse controls work well for the high definition movies and your standard arrows and enter buttons work well for other controls while playing those Blu-ray and HD-DVD's.
The screenshots also work well and you get simple power management settings for use with a laptop that works well for a quick additional power management beyond what the laptops power settings can handle. The Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre 3 Platinum does a great job of playing both regular media and high definition Blu-ray movies in full surround sound without any real problems at all.
With a brand new stylish UI, easy-to-use features, and industry-leading playback technology to please even the most seasoned users, ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 3 delivers the ultimate movie- watching experience on your PC!
The ultimate high-definition movie experience! Check out these cool features:
Supports playback of Blu-ray movies and high- definition multimedia files
Enhanced Blu-ray interactive feature support, including BD Profile 1.0, Bonus View and BD-Live
Direct playback from high-definition Camcorder
Excellent performance with high hardware acceleration compatibility and Advanced De- Interlace (ADI)
Home theatre audio experience
HDMI 1.3 pass-through support, for lossless 7.1 channel audio output through receivers
Smart playback features such as Time Stretch, smart stretch and Auto-Resume
Received excellent scores on HQV test
Universal Player, Including Blu-ray Discs
In addition to playing commercial and homemade DVD movies, TotalMedia Theatre also plays Blu-ray discs formats — high Definition MPEG-2, AVC, and VC1, AVCHDs, CDs, VCDs, as well as all kinds of other high-definition (HD) content: WMV HD, Quicktime HD, DivX HD, and H.264 HD. Support includes both 1280x720 (720p) and 1920x1080 (1080p).
Enhanced Blu-ray interactive features
TotalMedia Theatre provides industry- leading full Blu-ray interactive feature supports, including Blu-ray Disc Profile 1.0, BonusView and BD-Live. Also supports Disc library management and downloaded BUDA content management.
High Quality
TotalMedia Theatre 3 receives excellent scores on the Hollywood Quality Video Processing test by supporting SD and HD effects such as Noise Reduction, Video Test, and Film Test with mainstream graphic cards.
Bring Everything to High-Definition with SimHD™ Plug-in
SimHD™ is ArcSoft's upscaling technology, turning standard-definition multimedia files and DVDs into high-definition ones, offering you a sharper and more vivid picture in real time. SimHD™ is provided as a plug-in for TotalMedia Theatre 3.
When upscaling files in ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre, SimHD utilizes NVIDIA CUDA and ATI Stream, the GPU computing technologies, which not only offer large performance benefits but also balance GPU and CPU usage*, enabling running of complicated tasks which requires demanding calculations, without sacrificing output quality.
Excellent Performance and Compatibility with Advanced Graphic Processors
TotalMedia Theatre 3 offers excellent hardware compatibility, working smoothly with high -definition graphics processors from Intel, NVIDIA, and ATI. It is also compatible with commercial discs, bringing users exceptional playback of high -definition content on the PC. With above average scores on the HQV test, users are guaranteed smooth and colorful playback quality.
Superior Audio Decoding
TotalMedia Theatre 3 provides advanced audio decoding with the ArcSoft Virtual Speaker which includes a speech booster, virtual surround module, and a fully customizable Smart Bass amplifier to turn an otherwise bland stereo or headphone sound source into an intense aural generator.
Next-Generation Home Theatre
TotalMedia Theatre 3 fully supports the next- generation audio formats used in Blu-ray discs: LPCM, AC-3, DD+, and MLP. It also supports Dolby Surround, Digital 5.1 (AC-3), and DTS Surround Sensation virtual speaker. Once your favorite soundtracks are playing, fine-tune your audio experience with our broad 10-band equalizer. Pick from a variety of presets, or customize the sound to your personal taste.
Support HDMI 1.3 Pass-through Technology for Lossless 7.1 Channel Audio Output
With DTS-HD Premium Audio Output via HDMI 1.3, TotalMedia Theatre 3 provides full high- definition audio digital output, enabling lossless audio such as DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby TrueHD, and Dolby Digital Plus, to be transferred to the AV receivers for high-fidelity sounds - up to 192 kHz sampling frequency and 24-bit audio resolution, offering exceptional audio experience.
Enjoy Surround Sound with Two-Channel Speakers
TotalMedia Theatre 3 supports DTS Surround Sensation which virtualizes surround sound onto 2 channel headphone/stereo speaker, DTS 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 -channel soundtracks.
Direct Playback Files or Various High- Definition formats (AVCHD, BD) from HD Camcorders
Provides features for optimal high-definition playback directly from plug-in camcorders, no need to transfer files to hard drive. The program provides auto detection of digital camcorder formats such as Canon, Panasonic, Sony Handycam®, and JVC, also supports most recorded formats such as MPEG-2, AVCHD, DVD-VIDEO, DVD-VR, Divx AVI, SD-Video.
Note: HDV, DVC, and Mini DV supports are optional.
All New and Intuitive User Interface
TotalMedia Theatre 3's sleek new look features a modern black UI design, intuitive control for easy navigation, and Information Center (the E button) to keep you informed with new patches, upgrades and promotions.
Windows Media Center Edition Plug- in
The program comes with a Windows Media Center Edition plug-in built right in! The plug-in provides a "10 foot" user experience: big buttons and compatibility with your remote control mean you can use TotalMedia Theatre to watch your Blu-ray movies from the comfort of your couch.
Supported File Formats:
Video : MPEG-1 (.M1V), MPEG-2 (.M2V, .TS, .TRP, .TP and etc.), MPEG-2 HD (.M2TS, .M2T, .MTS), MPEG-4 (.MP4, .DIV, .DIVX), WMV, WMV HD, DVR-MS, H.264 (.264, .26L, .H264, .AVC, .JSV, .JVT and etc.) , VC1, DV AVI, Real (.RM, .RMVB, .RAM, .RV, .RA), QuickTime (.MOV, .QT), FLV, DivX AVI, DivX HD, VOB, ASF, DAT, VRO,3GP, 3G2
Audio : MP2, MP3, WAV, Ogg, AAC, WMA, MP3 CDs
Digital Camcorder : Digital camcorder device, auto detection, and playback, from Canon, Sony, Panasonic, and JVC.
