HP z500 Digital Entertainment Center review: HP z500 Digital Entertainment Center

If you like the idea of putting a Media Center PC into your living room but don't want an ugly midtower trashing the decor, you might consider the HP z555 Digital Entertainment Center. Looking more like a traditional home A/V component than a desktop PC, it makes a handsome addition to a high-tech entertainment center. Of course, it does a whole lot more than a stereo receiver or a DVD player, thanks to its Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 OS and some impressive hardware. The mix includes three TV tuners (one of them HD), a LightScribe DVD-recordable drive, and a powerful graphics card. At $1,999, the z555 isn't cheap, but it's one of the few Media Centers we've tested that can handle high-end gaming chores in addition to its TiVo-like multimedia duties.

Brushed black metal covers the front face of the z555, giving it a decidedly upscale appearance. Below the DVD drive, a two-line LCD screen delivers context-sensitive information, such as TV channel and song name. Unfortunately, the LCD is surprisingly dim, making it hard to read and therefore less useful than it should be. The case also keeps the system extremely quiet, though not totally silent.

Connection options abound on the HP z555 Digital Entertainment Center. In front, a pair of fold-down doors sit on either side of the LCD; one hides a 9-in-1 media-card reader and two USB 2.0 ports; the other hides an S-Video input, composite audio/video inputs, a mini-FireWire connection, and a microphone jack. There's even a full-size quarter-inch headphone jack for plugging in studio-caliber headphones. While the case has dedicated playback and shuttle buttons, it lacks a volume control.

The rear of the case resembles a high-end stereo receiver. HP has packed the z555 with nearly every audio and video option imaginable, including outputs for component video, optical digital audio, 7.1 surround sound, and more. Even better, every single port and media slot is clearly labeled.

There's not an open PCI expansion slot to be found inside the case, however, and don't plan on adding RAM without some fairly major surgery: the slots are blocked by drive cages. This is especially troublesome since HP doesn't offer any configuration options for the z555. If you decide you want more than the included 512MB of RAM, you'll have to go through the trouble of installing it yourself. Alternatively, you can look at the other models in HP's Digital Entertainment Center line.

We occasionally found ourselves wishing for 1GB, as the z555 seemed a bit sluggish at times. Although in benchmark tests it performed on a par with the similarly equipped Shuttle XPC G5 8300mc, it lagged a behind HP's other media powerhouse, the Media Center m7070n Photosmart PC, and Gateway's 832GM, both of which include 600-series Pentium 4 processors. The z555's 3.0GHz Pentium 4 530 seems a bit stingy for a system in this price range. The HP m7070n was 9 percent faster, while the Gateway 832GM beat the z555 by 4 percent.

We can't argue with the rest of the system's specs, which include a 250GB hard drive, an internal bay for HP's optional Personal Media Drive (basically a portable hard drive that you can connect to other PCs via USB 2.0), an 802.11b/g antenna, and a double-layer LightScribe DVD burner. HP's LightScribe technology lets you burn grayscale art directly onto specially coated discs. The LightScribe media isn't cheap, at $13.99 for a 5-pack of DVD+R discs and $6.50 for CD-R discs, but it adds a professional, if time-consuming, touch to your discs.

The z555 uses Nvidia's midrange GeForce 6600 PCI Express video card, which provides enough graphics muscle to run even the newest games at decent settings. It pushed 37.7 frames per second in our 1,024x768 Half-Life 2 tests, placing it in a statistical tie with the Shuttle XPC G5 8300mc, which has the same card, but way ahead of HP's other Media Center machine, the m7070n, which scores an almost unplayable 18.1fps.

The three TV tuners allow you to record two standard-definition shows and one high-definition show simultaneously. One major drawback is that the HD tuner doesn't work with set-top HD boxes. That's currently a limitation of the Windows Media Center OS. Instead, the z555 relies on an antenna, which you'll need to purchase separately, to receive over-the-air high-definition content. As long as you live in a major metropolitan area, you should find good reception and more than a few HD channels being broadcast.

HP doesn't supply a monitor or speakers, so we paired the z555 with WinBook's PowerSpec LC30D (a 30-inch LCD) and a Panasonic stereo receiver. Although standard-def programs exhibited that slightly soft quality common to PC tuners, we found image color and clarity to be above average. High-definition programming looked absolutely stellar.

We liked HP's wireless keyboard/trackball combination, which can rest comfortably on a lap for couch-based computing. The same can't be said for HP's Media Center remote, which has an inferior button layout to that of the standard MCE 2005 remote and lacks the all-important Aspect button for quickly cycling through TV zoom settings. Two IR Blasters are also included.

If you're willing to give up a few premium features, such as multiple TV tuners and a LightScribe drive, another Media Center system to consider is the WinBook PowerSpec 410. You sacrifice a bit of hard drive space (160GB vs. 250GB) and some graphics horsepower (ATI X300 vs. GeForce 6600), but at half the price, the 410 serves up the same CPU and RAM.

Although the z555 includes only a one-year warranty, HP offers toll-free, 24/7 phone support; real-time online chat; and the promise of e-mail answers within one hour.

Application performance
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

BAPCo SysMark 2004 rating

SysMark 2004 Internet-content-creation rating

SysMark 2004 office-productivity rating

HP Media Center m7070n Photosmart PC (3.2GHz Intel P4 640, 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 400MHz)

193 

219 

174 

*Gateway 832GM (3.0GHz Intel P4 630, 1,024MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz)

182 

199 

167 

HP Digital Entertainment Center z555 (3.0GHz Intel P4 530, 512MB DDR SDRAM, 400MHz)

174 

192 

158 

Shuttle XPC G5 8300mc (3.0GHz Intel P4 530, 512MB DDR SDRAM, 400MHz)

173 

195 

153 

Polywell MiniBox 939AX (2.1GHz AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz)

146 

173 

124 

Half-life 2 Custom Demo (in fps)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Half-Life 2 1,024x768 4xAA 8xAF

Shuttle XPC G5 8300mc (Nvidia GeForce 6600, PCIe)

38.5 

HP Digital Entertainment Center z555 (Nvidia GeForce 6600, PCIe)

37.7 

HP Media Center m7070n Photosmart PC (ATI Radeon X300, PCIe)

18.1 

Polywell MiniBox 939AX (integrated ATI Radeon X200)

10.2 

*Gateway 832GM (integrated Intel 915G)
N/A

*The Gateway 832GM was unable to run our Half-Life 2 test.

Find out more about how we test desktop systems.

System configurations
Gateway 832GM
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005; 3.0GHz Intel P4 630; Intel 915G chipset; 1,024MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; 128MB integrated Intel 915G (shared memory); WDC WD2500JD-22HBB0 250GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA
HP z555 Digital Entertainment Center
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005; 3.0GHz Intel P4 530; Intel 915G chipset; 512MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; 128MB Nvidia GeForce 6600 (PCIe); Maxtor 6B250S0 250GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA
HP Media Center m7070n Photosmart PC
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005; 3.2GHz Intel P4 640; Intel 915G chipset; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 400MHz; 128MB ATI Radeon X300 (PCIe); Seagate ST3250823AS 250GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA
Polywell MiniBox 939AX
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005; 2.1GHz AMD Athlon 64 3200+; ATI Radeon Xpress 200 chipset; 512MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; 64MB (shared) integrated ATI Radeon X200; Seagate ST3200822AS 200GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA
Shuttle XPC G5 8300mc
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005; 3.0GHz Intel P4 530; Intel 915G chipset; 512MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 6600 (PCIe); WDC WD2500JD-98HBB0 250GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA