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That motherboard is hardly adequate for use in an HTPC config. With 0 PCI and 0 PCIe you really wanna be stuck with sucky USB TV tuners? There is no point in having a small system like this as an HTPC if you're just going to have a bunch of external boxes for tuning etc... TV tuners are an integral part of any HTPC, deal sucks.
DarkScout said:OR Ubuntu and XBMC on it and you have something that should do 1080p and easily rivals any system on the market today.
I could be wrong, but as far as I know xbmc, flash and boxee dont support hardware acceleration on the ION, and the atom in this box is quite inadequate for decoding anything other than standard def video.
I think there are some things in development for xbmc, and theres a flash version coming out someday soon that uses the hardware acceleration.
Powerdvd and windvd support the ion. I think windows media center does as well. But for any internet video like hulu, Netflix video or anything that doesnt go through the hardware accelerated players just wont work on this box.
At about the same price point if you buy it when the right coupons are around, you can get a Dell studio hybrid with a dual core cpu, a 3450 gpu that'll decode everything, enough cpu power to do software decodes, and a windows 7 license. Pretty close to the same power footprint too.
You also dont need to go with USB tuners. For a small form factor box with no internal slots, I'd use the silicondust network tuners. Much more flexible and far fewer problems than USB or even internal tuners.
HardlyWerker said:That motherboard is hardly adequate for use in an HTPC config. With 0 PCI and 0 PCIe you really wanna be stuck with sucky USB TV tuners? There is no point in having a small system like this as an HTPC if you're just going to have a bunch of external boxes for tuning etc... TV tuners are an integral part of any HTPC, deal sucks.
What is this "TV Tuner" of which you speak? My HTPC doesn't even have a DVD drive. Sits very quiet. Silently waiting while my SheevaPlug gets me all the goodies..
HTPC, to me, is supposed to do one thing. Play 1080P at my request and sit off otherwise. IF I was so inclined. I'd have a MythTV box with a full ATX MoBo sitting in the server room with a RAID and a full compliment of tuner cards (If I REALLY was that much of a TV Junkie).
Even so, what is so bulky and awkward about this? http://www.Newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815260023
Ya, nowadays the sweet spot for HTPCs are either a lowend Exxxx series or lowend AM3 cpu with a motherboard with onboard graphics that can decode HD. It's about the same price (or cheaper), and the power draw is not that much more for a HUGE peformance increase.
sklar said:I could be wrong, but as far as I know xbmc, flash and boxee dont support hardware acceleration on the ION
You are wrong. XBMC and Boxee both support VDPAU, which supports video cards back to the 8300 (which handles 720p just fine). I can't wait for my GT220 to get here which supports VDPAU Feature Set C, which will also supports MPEG-4 ASP (MPEG-4 Part 2), Xvid / OpenDivX (DivX 4), and DivX 5 AND hardware upscaling. (I currently max out one of my CPU's upscaling my SD content).
As far as I know Adobe hasn't released hardware accelerated Flash for ANYONE. (Trust me, I'm first in line since it chokes my brand new MacBook Pro horribly).
3450 gpu that'll decode everything
ATI hasn't released their VDPAU/CUDA equivalent yet. It's always been "coming soon".
DarkScout said:HardlyWerker said:That motherboard is hardly adequate for use in an HTPC config. With 0 PCI and 0 PCIe you really wanna be stuck with sucky USB TV tuners? There is no point in having a small system like this as an HTPC if you're just going to have a bunch of external boxes for tuning etc... TV tuners are an integral part of any HTPC, deal sucks.
What is this "TV Tuner" of which you speak? My HTPC doesn't even have a DVD drive. Sits very quiet. Silently waiting while my SheevaPlug gets me all the goodies..
HTPC, to me, is supposed to do one thing. Play 1080P at my request and sit off otherwise. IF I was so inclined. I'd have a MythTV box with a full ATX MoBo sitting in the server room with a RAID and a full compliment of tuner cards (If I REALLY was that much of a TV Junkie).
So then you're just mistaken at what an HTPC is. An HTPC is supposed to combine ALL of your home theater goodies into 1 box. TV included. Otherwise you may as well just have a cheaper network connected media player...
HardlyWerker said:So then you're just mistaken at what an HTPC is. An HTPC is supposed to combine ALL of your home theater goodies into 1 box. TV included. Otherwise you may as well just have a cheaper network connected media player...
You should login and correct the Wiki then. Wiki said:A Home Theater PC (HTPC) or media PC is a convergence device that combines the functions of a personal computer and a media center software which feature video and music playback, and usually but not always also digital video recorder functionality. It usually has a 10-foot user interface and is connected to a television or a television-sized computer display, and is often used as a digital photo, music, video player, TV receiver and digital video recorder, and normally controlled with a remote control. The general goal of an HTPC is usually to combine many or all components of a home theater setup into a single machine that will be located where the home theater system is desired. An HTPC system is typically controlled with a remote control for controlling the main interface, and the GUI normally has a 10-foot user interface design so that it can be comfortably viewed from a such distance.
Again. I don't see the point of even having a TV tuner. All Digital Cable is encrypted and the cards are near useless from what I've heard. Not to mention I don't even have Cable. Nor do I have an areal up.
I COULD spend the money on tuner, figure out how to get it working, make sure to set it up. Or I could set up an RSS feed and let someone else who has more time than me do all this for me.
And none of those embedded networked media players come close to the configurability, flexibility or codec availability as XBMC.
Maybe the OP could change the title: "Movie watching, music playing, picture viewing hdmi capable s/pdif output Combo - Zotac..."
To me, an HTPC is any PC that integrates with a home theater's audio and/or video functions, regardless of the specific PC functionality used. In my case, it's a web browser, a Netflix player, and gives access to my networked MP3 library. All integrated with my HD projector and AV receiver. Even if my HTPC had a tuner, I couldn't tune TV signals with it because I am a DirecTV customer.
As for the deal in question, unless that case form factor, and ultra low power/heat is essential, I'd go with one of the many mATX Celeron/Sempron mobo combo deals that are appearing for under $75 these days, and add in a cheap PCIe DVI card.
My HTPC is a old Dell Dimension 2400 Celeron 2.4 with only PCI slots. It has a PCI version of the 8400GS video card, and it works great driving a 720P projector via DVI/HDMI. I use it because it's an extremely quiet machine.
Message edited by: rbstern on 2009-10-27 14:38:05 CDT
HardlyWerker said:That motherboard is hardly adequate for use in an HTPC config. With 0 PCI and 0 PCIe you really wanna be stuck with sucky USB TV tuners? There is no point in having a small system like this as an HTPC if you're just going to have a bunch of external boxes for tuning etc... TV tuners are an integral part of any HTPC, deal sucks.
Eh, it really depends on what you're looking to do. IMO, over-the-air television broadcasts are as "obsolete" as as DVDs or CDs. But, of course, to each his own.
As far as this deal goes, it's great, but people should be aware that the dual core atom is not strictly necessary for decoding 1080p video. I recently built myself a nice little HTPC using the Zotac IONITX-C-U Mobo, which has a built in power supply, this case, a 1GB stick of ram, and a 4GB USB memory stick for the operating system. I have it running XBMC in Ubuntu and it decodes any video I throw at flawlessly. It also is completely silent (no hard drive and totally fanless) and uses next to no power (19W at idle, 26W when decoding 1080p video, according to my Kill-A-Watt), all for under $200. Now, this setup was ideal for me because I had a wired network in place, and thus was able to get away with a minimum of onboard storage. Other people may have different needs.
sklar said:DarkScout said:OR Ubuntu and XBMC on it and you have something that should do 1080p and easily rivals any system on the market today.
I could be wrong, but as far as I know xbmc, flash and boxee dont support hardware acceleration on the ION, and the atom in this box is quite inadequate for decoding anything other than standard def video.
...
Reports from the field say that dual Atom CPU and ION combos work fine for just everything out there...doing full Blu-ray at all the various frame rates and uncompressed audio as well.
This Zotac board supports mild over-clocking, which most people say is working as well.
The only problem is, if you over-clock, you also need to put a fan on it, making it a bit louder than some folks care for.
If you have an older TV, good luck getting HDMI to actually work right. Both ATI and Nvidia have crappy HDMI support. All kinds of problems, like the pannel isn't sized properly, or the resolution needs to be tweaked to get it to display correctly. Or nagging problems, like the picture quality is terrible unless the sharpness is maxed out, waking up from sleep and the sound is gone, or the sound doesn't work at all depending on the tv or which drivers are installed. You may find youself using a seperate monitor just to configure the video to work with your TV's HDMI. It's definately not like hooking up a PS3 and having it just work.
robohomer said:Saw a similar combo on eBay much cheaper and ready built. In addition, it has a killer casing and kicks ass!! It has the smallest mini ITX and coolest on the market. Let me know if you see anything smaller or nicer. ebay link
The system linked to that eBay page costs about $30 more than the Newegg bundle, and you only get 2GB RAM and 120GB HD (vs. 4GB and 1TB).
Message edited by: cartfan on 2009-10-27 23:37:41 CDT
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