New ZBOX- specs good enough for HDPVR Client?

[btrcp2000]

Still on my quest to locate a SFF box to be a PC as well as a sage client that can play anything while living in the kitchen cabinet. 1st gen Dell Zino ain't happening for me, even with a broadcom decoder, which sage just plain doesn't like.

About ready to pull the trigger and saw this for $500 at newegg. Anybody want to take a stab at whether it can handle HDPVR files?:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...scrollFullInfo

Model ZBOXHD-ID34BR-U
Chipset Intel® NM10 Express
CPU Socket NA (integrated CPU)
Dimensions 7.36in x 11.02in x 1.5in - 187mm x 280mm x 40mm
FSB 800 MHz
Memory Size 2GB Installed (Up to 4GB RAM)
Memory Slots 2 x 200-pin
Memory Type DDR2-800 SODIMM
Onboard Audio Onboard analog stereo high-definition audio/ 7.1-Channel LPCM digital audio (HDMI)/ Optical Digital S/PDIF audio output
Onboard LAN 10/100/1000Mbps, WiFi 802.11n/g/b
Onboard Video NVIDIA ION graphics processor
Package Contents 1 x ZOTAC ZBOX Blu-ray HD-ID34

SATA 1 SATA (3.0 Gbps), 1 Combo eSATA / USB 2.0 port
USB 2 Front (1x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0) 1 Back (1x USB 3.0)
Video Ports HDMI + DVI-I

[clayfree]

Yes, this should work just fine. I've used a Zotac 330 as the htpc in my theater for the past year and have been really impressed with it's performance. I believe the ION graphics share the memory so I would recommend 4gb memory. It ran Sage just fine, even OTA HD and I used MPC-HC & VLC to play MKVs up to and including 1080p. You'll need to get your codecs set up just right but it's a great little package.

I've since moved on to an HD300 for my theater and it's fantastic. Have you thought about that for your kitchen?

EDIT: Sorry, I just saw you need it as a PC also.

[mayamaniac]

It has the ION2 right? I wonder if it has the same limitation as the other ION2 system. I read something about the ION2 GPU sitting on the PCI-E 1X controller instead of on 16X, and 1X is a bottleneck for the ION2 GPU. It is something about licensing problem between intel and nVidia. I'm not sure if that affects video playback or not.

[paulbeers]

Yeah, because Nvidia does not have a license to build a chipset for Intel chips that use an onboard memory (which the newest Atom processors use). This is the same reason why we mac fans are stuck with core2duo's in the macbook pro 13" (which is my favorite size). So the Ion2 chipset basically utilizes the available pcie 1x that the chipset allows (basically just shoe horning in a video card, but not allowing it to have the bandwidth it truly needs/wants).

Here's a good read for those interested: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3702/z...orse-than-ion1

Anyway, to sum up the article: Gaming performance is worse (then again who games on an Atom), but video playback is just as good on the ion2 and you get a better Atom processor which makes the day to day stuff faster. So for the sake of HTPC's, go ION2. However, it also isn't worth upgrading if you already have an original ION HTPC.

[btrcp2000]

So is it a safe bet that the new zbox will be able to use sage client to display HDPVR files? This is always the crapshoot part because sage does things differently than the preinstalled software packages. I am willing to experiment with it, but every place I can find this item will cost about $50 in restocking fees if it doesn't work.

[btrcp2000]

At the risk of jinxing myself, this zbox is working pretty well since last week. It is running HDPVR files very smoothly (only using it as a client, not server). All I did was set sage to use the microsoft decoders. It was clunky at first, but seemed to smooth out after win7 found a couple hundred MBs worth of updates. The only "complaint" I have is that it seems to stop and restart playback when transitioning from fullscreen to windowed, resulting in a delay of 5-10 seconds, and one freeze/crash of sage client so far. That might be fixable, haven't dealt with it much. I might try the cyberpower or TME decoders, but not a priority.

But in any case, I may have found my all-in-one sage client/kitchen 'puter that runs smoothly, is hopefully cool/small enough to survive/fit in a wooden box, runs kids' flash games like webkinz okay. Plus it has a built in slot-load BD drive (my first), gonna have to google that and see what it's fer...

plus it comes with a vesa mount for those who might want to stick it on the back of a tv, but i have no use for it. Thumbs up so far!

[mayamaniac]

Are you using the EVR setting?

[btrcp2000]

yes

[madpoet]

I'm looking at grabbing a zbox since NewEgg has them on sale. Will it run well as a Sage client and give me playback of all my BD rips, etc;? I am considering it vs. another Sage 300 so I can get better Netflix and Hulu.