Reference Hardware for an HD300-like Client Solution

[nyplayer]

I saw this barebones in NewEgg seems like It could possibly work for a client?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16856119042

[jchiso]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

I saw this barebones in NewEgg seems like It could possibly work for a client?

I don't have that model, but I recently picked up a Giada Cube which also has the Atom 330 and ION graphics and I couldn't get it to work as a Client using XP or Vista. Perhaps if you have a copy of Windows 7 it might work, otherwise I would not recommend it ...

[computer33]

Originally Posted by ThePaladinTech

Does anyone have an E350 and how is working for you??

Bought this last week. http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/hp-p...-34467063.html. Had an extra client license from the days before I bought my HD100. That thing suited us well for many years. The E350 plays back HD flawlessly. The interface is so smooth compared to my extender so that part is nice. I am by no means an expert on codecs I just select anything that says "Microsoft" in Sage. VC1 (WM video decoder DMO) doesn't play at all but i have not tried to trouble shoot that yet.

[mkanet]

Dell Zino HD: $299.99

-Win7 64bit
-Comfortably decodes 1080p AVC/VC1 (Bluray spec)
-5.1 audio over HDMI or native optical SPDIF out (no converter needed)
-Builtin IR receiver
-500GB HDD
-3GB RAM (adequate since no other app running in background)
-BD ROM (optional)

Out of the box, I just install sageTV windows client, Java, and girder. The obvious advantages this has over the HD300 is I can have a full brown web browser, and these clients in theory can keep running indefinitely (until something else comes out that offers everything my sageTV setup has to offer and more). The only thing I dont like about Windows SageTV Client is no subtitle support for bluray (so I need to play movies with subtitles using TMT5).

Dell Zino HD:

[IVB]

Originally Posted by mkanet

Dell Zino HD: $299.99

-Win7 64bit
-Comfortably decodes 1080p AVC/VC1 (Bluray spec)
-5.1 audio over HDMI or native optical SPDIF out (no converter needed)
-Builtin IR receiver
-500GB HDD
-3GB RAM (adequate since no other app running in background)
-BD ROM (optional)

Out of the box, I just install sageTV windows client, Java, and girder. The obvious advantages this has over the HD300 is I can have a full brown web browser, and these clients in theory can keep running indefinitely (until something else comes out that offers everything my sageTV setup has to offer and more). The only thing I dont like about Windows SageTV Client is no subtitle support for bluray (so I need to play movies with subtitles using TMT5).

If you get the opportunity, please post your opinion about how loud it is, and if you own a Kill-A-Watt, how much the real world power drain is (while playing & in standby).

[ThePaladinTech]

Originally Posted by computer33

Bought this last week. http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/hp-p...-34467063.html. Had an extra client license from the days before I bought my HD100. That thing suited us well for many years. The E350 plays back HD flawlessly. The interface is so smooth compared to my extender so that part is nice. I am by no means an expert on codecs I just select anything that says "Microsoft" in Sage. VC1 (WM video decoder DMO) doesn't play at all but i have not tried to trouble shoot that yet.

You are just the person I was hoping for! someone that has an HD-100 and got an e350. How does the navigation speed compare, Hoping the e350 is faster then the HD-100. Thanks! ( i see you say it is so smooth compared to the extender... Anything else?)

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by mkanet

Dell Zino HD: $299.99

-Win7 64bit
-Comfortably decodes 1080p AVC/VC1 (Bluray spec)
-5.1 audio over HDMI or native optical SPDIF out (no converter needed)
-Builtin IR receiver
-500GB HDD
-3GB RAM (adequate since no other app running in background)
-BD ROM (optional)

Out of the box, I just install sageTV windows client, Java, and girder. The obvious advantages this has over the HD300 is I can have a full brown web browser, and these clients in theory can keep running indefinitely (until something else comes out that offers everything my sageTV setup has to offer and more). The only thing I dont like about Windows SageTV Client is no subtitle support for bluray (so I need to play movies with subtitles using TMT5).

The one with built in blu-ray comes out to 499.99. Decent price.

[mkanet]

Very odd. Somehow, overnight, the price went up from $299.99 to $399.99. I'm not sure how that happened. I can see still blogs when doing searches on Google about the $299.99 price for the Dell Zino HD. That's definitely going to prevent me from buying one.

Originally Posted by panteragstk

The one with built in blu-ray comes out to 499.99. Decent price.

[graywolf]

Originally Posted by mkanet

Very odd. Somehow, overnight, the price went up from $299.99 to $399.99. I'm not sure how that happened. I can see still blogs when doing searches on Google about the $299.99 price for the Dell Zino HD. That's definitely going to prevent me from buying one.

Still shows 299.99 on the Dell site http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?...ino+HD&cat=all

or at least at 1:30pm (est) on August 9th it does

Might be a "Back to School" sale price or what not.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by graywolf

Still shows 299.99 on the Dell site http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?...ino+HD&cat=all

or at least at 1:30pm (est) on August 9th it does

Might be a "Back to School" sale price or what not.

Click on the link. It isn't $299.99 when you try to buy it.

[IVB]

for me, i'd have no issue spending up to $600 if I could get a fanless, quiet, low power (<20W while standby) client PC with a BluRay drive in it and VGA/HDMI video out and analog/HDMI audio out. Then I could leave it on 24x7 without stressing about about the power bill.

[Fuzzy]

My Clarkdale client in my living room uses a bit more juice than the newer i3 Sandy Bridge units, and it wouldn't be hard to build it for <$500 fanless. On and idle it draws more than 20W, but it sleeps perfectly, and when in S3 sleep, it only uses 2.2W. That said, I see no need to run it fanless, as I cannot hear the stock cooler from my couch.

[IVB]

this is for our MBR, and it would be 8' from where we sleep. The wife likes her quiet.

That said, I don't need it this week, she's lived without a local BR drive so far, we have a local DVD player. Hopefully in 6 months, the low end will be powerful enough to run BR without needing big heat dissipation.

I guess I really need to relook at S3, I could never get that to accurately work but that was 2 years ago.

[Fuzzy]

Honestly, I would still consider the i3 (or perhaps the e350) the low end, and it should handle bluray just fine. even in the MBR, no need to go fanless, as there are plenty of practically silent fans, and it will only be running when being watched (if you use sleep).

[wayner]

Originally Posted by IVB

for me, i'd have no issue spending up to $600 if I could get a fanless, quiet, low power (<20W while standby) client PC with a BluRay drive in it and VGA/HDMI video out and analog/HDMI audio out. Then I could leave it on 24x7 without stressing about about the power bill.

The HDPlex H3.SODD is totally fanless as it uses the case itself as a heatsink. The case costs $240 - but you should be able to build an entire i3 based system for around $600 and the only moving part would be your BluRay drive. But I don't know exactly the power consumption of one of the i3 chips when it is idle.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by wayner

The HDPlex H3.SODD is totally fanless as it uses the case itself as a heatsink. The case costs $240 - but you should be able to build an entire i3 based system for around $600 and the only moving part would be your BluRay drive. But I don't know exactly the power consumption of one of the i3 chips when it is idle.

With my i3-530 at idle, it's about 46W at the wall. That's with an older laptop harddrive. An SSD at idle would use quite a bit less.

[Kirby]

So I've been thinking about building up a new Sage client PC (have a license not being used) for my main HT room. Have an older Silverstone LC16M case, and I'm sure I have a PSU somewhere. Trying to do it as cheap as possible, so I might steal the SSD from my laptop and put the original laptop drive back in it.

So basically I would just need a cpu, mb, and ram. But I need to be able to do HD audio over HDMI, and playback all bluray formats (and hd-dvd rips). Would a Sandybridge G620 be good enough for this? At $68, it seems like a hell of a deal, couple it with a decent motherboard and 4GB ram, I think I could probably make it work for under $200 (maybe even $150)?

I'll be feeding 1080p/60hz as my TV doesnt do 24p. This would eliminate the whole 23.976 vs 24.000 hz issue right?

Also, would it be possible to have a Ceton card installed in the client machine, and the server make use of all the tuners from it? The way things are wired in my house, this would be a lot easier solution than putting a Ceton in the server. Or I could make this machine the server, and just use the old server for all the storage drives.

[IVB]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

With my i3-530 at idle, it's about 46W at the wall. That's with an older laptop harddrive. An SSD at idle would use quite a bit less.

I thought laptop hard disks only used 8-10W, which would then be 35-38W for the box. IIRC, the HD200 is ~10W, so thats an incremental 25W for the box, or 18.6KWh/month. At my incremental energy cost of $0.31/KWh, thats $5.80/month. Not awful, but enough to be annoying :-)

[Kirby]

Originally Posted by IVB

I thought laptop hard disks only used 8-10W, which would then be 35-38W for the box. IIRC, the HD200 is ~10W, so thats an incremental 25W for the box, or 18.6KWh/month. At my incremental energy cost of $0.31/KWh, thats $5.80/month. Not awful, but enough to be annoying :-)

But you could put the client into S3, whats the power draw then? Very low I assume, so your extra energy costs will likely be a lot less, unless you watch 24/7

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by Kirby

But you could put the client into S3, whats the power draw then? Very low I assume, so your extra energy costs will likely be a lot less, unless you watch 24/7

Correct, my client in s3 sleep draws 2.2W (0.4W in S4). That's LESS than the 4W the HD300 draws when in standby.. so if it's someplace like a master BR, the power usage might be LESS with the client than the extender - just depends on actual usage time.