How can you assume it is much quieter? Given the small fan this box uses I could easily make something equivalent that is much quieter simply by going with a larger lower RPM fan... no exotic or expensive parts but yeah it'd be larger unless the fan intake was ported to the side panel instead of drawing in air from all over the passive vent holes.
I prefer my HTPC solutions to have enough processing power in the CPU to handle all HD playback. Plus about 25% free. People go nuts over GPU's that can accelerate video playback but don't realize how it locks you into programs that support it. Sure maybe it works with windows media player, or windows media center's playback. But what about the linux crowd? What about the guy who loves an older version of power dvd etc?
Hey knowbody - its urmumsacow - I won't stand for content protection systems, I'd probably use a program like slysofts anyHDdvd to strip the protection. Then again I don't know if that exists for BD yet.
Yeah, boxee with VDPAU (I believe any XBMC based system supports it), is a very nice HTPC solution for linux, I've heard that the last gen of these runs MythTV setups nicely as well. I'm looking at getting one of these to stream HD to my TV, and I'm very excited to upgrade my old Dell which will barely play 576p.
This looks like a nifty and small solution... could be a contender to replace my C2D behemoth system in my living room! But along those lines... Anand, is it possible to get the dimensions on the unit or do we have to wait for the review? ;)
Not sure about the retail price, but Foxconn already makes a really nice one of these for $190 in white, $200 in black, and you can get a slim dvd version of it for $260ish I think. I'm sure you could pair it with a bluray slim OEM somehow.
What is the MSRP? Since it is 40nm, should run cooler than gen1 ION. Does the graphics run on PCIe x1 and if so, do you see drpped frames at 1080P high bit rate blu-ray movies?
They should rethink their fan design, it side-loads the bearing which bodes ill for lifespan and it won't exactly be easy finding an exact replacement someday, unless Zotac plans to support buyers for many years with a reasonably priced replacement part.
It also seems a bit small, needing higher RPM and noise to get the same job done. Why oh why can't they master 100 year old tech like fans?
I'm eager to see how this unit performs with XBMC on a linux platform. The first generation Ion platforms can handle any kind of video you throw at it, however hulu HD performance leaves a lot to be desired unfortunately...
hopefully with ion2, it will be able to handle Hulu playback in HD nicely.
i'll be really interested to see if this device supports eSATA hot swap support, i purchased a Zotac board and built my own media server net top media center and i several different ways to enable hot swap support with no success, even zotac tech support was of little help...
Meh, you can just get an xbox 360, for like 200$ and it will do this but better lol. I just stream content from a tversity server, actively transcodes unsupported media... BEAST
Well there might be a fan mounted inside, but as an owner of a HTPC with the first gen ION, i can safely say that the noise is not that big of a deal imho.
Sure some rare occasions during let's say a hit summer evening/day the fan might make a bit of noise, but again my sat reciever makes more noise on an average day.
And with a dual core Atom in my HTPC i can actually watch smooth HD MKVs along side running VMWare with a Windows 2k3 server acting as webserver, torrent seeder etc, id say thats pretty ok for a small like 40w load machine.
And i bet the second gen aren't making more noise than a first gen system..
Anand, I think most people get this box for HTPC purpose. Please post your thought on fan noise as well as expected fan life. I would most probably run it 24/7. Thanks.
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Spivonious - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
Throw in a BD-ROM and I'm sold. It's probably half the size of my current HTPC and much quieter.mindless1 - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
How can you assume it is much quieter? Given the small fan this box uses I could easily make something equivalent that is much quieter simply by going with a larger lower RPM fan... no exotic or expensive parts but yeah it'd be larger unless the fan intake was ported to the side panel instead of drawing in air from all over the passive vent holes.Spivonious - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
Who says there's a fan inside?Spivonious - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
Nevermind, just realized there was a link to more photos. I thought Pinetrail could be passively cooled.n0b0dykn0ws - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
Does it have a PAP solution though?That's the only reason I would not consider it for a media player solution.
n0b0dykn0ws
JDub8 - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
I prefer my HTPC solutions to have enough processing power in the CPU to handle all HD playback. Plus about 25% free. People go nuts over GPU's that can accelerate video playback but don't realize how it locks you into programs that support it. Sure maybe it works with windows media player, or windows media center's playback. But what about the linux crowd? What about the guy who loves an older version of power dvd etc?Hey knowbody - its urmumsacow - I won't stand for content protection systems, I'd probably use a program like slysofts anyHDdvd to strip the protection. Then again I don't know if that exists for BD yet.
sprockkets - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
VDPAU works well for Linux and nVidia based stuff. Except of course for lousy flash.j5 - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
Yeah, boxee with VDPAU (I believe any XBMC based system supports it), is a very nice HTPC solution for linux, I've heard that the last gen of these runs MythTV setups nicely as well. I'm looking at getting one of these to stream HD to my TV, and I'm very excited to upgrade my old Dell which will barely play 576p.n0b0dykn0ws - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
I don't want the down-sampled audio though.Total Media Theatre (my preferred playback solution) will only bitstream the DD TrueHD and DTS HD MA if it's a supported device.
I do have AnyDVD HD installed on my HTPC.
n0b0dykn0ws
Aikouka - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
This looks like a nifty and small solution... could be a contender to replace my C2D behemoth system in my living room! But along those lines... Anand, is it possible to get the dimensions on the unit or do we have to wait for the review? ;)martyrant - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
Not sure about the retail price, but Foxconn already makes a really nice one of these for $190 in white, $200 in black, and you can get a slim dvd version of it for $260ish I think. I'm sure you could pair it with a bluray slim OEM somehow.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
Aikouka - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
The Foxconn product in your Newegg link doesn't use Pine Trail.martyrant - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/Barebones/NT...they are offered, though.
CSMR - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
But is it quiet? Ion is power-hungry.AmdInside - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
What is the MSRP? Since it is 40nm, should run cooler than gen1 ION. Does the graphics run on PCIe x1 and if so, do you see drpped frames at 1080P high bit rate blu-ray movies?paperfist - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
Forgive my noobieness, but could this be used with a TV, KB & Mouse to provide a TV based web browsing experience?Looks like I could squeeze that behind my LCD TV mount for a kitchen setup.
sxr7171 - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
Yes it could. But frankly for kitchen setup I personally would favor iPad and stand. For living room definitely this.martyrant - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
An iPad? For what? Typing your grocery list? Sorry bud, but you aren't going to be streaming any 720-1080p video to an iPad.lolpad
mindless1 - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
They should rethink their fan design, it side-loads the bearing which bodes ill for lifespan and it won't exactly be easy finding an exact replacement someday, unless Zotac plans to support buyers for many years with a reasonably priced replacement part.It also seems a bit small, needing higher RPM and noise to get the same job done. Why oh why can't they master 100 year old tech like fans?
Ogi - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
It's been delayed over and over again.I'm eager to see how this unit performs with XBMC on a linux platform. The first generation Ion platforms can handle any kind of video you throw at it, however hulu HD performance leaves a lot to be desired unfortunately...
hopefully with ion2, it will be able to handle Hulu playback in HD nicely.
krazyderek - Sunday, May 2, 2010 - link
i'll be really interested to see if this device supports eSATA hot swap support, i purchased a Zotac board and built my own media server net top media center and i several different ways to enable hot swap support with no success, even zotac tech support was of little help...jigglywiggly - Sunday, May 2, 2010 - link
Meh, you can just get an xbox 360, for like 200$ and it will do this but better lol. I just stream content from a tversity server, actively transcodes unsupported media...BEAST
Hanfufu - Monday, May 3, 2010 - link
Well there might be a fan mounted inside, but as an owner of a HTPC with the first gen ION, i can safely say that the noise is not that big of a deal imho.Sure some rare occasions during let's say a hit summer evening/day the fan might make a bit of noise, but again my sat reciever makes more noise on an average day.
And with a dual core Atom in my HTPC i can actually watch smooth HD MKVs along side running VMWare with a Windows 2k3 server acting as webserver, torrent seeder etc, id say thats pretty ok for a small like 40w load machine.
And i bet the second gen aren't making more noise than a first gen system..
Just my thought on this....:)
MalfunctioningEddy - Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - link
Hanfufu what kind of config are you running exactly?VMWare next to HTCP config sounds pretty good.
You're running Ubuntu XMBC with VMWare Server 2?
Is that Windows 2003 VM responsive/good to work with?
Roy2001 - Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - link
Anand, I think most people get this box for HTPC purpose. Please post your thought on fan noise as well as expected fan life. I would most probably run it 24/7. Thanks.