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+--- Thread: ZBOX? (/showthread.php?tid=154038)
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ZBOX? - Technocrat - 2013-01-31
Hello,
We have a WD Player that appears to have died so we are looking to replace it. I fit group #4
Here are some of my requirements:
- ~$400 (cheaper the better)
- .mkv videos on a USB 3 HD (1080P)
- XVID and AVI
- Linux (Openelec?)
- No optical drive
- WiFi
- XBMC skins
- Compact
- Would like to get it to work with my Logitech Harmony but not a deal breaker
- Lite web browsing & YouTube would be nice, but not a deal breaker
Though I could build a HTPC I am not really wanting to spend the time. I see a number of people using Zotac ZBox. Would the Zotac ZBOX-ID81-U fit my needs? Or is there something else that would work better?
Thanks
RE: ZBOX? - mobias1313 - 2013-01-31
I run a ZBOX ID81-U and personally love it. It can be a tad slow compared to my other boxes in terms of refreshing thumbs but most of the time it works great. I use a Harmony One, but did have to buy a different receiver. They can be found for $10 on ebay all day long. The only other downfall I have come across so far is on some of my content I get macro-blocking if DXVA is enabled, in which case I disable it and continue watching. I generally leave it enabled though because otherwise I drop alot of frames when watching my BluRay rips.
RE: ZBOX? - Technocrat - 2013-01-31
Tad slow like this is annoying, or is it livable?
By receiver do you mean an ir?
Thank you for your help
RE: ZBOX? - RaggSokk3n - 2013-01-31
ir receiver yes...
zboxes are a bit annoying due to the low processing power. building a htpc takes around 30min when you have all the parts - 15min if you're experienced. For the budget you have you should take a look at my htpcs they're a bit overkill but still nice value for money and will give you every option xbmc offers
RE: ZBOX? - tack - 2013-01-31
I bought an ID36 (ION2 with Atom D525) barebones and added 4G and recycled a 2.5" HDD. I bought a Rosewill RHRC-11002 just for the nice small dongle to plug into one of the front-facing USB ports, to use with my Harmony One. (Why these HTPC boxes so rarely come with IR is a frustrating mystery to me.)
I installed Frodo on Ubuntu 12.10. With Confluence, the experience was pretty reasonable -- certainly quite usable. And playback for content that can be hardware accelerated (which excludes some Youtube videos) was almost entirely glitch-free. It's not nearly peppy enough to run the beefier skins like Aeon, however. If that's important to you, you'll not be happy with the ZBOX.
(It was important to me, so I ended up just upgrading my existing low profile mini-atx home built box, which had an Intel Q9550, by adding a Geforce 610. Ultimately my end goal was to do bitstreaming of HD audio codecs and that solved it nicely.)
Edit: sorry, I see the ID81 uses a Celeron 857. I suspect this will do much better than the Atom D525 but I don't know how it compares in practice.
RE: ZBOX? - RFinn - 2013-01-31
I picked up a ZBox AD04-U as a bare bones refurb for under $200 and spent another $80 to throw in a HD and ram and the thing works like a charm. I would highly recommend it given your requirements. I run the Frodo RC2 build of OpenElec and about the only thing it doesn't do from your list is run a web browser.
It came with an IR receiver (though a somewhat bulky one) and a small Zotac remote that is likely the best HTPC remote I've used (though I use a Harmony 650 so I can control everything in one shot).
I use it as my bedroom HTPC and I haven't noticed any noticeable slowness over my Core I5 box in the living room. I stream all my media from the living room box, so the streaming can sometimes take a second to start, but that's par for the course with Wi-Fi streaming and barely noticeable even with 1080p. I'm planning to run gigabit to the bedroom in the spring so I can use MySQL syncing (tried it, but just too slow over Wi-Fi).
Best of all, It's portable enough that I can load some TV and movies on the ZBox and take it with me when I'm travelling. I picked up a Rosewill RC6 remote from NewEgg on sale for $10 solely for the small IR dongle and I pack it and the Zotac remote and I'm good to go.
Pretty well the only reason I don't use the same setup in my living room is because I like to game on the big screen and I need something a bit snappier with Windows for that.
RE: ZBOX? - mobias1313 - 2013-01-31
It is totally livable with the slowness. I should also point out I do run Aeon and I use win7 on my zbox. The receiver I referred to was the ir receiver. I agree that small htpcs can be built in minutes but I fail to see what factor assembly time plays into this. I didn't buy a zbox because I am incapable of building an htpc. I bought a zbox because it is incredibly small, did what I needed, and was far cheaper than building another htpc. When I priced out the components to build one not only did it cost more but the case would have been considerably larger which was a consideration I personally had. If you are concerned about the performance and need it to be perfectly snappy then just look at one of the more expensive zboxes or build your own htpc. Otherwise buy the id81 and enjoy it. If I didn't run aeon, use mysql, and run in showcase view with bd/DVD covers then it probably would be snappy on the thumbnails.
RE: ZBOX? - FernetMenta - 2013-01-31
Running Linux ID80/84 is best choice, way better than ID81.
RE: ZBOX? - PatrickVogeli - 2013-01-31
I'd get the new ID42! A low voltage Core i3 paired with an Nvidia 610. That should be a very nice machine
RE: ZBOX? - mobias1313 - 2013-02-01
They aren't for sale yet are they?
RE: ZBOX? - RaggSokk3n - 2013-02-01
(2013-01-31, 23:19)PatrickVogeli Wrote: I'd get the new ID42! A low voltage Core i3 paired with an Nvidia 610. That should be a very nice machine
nice tip
+1
RE: ZBOX? - Technocrat - 2013-02-01
(2013-01-31, 22:12)FernetMenta Wrote: Running Linux ID80/84 is best choice, way better than ID81.Why would that be better?
Looks like the id42 hasn't been released yet. If I had known I would have looked for it at CES.
@mobias1313 I agree with your comments and why I was looking in that direction. Thank you for your help.
Would the AMD processor be better than the celeron in the case?
RE: ZBOX? - FernetMenta - 2013-02-01
Quote:Why would that be better?
Because on Linux NVidia drivers are much more mature than AMD and Intel. I have many ZBoxes here including ID80 and ID81. The ID80 has become my main development machine. The GPU (GT520M) is ideal for a HTPC. Even the Atom CPU in ID80 is much faster than the Celeron in ID81 (compiling XBMC on ID81 is no fun).
According to this article ID42 has an Intel core processor with 1.1 GHz. Not sure what we can expect from this box:
http://www.zotac.com/news/pressemitteilungen/artikel/archive/2013/january/article/zotac-starts-ces-2013-with-new-3rd-generation-zbox-mini-pc.html
RE: ZBOX? - Technocrat - 2013-02-01
(2013-02-01, 18:45)FernetMenta Wrote:Quote:Why would that be better?
Because on Linux NVidia drivers are much more mature than AMD and Intel. I have many ZBoxes here including ID80 and ID81. The ID80 has become my main development machine. The GPU (GT520M) is ideal for a HTPC. Even the Atom CPU in ID80 is much faster than the Celeron in ID81 (compiling XBMC on ID81 is no fun).
According to this article ID42 has an Intel core processor with 1.1 GHz. Not sure what we can expect from this box:
http://www.zotac.com/news/pressemitteilungen/artikel/archive/2013/january/article/zotac-starts-ces-2013-with-new-3rd-generation-zbox-mini-pc.html
I guess that's a good reason.
So if I was going to pull the trigger on one it would be the ID80 in your opinion? Or would you wait until the ID42 hits the streets?
RE: ZBOX? - RaggSokk3n - 2013-02-01
id42 looks great - could be 1,5x faster than zboxes today