[gangstarrrrr]

if the barebones can be had for ~£85 i am minded to get one and stick in a 16 or 32gb SSD and 2-4GB RAM for £50ish. Any more than that and the HP Chromebox at £150 with pretty much the same spec starts to become the better proposition.

[Stereodude]

With Win 8.1 It wants you to setup your outlook.com account or you can logon local. Is there any advantage in either way of logging in when it's going to be mainly used for a media player?

I didn't have to create any outlook.com account to logon locally. I didn't have it plugged into Ethernet (so no internet access) at the time though.

Facing the front of the zbox with it in a horizontal position, there is a USB port with a rubber plug in it on the right side. I assume this is the port that is used for charging stuff. The manual doesn't show it but does say you have to go to a site and download a special driver for it to work.....

I haven't tried charging anything from those ports when the system is off, but they work normally as USB 2.0 ports when the system is turned on and running without downloading anything.

[flhthemi]

Well I think if you are going to use an outlook ID to login, then you might want to create a different account for the zbox. Windows migrated a lot of the stuff from my PC to the zbox using the same account. Mostly appearence settings and desktop settings and apps.

So far I'm impressed but the intel graphic software crashed. Might need to reinstall it.

Getting windows mass of updates right now.

Fun, fun!

[Stereodude]

Well I think if you are going to use an outlook ID to login, then you might want to create a different account for the zbox. Windows migrated a lot of the stuff from my PC to the zbox using the same account. Mostly appearence settings and desktop settings and apps.

Interesting... I didn't even see that option or any sort of mention of that. I don't have any other Windows 8/8.1 systems. I put Classic Shell on it and it behaves basically like Windows 7 to me though I'm not really using Windows 8.1 on it with any frequency.

[flhthemi]

Is it supposed to be capable of passing 5.1 via HDMI? I'm not seeing it happen. It does on SPDIF port, but it sure would be more convenient for me if I could get it from HDMI.

Very satisified so far with this box. Much better than Android box I have. Wonder if 2 more GB of RAM would really make a difference.... I have an old WDTV Hub I'm thinking of pulling the 1TB drive from and adding it to the Zotac...

[Mark142]

Does this take msata it standard ssd. Thanks.

[chclark]

Does this take msata it standard ssd. Thanks.

if its the barebones model it doesne thave a msata connector just a normal sata connector for a hdd, the model which comes with windows 8.1 and ram has a msata slot and a sata connector. if ive been follwing this correctly.

[Stereodude]

Is it supposed to be capable of passing 5.1 via HDMI? I'm not seeing it happen. It does on SPDIF port, but it sure would be more convenient for me if I could get it from HDMI.

Yes, it definitely passes LPCM, and bitstreams DTS-HD MA, TrueHD, DTS, DD in both Windows and Linux. In Windows it will also bitstream WMA Pro. I tested this myself with more than one receiver / pre-pro.

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Does this take msata it standard ssd. Thanks.

They all have an unused 2.5" drive connector on the top of the board. The Win 8.1 w/ Bing model also has a mSATA slot with a 64gB SSD on the bottom of the board. The barebones doesn't.

[flhthemi]

Is it supposed to be capable of passing 5.1 via HDMI? I'm not seeing it happen. It does on SPDIF port, but it sure would be more convenient for me if I could get it from HDMI.

Yes, it definitely passes LPCM, and bitstreams DTS-HD MA, TrueHD, DTS, DD in both Windows and Linux. In Windows it will also bitstream WMA Pro. I tested this myself with more than one receiver / pre-pro.

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Can you give me some kodi settings and windows settings? I tried damn near everything I can think of.

[Stereodude]

Are you running Kodi in Windows? I didn't try that. I used MPC- HC. What do you have the BI320 plugged into via HDMI? What's Windows show for the HDMI audio capabilities?

[teki4u]

can someone point out where to buy the version with windows bing in the uK, thanks!

[Mark142]

You can not get it in the UK only the barebones.

[flhthemi]

Are you running Kodi in Windows? I didn't try that. I used MPC- HC. What do you have the BI320 plugged into via HDMI? What's Windows show for the HDMI audio capabilities?

Yes Win 8.1 w/Bing preinstalled and Gotham (Not ready for Helix as none of the skins I like are as yet compatible)
BI320 is connected to LG 55LM7600 TV output is to Yamaha amp via optical from TV to amp
Windows shows LG TV as Playback device in sound settings

[Stereodude]

Yes Win 8.1 w/Bing preinstalled and Gotham (Not ready for Helix as none of the skins I like are as yet compatible)
BI320 is connected to LG 55LM7600 TV output is to Yamaha amp via optical from TV to amp
Windows shows LG TV as Playback device in sound settings

What formats won't it send? You mentioned "5.1 via HDMI". Your TV doesn't support all of the audio formats that HDMI is capable of carrying. Per the specs it only supports Dolby Digital (AC3) and PCM 2 channel audio. It doesn't support DTS, bitstreaming the HD audio formats (TrueHD / DTS-HD), or >2 channel LPCM.

[flhthemi]

Not sending any of them. My Ugoos UT2 did it (hdmi) with Gotham 13.2 but that was android. The very same video files won't pass it on this box.

So yes the TV supports what I'm trying to play...mighty strange.

It is all working with optical too.

Very puzzling