Zotac ZBOX-AD02-PLUS vs Xtreamer Ultra

[blurayalltheway]

Hi Guys-

I'm on a mission to find HD media player with full support of DTS-HD and TrueHD audio. I own Xtreamer Sidewinder now, and I used to own Boxee Box. Both Sidewinder and Boxee Box have problems with HD audio dropouts. Boxee cannot do DTS-HD. Aside from audio dropout; the Sidewinder is the best player for HD audio playback for me.

My next mission might be a mini-pc HTPC, and Zotac Zbox and Xtreamer Ultra in the top of my list.

Kun Fu Panda, How to Train a Dragon, Gnomeo and Juliet, Transporter 3, Avatar, The Forbidden Kingdom, etc are great movies to enjoy HD audio surround sound system, and the latest Gnomeo and Juliet is on the top of this list because it is 7.1 HD.

What do you think?

 

[jinjuku]

I think you should get a Brazos based HTPC.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Hi Guys-

I'm on a mission to find HD media player with full support of DTS-HD and TrueHD audio. I own Xtreamer Sidewinder now, and I used to own Boxee Box. Both Sidewinder and Boxee Box have problems with HD audio dropouts. Boxee cannot do DTS-HD. Aside from audio dropout; the Sidewinder is the best player for HD audio playback for me.

My next mission might be a mini-pc HTPC, and Zotac Zbox and Xtreamer Ultra in the top of my list.

Kun Fu Panda, How to Train a Dragon, Gnomeo and Juliet, Transporter 3, Avatar, The Forbidden Kingdom, etc are great movies to enjoy HD audio surround sound system, and the latest Gnomeo and Juliet is on the top of this list because it is 7.1 HD.

What do you think?

+1 for jinjuku - you should get the zotac one - it is Brazos based,
the later one (Xtreamer) is Ion = ok, but Ion doesn't support hd lossless codecs

 

[blurayalltheway]

Thank you guys. Since there isn't HD media player that can playback DTS-HD and TrueHD without issue, I'm leaning toward Zbox to fulfill my needs for trouble frees DTS-HD and TrueHD playback. Since HD media player introduced into market, I’m puzzling that none of them can playback DTS-HD and TrueHD well. There are several manufactures claimed that it does, but they never fulfill their stated spec. I can live with less than perfect PQ, but I want to enjoy HD sounds in my surround sound system. I can playback these BD files with DTS-HD and TrueHD audio on my desktop PC, but there is no room to fit my desktop PC in my entertainment center. The mini-pc (Zbox) form factor is perfect size for my very tight entertainment center. There isn't a lot of mini-pc on the market with DTS-HD and TrueHD options for reasonable price on the market. The latest Zotac Zbox seem to fit the bill. Intel seems to fall behind AMD on the quest to fully support DTS-HD and TrueHD. Since Zotac has AMD chips, I’m strongly leaning toward the latest Zbox.

I'll use this new mini-pc mostly for streaming Netflix, Vudu, Hulu, Pandora, etc and playback local files (m2ts, ISO, MKV, etc) with DTS-HD and TrueHD audio. I'm careless about internet surfing and office stuff because I can use my desktop PC for that..!

Here are my options for the Zbox:

1. Zotac ZBOX AMD E-350
2. Seagate Momentus
3. Crucial CT2KIT51264BC1067
4. Logitech PlayStation 3 Cordless MediaBoard Pro (it's my PS3 bluetooth keyboard)

With the above options, it shouldn't have any problem playback BD m2ts/ISO with DTS-HD and TrueHD. It's not bad for $418 total. If I want to add windows 7, it'll be another $124 (Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Family Pack (3-User)). I believe that it can playback m2ts and ISO files with fully support of DTS-HD and TrueHD out of the box without Windows 7.

What do you think?

vs.

 

[gpost3]

Neither. Build your own with parts off from ebay.

 

[jinjuku]

If you are looking pre-built then the Zotac...

 

[blurayalltheway]

Neither. Build your own with parts off from ebay.

I was going to build one from scratch with ASRock E350M1 Zacate Dual-Core 1.6Ghz HD6310 Mini-ITX, but the cost will be very similar to Zotac Zbox. There isn't many choice of mini-htpc motherboard with dts-hd and truehd options available on the market. Due to lack of space in my entertainment center, it have to be in mini-htpc form factor. I do have a standard HTPC desktop that can playback these options, but there is no room to fit it in my entertainment center.

 

[sholling]

Hi Guys-

I'm on a mission to find HD media player with full support of DTS-HD and TrueHD audio. I own Xtreamer Sidewinder now, and I used to own Boxee Box. Both Sidewinder and Boxee Box have problems with HD audio dropouts. Boxee cannot do DTS-HD. Aside from audio dropout; the Sidewinder is the best player for HD audio playback for me.

My next mission might be a mini-pc HTPC, and Zotac Zbox and Xtreamer Ultra in the top of my list.

Kun Fu Panda, How to Train a Dragon, Gnomeo and Juliet, Transporter 3, Avatar, The Forbidden Kingdom, etc are great movies to enjoy HD audio surround sound system, and the latest Gnomeo and Juliet is on the top of this list because it is 7.1 HD.

What do you think?

Won't it do DTS-MA 5.1 pass-though to your receiver? That's what my WDTV Live does. The receiver then does the decoding. I haven't found any common video format that it won't play. Anyway I'd check the receiver settings. For example my Onkyo requires that you spend a few minutes doing a onetime setup to tell it to treat DTS-MA input as DTS-MA.

 

[blurayalltheway]

Won't it do DTS-MA 5.1 pass-though to your receiver? That's what my WDTV Live does. The receiver then does the decoding. I haven't found any common video format that it won't play. Anyway I'd check the receiver settings. For example my Onkyo requires that you spend a few minutes doing a onetime setup to tell it to treat DTS-MA input as DTS-MA.

I have Onkyo AVR too. As far as I know, there are handful of HD media players that can pass-through both DTS-HD and TrueHD (Xtreamer and Popcorn Hour come to mind). I'm not sure that WDTV Live has these options. You can easily verify your BD movie with MediaInfo to make sure the movie has DTS-HD or TrueHD. You can playback the movie on your WDTV Live. If DTS-HD or TrueHD light up on Onkyo display matches MediaInfo, then your media player is capable of pass-through DTS-HD and TrueHD. Otherwise, it is not!

 

[sholling]

I have Onkyo AVR too. As far as I know, there are handful of HD media players that can pass-through both DTS-HD and TrueHD (Xtreamer and Popcorn Hour come to mind). I'm not sure that WDTV Live has these options. You can easily verify your BD movie with MediaInfo to make sure the movie has DTS-HD or TrueHD. You can playback the movie on your WDTV Live. If DTS-HD or TrueHD light up on Onkyo display matches MediaInfo, then your media player is capable of pass-through DTS-HD and TrueHD. Otherwise, it is not!

I stand corrected it plays back DTS 5.1 core audio but not DTS-HD Master Audio because of licensing issues. The same with my Oppo BD player when playing MKVs. I have to wonder if software players for HTPCs have the same limitation. Ill be watching this thread to see what the conclusion is.

http://community.wdc.com/t5/Firmware/WD-TV-Live-amp-DTS-HD-Master-Audio/m-p/150420/highlight/true#M9889

 

[gpost3]

I do have a standard HTPC desktop that can playback these options, but there is no room to fit it in my entertainment center.

There are mini-itx based pcs too. And you can always keep the computer "outside" of your home entertainment box. If you have a clear goal and the inspiration to do it, then it can be done. Mind posting a picture of your ht area?

 

[blurayalltheway]

There are mini-itx based pcs too. And you can always keep the computer "outside" of your home entertainment box. If you have a clear goal and the inspiration to do it, then it can be done. Mind posting a picture of your ht area?

With 5 kids in the house, I preferred my HTPC inside the entertainment center. Do you have the mini-itx info and price link?

 

[blurayalltheway]

I stand corrected it plays back DTS 5.1 core audio but not DTS-HD Master Audio because of licensing issues. The same with my Oppo BD player when playing MKVs. I have to wonder if software players for HTPCs have the same limitation. Ill be watching this thread to see what the conclusion is.

http://community.wdc.com/t5/Firmware/WD-TV-Live-amp-DTS-HD-Master-Audio/m-p/150420/highlight/true#M9889

Yes, that is what I thought. I owned nearly 10 HD media players, and the latest one is Xtreamer Sidewinder. The few players that included DTS-HD and TrueHD options still possessed all kind of bugs in them. HTPC can bitstream DTS-HD and TrueHD fine. You have to have proper softwares to support it, and my HTPC desktop can playback fine. The standard desktop form factor is a lot easier to build than the mini-pc, because the standard desktop has more motherboards available on the market and cheaper too!

 

[sholling]

Yes, that is what I thought. I owned nearly 10 HD media players, and the latest one is Xtreamer Sidewinder. The few players that included DTS-HD and TrueHD options still possessed all kind of bugs in them. HTPC can bitstream DTS-HD and TrueHD fine. You have to have proper softwares to support it, and my HTPC desktop can playback fine. The standard desktop form factor is a lot easier to build than the mini-pc, because the standard desktop has more motherboards available on the market and cheaper too!

Any thoughts on the software? Because none of the 4 current version commercial BD player programs that I have now say anything about it. I'll have to research them further.

 

[blurayalltheway]

Any thoughts on the software? Because none of the 4 current version commercial BD player programs that I have now say anything about it. I'll have to research them further.

If you have proper hardware (motherboard, processor, video card, HDMI cable, etc) in your HTPC to support DTS-HD and TrueHD, you'll need MPC-HC and the latest FFDShow to pass-through DTS-HD and TrueHD to your capable AVR.

 

[blurayalltheway]

Any thoughts on the software? Because none of the 4 current version commercial BD player programs that I have now say anything about it. I'll have to research them further.

I want to help you out a little bit. You'll need these:

1. AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz 2. ASUS ENGT430
3. Realtek
4. FFDShow
5. MPC-HC

You should be able to see these using Microft Windows Vista/7:

 

[blurayalltheway]

Just to update everyone in here. I decided to build a mini-htpc by myself. I'll have a better mini-htpc than Zotac and Xtreamer for very similar price tag. Here is what I decided:

1. APEX MI-008 Black Steel Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case 250W Power Supply
2. ASRock E350M1 AMD E-350 APU
3. Kingston SSDNow V Series
4. Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KVR1066D3N7K2/4G
5. SilenX IXP-74-09 120mm Case Fan. I'm not sure if this is necessary, but I go with Eskro suggestion.
6. Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Family Pack (3-User)
7. LG Black 10X BD-ROM
8. Lenovo Multimedia Remote with Keyboard.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Just to update everyone in here. I decided to build a mini-htpc by myself. I'll have a better mini-htpc than Zotac and Xtreamer for very similar price tag. Here is what I decided:

1. APEX MI-008 Black Steel Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case 250W Power Supply
2. ASRock E350M1 AMD E-350 APU
3. Kingston SSDNow V Series
4. Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KVR1066D3N7K2/4G
5. SilenX IXP-74-09 120mm Case Fan. I'm not sure if this is necessary, but I go with Eskro suggestion.
6. Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Family Pack (3-User)
7. LG Black 10X BD-ROM
8. Lenovo Multimedia Remote with Keyboard.

Why not this case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811108196

 

[blurayalltheway]

Why not this case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811108196

The IN WIN BP655.200BL seems to be a nice case, but I like the less glossy, square and compact looks of the APEX MI-008 case better.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

The IN WIN BP655.200BL seems to be a nice case, but I like the less glossy, square and compact looks of the APEX MI-008 case better.

Only you would be the judge on looks dept., but in-win cases are higher quality , better finish and better psu then apex any day. Plus in-win is actually much shorted (3.9" vs apex's 5.1" height)