Zotac ZBOX Blu-Ray HD-ID34 Review
by Alan Lueke on October 19, 2010 2:15 AM EST- Posted in
- HTPC
- ION
- Atom
- Home Theater
- Media Streamer
- Gadgets
The Nvidia ION GPU has already been run through the HQV 2.0 test suite in an earlier review by Raja. I also can the system through our media streaming test suite. Being that the system is an HTPC, format support is really not an issue, as the user can install all the players and codecs they choose. To give the hardware an accurate test however, media was played back with PowerDVD 10 Mark II Ultra. Many of our tested audio files include 5.1 tracks that would not playback correctly with the included 2Ch+2Ch version of PowerDVD 9 included with the hardware. The following softwares were used to process our media streamer test suite:
- Cyberlink PowerDVD 10.0.2113.51 Mark II retail
- MPC-HC x64 1.4.2499 with ffdshow Audio Decoder (x64 SVN 3572)
- VLC 1.1.4
The Zotac ZBOX obtained 308 out of a maximum possible 358 points (86%) in our media streaming test suite. Most of the points were lost in files containing a bitstreaming test for an HD audio codec, which the Zotac Zbox is simply incapable of doing due to the limitations of the hardware. Also, points were lost due to stuttering in high definition Real Media video streams. These decode for Real Media is not accelerated by the GPU and the Atom D525, without the aid of the ION, is not able to playback HD content stutter free.
Using a Kill-a-Watt meter, the system posted 12 Watts of power draw while idle and a max of 45 Watts while under load. Using RealTemp GT the system idled with a CPU temperature of 33C while it posted 44 C under load. I streamed all media files from my main system using the gigabit Ethernet connection only. I wanted the most bandwidth I could get to accurately test the hardware in the system.
Fan noise is hardly appreciable, and I had to hold my ear to the unit to hear the fan noise in my testing room. Unfortunately, my primary LED backlit LCD display did not fit the VESA mount, and I wasn’t willing to drill holes in the wall simply to test this unit. I have included additional images of the unit in the image gallery below.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
40 Comments
View All Comments
ProDigit - Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - link
1- you get 2.0 channels just like most stereo's. The audio plays back just like your laptop or home pc.2- It's easy to install an OS. Worst case you get Ubuntu or another Linux on it, which costs you nothing next to a 30 minutes install!
Besides there are EeePc versions of WinXP available on the black market for free.
3- you can get a bluetooth remote, or get a USB-IR receiver and install that; though there's little use for IR when you are planning on mounting this behind the TV.
Bluetooth works even in a couple of rooms next to the TV room, and is much better!
4- pics say enough, it's a laptop mobo with a desktop cpu and an nvidia graphics card crammed into a DVD-player sized box.
I wished they did some gaming on this system though!
Shadowmaster625 - Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - link
erm... who even has a receiver with an hdmi input? Not many would be my guess. I have toslink and that is better than hdmi anyway. (No ground loops.)So the question is, how does this thing work if you are not getting your audio from hdmi?
ajlueke - Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - link
The optical out port works just fine. I really had to dig in my basment to find a Toslink cable and give it a whirl. If that is your preference I don't think you'll have any issues other than hiding another cable. ;)numberoneoppa - Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - link
holy smokes, that thing is ugly.garrun - Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - link
Does anyone know how this works streaming HD from Netflix and Hulu? If it was in the review, I didn't see it, but I remember other Ion devices had a problem with that in the past.ajlueke - Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - link
I'll give it a try and post back here. For everyday web browsing the unit does fine. I noticed that Windows Media Center, as well as the PowerDVD plugin for blu-rays loaded a bit slower than on my main HTPC. My main system has a sizeable hardware advantage however, so that was to be expected.ajlueke - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
Both appear to work fine, I had no lag or choppiness in the hulu videos I tried or using Netflix with Microsoft silverlight.angelor - Thursday, April 5, 2012 - link
Is the Netflix HD still working for you on the zotac system? I have the barebone model and installed 500gig and 4gigs of memory on it. It is running windows 7 ultimate 64 bit. All drives updated and installed shark codec. I do have display at 1080P and have both video and audio passing through it.ProDigit - Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - link
Nice design, nice project, I had just hoped the integrated audio card would be able to channel 2 channels to the stereo system.4 USB ports is not much, seeing that a keyboard and mouse take up 2 already.
A USB3 port is pretty ridiculous for such a machine, most USB2 ports are fast enough to copy files upto ~50MB/s perfectly fine!
Besides USB 3 bandwidth will probably take so much of the already taxed machine, that it would stutter or interrupt any movie playing.
But the price is just too much!
You're basically trading mousepad, keyboard,preinstalled OS and LCD screen for a bluray drive and a second memory slot; other than that it is nearly identical to a netbook.
mindbomb - Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - link
I'm still a little wary of atom based htpc's. I know it can totally offload video processing, but is the atom powerful enough to render pgs subtitles and decode lossless audio comfortably?i would feel much better if it had a low voltage core 2 cpu or something of that sort.