"Official" ASRock ION 330 nettop thread - Page 4

I've just played the HD version of the YT video mentioned in post #70 on my ASRock ION 330 and there was no stutter whatsoever.

If you right-click on the video, and goto into the Settings option, then you can check that HARDWARE ACCELERATION is on.

Good point. I checked and HARDWARE ACCELERATION was indeed on for the YoutubeHD video.

Again, that hardware acceleration option is not equivalent to the hardware acceleration we're used to. That only makes use of hardware extensions for rescaling/resizing and even that's a bit buggy (doesn't seem to play well with some new cards). Decoding of the stream is still done in software.

Again, I'd like to mention that the YouTube video linked to in post 70 is fairly easy work for the Atom 330. I was able to play the same on an Intel D945GCLF2 build as mentioned in this post.

Right again. I keep learning on this forum This also justifies the fact that my CPU utilization is around 55 to 70% as previously posted.

As I understand it the ASRock ION 330 can bitstream DD and DTS, but not True-HD and DTS-MA... however...

Can it bitstream DTS 1.5Mbit via HDMI ?

It can stream dts via hdmi or optical!?!?? ive been looking and couldn't find the info in the user manual and checked this thread before posting..

IF so that's bloody awesome!!!


Thanks

If you mean Bitstream when you say stream, then yes, from what I have read here and other forums, it can bitstream DTS via optical and HDMI, but will have to internally decode DTS-MA and Dolby-TrueHD.

Can someone confirm their DTS tracks that have been bitstreamed are indeed the full 1.5Mbit ?

nice K-Lite Codec Pack should do the job!?

im curious, how is this system so small? it uses a mini itx motherboard or something smaller?

If you install some full Codec packages like K-Lite, you may actually hinder performance as they install codecs that are software rendering based, and not hardware. I suggest to only install the codecs that you actually need as Windows 7 can play a lot more formats right from a fresh install compared to Windows Vista or XP.

Will the new 12.5MM (~0.49inch) Height 2.5inch SATA II HDD's fit in the ASRock ION 330?

Good spot, I have have actually read the whole thread starting a few days ago, I don't know how I missed it but thank you.

I actually had to file down the bracket so the 12.5mm drive could fit underneath it. If I did not, I would have to bend the whole unit and then the dvd drives screw holes would not align with the bracket.

Even with the filed bracket the HDD cannot be screwed in.

The drive in question is, "Western Digital WD7500KEVT 2.5" SCORPIO BLUE, 750GB, 5400RPM, 8MB, SATA II, 12.5MM Height"

Wow. And I even sent the question to ASRock themselves and they said it would work. Kinda dissapointing as I want to do this myself in the future. Oh well, guess I'll have to keep a file on hand then!

Btw, can you post a picture if you have time to see how off it is?

Having already filed the bracket, I would not be able to post a pic of it I am afraid.

What I can tell you is that bending the bracket to make the HDD fit raised the bracket to a point that you would not be able to get the screw in that holds the DVD/BD drive to the bracket.

All that said, no two items are ever the same, and your bracket may be that touch higher or thinner, either way, it didn't take too much effort or time (5mins) to file it down to make the HDD fit.

Can someone tell me what this unit scores using the Windows 7 "Windows Experience Index"? I know this unit overclocks to 2.1Ghz as well, maybe that score as well?

Looks like a score of 3.3 with the standard 1.6 and a score of 3.5 at 2.0 (I have it set to this as I have heard reports it runs pretty stable at 2.0.

Details in the attached screen shot.

Thanks for the info!

I just got my 330 the other day. I threw at it some test HD clips I downloaded from the pirate bay, HDTV_test_files_(v1.6). It seems to stutter with the 1080p Transporter 3 clip, H264 mkv. Any ideas? I've got all the latest drivers, and am running Win7 Ultimate RTM x86, XBMC 9.04.1, over-clocked to 1.9 GHz. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

EDIT: Oh, no hardware acceleration on XBMC on Windows. I guess I'll stick with Windows Media Center for now.

Hi whatever69,

Could you be a bit more specific in the steps used to play h.264 in Windows 7? I installed what you listed, but Media Player still doesn't recognize it. Thanks for any info.

The only other 2 things besides drivers from NVidia that I installed are actually in the post you just quoted

I installed http://labs.divx.com/mkvwin7preview for Media player to recognize .mkv files and this http://sourceforge.net/projects/ac3filter/files/ for the Audio.

Windows 7 Media player will play H.264 files that are wrapped by mkv once you do that. And yes, XBMC does not do hardware rendering on Windows 7. I tested that as well.

anyword on when the beta for Flash 10.1 is coming out? i'm really looking foward to see how it plays with ION and Hulu...that is still my deal breaker on this setup.

also has anyone played quake live! or Battlefield Heroes on their asrock? and could you let me know if you can play it at 720p/1080p?


thanks

I think only Adobe will have that answer. I just know that Nvidia and Adobe are working on making Flash offload the rendering of things like Youtube HD to the GPU. I guess we will be rewarded in the future! But like I said before, it will still play Youtube HD no problem, so long as that's the only thing you're doing.

As for the video games, sorry, I don't play any.

I hadn't heard about the advent of Flash 10.1 so I thought some others might not have either.......


NVIDIA and Adobe announce GPU acceleration for Flash 10.1

This news has been building for a long time - we first saw word that GPU-accelerated Flash video was coming back in June at Computex. Adobe Flash Player version 10.1 will take advantage of the GPU to accelerate not just video but all Flash applications. This could be, in my mind, the killer feature that finally pushes GPU computing into the mainstream. Netbooks and nettops based on the NVIDIA ION chipset will now have a significant performance advantage over vanilla Intel-based netbooks in a widely used and important application. As Adobe states, users of netbooks with dedicated GPUs "can take advantage of GPU-accelerated video decoding to deliver the kind of smooth Flash technology based video previously found only on higher-end PCs."

As I mention in my State of NVIDIA editorial, I know that MANY people will be excited to finally be able to use a super-cheap nettop PC on their home theater and be able to access streaming Hulu content.

While NVIDIA is the one sending out the press release this morning, it should be noted that this Flash acceleration uses the DXVA protocols - not CUDA or anything NVIDIA-specific. That means that AMD GPUs will also benefit from Flash acceleration so users of low-cost 785G platforms, for example, will also see great performance improvement.

Now for some bad news - this Flash Player 10.1 revision isn't out yet and the only release information we have is "before the end of the year." That version, when available, will be a beta version that users will have to manually go download and install. The full, auto-update version that will include DXVA support won't be pushed out until the second quarter of 2010. That still gives ION's competitors (basically Intel) a LOT of time to make up the difference 10.1 will offer.

That being said, the world of netbooks just had a major shake up. Source

I am currently using XBMC on an original Xbox. I am using the HD pack which allows me to send the digital audio to my Yamaha receiver to decode DTS/Dolby as well as sending the Analog L/R to the Zone 2 input on the receiver. This allows me to send the Zone 2 to another receiver to play over the whole house.

Can anyone answer whether the ASRock ION 330 will allow you to do this with its analog and digital audio outs in either Windows 7, XBMC for Linux, XBMC Live, or XBMC for Windows?

This is a great way to use my main TV as a jukebox for the entire house. As of right now I cannot send the digital audio to the other receiver which sends audio to the rest of the house.

A new PS3 slim just arrived and I am dissapointed at how difficult it is to play MKV files. Basically i use the PS3 for 90% playing netflix blu ray movies and eventually want to build up a Hi-Def MKV library as well. Since I can still return the PS3 I was wondering if this machine is a capable replacement?

can this box play blu-ray's via hdmi at comprable smoothness/quality as PS3 and support all common audio standards over HDMI including DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD? All output will be via hdmi to my onkyo sr805

thnks

Hey, im also thinking of getting this little box. I wish to use it for skype, and playing HD moveis (ill be getting it with the blu ray drive).
I registered to ask a few questions.
Hows the gaming performance, like for oldish games, such as team fortress 2, and half life 2 (and episode 2) ? Also, is it difficult to get GPU acceleration working on the device, and what types of files does it support (IE MKV container, H264, WMVHD, etc...) ? Do you have to use XBMC, or Windows media center, or can u use other programs ? Also has anyone tired nvidea conversion program that uses the GPU to convert video ? Im not too concerned about Flash playback to be honest.

Last question, is it too difficult to get sound working over HDMI ?

Thanks in advance .

b.u.m.p

I'll try to answer some of your questions:


I haven't personally played those games on the machine but from what I've read it played Left4Dead on medium settings at an acceptable frame rate if that gives you an idea?


This is just a computer, it will support just about whatever format you can find a codec for. As far as GPU acceleration, if you have the right codecs installed this shouldn't be an issue.

You can use whatever program(s) or operating system(s) you want to, please note that most (all) of these units do not come with Windows pre-installed.