Official Dell Zino 410 HTPC - Page 18

I'll second that. My HD 410 arrived today from the Dell Outlet and it did indeed have the HD 5450.

Got it set up quickly and it is rather surprising how well it runs.

There was very little bundled software on it, so much so that the only thing I removed was the McAfee trial software.

Another surprise was that it also included two disks, one with the OS reinstall disk (Win 7 HP) and the other with the bundled software so I don't have to go and pay for a set of disks if I want to do a clean install of Win 7 down the road.

And I'll third it. I got my Outlet 410 today, with dual-core CPU but the base, integrated graphics, which are reported as HD 4200 series (not 3100). Runs nicely. And not even a McAfee trial to remove. It was listed as Scratch & Dent, but I can't see anything amiss cosmetically.

Geez I can't believe how cheap it is in USA. Damn this in Ontario is $500-550 all incl. We truly get shafted!!

Anyone have any luck finding the IR rcvr+remote? I asked Dell Chat and they say the individual part is not for sale.

As far as I can tell, there is no way to add the Dell Media Remote (or integrated IR receiver) when shopping in the outlet.

I've got an external USB IR receiver and an old media center remote. Does anyone know if this will work for running WMC on a Zino?

Otherwise, does anyone have experience or opinions with the Lenovo Multimedia remote and a Zino?

My guess is that it will work fine.

I bought an HP Media Center Remote and IR receiver off ebay for about $20 just last week after I ordered my 410 from the Outlet. The remote transmits RC6 codes. It also comes with a little IR transmitter (aka, "blaster"?) that plugs into the back of the IR receiver, for controlling a cable box or whatever; I haven't tried that as I don't have a use for it.

The IR receiver is a little bulky when compared with the Zino 410, but it all works absolutely fine with Windows 7 Windows Media Center.

HP Part numbers
remote control: 5069-8344
IR receiver: 5188-1667
bundle of the above: 5187-4592

I have not opened up the Zino to see if it has an IR receiver, but I don't see one listed in the Device Manager, and the remote doesn't work without its companion IR receiver plugged in.

Have a Zino 410 with 5450 card. I have HDMI setup and 7.1 working through my Denon AV. When I play audio tracks either through itunes or Windows media they sound gargled or distorted. Any help with fixing this?

I also have a 1" black bar around the edge of my Pioneer Plasma that is annoying and any help getting rid of that would be appreciated.

Here's a recipe:

1. Open ATI Catalyst Control Center (CCC), Advanced Mode from the Start Menu.

2. Select Desktops & Displays from the Graphics menu.

3. Click on the down-pointing triangle in the bottom row of displays (not the triangle in the big display picture). Choose Configure...

4. Choose the Scaling Options tab, and then adjust the Scaling Options slider to change the picture size. It will be notchy. I was able to get it to fit perfectly on a Panasonic HDTV.

See the pictures attached to this post, with red arrows showing what to choose.

Always happens to me. I had just ordered a new one of these on 12/28 and now there is this deal with the outlet which would have saved me some coin. (coupon is expired now FYI)

I am planning on using my Dell Zino as a DVR as I am getting rid of Directv and will be getting my HDTV via a HomeRun Dual tuner and antenna on the roof (Antenna Direct ClearStream2). I also plan on streaming Netflix, Hulu, Youtube and network sites like CBS etc with my 30 mbps Time Warner internet service.

I hope the unit I picked will work out as I flip flopped about building one instead. From what I read it seems the HD 4250 should work fine as I don't plan on playing Blu-Rays as I already have a Blu-ray player and don't need the advanced audio only 5.1 DD and DTS.

AMD Athlon II X2 P340, Dual Core 2.2GHz, 1MB
2GB DDR3 SDRAM
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 Integrated Graphics
Dell Media Remote (So I get the IR to use with my Logitech 880)

I got a pretty cool little keyboard / trackpad the Rii Mini Keyboard (Bluetooth) which seems to work fine in my testing as I wait for my Zino to arrive.

If anyone is interested, here is the new outlet 15% off coupon

JC?NKXTJ0X1?WR

Expires 1/12 or after 10,000 redemptions

Edit: It is a multi-use coupon.

Got the following configuration any thoughts?

2 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
Processor AMD Phenom II X4 P940, 1.7GHz, Quad Core 2MB
750 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
Single Drive: Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)
512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330

Is the RAM is enough to play 1080P MKVs? Is it upgradeable? Would this configuration support 5.1/7.1 sound?

What Operating System are you going to be running?
If Win7, I would recommend getting a bit more RAM.

I just wanted to post a thank you to all those that have shared their knowledge in this post- it was very helpful in helping me choose the Zino 410. I also wouldn't have felt comfortable ordering a refurbished Zino with the older graphics card listed without knowing that Dell had the graphics card info wrong on their site. So I picked up this configuration

Dell Zino 410
AMD X2 P340 2.2GHZ
4GB Ram
Radeon 4330 (really = 5450)
500GB SATA HD
Dell 1501 Wireless N
8x DVDRW
In-home service for 1st year (+$6.00)

and it arrived yesterday. I was cursing the machine for the first hour or so as it was the first device that I had ever tried that couldn't hold a connection to my wireless router for more than a minute or two (if I could long on at all). I finally tried to install a new driver for the 1501 and that seemed to solve the problem. This driver stuff seems a little more cumbersome coming from mostly Mac use, but I imagine I can figure it out.

I have a couple questions if someone could be so kind as to help. The Zino came with two DVDs: one for drivers and one for Windows 7. Do I have to still create a recovery DVD in this case? Also, should I go one by one and update all the drivers (many seem like they are from fall 2009) or wait and see if there are any problems (like the wireless holding a connection)?

I just got rid of my Directv yesterday and will be using my antenna to record. What tuner did you purchase? I know nothing of tuners, so wondering what external tuner people are using with their Zino's.

If you are looking for over the air digital channels, the best tuner for Zino would be HD Homerun.

The single tuner version is on special at newegg for $49
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-001-_-Product

Also, I play 1080p mkvs using my Zino 410, dual core standard graphics, 2mb configuration just fine.

I even have live TV recording happening in the back ground.

I am using the SiliconDust - HDHomeRun Network-based Dual Digital. It's a networked tuner card and seems to work great.

Thanks picked one up to be delivered tomorrow. I take it the other pc's on the network need to have windows media center to work with the HDHomeRun? I ask because all my other pc's are windows xp, and not MCE. If so I guess it's time to install windows 7 on these as a dual boot or something.

Check out the HDHomerun website: you could also use BeyondTV, SageTV, or TotalMedia, or MythTV on Linux.

I got the hdhomerun all setup and my OTA channels are playing, problem is the picture looks noticeably worse using the Silicondust tuners vs. the tv tuner's picture. Is there some settings in the ATI 5450 that are recommended? I'm using the same tv picture settings on both my tv inputs (hdhomerun tuners vs tv tuner) and the tv tuner is much sharper. Thru the pc the picture looks dull, and the black levels seem off. I like having the DVR capabilities, but not at the cost of greatly reduced picture quality.

I hooked up a Hauppauge USB HD tuner to my Zino and while it all worked OK, I also noticed that the picture was not as good as the picture through my TV's internal tuner nor the Verizon FiOS DVR hooked to the TV. It was noticably softer and the contrast was not very good.

I almost gave up on it being a useful add on to the Zino. But then I thought there may be some adustments in the ATI driver (I also have the 5450) and there are. Bring up the ATI Catalyst Control Center (right click on the desktop and there should be an entry in the pop-up menu). Then find the Video tab. There should be a whole bunch of adjustments that only affect video. Although some video purists don't like to use it one of the adjustments I used was something like Edge Enhancement. I increased it somewhat and now the picture sharpness is just about on par with the TV tuner and the DVR. Then I adjusted either Contrast or Brightness (I forget which) and now the overall contrast is also just about on par with the TV and DVR.

So the bottom line is that you should be able to make some adjustments and bring the picture to your liking. I can easily say that now I am very satisfied with the TV image through the Zino and it is now a very usable auxilarily DVR.

Gerry

Is there some other dual tuner device that can be used with Zino besides the HDHomerun? The HDHomerun isn't working well on my Windows 7 64-bit Zino 410 quadcore. HDHomerun works OK for MediaCenter my Vista laptop, but the Zino picture on live TV through MediaCenter keeps pausing and hanging every few minutes.
2 single tuner external USB tuners seems too clunky.
I have had the Zino for only 2 days and it has not been a good experience for live TV. Blu-Ray works pretty well, but I can just get a Blu-Ray player and use a Tivo for live TV instead if live TV cannot work better than this on the Zino.
I'm willing to troubleshoot and make changes for a few days to get this working smoothly and then it has to go back to Dell before the return period is up.

I was getting problems at first and solved it by going into WMC->settings->tv->audio and checking "auto volume".

Are your replying to me?? Changing volume settings doesn't make sense for the problem I'm having. It also says it disables Dolby output. No more digital surround sound?

I was getting pausing and hanging, then it eventually stopped playing live tv. After searching it seems to be a problem with WMC and dolby digital via HDMI out. Sure enought disabling the HDMI audio solved it, and then I re-enabled the HDMI audio and tried the fix of checking "auto volume". I don't know if this is your problem as well. If there's another work-around without having to disable the Dolby Digital then I'll try that as well.

I'm using HDMI out for just video and digital optical out for audio because the Blu-ray audio would get out of sync with video when the HDMI audio passed through the TV before going out to the receiver.
Considering how long the Zino has been out and how basic and common of a hardware setup I have, I'm finding this unacceptable.
I'm going to start planning on returning this and shopping for alternatives.
I think I'm going to get a Blu-ray player and use Tivo for DVR.
I'll either get a 16ft HDMI cable or a wireless Imation link to watch any streaming video from my laptop that isn't available on either the Tivo or Blu-ray player. I'm going to look at Samung and Sony Blu-ray players that let you browse and search Netflix. Maybe I'll consider a PS3 with built-in Blu-ray.
Everything should just work more smoothly than fighting with this Dell Zino.

Er, why would you do it that way round? Surely the expected connection route is to connect the receiver to the Zino, and pass through the video from the receiver to the TV?

Because not every receiver has HDMI inputs to do it that way.

I found that my recorded tv looks fine when played back using mpc-hc vs. wmc. I'm now looking for a way to playback my recorded tv shows within media centers interface, but using mpc-hc as an external player.

Just got my 410. I'm excited to replace a tower/5670 with this for power reasons.

So far I love this little thing!

I have one of these and have only one problem. When watching a regular dvd I can see the interlacing, expecially during fast action scenes. I do not see it with blurays. Is there a setting to convert interlaced media to progressive scan? Or should I look in my tv settings to fix this?