Time to retire the Mac Mini running Bootcamp? Dell Inspiron Zino HD

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Time to retire the Mac Mini running Bootcamp? Dell Inspiron Zino HD

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#284148 20-Dec-2009 10:09

Why not? I have been running 64 bit OS for at least the last four years since Windows Vista beta. Option for more memory is the first thing to jump in front of me... I have had no problems with 64 bit OS.

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Nety

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#284149 20-Dec-2009 10:11

@borgia how much ram are you running? If greater then 3gig then go 64. If less and you are not planning on upgrading soon then stick with 32.
I setup mkv playback using the guide below and it is working great on W7 x64

http://www.hack7mc.com/2009/02/mkvs-for-minimalists-on-windows-7.html

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

gpnz

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#284163 20-Dec-2009 11:44

Hi,

freitasm:

Started Windows Media Center and after a quick scan it is now playing Freeview|HD with no problems at all.

Windows Experience Index on this model is 4.1 - a good step up from the Mac Mini 2.0 and certainly good enough for Freeview|HD seeing that the decoding is on the GPU now. Also got it with 4GB RAM.

Whats the noise level like from the unit in general and when watching FreeviewHD etc? I'm thinking this could be my next HTPC (albeit with MediaPortal :) ).

Cheers,

freitasm

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#284165 20-Dec-2009 12:02

Not much noise at all - although if you listen close it's probably more than the Apple Mac Mini used to make.

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Iany

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#284402 21-Dec-2009 16:46

freitasm: Went ahead and bought a Zino HD - ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330, AMD Athlon X2. Total price was $932.

Have you tried the Dell Zeno with the faster ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330, AMD Athlon X2 running TV3 1080i? A year ago I had to upgrade from a ATI HD2600 to a NVIDIA 8500GT to get TV3 to run smooth. Since then I have been suspicious of the ATI product ability to run the "less common" 1080i required fro TV3.

Is your processor the fastest avalable Athlon Neo X2 6850e processor?

freitasm

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#284404 21-Dec-2009 16:59

Iany:
freitasm: Went ahead and bought a Zino HD - ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330, AMD Athlon X2. Total price was $932.

Have you tried the Dell Zeno with the faster ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330, AMD Athlon X2 running TV3 1080i? A year ago I had to upgrade from a ATI HD2600 to a NVIDIA 8500GT to get TV3 to run smooth. Since then I have been suspicious of the ATI product ability to run the "less common" 1080i required fro TV3.

Is your processor the fastest avalable Athlon Neo X2 6850e processor?

TV3 is running fine here...

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Iany

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#284407 21-Dec-2009 17:08

Ths freitasm

So you can recommend the Dell Zino for say a HTPC running Media Portal client.

Best to select the faster X2 6850e processor?

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
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#284408 21-Dec-2009 17:09

Not sure about Media Portal, but certainly with Windows Media Center it works just fine. I don't think you need the faster processor for this though.

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#285481 27-Dec-2009 19:45

I'm thinking of replacing my AppleTV with a box running Boxee. The other option for me would be a Mac Mini, also running Boxee.

Kinda getting over the 'convert-before-watch' process I currently endure with the AppleTV.

Not looking at tuners at all, as my TV has Freeview built-in (not that I watch it at all).

So, do you recommend the Zino?

"Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads." - Doc Emmet Brown

freitasm

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#285787 29-Dec-2009 09:49

Just back from one week in Napier... Left the Dell Zino HD MCE running TV all this time, with our TV on a timer, so some noise would be heard around the house at certain times of the day.

Got back here and the MCE was playing TV - sign that it lasted seven full days without a reboot or crash. Can't complain...

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freitasm

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#294385 29-Jan-2010 16:20

I had a Dell tech visit me today - I've contacted their online support because HDMI output wasn't working at all (not even HDMI sound output showed up in the sound control applet).

After some emails exchange they decided to send a technician here - which was a surprise as I thought I'd have to send the Dell Zino HD away.

He came today, opened, replaced the motherboard, to find out the heatsink wouldn't fit on this board. So he placed everything back together again. When we turned on the PC the desktop was empty - so I thought "this is an extended desktop", and sure enough, changed the TV input to HDMI and the Dell Zino was there, in 1080 lines...

It looks like by removing the battery it reset the BIOS and all started working after that point. So no need for a new motherboard, and I have to say the picture is MUCH better than VGA, and the artifacts and pixelations I've seen before in VGA mode are gone in HDMI mode.

Very good Media Center box...

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binarybrother

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#295985 4-Feb-2010 10:50

I've just bought a new HTPC a few weeks ago. After doing a lot of research it was a toss up between the Dell Zino HD and the Asus Eeebox EB1012. In the end I decided on the Asus. At $734 incl it was a lot cheaper than the Dell and I decided the Asus had enough grunt for HTPC duties.

While I haven't plugged in an external digital TV tuner to test HD Freeview everything else seems to work very well. I'm using the HDMI to my Sony 46" 1080p TV. Full 1080p video playback works perfectly, Boxee works a treat and it does a great job of playing back stored movies and music.

It's a nice looking box which has a quality look and feel to it. Also comes with wireless and optical out for sound. Super quiet too. Doesn't have an optical drive but then I don't see the need for one.

So if you don't need the extra grunt of the Dell Zino then it's certainly worth a look.

freitasm

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#295986 4-Feb-2010 10:55

The real test will be decoding Freeview|HD...

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sDew

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#296118 4-Feb-2010 16:37

No optical out on the Zino, can you confirm that 5.1 sound works through the HDMI

freitasm

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#296133 4-Feb-2010 17:25

sDew: No optical out on the Zino, can you confirm that 5.1 sound works through the HDMI

It does.

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