ASRock Vision HT 321B, anybody???
#1
Hi folks,

I've just jumped on the bandwagon here to hear from you on this damn insanely expensive guy:

ASRock Vision HT 321B Blu-ray Combo HTPC in Black
FAST! Core i5 Ivy Bridge DualCore HT + HD Graphics 4000
Stylish Streamline Design - Small & Silent & Cool
HDMI 1.4a 3D Ready + Dolby TrueHD, 7.1 THX TruStudio
Wireless-N + Bluetooth 4.0 + MCE Remote Control

Vision HT Series
Intel® Mobile Ivy Bridge Processor
Mobile Intel® HM77 Express chipset
Multi VGA Output options : HDMI, DVI-I and D-Sub by the bundled DVI to D-Sub adapter
HDMI audio pass through (Dolby® TrueHD & DTS-HD Master Audio)
Supports Blu-ray disc S3D content via HDMI 1.4a
7.1 CH HD Audio with THX TruStudio™
4 x USB3.0, 4-in-1 Card reader (SD3.0/MMC/MS/MS PRO)
2T2R 802.11 a/b/g/n (5GHz/2.4GHz Dual-Band access)
Bluetooth 4.0/3.0 HS class II
Supports ASRock XFast RAM, XFast LAN, XFast USB, Dehumidifier, UEFI System Browser, OMG, Internet Flash
Supports Intel® Smart Connect, Intel® Rapid Start
Free Bundle : CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.5 Trial, ASRock MAGIX Multimedia Suite

Well, as every consideration needs a context: simply put, I have a Samsung PN50C700 50-Inch 1080p Plasma 3D HDTV and a newly-acquired Sony STRDH820 7.2 Channel 3D AV Receiver. So, I'm looking for a substitute for my by far obsolete eGreat R2A which can the best possible push my forementioned setup.

As you can infere by 3D HDTV and 3D AV Receiver, I'm serious suporter of the 3D realm. As a PS3 gamer, stereo 3D has been a reality for me for almost 2 years since I acquired my active shutter 3D HDTV. Nevertheless, I have watched more 3D SBS than 3D Bluray. But I want to expand my audiovisual horizons by broadening the boundaries of my media center!

Having said all that, I would like to hear from you whether this here mentioned insanely expensive guy is worth my hard-earned bucks.

Thank you-all in advance!!!
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#2
Anybody? I'm looking forward to this opinion too, anybody has it?
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#3
(2012-09-18, 13:54)Gleidson Wrote: Having said all that, I would like to hear from you whether this here mentioned insanely expensive guy is worth my hard-earned bucks.

Thank you-all in advance!!!
While you are thinking about it, this guy already bought it- Asrock Visionx 321B CI5...

If you want a good pre-built system, AsRock should be an excellent choice.......you should be very happy with Intel HD4000.....you might want to check out this review- The HTPC Experience.......

>Alienware X51- do it all HTPC
>Simplify XBMC configurations
>HOW-TO Bitstreaming using XBMC
I refused to watch movie without bitstreaming HD audio!
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#4
Hi Gleidson,

I decided to go for the ASRock Vision HT 321B. It is replacing my Dell ZINO which was getting slow on 1080p movies and other graphic intensive aplpications, e.g. the Aeon MQ4 skin in Frodo.

I got the package without Windows, only the Vision HT Driver and Utilities DVD came with it. I am working with it for three days now but can give my first impressions here so far.

I connected my USB wireless keyboard/mouse from the ZINO and it worked right away with even no OS installed. That was good cuz I needed it to tell the ASR bios to boot from the BD drive to install Win7 64Bit. Installation went fine, however, most of the devices were not recognized by Windows. So I threw in the ASR DVD. The setup GUI sucks a bit and before I spent too much time to pick what I need I selected 'Install all' (knowing that I'd probably have to uninstall several advertised products).

The driver and utility installation took quite a while and after few reboots I was up and running including wireless LAN. I noticed quite a slow reaction to many activities and quickly identified Norton Internet Security to be the culprit. So off it went. I also removed some other applications e.g. the trial of Cyberlinks MediaEspresso. Enough free software out there doing the same.

ASRock delivers some boosters, like XFast USB, XFast LAN or Instant Boot. I got rid of instant boot cuz I dont need it and also disabled some others cause all of them load drivers and wast memory. I left XFast USB and XFast LAN.

Downside clearly was that ASR doesn not provide any Blu-ray player software. You gotta buy some if you wanna watch BR movies from the drive. I didnt do that yet so I cant say anything about the BD quality yet. Only thing that I noticed was that the ASRock DVD, when I copied all files for a backup, made an aweful loud noise. But maybe thats the DVD being not leveled out completely or the print on causes weight issues. Didnt have that with any other.

My eSata drive and USB drive connected fine and worked right away. XFast USB recognized the USB drive and did its thing. Not sure what but it really flies. Speeds it up by 20% or so.

The picture is not as good as the one that ZINO produced. I had to adjust brightness and contrast a bit. It was to bright and black was rather dark gray. However, with ClearType enabled the fonts look awesome. The picture is clearer and better to read.

Biggest disappointment tho was (still is actually) the wireless connectivity. My provider delivers 64 MBit into the house. My other wireless computers off of the same router at least get 55 or so of that. The ASRock came up with a humble 22! Wtf. So I looked at the XFast LAN application. I have no idea what it actually does. It says it calibrates network traffic and optimizes it. The product is made by a German company called cfos (www.cfos.de). Well, must be immigrants cause that is not what I know from German engineering. I claibrated several times to not much gain. My final calibration was to uninstall it. Lo and behold, speed came up to 33. I tried some tweaking with the adapter config (Receive buffer = 512) and goi it to 35. But thats not enough. I am still working on it. I am actually thinking now that the Atheros AR946x card just sucks. I might have to replace it.

So, besides WLAN speed I am pretty happy with it. Frodo with Aeon MQ4 is fluent. Movies play fine.

I might give an update here when time comes (and with maybe some solutions...)

Hope that helps.
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#5
Ok, follow up post, and I am writing it on my ZINO again. What does that mean? Correct, the 321B is packed up and back on its way to the vendor.

Networking was a major cluster f... Wireless did not get more than half of the bandwidth, even after trying all chanels on the router and many other tweakings. Ethernet only connected with 100Mbps even though it should be 1Gbps. Traffic delays and disconnections were happening all the time. I just had it with that thing. Maybe it was just a lemon and I was the lucky one to get it but I am much happier with a reliable system even if its slower.

Well the refund will come in soon. So I am shopping again...
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