[Cthugha]

Two new products from Zotac - with Intel Atom D525, Nvidia ION2, Blu-ray drive, USB3, WiFi, etc...



ZBOX HD-ID33 (barebone)
http://pden.zotac.com/index.php?page=sho...t&Itemid=1

ZBOX HD-ID34 (with 2GB memory and 250GB HDD)
http://pden.zotac.com/index.php?page=sho...t&Itemid=1

Video walkthrough by Zotac
http://vimeo.com/14682123

First and only review I've found so far (not very thorough)
http://www.funkykit.com/reviews/3290-rev...d34br.html

Sounds really interesting if you want something small & efficient with a Blu-ray drive! The big question is noise levels... I've read that the HD-ID11 was quite loud before the BIOS-update, and this one packs a faster CPU, etc.

Has anyone seen any other reviews?

Which SSD would be a good choice for the HD-ID33? (only used to run OS and XBMC on so ~40GB is enough)

/Cthugha

[poofyhairguy]

A SSD is always a good choice for a HTPC OS drive....

[jbass350z]

bummer.. no pricing or release dates yet?

[ZOTAC PR]

Its available now. MSRP is $399 for barebones, $499 with 2GB ram and 250GB HDD.

Newegg had them, but out of stock currently.

[Cthugha]

A SSD is always a good choice for a HTPC OS drive....

Ofc, but which one? I haven't jumped on the SSD bandwagon yet so I could use some suggestions...

bummer.. no pricing or release dates yet?

The HD-ID33 is available now here in Sweden

Price is ~4000 SEK which is about 550 USD...

[poofyhairguy]

Ofc, but which one? I haven't jumped on the SSD bandwagon yet so I could use some suggestions...

I LOVE my OCZ SSDs. Great support. Regular firmware updates for new features. Great value for the price.

Even the cheapest SSD is much better than a $1000 10,000 RPM Hard Drive for XBMC, because of the interface improvements of the faster random reads and lower seek times (by a magnitude).

[prae5]

I've got one of these on order - should have been delivered yesterday (not at home till the weekend so cant test till then).

I went for 2gb ram and 30gb ssd ( OCZ Vertex Series http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160730).

Be careful when buying a hd / ssd for this - it can only take drives up to 95mm high.

[Cthugha]

I can get that OCZ Vertex 30GB SSD (OCZSSD2-1VTX30G) for a pretty good price.

How about the OCZ Agility series? (ie OCZSSD2-2AGT40G) Bigger and a bit cheaper, but better or worse than Vertex?

And the Onyx series? It's their "budget" option I believe... But probably still good enough for this purpose.

I'll have a look at OCZ's website tomorrow - it's getting late here. Thanks for the replies!

[Cthugha]

Some info on the noise levels, compared to the ZBOX HD-ID11, from Zotac support...

"The HD-ID11 onboard fan maximum noise level is 36.67 dB(A).
The HD-ID33/34 onboard fan maximum noise level is 34.9 dB(A)
The actual noise from the HD-ID33/34 depends on the environment."

"The early HD-ID11 samples has BIOS bug. The current BIOS already fixed the fan issue. For the HD-ID33/34, the noise is around 25dB(A) in our internal test under normal use. As my previous message, the actual noise level will depend on the room temperature. Besides, there is a manual fan control option. You could manual adjust as your need."

[Cthugha]

Order placed!

Zotac ZBOX HD-ID33BR + Corsair 2GB DDR2 + OCZ Agility2 40GB SSD

To begin, I'll use the official Android xbmc remote app on my HTC Desire. Maybe a Harmony in the future, but why are all the current models so damn ugly?

ZBOX Media Center => ZBMC

[poofyhairguy]

Looks good! I like Agility drives....

[jz1276]

I just received the ZBOX HD-ID34 today. Installed XBMC Live on the 250GB hard drive. Everything works perfectly except the HDMI audio. I've done some searching and found instructions on how to enable it but cannot for the life of me understand the instructions. If anyone has one of these (or the ID33) and got it to work, can you please give me a detailed walkthrough on how you did it? Thanks.

[Cthugha]

I just received the ZBOX HD-ID34 today. Installed XBMC Live on the 250GB hard drive. Everything works perfectly except the HDMI audio. I've done some searching and found instructions on how to enable it but cannot for the life of me understand the instructions. If anyone has one of these (or the ID33) and got it to work, can you please give me a detailed walkthrough on how you did it? Thanks.

Maybe this guide can help? It's about the HD-ID11 but should be similar...
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW...BOXHD-ID11

How is the noise level during idle, playback, etc? Build quality?

Hopefully I'll get mine before the weekend...

[jz1276]

Maybe this guide can help? It's about the HD-ID11 but should be similar...
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW...BOXHD-ID11

How is the noise level during idle, playback, etc? Build quality?

Hopefully I'll get mine before the weekend...

Thanks I'll give that a shot. I got it working with HDMI for video and optical for audio. I guess it doesnt make a difference being that I dont think HD audio (DTS-MA or Dolby True HD) will ever work with this machine, but i'll give it a try anyway. Noise is very low, playback is perfect and the build quality is excellent. Can you recommend a good remote for this?

[ItzMar]

Thanks I'll give that a shot. I got it working with HDMI for video and optical for audio. I guess it doesnt make a difference being that I dont think HD audio (DTS-MA or Dolby True HD) will ever work with this machine, but i'll give it a try anyway. Noise is very low, playback is perfect and the build quality is excellent. Can you recommend a good remote for this?

Glad to hear!
I was thinking about getting this box and do the same as you (ssd+ram).
Noise level would have been my main quibble, how loud is it noise wise while playing a bluray? As the reason I want this model is that it can replace my ps3 that just yellow lighted on me. The ps3 was super quiet.