News Habey has Atom box playing true HD

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2009/03/12/habey-has-atom-box-playing-true-hd/1

If you're reeling from the disappointing news that Intel's GN40 chipset won't support true HD playback, try Habey's new box for size: 1080p playback from an Atom chip.

 

surely this is the holy grail of the HTPC world?

 

it's very reliant upon having the GPU do the decoding though, isn't it. this won't work for MKVs and a lot of downloaded stuff.

 

The chip inside the popcorn hour and other NMT's (SMP8635) does all this without the need for a pricey atom PC? :>

 

It certainly is its future. Me like.

 

i want to game on my htpc so sadly this does sort my issues also whats teh audio solution on it?

 

And you could do the same with a atom + nvidia 9300/9400 chipset. Damn Intel!

Nvidia has the best hardware acceleration support ATM. With updated software you'll have trouble finding H264 content it won't accelerate.

 

EDIT::: im an idiot. i didnt read the article properly

i like now ive read things

 

look and anandtech review of the the atom with nvidia 9400, you will find that the nvidia 9400 just doesn't cut it and forces the cpu to do most of the work, forcing frames to be dropped, especially with blu-ray

i would like to see some real world test first, but it does sound just like what intel and nvidia have promised and failed to delivery

 

I'd like to see this one in action though I'll definitely have to wait for any word on pricing before I can say "I like".

 

IR in the front and guaranteed linux access to the decoder chip and I'd definitely get one. Funny tho, I don't see that gigabit port anywhere on the case..

 

it's on the FRONT. the box is designed for signage applications. the box and board design are, funky, to say the least.

 

Sounds interesting... I'm currently using my original Xbox (which is modded of course :-D) with XBMC for all my media needs but it won't play anything bigger than 720 as the hardware won't handle it without MAJOR skipping. If I can get one of these and load XBMC on it I'd definitely be buying one, unless they turn out to be too expensive of course.

 

well the way they word it, sounds more like you either have an Ethernet port on the back OR you have a Wi-Fi card, not both.

 

*sigh* people these days, never googling.



as i said, the board is funky


it looks like these things aren't going to be sold in huge quantities; judging by the bulgin switch on the front of that they're all handbuilt too!

moar info:
http://www.habeyusa.com/EmbeddedBarebone/bis6550.html

 

Not all Vandal resistant switches are made by Bulgin... Why the heck is the SD slot on the back??

 

To keep the clean look.

 

Except native BR playback, some ISO playback issues and not playing all MKV containers.

This new toy got potential, XBMC anyone?
I also miss the optical/digital audio output...

 

Still waiting for AMD to come out with something.

 

Is it me, or does the image in the article look (badly) photoshopped from a flat image of the front and a generic image of a ITX case? There's no depth to any of the ports, or that antenna...