[buckfaster]

First post on this forum, please be gentle!
Just ordered this system from SVP.co.uk, cheapest I could find at £250.
Think Amazon *may* have it for a few pounds less, but I have my reasons for not ordering from there.
Have a few questions and hope people will contribute to the thread.

Hopefully I will take delivery of this at the weekend, and my plan is to install Windows 7 Beta RC1 straight away.
Have Ralink RT73 802.11b/g 54M USB Wireless Adapter ordered, along with Super Mini Bluetooth 2.0 Adapter Dongle (Vista Compatible), but it could be a while before I receive these.
I will overclock this as soon as possible,

I will be hooking this up to my Philips 42", and hopefully will be able to the the sound working through the Philips HT6510.
Rookie quiestion, but, if I run a HDMI cable from the ION directly to the back of the TV, I should be able to hear the sound through the 6510 speakers, yeah? (HT6510 is connected to TV with a HDMI cable).

Also, to eliminate the need for another remote in the sitting room, I plan on using my phone(Nokia 6300) + Bluetooth + wireless presenter software(with keys mapped to explorer.exe and VLC.exe, maybe more(?) for easy browsing and navigation).
I will also have a small laptop mouse(maybe wireless, maybe small keyboard too) neatly hidden behind the ION in case of emergency.
What do people think of this? I think with the right key mapping, it should work fairly well. It will take a bit of setting up, but hopefully I'll get the desired result.
If that fails, what remote would you recommend for this situation.

Wifi dongle will hopefully connect to the wireless network where I have files shared on PCs and laptops around the house, through Windows file and printer sharing.

I ordered the ION without the BD drive. I think I might hold out a few months until the price of BDr/rw drives come down in price and then purchase one of those(maybe an external one so I can share with other PCs/Laptops in the house, but then again it could clutter where there is already HT6510 + sky box + ION). Cheapest internal BD player I could find was about £60+shipping. Cheapest external BD recorder I could find was approx £195. I presume I could buy any internal "laptop" disc drive and it would fit in to the ION?

Launch info of the ION:
YouTube - ASRock - ION 330, worldwide first Nvidia ION system live demo!

COD4 on the ION:
YouTube - Asrock Ion 330 running on 42" TFT with HDMI

Inside the ION:
YouTube - ASRock ION 330-BD Nettop - inside the system

Tweaktown Review

Thoughts on getting the most from the ION 330 will be most appreciated.
Thanks

Edit; Also looking for the best software for using this as a media center through Windows (7).
Will update and post pics when I receive the unit.

[wHoMe]

If your planning on watching HD either 720p or 1080p your going to need to use software that can use hardware acceleration so the iGPU does all the work instead of the PSU, best option for that currently is XBMC Linux/Live

Very much doubt you could watch 720p or 1080p just using windows 7 without hardware acceleration of some kind, under windows your options are DXVA and CUDA hardware acceleration

[surfermc]

As wHoMe says to get the system to play HD you really need to utilise the power of the GPU not the CPU. I don't believe VLC has any hardware acceleration capabilites. If you are looking for a standalone player have a look at MPC-HC or for a more integrated solution XBMC or MediaPortal.

[buckfaster]

Originally Posted by surfermc

As wHoMe says to get the system to play HD you really need to utilise the power of the GPU not the CPU. I don't believe VLC has any hardware acceleration capabilites. If you are looking for a standalone player have a look at MPC-HC or for a more integrated solution XBMC or MediaPortal.

First off, thanks for the replies and sorry for the newb questions.

If I used MediaPortal or XBMC, would they both play HD content?
I'm planning on installing 64bit Windows 7, when I went to the download page of XBMC there was only a 32bit version, I presume it will still work on 64bit Windows, yeah...?
Would I need any extra plugins etc.?

Edit; Found website for XBMC Live specifically for the ION here
Answers some of my questions.

[surfermc]

I am currently using a Zotac ION A as a client in a MediaPortal setup on XP 32 bit with the standalone filters (SAF) added. SAF adds the filters and decoders from MPC-HC. With this combination I am able to play 1080p .mkv files with DXVA, if they have been encoded correctly.

I've not used XBMC recently having adopted MP as my setup. I am using the TV server (on a different machine) to give me PVR functions.

Might give XBMC Live a go out of interest.

[fdrzrich]

I've just ordered one from SVP too! Been browsing all week trying to decide, finally went for it!
Doesn't it have wireless built in, why did you buy the wifi dongle?
I ordered a Cyberlink remote and usb ir reciever from ebuyer for £8 odd, should work well with XBMC and be able to wake on USB apparently.
Looking forward to getting this set up with Linux XBMC and ditching my massive (in comparison) Xbox under my TV. Sure I will have a few issues, but this and the XBMC forum are a great help!

[wHoMe]

Originally Posted by buckfaster

First off, thanks for the replies and sorry for the newb questions.

If I used MediaPortal or XBMC, would they both play HD content?
I'm planning on installing 64bit Windows 7, when I went to the download page of XBMC there was only a 32bit version, I presume it will still work on 64bit Windows, yeah...?
Would I need any extra plugins etc.?

Edit; Found website for XBMC Live specifically for the ION here
Answers some of my questions.

You would either have to install linux and then linux XBMC or you can install linux live on USB or HDD either one now supports VDPAU hardware acceleration and from what I've seen the CPU hardly moves when playing HD content

There was a bug causing problems with iGPU's including ION systems but its been fixed now however its currently only in the SVN not the PPA so wait till it gets updated unless you know how to compile your own

Under windows CoreAVC and CUDA is better than DXVA because it works on everything, you could use that with MP or launch a external player from XBMC, but CoreAVC isn't supported by win 7

Personally I would go for XBMC linux or Linux Live, I'm currently using XBMC with a modded version of the Aeon skin and its great, actually here's a demo of that modded version of Aeon if you double click the video theres a HD version on youtube

YouTube - Aeon Multiplex Mod - beta

[Scruffie]

Originally Posted by wHoMe

There was a bug causing problems with iGPU's including ION systems but its been fixed now however its currently only in the SVN not the PPA so wait till it gets updated unless you know how to compile your own

They have been recompiled and shared by someone from the XBMC forums on the asrock thread so you dont have to do it yourself. Here are the links:

http://www.fusedimages.com/xbmc.zip

or

RapidShare: Easy Filehosting
RapidShare: Easy Filehosting
RapidShare: Easy Filehosting
RapidShare: Easy Filehosting

Has anyone tried using a usb tv tuner (with a windows OS) with one of these little boxes?

[wHoMe]

Originally Posted by Scruffie

They have been recompiled and shared by someone from the XBMC forums on the asrock thread so you dont have to do it yourself. Here are the links:

http://www.fusedimages.com/xbmc.zip

or

RapidShare: Easy Filehosting
RapidShare: Easy Filehosting
RapidShare: Easy Filehosting
RapidShare: Easy Filehosting

Has anyone tried using a usb tv tuner (with a windows OS) with one of these little boxes?

Yes that has the nvidia drivers update but it doesn't have what I was referring to

IGP slowdown - XBMC Community Forum

[Scruffie]

Ah. I see now said the blind man.

[buckfaster]

The only reason I'm aiming for Windows 7 is because I am very familiar with Windows.
I have almost no Linux experience.
Even messing around with trying to make a bootable USB key to put XBMC Live on it, it's just not working for me.
Following this tutorial from Lifehacker, it says to use LiveXBMCBuilder to "copy the .img file in your LiveXBMCV2 package". Problem: In the XBMC Live .zip that I downloaded, in the iso file, there is 4 .img files; initrd0.img, restricteddrivers_amd.img, restricteddrivers_nvidia.img and ROOTFS.img

Which image file do I select?
Also, I've tried INITRD0.img, and LiveXBMCBuilder only gets so far and seems to hang.

Welcome to LiveXBMC Image Creator by Luigi Capriotti
Formatting Drive F: ...
Extracting files from D:\ASRockION\XBMC_Live-9.04.1\INITRD0.IMG

Gets as far as there and doesn't seem to be going any further. Been like that for 10 mins at least.

Edit; sorted, just used Unetbootin

Edit; next issue: Mounting local hard drive in XBMC Live.
I've edited the menu.lst on the USB drive and removed the -nodiskmount token.
Can't see local HD anywhere in XBMC...
Help?

[wHoMe]

Did you try just burning the ISO to cd or DVD then booting from the disc because it will ask you what you want to do run from the cd or install to USB or hard drive unless I've missed something ?

Just the same way windows installs

[Scruffie]

i tried doing that oh another pc with a view to installing it to a usb but couldnt get past the xmbc boot menu.

[buckfaster]

Originally Posted by Scruffie

i tried doing that oh another pc with a view to installing it to a usb but couldnt get past the xmbc boot menu.

You tried making an installation XBMC Live CD with the intention of installing it onto usb?

What advantage would XBMC Live have vs. XBMC Linux or XBMC for Windows?
I think I may just go for XBMC for windows installation...

[wHoMe]

You wont get any hardware acceleration under windows, there's a few people who have the Asrock Ion on the XBMC forum all running linux so why not ask your questions there

Here's one thread but there are others

http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=52460

[Scruffie]

Originally Posted by buckfaster

You tried making an installation XBMC Live CD with the intention of installing it onto usb?

yup. cd boots to menu, selected install to hd/usb and just got a black screen. rebooted and tried to run it from the cd and the same. will try recreating the cd.

What advantage would XBMC Live have vs. XBMC Linux or XBMC for Windows?
I think I may just go for XBMC for windows installation...

the settop box look and feel is what i'm really after. makes it more wife friendly that way too.

[doubleperfect]

Hi, just got my Ionstar 330. Annoyingly, just tried to plug it in and it just won't power on.

When power is on, should the LED be constantly on? Or should it glow and fade? Cos mine started to glow and fade at first but now it does nothing.

I've had a quick look inside, and everything seems to be connected and secure.

The only thing I can think of is to try another power brick. I only have one other power brick which uses the same connector. It's listed as 12V 2.0A whereas the one that comes with the nettop is 19V 3.42A. No idea if it's OK to try that instead...

I'm slightly at a loss, so any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Cheers

[buckfaster]

Originally Posted by doubleperfect

Hi, just got my Ionstar 330. Annoyingly, just tried to plug it in and it just won't power on.

When power is on, should the LED be constantly on? Or should it glow and fade? Cos mine started to glow and fade at first but now it does nothing.

I've had a quick look inside, and everything seems to be connected and secure.

The only thing I can think of is to try another power brick. I only have one other power brick which uses the same connector. It's listed as 12V 2.0A whereas the one that comes with the nettop is 19V 3.42A. No idea if it's OK to try that instead...

I'm slightly at a loss, so any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Sorry mate, I haven't taken delivery of mine yet. Will let you know when I do.


My ideal setup is windows7 on the hard drive, and XBMC Live on a USB key.
Basically I want dual boot and I think that would be the easiest way to have it.
- I want XBMC: I put in a USB key and power on.
- I want Windows; I take out USB key and power on.

[beef2006]

Originally Posted by doubleperfect

Hi, just got my Ionstar 330. Annoyingly, just tried to plug it in and it just won't power on.

When power is on, should the LED be constantly on? Or should it glow and fade? Cos mine started to glow and fade at first but now it does nothing.

The little blue light on the on button stays lit on mine.

The only thing I can think of is to try another power brick. I only have one other power brick which uses the same connector. It's listed as 12V 2.0A whereas the one that comes with the nettop is 19V 3.42A. No idea if it's OK to try that instead...

Sorry - I dont know if thats ok to try either.

Either way, shouldnt the retailer from which you bought it help you out here ?

[HEADRAT]

Originally Posted by wHoMe

You wont get any hardware acceleration under windows

Acceleration for what under windows?

[wHoMe]

Originally Posted by HEADRAT

Acceleration for what under windows?

Hardware acceleration for video playback so the GPU does all the work instead of the CPU this applies to your Zotac ION as well, you wont be watching 720p and 1080p without it

I was specifically talking about using XBMC which does hardware acceleration under linux, you can have hardware acceleration under windows using CUDA or DXVA but you have to launch an external player from inside XBMC or use Media Portal

[HEADRAT]

Ah OK XBMC or Media Portal, DXVA works fine in Media Center in both Vista and Windows7, I can watch 1080p MKV's etc fine on my Zotac 330.

Cheers

HEADRAT

[wHoMe]

Dam these have come down in price since I last considered getting one just spotted them going for £220

[CBers]

Yep, just paid £231 via AMAZON for one.

If I want to replace the DVD drive with a BD drive later on, anyone know which ones fit the ION 330 ??

[bungers1980]

The Sony BC-5500 series fits, so should most slim (12.7mm) SATA laptop BD drives. I recently found one on ebay for ~£60.On the subject, has anyone managed to find a barebones one for sale? I want to put an SSD and BD drive in without buying one with a HDD & DVD-RW and retro fitting

[CBers]

Originally Posted by buckfaster

My ideal setup is windows7 on the hard drive, and XBMC Live on a USB key.
Basically I want dual boot and I think that would be the easiest way to have it.
- I want XBMC: I put in a USB key and power on.
- I want Windows; I take out USB key and power on.

Why Windows 7 and XBMC on USB key ??

Is it just so that the same XBMC database available in both OS ??

What is the best media player for these ION chipset GPUs under W7 and running XBMC ??

[Hambox]

I'm looking at this for a second HTPC. I've catalogued all my DVDs and Blurays to MKVs using MakeMKV. If I were to buy this machine, would it then be able to play them back OK? I'm using Vista Ultimate, MediaPortal and KMPlayer with CoreAVC on my original HTPC and would look to do the same on this, but stream the MKVs over a gigabit network from the other machine with 3tb storage.

Basically I'm not sure if my cataloging method will be able to make use of the GPU in this unit and if not will the Atom be up to the task on its own? Any comments welcomed!

[surfermc]

The Atom processor won't be able to process hi-def stuff on its own. There are however 2 methods that the GPU can process the hi-def material either using DXVA or by CoreAVC v1.95 making use of Cuda.

[CBers]

Originally Posted by surfermc

The Atom processor won't be able to process hi-def stuff on its own. There are however 2 methods that the GPU can process the hi-def material either using DXVA or by CoreAVC v1.95 making use of Cuda.

Does Media Player Classic Home Cinema (MPCHC) fall into this category as well ??

Would I have to tell XBMC to use an external player such as MPCHC ??

[cjed]

Anyone using this with Vista 32bit as a blu-ray player ? Do the current ION drivers support bitstreaming the HD audio over HDMI ? What player software are you running ?

Thanks,
Charles.