ASRock Core 100HT-BD : Bringing HTPCs to the Mainstream Market [UPDATED : Noise Issue]
by Ganesh T S on July 19, 2010 9:34 PM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- Arrandale
- ASRock
- Media Streamer
- Core i3
- HTPC
It should come as no surprise that the iGPU in the Arrandales is not great for gaming purposes. It comes close to, but doesn't surpass, the Ion in gaming performance. However, some HTPC enthusiasts do want to play the occassional game, and the Arrandale in the Core 100 HT-BD obliges. The actual performance in various games at various settings has already been covered in numerous other reviews, so we will not go into those details here. To sweeten the deal for these gamers, ASRock has a pretty nifty feature called as the AiWi enabled on the unit.
This feature enables the usage of the iPhone or iPod (any model with an accelerometer) as a motion controller. The implementation of this feature is quite interesting. The player starts out by creating an ad-hoc wireless network on the Core 100 system. The iPhone or the iPod is then made to connect to this network. It is also required that the AIWI Lite app be installed from the Apple App Store. This app can be started after connecting to the ad-hoc network. After connection, the iPhone or iPad can be used as a keyboard or mouse, but the more interesting aspect is the usage of the accelerometer (G-Sensor) for gaming purposes.
We tested out this feature with SEGA's Virtua Tennis 2009. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise when we discovered how responsive the whole system was. A downside is that there aren't many games which are enabled for this interaction methodology. For those non-gaming enthusiasts enamoured by the motion controller trend that Nintendo started, this is a nice system to check out instead of going in for a dedicated gaming console.
A concern we raised with ASRock was the fact that the AiWi system was available only for Apple's platforms. With the rising popularity of Android devices with similar hardware capabilities, they have told us that the AiWi app would soon be ported to Android within the next few months. Customers who don't prefer Apple products will hopefully be able to enjoy this feature soon.
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spddemon - Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - link
This system is capable of dobly truHD and DTS HD. A ION system is not capable of decoding of those sounds format...So this system will appeal heavily to someone that wants a small nettop type system with a BD and good encoding performance. With any nettop you are going to have to use NAS storage anyways, but this system will allow more internal expansion than most others.. But if you wanted to, you could pair it with an external drive cage.. I wouldn't want that in my living room / theater room though.
biggest problem with this system is price.. You can build a great system for a couple hundred less if you are willing to take hours of researching the components and integration. A successful HTPC build will take considerable more time in planning/research than a typical PC/Gaming PC Build....
If you are wanting a powerful, small, efficient, prebuilt nettop, this is the best out there right now!
That is really the only thing i wish Ganesh would of pointed out a little more clearly. The capabilities of the "iGPU" vs an ION.. with the growth of this field, I would love to see a followup review that would pit a custom built (but comparable build) HTPC.. like a Core i3 530 (or maybe an e7200) / H55 with and without an ATI/NVIDIA (non ION) card. This would really give some people something to look at as far as capabilities..
and really, who cares what the remote looks like.. get a Logitech harmony or some other home automation remote... most people will only care about if the IR or RF functionality is already there...
ganeshts - Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - link
spddemon,Stay tuned for more HTPC reviews in this space. Their performance will be pitted against this solution.
However, ION is passe right now. We will be testing with the ATI 5xxx series and upcoming Nvidia cards.
Furuno - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Upcoming nVidia cards...Hmm I wonder what it is... A low-cost version of fermi or another rebranding of GT2XX cards?
ganeshts - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
We already published reviews of the GTX460 from the gaming perspective.The card is good from a gaming HTPC perspective because it also supports HD audio bitstreaming.
There are some rumours that Nvidia has lower priced cards coming out in the next 2 months, so we will cover them when they get released :) At the least, we will cover the GTX460.
spddemon - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Thanks for the updates Ganeshts!It looks like your time frame will be perfect for my new HTPC project.
I really hope Nvidia can get some low powered cards out to offer a true HTPC card that covers all the current HD formats/codecs.
mindbomb - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Ion can only bitstream LPCM, but I assume the atom cpu is powerful enough to decode truehd in libavcodec.So that only leaves DTS-HD MA as a problem.
ganeshts - Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - link
Goty,The user can always opt for a USB TV tuner.
If we had an expansion slot for a TV tuner inside this box, the unit wouldn't be based off the HM55 chipset, and wouldn't fit in the sub-50 W power envelop which is a coveted mark in this space.
Further, including a TV tuner in the box would drive up the cost of the system in some areas, as it would be taxed as an entertainment device, rather than a computer.
bearxor - Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - link
No one that is serious about using this as a HTPC is going to string USB TV tuners off this thing. You want 2 USB tuners hanging off the back of the machine? How about 4?My HTPC has 7 tuners total. 2xHauppage 2250's, 2xCats Eye 150's and a ATi DCT. Tell me exactly where I'm going to be able to put those on a machine like this.
There needs to be some kind of market differentiation between a HTPC and a Living Room PC. One is for serious use as a DVR and the other is to hook up to the TV and watch some videos/play games/surf the web/Facebook/chat, etc. They are two different markets.
ganeshts - Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - link
bearxor,You have got an impressive set up.
However, I believe your type of setup is more the exception rather than the norm. The sort of arrangement which will remain a niche for a long time to come. With the advent of IP streaming and availability of TV shows and live sports broadcasts online, I am not even sure people will require so many tuners.
I also think that your sort of setup isn't amenable to the silent, power efficient HTPC that people want (particularly from the viewpoint of media streamers and boxes such as the upcoming Google TV). The latter 'living room PC' that you mention has more potential to explode as a market for manufacturers to exploit, rather than the DVR-centric PC that you envisage.
hughlle - Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - link
Exactly, 7 tuners is hardly the norm. I make do without a single one on my HTPC, i have the likes of iplayer if i really feel inclined to drop into the fantastic realm that is daytime television :S