ASRock's High-End Vision 3D 252B HTPC Review
by Ganesh T S on May 7, 2012 6:15 AM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- Sandy Bridge
- HTPC
- GT 540M
- NVIDIA
HTPC enthusiasts are often concerned about the quality of pictures output by the system. While this is a very subjective metric, we have decided to take as much of an objective approach as possible. Starting with the Core 100 review in 2010, we have been using the HQV 2.0 benchmark for this purpose.
The HQV 2.0 test suite consists of 39 different streams divided into 4 different classes. The playback device is assigned scores for each, depending on how well it plays the stream. Each test was repeated multiple times to ensure that the correct score was assigned. The scoring details are available in the testing guide on the HQV website.
In the table below, we indicate the maximum score possible for each test, and how much the ASRock Vision 3D 252B was able to get. As mentioned in the previous section, we used NVIDIA Graphics Driver v301.24 for the benchmarking.
| HQV 2.0 Benchmark - ASRock Vision 3D 252B | ||||
| Test Class | Chapter | Tests | Max. Score | ASRock Vision 3D 252B (NVIDIA GT 540M) |
| Video Conversion | Video Resolution | Dial | 5 | 5 |
| Dial with Static Pattern | 5 | 5 | ||
| Gray Bars | 5 | 5 | ||
| Violin | 5 | 5 | ||
| Film Resolution | Stadium 2:2 | 5 | 5 | |
| Stadium 3:2 | 5 | 5 | ||
| Overlay On Film | Horizontal Text Scroll | 5 | 3 | |
| Vertical Text Scroll | 5 | 3 | ||
| Cadence Response Time | Transition to 3:2 Lock | 5 | 5 | |
| Transition to 2:2 Lock | 5 | 5 | ||
| Multi-Cadence | 2:2:2:4 24 FPS DVCam Video | 5 | 5 | |
| 2:3:3:2 24 FPS DVCam Video | 5 | 5 | ||
| 3:2:3:2:2 24 FPS Vari-Speed | 5 | 5 | ||
| 5:5 12 FPS Animation | 5 | 5 | ||
| 6:4 12 FPS Animation | 5 | 5 | ||
| 8:7 8 FPS Animation | 5 | 5 | ||
| Color Upsampling Errors | Interlace Chroma Problem (ICP) | 5 | 5 | |
| Chroma Upsampling Error (CUE) | 5 | 5 | ||
| Noise and Artifact Reduction | Random Noise | SailBoat | 5 | 5 |
| Flower | 5 | 5 | ||
| Sunrise | 5 | 5 | ||
| Harbour Night | 5 | 5 | ||
| Compression Artifacts | Scrolling Text | 5 | 5 | |
| Roller Coaster | 5 | 5 | ||
| Ferris Wheel | 5 | 5 | ||
| Bridge Traffic | 5 | 5 | ||
| Upscaled Compression Artifacts | Text Pattern | 5 | 3 | |
| Roller Coaster | 5 | 3 | ||
| Ferris Wheel | 5 | 3 | ||
| Bridge Traffic | 5 | 3 | ||
| Image Scaling and Enhancements | Scaling and Filtering | Luminance Frequency Bands | 5 | 5 |
| Chrominance Frequency Bands | 5 | 5 | ||
| Vanishing Text | 5 | 5 | ||
| Resolution Enhancement | Brook, Mountain, Flower, Hair, Wood | 15 | 15 | |
| Video Conversion | Contrast Enhancement | Theme Park | 5 | 2 |
| Driftwood | 5 | 2 | ||
| Beach at Dusk | 5 | 2 | ||
| White and Black Cats | 5 | 2 | ||
| Skin Tone Correction | Skin Tones | 10 | 0 | |
| Total Score | 210 | 176 | ||
When compared with the other SFF HTPCs, the score doesn't look out-of-place.
However, we have seen NVIDIA GPUs scoring higher in earlier reviews. This is just an indicator of how new driver releases tend to break existing features. As we will see in the next section, there are a number of knobs in the driver which just don't work at all.
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ganeshts - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
I agree that the necessary information is spread out over multiple sites / reviews. We will work towards maintaining a database for easy access to all the information from a central point.ggathagan - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
There's already an extensive guide:http://imouto.my/watching-h264-videos-using-dxva/
http://imouto.my/watching-h264-videos-using-dxva-c...
An alternative to MPC-HC is a Korean product called Pot player:
http://imouto.my/configuring-potplayer-for-gpu-acc...
I've used both players with a GTS 450, an AMD 6950 and an AMD 5670 without issue after following the guides.
aliasfox - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
First off, I skimmed the article, so forgive me if this is really obvious. Second, I have an admitted Mac bias, so that's where this is coming from. So here goes:With the exception of the Blu-Ray drive and USB3, is there really much that makes this worth so much more than a Mac Mini? I'm thinking the $799, i7, Radeon 6670m equipped model.
$100 to load Windows onto it (if that's your flavor), and $200 should get you a blu-ray player - that leaves that set up $100 cheaper than the ASRock...
The Mac mini does dual display, has HDMI out, and has an optical audio output as well. Admittedly, the SD Card reader on the back is less easy to get to than a reader on the front, and the base HDD is smaller (500 GB).
Different strokes for different folks?
lenkiatleong - Tuesday, May 8, 2012 - link
But Mac mini does not bitstream HD audio to AV as far as i know. And this is the most critical point in my opinion for HTPC.philipma1957 - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
1.2k for 1.2 k I can have a 2500k cpu a crucial 256gb ssd a 2tb hdd a blu ray from asus 8gb ram a mobo from asus the catch is I need a 14 by 14 by 7 inch case.Any real hi end ht has amps, larger speakers ,large tv. Some subs not one sub.
A gear rack and hiding a case the size of 14 by 14 by 7 on a gear rack is easy.
This is for a design freak with tiny little bose speakers and a wall mount led flat screen.
while that ht is costly ie hi end it makes poor quality sound.
ganeshts - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
This is a HTPC for the high end home theater. Nothing prevents you from routing the HDMI output from the Vision 3D 252B to an amp / pre-amps and use that to drive the large speakers.aliasfox - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
Or potentially it's for people who are limited on storage rack space. My five level rack currently houses my blu-ray player, receiver, and dedicated stereo amp, as well as my cable modem and router which live on one shelf.If I were to replace my receiver (currently acting as my pre/pro) with a dedicated pre/pro and another amp to do surround duties, I wouldn't have another entire shelf for a big box htpc - I'd only have the space next to the modem and router to share.
zerorift - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
Maybe I'm just not seeing this in the review, but what software did you use to record the graphs of power usage?ganeshts - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
The graphs are from HWInfo. The software is capable of much more than just simple graphing. Here is another screenshot (and the link to the software):http://www.hwinfo.com/images/HWiNFO32_1.png
www.hwinfo.com
nsparadox - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
I used to build HTPCs back in the day to record shows as a glorified DVR. There's no bundled tuner. What's the point of HTPCs nowadays, assuming you're not using them as a DVR?I can do pretty much all of these things this machine can do with a Blu-Ray player, Google TV, integrated TV software, a Roku box, or just an HDMI out to an existing tablet or laptop PC. And the prices for these approaches ranges from free to $200 depending on what equipment you already have?
Even for massive movie hoarders who want to stream their collection, you can do that with most of these devices.