Sonoma Media Center XPC from Shuttle

Although it's not yet ready for release, Shuttle put together a set-top style HTPC/XPC based on the Alviso chipset for use in Media Center appllications.


A rendering of Shuttle's MCE XPC including their new MCE remote

Due out for release in the 2nd or 3rd quarter of this year, the system uses DDR1 SO-DIMMs and has room for an internal 3.5" HDD as well as a removable external 2.5" HDD.


Shuttle's removable 2.5" HDD bay in action


The 2.5" HDD bay prototype in action

The XPC is obviously designed for a more set-top applications and thus will also feature a cable card reader as well as HDTV output. The next version of Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition due out in Q3 will support cable card and content protected HDTV content over digital cable services, making this device actually useful from a HDTV standpoint.


A cable card slot

We are very impressed with Shuttle's leadership demonstrated with this design, especially when most manufacturers are too afraid to even launch a desktop Pentium M product. We would strongly encourage them to bring a Alviso based XPC in their normal XPC form factor as its dual channel memory setup would definitely make it a solid desktop competitor.


Memory and CPU can be upgraded from below

Intel's Sonoma Platform Shuttle's nForce4 SFF
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  • thraxes - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link

  • bhtooefr - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link

    Me like the Shuttle set-top...

    Now, can we just get more ordinary P-M boards?
  • Chuckles - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link

    Was VIA demoing their processors and boards?
  • miketheidiot - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link

    efficeon looked good, to bad transmeta might be going belly up.
  • linuxOwnzIfUrLeet - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link

    "we had a 46" samsung and gave it right back, viewing from the side looks dark"



    Do you know anything about plasma vs DLP?

    DLP's only life problem is you'll have to buy a new bulb.

    plasma's problem is that it will continue to go darker and darker until the gas runs out of energy.

    You don't like the dark of dlp you aint gonna like the dark of plasma.

    #############################################

    Plasma - can't change the gas- no refills - no recharging. Continue to get darker picture.

    Dlp - change a bulb.



    Plasma - spend lots of money know and throw away soon.


    Today, I can get a 76" dlp for $1400 with <2cm display thickness.
  • Illissius - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link

    "The Radeon X800 will be available in the first week of February"
    That's odd. What's this, then?
    http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?desc...
  • Ardan - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link

    Thanks for that link :D. I thought those MGE cases looked great as well and made me interested in what they have been making lately.
  • KristopherKubicki - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link

    danidentity: http://www.xgbox.com/

    Kristopher
  • Houdani - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link

    Was the second image on the very last page messed up for anyone else? I could only see the top 10% of the image and the rest was blacked out. The image is supposed to show the MGE cases. The text just above the image is...

    "MGE also demonstrated a more sleek lineup of cases, a welcome change from the overly busy gaming cases that we've seen far too much of lately:"
  • snorre - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link

    "The entire Sound Storm division at NVIDIA has been shut down and thus NVIDIA's Intel solution will have HD Audio support, but we will not see the return of Dolby Digital Encoding support or NVIDIA's Sound Storm DSP."

    I don't believe this for a second. Can someone please confirm or deny this claim? Thanks!

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