ASRock's High-End Vision 3D HTPC Reviewed

We have been using our media streamer test suite for the last few reviews in the HTPC / media streamer space. In v1.0.1 of the test suite used in the WDTV Live Plus review, we added DVD and Blu-Ray folder structures to the mix. In v1.0.2, we have added three Xvid clips (one with Q-Pel, and two others with GMC (Global Motion Compensation) using 2 and 3 warp points respectively) and a MKV stream with forced subtitles. For the Vision 3D, we used v1.0.2 of the media streamer test suite. Weights have been assigned to each of the test stream based on how frequently one might encounter each type of file in a home theater setting.

We now have 50 streams in our test suite and a maximum possible score of 350. Presenting a table listing every stream would make this section messy. Instead, moving forward, we will only indicate streams which have playback issues. In addition to that, for HTPCs, we will also indicate all the different softwares / codecs used to enable playback of all the test streams.

The Vision 3D is the first pre-built HTPC we have reviewed to score a perfect 100% in our media streamer test suite. However, this was not quite straightforward, as it was quite difficult to find the correct splitter / filter / renderer combinations for some of the test streams. The following softwares were used to process our media streamer test suite:

1. Cyberlink PowerDVD 10.0.2025.52 OEM 3D
2. MPC-HC x64 1.4.2499 with ffdshow Audio Decoder (x64 SVN 3572)
3. VLC 1.1.4
4. Monogram GraphStudio with MPC-HC Matroska Splitter (for 024-1080p24.x264.DTS-MA.7Ch.mkv, which had minor stutters with the default MPC-HC combination used to playback other streams)
5. Monogram GraphStudio with Sage Mpeg Demux Splitter (for 042-1080p24.VC1.TrueHD.AC3, which the latest MPC-HC M2TS splitter couldn't split properly. VLC could play this back without bitstreaming, but GraphStudio, with the Sage splitter was able to properly deliver the TrueHD soundtrack to ffdshow for bitstreaming).

3D Playback

Vision 3D's claim to fame is the enabling of 3D Blu-Ray playback with HDMI 1.4a output. However, 3D technology equipment is pretty high-end even for us reviewers. However, that would be no excuse to not test it out, right?! Thankfully, Tom Vaughan from Cyberlink invited me over to Cyberlink's office in Fremont, CA to make use of their demo equipment (3D TV / AV receiver). With the Vision 3D in hand, I landed up over there at 8 AM one morning, and proceeded to test out 3D Blu-Ray playback with the Vision 3D using the OEM PowerDVD version supplied by ASRock. I was also quite surprised that PowerDVD was able to correctly identify stereoscopic WMV files and play them back appropriately on the 3D TV.

Tom also gave us some useful insights on 3D technology and how Cyberlink is gearing up to handle the upcoming challenges in the HTPC area, but those are details for another day and another article. We are grateful to Tom and Cyberlink for providing us with the opportunity to make use of their facilities.

Refresh Rate Handling

Many HTPC purists are concerned about the lack of support for proper display refresh rates. This was one of the main drawbacks of the Core 100 reviewed earlier. The Vision 3D, with nV's 260.66 drivers, has no such issues. This can be observed from the following screenshots. MPC-HC's statistics OSD indicates that the display correctly refreshes at 23.976 Hz with the 23 Hz setting for Vision 3D, while Core 100 indicates a refresh rate of 23.999 Hz for the 23 Hz setting.

23 Hz Setting on Core 100 / Vision 3D (Click to enlarge)