Nixeus Fusion HD Review
by Ganesh T S on March 4, 2011 3:26 PM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- Media Streamer
- Gadgets
The host of accessories, as well as the size of the main unit, make the Fusion HD package box pretty big.
Inside the box, we have the following components:
- Nixeus Fusion HD main unit
- 30W power adapter
- IR remote with batteries
- Wireless N USB dongle
- AV cable (3.5mm)
- Ethernet cable
- Screws for internal hard disk mounting
- Setup guide
The main unit has a length of 7.25", width of 5.375" and height of 3.125". The USB Wi-Fi dongle comes bundled with the unit. With support for Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) using Push Button Configuration (PBC), getting the device connected to the wireless network is a breeze. The remote is nothing to write home about, and is of the same quality as those found in other media streamers like the AC Ryan PlayOn HD2. The buttons on the remote feel cheap, but this is nothing out of the ordinary for almost 90% of the streamer units out there.
The front of the main unit has 3 LEDs to indicate the power status, hard disk activity and IR command reception. We have the IR receiver and 1 USB 2.0 host port along with the power switch on the extreme right. In addition to these, we also have eSATA and mini USB 2.0 slave ports which can help the media player act as a DAS (direct attached storage).
The two sides of the unit have ventilation slots and one of them also has a small fan behind it (made necessary due to the internal hard disk capability).
On the rear side, we have the power adapter connector, RJ-45 100 Mbps port, another USB 2.0 host port (best used for the Wi-Fi dongle), optical and coaxial SPDIF, 3.5mm composite video out and the HDMI 1.3 port.
Let us wrap up this section with a table summarizing the A/V and data connectivity options of the Nixeus Fusion HD
| Nixeus Fusion HD | ||||
| Feature | Nixeus Fusion HD Config | |||
| HDMI | Yes (v1.3) | |||
| Component | No | |||
| Composite | Yes (with Audio) | |||
| VGA | No | |||
| SPDIF | Yes (Optical and Coaxial) | |||
| Stereo | No | |||
| Optical Disk Drive | No | |||
| USB | Yes (2 x 2.0 Host, 1 x 2.0 Slave) | |||
| eSATA | Yes (Client) | |||
| LAN | Yes (100 Mbps) | |||
| Internal HDD | Supported (3.5", Not Included) | |||
| WiFi | Yes (300 Mbps Wireless N USB Dongle) | |||
| Card Reader | No | |||
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Trefugl - Friday, March 4, 2011 - link
Even support for something like SiliconDust's HDHomeRun would be great. I have one of those that streams to my network, but I haven't decided what to do about recording (using my desktop for testing it out now). I'd love to have something like the Boxee Box that would be able to browse the TV guide and record shows to my NAS... one day maybe.Suntan - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
Have you looked into SageTV?HD300 hardware extender at the TV, computer running the tuners at the backend.
It's another option.
-Suntan
TrevorH - Friday, March 4, 2011 - link
Why no reviews of the market leaders in this segment? Where is Popcornhour? TVIX?ganeshts - Friday, March 4, 2011 - link
TViX Slim S1 is up next :)Popcorn Hour... No review units with AnandTech right now.. Once they put something new out, we will try to get hold of one :) Right now, our review queue is pretty full.
DigitalFreak - Friday, March 4, 2011 - link
As soon as one of these streamers gets the ability to properly play back WTV files, I might just pick one up.mgl888 - Friday, March 4, 2011 - link
off topic, but is Anandtech located in Sunnyvale?ganeshts - Friday, March 4, 2011 - link
AnandTech has a set of freelance reporters spread all over the world. It is just that I happen to reside in Sunnyvale :)mgl888 - Sunday, March 6, 2011 - link
Awesome, we could be neighbors!We have the same postcode. :)
SlyNine - Friday, March 4, 2011 - link
"One of our MKVs with DTS-HD audio exhibited random dropouts when bitstreaming. However, a couple of other movies with DTS-HD MA in MKV bitstreamed for the full duration without any issue. But, some points were docked because our test stream didn't play perfectly"Could this be because of Ciniava DRM?? I only skimmed the artical so I don't know if Ciniava is present or not, But please look in to it and tell us if future players use this protection, or any others like it I'm not aware of.
ganeshts - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
No, that particular stream doesn't have Cinavia. It plays perfectly OK on the NTV 550 and the Boxee Box.Cinavia is only applicable to streamers which have AACS license, and even then, it doesn't appear mandatory right now. So, none of the media streamers support it.
I am keeping a close watch on Cinavia developments, so if there is anything new I find not reported elsewhere, rest assured, AnandTech readers will be the first to know about it :)