Nixeus Fusion HD Review
by Ganesh T S on March 4, 2011 3:26 PM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- Media Streamer
- Gadgets
The AnandTech Media Streamer Test Suite is constantly evolving, and we recently added a few more test streams in response to various developments in the media space. In v1.1 of the test suite, we have added streams with forced PGS subtitles in MKV container, couple of 1080p60 H264 streams from recent camcorders with multi-channel audio, a packed MPEG-4 bitstream and a MKV file with header compression. Now, we have 55 test streams with a total possible score of 368. The Nixeus Fusion HD scored 266 to get a normalized score of 72.28%. Compared to the WDTV Live Hub at 66.8%, it is indeed an improvement.
One of the main reasons that the Fusion HD scores over the WDTV Live series is full support for bitstreaming of all HD audio formats from both M2TS and MKV containers. Amongst the standalone media streamers we have evaluated so far, the Nixeus Fusion HD is bettered only by the Boxee Box.
The good score in our test suite doesn't mean that the product is bug free. Here are some reasons why the Fusion HD lost points in our test suite, and also a list of pending bugs in the implemented features:
- DVR-MS and WTV file extensions are not recognized, even though the internal codecs are supported
- OGG / Vorbis and Real Media streams are not supported
- Hindi subtitles do not display correctly (surprisingly, Hebrew and Vietnamese subtitles with which the WDTV Live series had issues are fully OK in the Fusion HD)
- Deinterlacing is as bad as it was in the WDTV Live Hub.
- PGS subtitles (forced and unforced) in MKV are yet to be supported. Supposedly, a firmware update is on the way to fix it. As of today, PGS subtitles in MKV are recognized, but not shown.
- The M2TS splitter has a bug wherein some 1080p30 L4.1 H264 streams exhibit stutters. The WDTV series and the Boxee Box's release firmware also have the same issue, but many other Sigma based products and all Realtek products are OK.
- Blu-Ray ISOs and folder structures play the largest M2TS file. Branched titles are not supported. There are no menus for Blu-Ray ISOs or folder structures.
- 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.
- Some of the camcorder clips with 1080p60 H264 in MP4 had slight stutter (same issue with the WDTV Live series also). I believe this is an issue with the splitter again.
- VP6 and VP8 in FLV and WebM are not supported
- ASS subs (stylized and karaoke effects) are not supported properly.
- More than 2 warp points are not supported in Xvid (MPEG-4) streams, same as all other Sigma and Realtek based streamers
- MKV chapter navigation is very rudimentary (pressing NEXT to get to the next chapter, with no display or ability to select a chapter by its name)
- In M2TS files, the PGS subtitles tend to overstay their welcome. The subtitles start at the correct timestamp, but don't turn off till the timestamp for the next subtitles set starts. Two screenshots are attached below showing the issue.
'Moped honks' as it crashes in this scene, as per the subtitles
The moped is long gone, but it still 'honks' according to the subtitles
We also ran the HQV 2.0 benchmark suite on the Fusion HD. Unsurprisingly, it got the same 56 out of 210 that the WDTV Live Hub had scored. I guess there is not much point in running the HQV 2.0 benchmark any more on the SMP8654 or SMP8655 based media streamers.
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SlyNine - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
Thanks.I've read that Ciniava is part of the Sigma chips features. What I wasn't aware of is if it's something the OEM can turn on or off. I'm also worried that some firmware update could activate it. You know how the MPAA and RIAA types are with pushing there DRM on people.
Also correct me if I'm wrong please, but AACS is the protection of the content on the disk and it's unlocked/decrypted before it ever gets encrypted in HDCP, so I guess there is no risk of it being implemented on the HDCP/HDMI end (TV's AVR's) Does this sound correct?
ganeshts - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
Currently, Cinavia can be implemented on some of the Sigma processors, but not on the 865x ones because they are not meant for Blu-Ray playback.There will be no firmware update for this or the WDTV Live whch can enable Cinavia. On this one, I am pretty confident.
Currently, only BDA (Blu Ray alliance) requires Cinavia, and the player detects the watermark, checks if the file being played back is protected by AACS, i.e, it is from a protected disc, not a bootleg copy or a copy made after removing the AACS using AnyDVD or other similar software, and then allows the media to be played back. Cinavia doesn't extend beyond the actual Blu-Ray / media player.
However, this doesn't discount the fact that in the future there might be AV receivers which, when being used for HD audio bitstreaming, might implement a similar sort of muting or stopping of HD audio decode if the audio is not coming over HDCP. Currently, this is NOT happening, and this is admittedly a far-fetched scenario, but it is not implausible.
Chillin1248 - Friday, March 4, 2011 - link
Can you review the Argosy HV335T 2TB in the near future?I have purchased four such units (actually 3, and one wireless version), and they function amazingly well for their price point, $170. Has a 1073DD chipset and a Samsung 2TB 2040UI HDD.
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http://www.argosyusa.com/hv335t.shtml?DefaultTab=0
"A perfect companion in your home theater setup, HV335T can play contents from internal HDD (optional), USB HDD/flash drive, or stream contents from another server in your home network. The player also supports uPNP and can work seamless with DMS (Digital Media Server). With DMS software running on a PC, such as PlayOn, HV335T can display internet video/audio supported by DMS directly on the TV. Selected internet services (Picasa, Flickr, Weather, Youtube, Last.FM, MediaFly, Internet TV, Internet Radio, etc) are also available directly.
Audio video output include Composite A/Vand Component output, HDMI output, and Optical digital output. HDMI output support up to 1080p resolution. HV335T supports Dolby Digital and DTS downmixing as well as digital pass through.
Managing the contents on the inernal HDD can be done either with direct USB connection to a PC or over the SAMBA networking connection. The UI also allow copying from USB drives and SAMBA servers to internal HDD or deletion from internal HDD."
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The reason I bring it up is since they are very supportive of the product (constant firmware updates with new features) and are very responsive to support emails; I wish to see such a company succeed.
Discombobulated28 - Monday, March 28, 2011 - link
Ganesh recently reviewed a RealTek 1283 based media player here:http://www.anandtech.com/show/4212/tvix-slim-s1-bi...
Which performs similar to the RealTek 1073DD chipset, but the RealTek 1283 has a bit more features... from my experience with RealTek media players they almost have similar GUI and similar features or shortcomings due to RealTek's SDKs... with the exceptions of good known brands such as AC Ryan whom are known for better support/quality...
Schugy - Sunday, March 6, 2011 - link
Would also have wiped out most limitations.hohowan - Monday, March 7, 2011 - link
Bug # 11 on the list is and continues to be, the deal breaker for me for any streamer on the market.(ASS subs (stylized and karaoke effects) are not supported properly.)
It is frustrating that no one seems to be able to do these subtitles as well as a standalone PC.
I've pretty up given up hope for a streaming device that works correctly with these kind of subtitles.
I guess I'm going to continue with a spare PC hooked up to the TV for *proper* playback.
ganeshts - Monday, March 7, 2011 - link
Have you tried Boxee Box? With the latest firmware, all the ASS samples I have seem to play OK (with karaoke effects)CrapONez - Thursday, March 10, 2011 - link
I own the Viewsonic NexTV VMP75. It has the same interface and remote as this, without the built-in USB dongle, HD bay, or bittorrent, but it does have Netflix. I've got an external HD hooked up to it with eSata for local playback. Do me a favor and get your hands on one so that Viewsonic addresses some of your bug reports and gives me a firmware update?!?ganeshts - Sunday, March 13, 2011 - link
Would definitely like that, but the problem is that the big companies don't pay attention to our bug reports, while the startups like Nixeus pay more attention.If you take a look at TViX Slim S1, we reported a big set of bugs, but not all of them were resolved.
Destiny - Saturday, March 12, 2011 - link
We finally have a test suite/bench mark/ something concrete to compare media players...HQV 2.0 serves what testing purposes for SoCs and Media Players?