Zotac ZBOX: Brazos Goes HTPC
by Andrew Van Til on June 9, 2011 5:00 PM ESTVideo Decoding Quality
| HQV-HD Quality Tests | ||||||
| Class 1 - Video Conversion | ||||||
| Core i5-2500K | NVIDIA GT430 | AMD 3200 | AMD 6310 | AMD 5550 | Best | |
| Video Resolution | 20 | 20 | 2 | 7 | 20 | 20 |
| Dial | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| Dial w/ Static Pattern | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Gray Bars | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Violin | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Film Resolution | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Stadium 2:2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Stadium 3:2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Overlay on Film | 8 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Horizontal Text Scroll | 3 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Vertical Text Scroll | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Response Time | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| 3:2 Lock | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| 2:2 Lock | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Multi-Cadence | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 |
| 2:2:2:4 24FPS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 2:3:3:2 24FPS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 3:2:3:2:2 24FPS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 5:5 12FPS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 6:4 12FPS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 8:7 8FPS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Color Upsampling Errors | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Interlace Chroma Problem | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Chroma Upsampling Error | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Class 1 Total | 46 | 50 | 17 | 27 | 50 | 90 |
| Class 2 - Noise and Artifact Reduction | ||||||
| Core i5-2500K | NVIDIA GT430 | AMD 3200 | AMD 6310 | AMD 5550 | Best | |
| Random Noise | 14 | 17 | 14 | 14 | 9 | 20 |
| Sailboat | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 5 |
| Flower | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Sunrise | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Harbor Night | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Compression Artifacts | 12 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 20 |
| Scrolling Text | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| Roller Coaster | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| Ferris Wheel | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Bridge Traffic | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| Upscaled Compression Artifacts | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 20 |
| Text Pattern | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| Roller Coaster | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Ferris Wheel | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Bridge | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Class 2 Total | 29 | 28 | 29 | 29 | 27 | 60 |
| Class 3 - Image Scaling and Enhancements | ||||||
| Core i5-2500K | NVIDIA GT430 | AMD 3200 | AMD 6310 | AMD 5550 | Best | |
| Scaling and Filtering | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Luminance Frequency Bands | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Chrominance Frequency Bands | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Vanishing Text | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Resolution Enhancement | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Brook, Mountain, Time Elapsed Flower, Red Hair, Wood Grain | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Class 3 Total | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 |
| Class 4 - Adaptive Processing | ||||||
| Core i5-2500K | NVIDIA GT430 | AMD 3200 | AMD 6310 | AMD 5550 | Best | |
| Contrast Enhancement | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Theme Park | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Driftwood | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Beach at Dusk | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| White and Black Cats | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Skin Tone Correction | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 10 |
| Skin tones | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 10 |
| Class 4 Total | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 27 | 30 |
| Benchmark Total | 128 | 131 | 96 | 106 | 134 | 210 |
When evaluating HQV-HD scores it is important to remember that while numbers are produced, the outcome is still somewhat subjective and results should only be evaluated within the context that created them. In this case, testing was conducted with the above connected to a Panasonic TC-P58VT25. Given the results I’ve seen from AMD with its 5550, I was somewhat surprised to see the 6310’s performance, especially in the cadence detection section of the test—a place where AMD was the first GPU vendor to pass all of the formats. It does display an obvious advantage versus the older AMD 3200 found in the Zino HD, so hopefully we will see further improvements as the drivers mature.
HQV is a useful tool for measuring video performance, but only in a limited context. So to get a better feel for the GPU’s capabilities screen shots from three (480i/720p/1080i) “real world” samples were captured at their native resolution. Here we can see clear differences in performance between the AMD 6310 and the other GPUs (AMD 5550, Intel HD 2000 and NVIDIA GT430) in deinterlacing, noise reduction, brightness, and color. That said, the most interesting story told by the images is found when comparing the differences within the AMD family. Looking at the 480i sample in detail, we can see that the 5550 has a clear advantage in deinterlacing quality (most likely due to the 6310’s lack of vector adaptive DI support), especially along the goal line. There is also a marked difference between the states where the video processing setting were set to their defaults and when they were disabled—an indication that the GPU does not support advanced video processing (VP) features when “Enforce Smooth Video Playback” (ESVP) is enabled. Now we can debate if anything is truly missing in this regard in the comments, but it is worth noting that the VP features are not available.
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erikstarcher - Thursday, June 9, 2011 - link
I have 2 such units in use around the house. What I hate is that most laptops these days have the ports on the sides and not the rear. And the dvd drive is on the side, not on the front. Better design for laptop use, but not as good for small form factor HTPC's.bobbozzo - Thursday, June 9, 2011 - link
s/completive/competitive/JarredWalton - Thursday, June 9, 2011 - link
Completive: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/CompletiveAs in, formerly SFF HTPCs have lacked some features, and they are becoming more complete.
Etern205 - Thursday, June 9, 2011 - link
Don't know about you guys, but this Zotac Zbox's top side kind of lookslike a door bell speaker system. Just place it next to a door and you'll see
what I mean.
Lord 666 - Thursday, June 9, 2011 - link
Installed two of these at work. the profile is much thinner than the wall mounted LCD.Upgraded the memory and debating about swapping out the hdd for an ssd.
burntham77 - Friday, June 10, 2011 - link
Bump the memory up to 4 gigs, swap in an SSD for the OS and software, bring in a 2TB HDD (most likely external, as I doubt this thing has space for it inside), and this would be a perfect HTPC, especially paired up with an HDHomerun.liveonc - Thursday, June 9, 2011 - link
Just stick a keyboard on top, or sell it to Commodore & they'll know what to do ;-)KaarlisK - Friday, June 10, 2011 - link
Why shouldn't TRIM work with MS Windows' native IDE driver? I've read that it works.JarredWalton - Friday, June 10, 2011 - link
It might work, but I think it also depends on implementation and driver. Also, NCQ won't work, and I'm not sure if Native IDE will allow full SATA performance -- would be interesting to do some tests and see how much of a difference it makes.BoonDoggie - Friday, June 10, 2011 - link
This is for the more for the media-based HTPC crowd. It looks awesome, sexy, incredible, but not enough HP to move a gaming crowd. there's gotta be a middle ground in all this, HTPC for media, BUT enough HP for (at least) basic gaming. Not Crisis, mind you, but some rts, or simple rpg without all the eye candy, maybe, @ 1920x1080. Keep it under 6 bills, and i'm yours.