Vidabox's STEALTH media center keeps ultra-quiet at 3.6-inches tall

Not content with having released the ZERO barely two months ago, Vidabox just announced its latest media center, dubbed the STEALTH. This new model comes in a slim 3.6-inch tall case, but can be fully loaded with a DVD±RW dual-layer burner, a pair of analog tuners, a pair of HD tuners and up to 1.5TB worth of storage. Like its siblings, the STEALTH also has an AMD AM2 5200+ Dual-Core CPU, 4GB of RAM, a 7950GT video card with dual DVI outputs and an HDCP-compliant HDMI 1.2 jack. While we can tell you that the STEALTH will be released sometime before the end of the year, it appears that Vidabox has made a product so quiet that we didn't quite hear how much it'll cost.

[rj @ Nov 22nd 2006 8:13AM]

great spam plug keit. are u also the one sending me email on affordable viagra and top stock picks???

[Javaflash @ Nov 22nd 2006 9:07AM]

I would love to take a look at what's inside that rig to verify their claims. In particular, the HDD compartment. Majority of these so-call silent rigs forget to silent the most annoying noises of all, HDD seek. When that's the only sound clicking in a box, you will wish you bought a noisier box.

[Steven W Cheung @ Nov 22nd 2006 9:29AM]

***Official VidaBox Response***

Hi Javaflash,

You posed an excellent question! The HDDs are all encased in zero-open path enclosures, meaning that sound cannot be conducted via open-air. The specially-designed enclosures also act as heatsinks, to draw the energy build-up awat from the HDD since there is no natural convection.

Any noise caused by the HDD seeking/writing is essentially muted. Background/ambient noise will always be louder in the end.

Thank you for your interest!

Steven C.
VidaBox LLC

[Dan @ Nov 22nd 2006 10:03AM]

I salute Vidabox for being on the ball. Can't we at least have a ballpark on what this media center is going to cost? When you don't know...give us a guess.

[Steven W Cheung @ Nov 22nd 2006 10:29AM]

***Official VidaBox response***

Hi Dan,

As the others above have said, the STEALTH costs $4399. I apologize if the shopping area of the site is down if you visit - we're planning to switch servers and do some maintainence on our site tomorrow on Thanksgiving. However, the main portion of the site - ( http://www.vidabox.com not http://www.vidabox.com/shop ) will still be in operation while the maintainence is being completed. You can find more info & details specs of all VidaBox systems on the main site.

To be honest, I personally recommend the SLIM for $2499. It's alot less expensive, and if you're that sensitive to noise, all VidaBox systems come with HDDs that can be set to acoustic mode enabled as Christian suggested. Just call/email us and let us know in advance!

The fan noise on the SLIM is minimal; instead of using 1 or 2 main fans like most systems, we actually engineered the system use 5 slow-moving fans to set up a air circulation/flow pattern within the unit itself to maximize convection while minimizing noise. All of the output air flow is towards the back, so once it's installed, you shouldn't hear much of anything.

Thanks for your interest!

Steven C.
VidaBox LLC

[Christian @ Nov 22nd 2006 10:04AM]

For media centers, that aren't that seek time intensive, I would definitely prefer having my disc(s) with acoustic mode enabled. This does wonders for seek noise, but costs seektime. For the application, however, that wouldn't worry me.

Nice unit, btw. Probably costs a small fortune. :-)

[Kieran Coghlan @ Nov 22nd 2006 10:20AM]

The price list is here:
http://www.vidabox.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_18
or shorter:
http://tinyurl.com/v9zwe

[Billy Quasmo @ Nov 22nd 2006 12:13PM]

when are you going to announce the winners for the Halloween contest and the winr of the Vidabox.

[Dave Pevsner @ Nov 22nd 2006 6:32PM]

I WANT A VIDABOX!

[Heroshima @ Nov 22nd 2006 7:19PM]

They have posted it starting at 4399