ASUS Eee Box 206 reviewed; has HDMI but can't handle high-def

Despite earlier claims to the contrary, it looks like the new ASUS Eee Box, the B206, isn't quite the high-def powerhouse it was intended to be. According to Register Hardware's review, the poor little thing had a real hard time playing even 720p video, only managing to render every frame when video was played back in DirectX Video Acceleration-capable players. That rules out many popular choices like QuickTime and VLC, and you can forget about 1080p entirely. Benchmark scores were low, as you'd expect given the standard 1.6GHz Atom N270 internals and 1GB of memory, leaving it best suited for casual web surfing and SD video playback -- and making it seem like not much of an upgrade over its predecessor.

[ChrisK15 Posted May 7th 2009 12:56PM]

Or you can save a few hundred dollars and build a small mini-ITX computer yourself.

[shinratdr Posted May 7th 2009 3:47PM]

I don't know about BluRay bitrate playback. But my last generation Mini with 1gb of RAM, 1.66ghz Core Duo (as in, not Core 2) and a GMA 950 can playback your average 12gb 1080p MKV no problem, through Plex or VLC.

Just mentioning this to people who aren't considering the new Mini because its expensive. In almost all of its Intel editions its a powerful and ultracompact HTPC, so I would go with a used last generation Mini before an EEE box unless they ditch the atom.

If anyone can show me an equally quiet (most important) and same form factor regular Windows PC I am more than happy to recommend it. I looked, and while there are similar products available, people either can't keep them quiet, or they are underpowered.

[Xero2 Posted May 7th 2009 12:45PM]

Quicktime is not a popular choice on Windows so step out of the reality distortion field Tim.

VLC has no GPU acceleration but there is a player everyone but the clueless seem to know about called Media Player Classic Home Cinema or you know Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player all of which have DXVA support.

Or just use as others have stated CoreAVC who needs GPU support when you have a well written decoder.

[onlysublime Posted May 7th 2009 6:00PM]

people should just build with a cheap cpu like the amd 4850. more powerful than the poor atom. yes, with the 4850, you can't get the same small form factor. but if you're building a htpc, you need some decent power. and you can buy some darn small htpc's with a microatx form.

[dj4monie Posted May 9th 2009 1:43AM]

I already built a HTPC and while I like it, I would like to cut down its size and energy use, I can do that with THIS! I can use the 3.0Ghz Dual Core for more heavy duty, its overkill for HTPC, but that's because I also play games with it...

[daskino Posted May 10th 2009 1:54PM]

Just buy a Device that can handle HD files like the WD TV HD or Popcorn A110. Hook them on on your home network and you got HD 1080 movies flying around with no shutters for less than $100. Thank the dedicated media proccessor from Sigma Designs.