Remember when the
PlayStation 3 was going to have dual-HDMI ports so that games could pump 1080p video to
two displays simultaneously? Ahh, those were good 'ol days. That configuration obviously didn't come to pass, but VIA's looking to deliver dual-HDMI and more in its next integrated Mini-ITX solution, the VB8003, which also packs DVI and VGA ports, as well as an LVDS output, meaning it could control five displays at once (though with only four discrete signals). It uses the
Trinity Platform with a 1.6GHz
Nano processor, a VX800 Media System Processor, and an integrated
S3 GPU, all paired with up to 4GB of memory. 1080p playback is said to be easily handled, with the system supporting resolutions of up to 2560 x 1600, even though such an onslaught of pixels would surely turn your HDTV into a smoldering ruin. There's no mention of price or availability yet, so you current set can relax -- for now.
posted Sep 22nd 2009 8:27AM
Ultimate HD platform for what Engadget ? What software/OS will this little thing run ?
I'm guessing anything 64bit that has drivers.
It's an x86/x64 processor, so it will run your favourite flavour of Windows or Linux (or hackintosh..maybe)
"...it will run your favourite flavour of Windows or Linux"
At last, 2560 x 1600 of pure terminal. In Debian heaven, you can never have too many pixels of blackness.
Yeah, Linux only does terminal windows. It doesn't have any other functionality.
Maybe I didn't make myself clear:
Pure blackness is a GOOD thing. Anything above runlevel 3 is a waste of clock cycles.
Well the last time I looked they have atrocious linux support, so as long as your media pc is winblows based it works pretty good.
Now is a good time to stop with that winBlows thing. It was appropriate for Vista, but Win 7 kicks some serious ass... :D
Yea, WIn7 isn't too bad.
HURF DURF WINDOZE IZ HORIBUL I USE LINUCKS BEKAUSE IM HAXZ
Sweet! How about games? I'm mainly interested in Valve games, which don't eat THAT much system resources.
As long as they don't require high or medium end 3d the S3 chips do okay. Solitaire rocks on these things.
lol....im surprised s3 can handle 1080p let alone games.i guess its coz of that fancy new media processor.
S3 were good in their day. The ViRGE was a good card, and IIRC their texture compression technology was enshrined in DirectX.
damn....would be nice if it had an PCI-E 2 expansion slots for adding on the upcoming Cablecard cards
still tho that is kind of bad ass.....could make for a nice PC inside a vehicle too...
Yeah, and learn how to spell..."so you current set can relax -- for now."
I love seeing how VIA is really starting to get out there. Maybe some time within the next decade they will be able to crank out CPUs that rival intels and amds. Then with 3 brands to choose from prices would be so low.
nice design, more of that Via, now resellers stock up please! and dont ION this thing
Why no ION?
Without ION forget XBMC or Boxee on Linux, the ultimate platform for those two pieces of software. Don't forget MythTV, which also has support for VDPAU.
LOVE the the pirated movies they are showing on the displays!
Would make a Kick Ass NES PC
wow, I want one of those!
Yet, it sadly can not handle high quality Hulu streams ... what a waste.
You can thank Adobe for that as they made flash more cpu accelerated, hell, pretty much all single core machines(doesn't matter what gpu they have), have trouble with flash hd files. Until Adobe bring out an update we will see many machine struggle with flash hd and many lower cost devices have some issues with just regular flash.
Would this work for an HTPC and blu ray? I had to get umm...creative (anydvd) with my laptop with a blu ray drive and hdmi out to get it to consistently display through the hdmi port (rules against more than one display of content). It would work when setting it up in presentation mode (when hdmi connected, main display off) but not consistently.
Definitely correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you could only output blu to one display, so would kill part of the HTPC setup without creative/illegal mods.
LVDS? Low Voltage Differential Signalling? I thought that was used in SCSI cables?
The backplate consits of almost nothing but video output's.
I'm getting this if the openchrome S3 is good.
I can see the point for Digital Signage outlets, but for Joe user? Unless Joe and his wife want to watch different media streams on different TVs at the same time.
Nice idea, but will anyone actually use it?
YO VIA I'MMA LET YOU FINISH BUT ZOTAC HAD THE BEST PCI-E EQUIPPED MINI-ITX OF ALL TIME.
...OF ALL TIME.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500022
Kanye understands that VIA can't max out Crysis even with a 4X add on card.