Dell's Broadcom Crystal HD Mini 10 now shipping to beta Flashers worldwide

Dell's refresh of the Mini 10 didn't exactly knock our socks off when we got a chance to spend some quality time with it last month, but it did prove to be a solid performer and did as advertised, playing back 1080p content with aplomb -- so long as you did it within a player that could make the most of a Broadcom's Crystal HD accelerator. Now you have a chance to try it out for yourself, with Dell announcing the machine is shipping and, at $409 with a six-cell battery and a 250GB hard drive, it won't break the bank either. Just steer clear of Quicktime for movie playback and get the most recent Flash beta on there pronto, yeah?

[Leindurstit Posted Feb 26th 2010 9:29AM]

Or if Intel would just make a graphics part that didn't suck, we wouldn't need a separate accelerator just to watch youtube videos of cats doing silly things.

[Delta Posted Feb 26th 2010 9:31AM]

@Leindurstit

Do you really need your cats doing silly things in 1080p?

[Leindurstit Posted Feb 26th 2010 9:40AM]

YES?

[emopoops Posted Feb 26th 2010 9:50AM]

@Leindurstit good point

[Ducman69 Posted Feb 26th 2010 9:47AM]

As long as media player is supported, using the Shark007 codec pack I haven't found anything in my giant collection it can't play. And this allows for compatibility inside WMC in case you hook it up to a TV.

I would much rather it have an SSD though. Durability, battery life, and lightning bootup/light-app launches are so worth the sacrifice in capacity for a netbook.

[emopoops Posted Feb 26th 2010 9:51AM]

@Ducman69 why that codec? its rediculous

[Ducman69 Posted Feb 26th 2010 10:31AM]

@emopoops its not a codec, its a codec pack, and its the best out there that I have tried (I have two HTPCs myself and setup four others for friends and family).

The only issue I have come across has nothing to do with the codec pack and is a WMP issue of properly handling subtitles. =)

[fourthletter Posted Feb 26th 2010 12:24PM]

@Ducman69

Stick with CCCP (comes with FFDShow) or Core codec that Shark007 is a mess packed with crap no-one needs.

[Ducman69 Posted Feb 26th 2010 12:33PM]

@fourthletter And you guys are running W7? If so, I find your preference odd, but to each their own. =)

[yejun Posted Feb 26th 2010 3:15PM]

@fourthletter Ffdshow doesn't support GPU at all. Win7's builtin codec is much better.

[Stereotype Posted Feb 26th 2010 10:34AM]

Beta Flashers? Really? :P

[Dale P Posted Feb 26th 2010 10:44AM]

The laptop in the picture would certainly help me catch 'em all.

http://images.google.com/images?q=pokeball

[keplenk Posted Feb 26th 2010 10:44AM]

BCM970012 or BCM970015? That should been a nice netbook, it just looks ugly.

[stoffer Posted Feb 26th 2010 12:02PM]

Broadcom? I do not like this company. They gave me a lots of trouble with their wireless chipset. Their Linux support is non-existent and they do not want open source drivers. I choose Intel over Broadcom any day.

[uncola Posted Feb 26th 2010 3:15PM]

the dell comes with the BCM970015 which is functionally the same as the 12 model. broadcom usually sucks for linux support but for the crystal hd cards they released open source drivers. xbmc has already integrated support thanks to davilla

[juanvaldez Posted Feb 27th 2010 12:14AM]

Maybe I could use some schooling, but who uses quicktime unless their hand is forced?