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This past week, I pulled the trigger and picked up a new Zotac
ZBOX-ID86-U in an attempt to replace my higher wattage. I wanted to
share my experience with the wider group.<br>
<br>
First off, I think this box can cover most if not all of my needs.
1920x1080@60 works flawlessly. I record everything via QAM from
Cable, and I have a mix of transcoded and non-transcoded data. I've
tested Blu-ray files, MKVs, DIVX, and pretty much all samples.
Those files that can benefit from VDPAU acceleration really keep the
CPU usage low, and for those that don't so far have only yielded
higher CPU usage. MythTV Frontend itself is generally responsive
enough, but not as snappy as my other machine as you might imagine
from an Atom box.<br>
<br>
Ok, the hardware I purchased:<br>
<br>
Zotac ZBOX-ID86-U<br>
:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DXFFSEC/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00DXFFSEC&linkCode=as2&tag=ranthoinranpl-20&linkId=W47OBMU45GIISI4O">http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DXFFSEC/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00DXFFSEC&linkCode=as2&tag=ranthoinranpl-20&linkId=W47OBMU45GIISI4O</a><br>
Samsung 840 EVO-Series 120GB<br>
:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3W15P0/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00E3W15P0&linkCode=as2&tag=ranthoinranpl-20&linkId=NEIXIJ7TIV5WFGW3">http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3W15P0/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00E3W15P0&linkCode=as2&tag=ranthoinranpl-20&linkId=NEIXIJ7TIV5WFGW3</a><br>
2x2GB Corsair DDR3 1066 (PC8500)<br>
:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001N0DQOS/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001N0DQOS&linkCode=as2&tag=ranthoinranpl-20&linkId=QDCRFJVWZ2FRVK2S">http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001N0DQOS/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001N0DQOS&linkCode=as2&tag=ranthoinranpl-20&linkId=QDCRFJVWZ2FRVK2S</a><br>
<br>
The ZBOX was easy to add the memory and SSD to, but right off the
bat I had issues with the memory, giving an error beep and no POST.
The two memory modules that Amazon shipped were not identical, one
had more chips than the other, but they were both 2GB modules. One
worked standalone in the ZBOX, the other did not, and they wouldn't
work together. Amazon quickly shipped a replacement, but the unit
that arrived was the same was the one that would not work. Good
news in the end though, as the two 'error'ing memory modules did
work 'together' and allow the ZBOX to post and give me 4GB of
memory. For the record, the ZBOX and the Mythbuntu install I'm
about to talk about *did* work within 2GB of memory, I just wanted
to have the extract breathing room for 4GB.<br>
<br>
When I got the ZBOX all together, which really took all of two
minutes or less (memory and SSD installed) due to the sheer
simplicity of this box, I booted off a Mythbuntu 14.04 USB stick I
created using "Universal USB Installer" from PenDriveLinux.com and
kicked off the install. I chose Mythbuntu, hoping to have a simpler
install than my other long running
frontend which has been running Gentoo. My first install attempt
failed due to a bug in the installer where you can't enable VNC
during installation. Once I found that out, my install completed
fine, and after making sure the right MYSQL privileges were set for
the new frontend, everything was up and running.<br>
<br>
I've attached a StreamZap remote to the machine that I have
previously used, and it just works.<br>
<br>
Power utilization seems to always be below 30W, which is great, and
probably will be a huge savings over my old box, for which I'd guess
the Nvidia card in it alone is using more wattage. I'm going to do
some further measurements when I have time, but so far I'm very
happy. The unit has a fan also, and so far I've not even notice the
box. Further more, it is much more quick than my older machine.<br>
<br>
Issues I encountered:<br>
<br>
Overscan (or underscan? I forget which) for my TV size had to
be set, but this is really my TV's fault. I've had to run the
display on the other frontend similarly with overscan to fix the
screen correctly. I only note this because below you will see my
HDMI-0 output is 1804x1014...<br>
<br>
Using HDMI for video and audio is generally working fine to my
Onkyo receiver, *except* that whenever I change HDMI inputs away
from the the one assigned to the ZBOX, the Nvidia card registers
this as a 'disconnect', and when I switch back.<br>
<br>
Output of xrandr when switched to another video input:<br>
<blockquote>$ DISPLAY=:0.0 xrandr<br>
Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 16384 x
16384<br>
DVI-I-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)<br>
DVI-I-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)<br>
HDMI-0 disconnected primary (normal left inverted right x axis y
axis)<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Output after switching back, notice the first video format is the
preferred, but isn't actually selected:<br>
<br>
<blockquote>$ DISPLAY=:0.0 xrandr<br>
Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 16384 x
16384<br>
DVI-I-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)<br>
DVI-I-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)<br>
HDMI-0 connected primary (normal left inverted right x axis y
axis)<br>
1920x1080 60.1 + 60.0 59.9 59.9 50.0
24.0 24.0 60.0 50.0 <br>
1680x1050 60.0 59.9 <br>
1440x900 59.9 <br>
1400x1050 60.0 <br>
.... and a bunch more lower res ....<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
The video remains offline until I use <br>
<blockquote>DISPLAY=:0.0 xrandr --output HDMI-0 --mode 1920x1080
--rate 60<br>
</blockquote>
Output after the above:<br>
<br>
<blockquote>$ DISPLAY=:0.0 xrandr<br>
Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 16384 x
16384<br>
DVI-I-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)<br>
DVI-I-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)<br>
HDMI-0 connected primary 1804x1014+0+0 (normal left inverted right
x axis y axis) 160mm x 90mm panning 1920x1080+0+0<br>
1920x1080 60.1 + 60.0* 59.9 59.9 50.0
24.0 24.0 60.0 50.0 <br>
1680x1050 60.0 59.9 <br>
1440x900 59.9<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
I'm probably going to ditch HDMI if I can't figure out how to stop
it from turning the screen off like this. Using xrandr works fine
most of the time, but when I play some lower res video file, pause,
switch away and switch back, the frequencies are out of wack and I
have to exit the playback to fix the screen.<br>
<br>
I've tried various settings in the xorg to no avail so far. I've
always been somewhat confused about the who/what/why of Xorg config
files, always having to experiment to get things right.<br>
<br>
Does anyone have an idea of a fix for this? I just want the display
to automatically return when the HDMI-0 shows as connected again.<br>
<br>
<br>
Another issue, which I think is actually a Mythbuntu 14.04 issue,
mythfrontend isn't going full screen, leaving the top taskbar
on-screen the whole time. There's a quick fix for that also:<br>
<blockquote>DISPLAY=:0 wmctrl -r "MythTV Frontend" -b add,fullscreen<br>
</blockquote>
Also, for whatever reason, Mythbuntu I *think* is defaulting to
leaving the screen saver on. I ended up turning that off, I don't
see the need, it only serves to confuse visitors when they turn on
the TV and the screen is blank.<br>
<br>
I've created a script with both of these commands in it, and
assigned it to the POWER button in .lirc/irexec :<br>
<blockquote>begin<br>
prog = irexec<br>
button = KEY_POWER<br>
config = /home/myaccount/bin/fixsleep.sh &<br>
end<br>
</blockquote>
I'm connected via ethernet. I wasn't able to connect to my 'N' wifi
for some reason, and I've not even bothered to try and debug it.
I'm sure I could fix it if I needed to, but I don't.<br>
<br>
-JK<br>
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