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New HTPC with UHD drive built into it

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2019 11:04 am
by Jamie
Hi,

Paul showed me this article just after CES. Asus has come out with a new HTPC with with a UHD drive inside. It appears to be only selling in the Philippines and Australia, I would be interested if it came to the USA and wan't priced too high.

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13903/as ... re-i78700t

Re: New HTPC with UHD drive built into it

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2019 11:36 am
by Pauven
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Re: New HTPC with UHD drive built into it

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2019 8:52 pm
by michael1
That's a nice design case as well. The price would be really interesting. HDMI is specified as 2.0, so it should work to play UHD BDs, but I wonder about the chipset B360? As far as I know only Z170 or higher allow UHD disc playback.

Re: New HTPC with UHD drive built into it

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2019 10:17 pm
by Jamie
Yes, I pointed out to Paul that the HDMI spec was not 2.1. I guess if it would work properly with CMC and Powerdvd, I would be happy.

Re: New HTPC with UHD drive built into it

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 1:36 am
by michael1
If you want to use PDVD for playback of UHD BDs, the MB (chipset) and CPU must fulfill the SGX requirements from Intel. Afaik only Z170 or higher chipset can do this. For this reason I bought a Fatal1ty MB because my old MB did not have this feature.
As this HTPC is obviously made for UHD disc playback, I wonder whether meawhile more MBs are on the market which fulfill SGX. This was a bottleneck some month ago...

Re: New HTPC with UHD drive built into it

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 11:17 am
by Pauven
From what I've read, the UHD model is only available in Japan. Here's the product page, and the price doesn't look too bad: https://jp.store.asus.com/store/asusjp/ ... 282472200/

If only there was a CMC user in Japan. Perhaps even one in this thread... ;)

I've never had a PC that fulfilled SGX requirements. Though I am in touch with my spirit animal, a little red fox, which guides me around such limitations.

Re: New HTPC with UHD drive built into it

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 6:31 am
by michael1
Pauven wrote: Thu Feb 28, 2019 11:17 am If only there was a CMC user in Japan. Perhaps even one in this thread...
You never now...
The Ninjas are everywhere. You just dont hear and dont see them... 8-)

Re: New HTPC with UHD drive built into it

Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2019 1:53 pm
by Jamie
I went back to revisit this. I saw listings of it on amazon and new egg but they do not include the UHD drive. They show a picture with the UHD drive but the amazon customers say it's not included. I guess that all the people in Asia get all the joy. The DMCA is probably halting sales in the U.S. Either that or tariffs. It's available in New Zealand. Maybe I should move there and be with the Hobbits of Hobbitan.

https://www.asus.com/nz/Mini-PCs/VivoMini-VC65-C1/

Re: New HTPC with UHD drive built into it

Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2019 1:56 pm
by Jamie
I went back to revisit this. I saw listings of it on amazon and new egg but they do not include the UHD drive. They show a picture with the UHD drive but the amazon customers say it's not included. I guess that all the people in Asia get all the joy. The DMCA is probably halting sales in the U.S. Either that or tariffs. It's available in New Zealand. Maybe I should move there and be with the Hobbits of Hobbitan.

https://www.asus.com/us/Mini-PCs/VivoMi ... vivomini-/

Edit: I guess now they make it drive less but you have the option to add an optical drive. Any Friendlies that small?

Re: New HTPC with UHD drive built into it

Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2019 5:36 pm
by Pauven
I found this one that includes an ODD, but it is a DVD:

https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-VivoMini-Mi ... =pc&sr=1-2

For $400, this seems like a decent value. The important thing is that since it includes an ODD, I think you can swap it out with a Blu-ray or maybe even a UHD 4K drive. The drive itself seems like a slimline, laptop style drive. Something like this Blu-ray:

https://www.newegg.com/p/1FV-0008-00008

I could only find one example of a slim UHD Blu-ray drive:

https://www.amazon.com/HLDS-BU40N-Inter ... B07BSF41VW

Assuming it fits, then for about $500 you can have a teeny tiny UHD 4K HTPC.

UPDATE

I just looked at a list of UHD Friendly drives, and there was one slimline on it, the LG Ultra Slim DVDRW BU30N. While searching for the BU30N, I found this BU40N:

https://www.newegg.com/p/1FV-0004-00016 ... lsrc=aw.ds

It's actually cheaper too, at $72. This newer model isn't listed on the friendly list. In fact I'm reading now that the BU40N is UNFRIENDLY...