Only problem I face with HTPC is TrueHD or DTS-MA is not possible unless you spend USD 200 on Xonar soundcard. Still waiting for ATI or Nvidia to release video card that can bitstream TrueHD and DTS-MA.

Bro, I mean if you want to bitstream TrueHD to your AVR, you need Xonar Soundcard. ATI can only decode into LPCM in 48khz, 16bit only when outputting TrueHD so it's not pure loseless.

How about boot up time and is the scrolling in the menu smooth?

Looks favorable review. Might get this instead of popcornhour C-200. If it can play smoothly those Blu-ray MPEG2 file (around 40Mbps video) then it's a winner. Anyway, does bitstreaming TrueHD and DTS-MA work? I'm going to get one if it can play 1080p smoothly. Those other gen NMT take around 1 min to boot up so this is quite a hugh different.

This post has been edited by pierreye: Jul 13 2009, 08:02 AM

Just put in my order for Xtreamer. Free USB Wifi still valid until end of this month. Been thinking to get a NMT but 1st gen Syabas NMT had hold me back due to boot time and also delay in scrolling. Looks like this one boot up in 10 sec which is consider quite fast. Can forget about setting up ION pc for my second living hall.

Will try out rstp streaming from mediaportal tvserver once got it.

This post has been edited by pierreye: Jul 14 2009, 05:16 PM

PS3 play mkv no need to convert. Just use PS3 media server which will do the mkv to ts conversion on the fly. Anyway, I prefer xtreamer as it can do HD audio bitistreaming.

Now is a good buy. If you don't like it, you can resell it later without much loss as you got the wireless adapter free. So after Aug, the price would be around Euro 119 instead of Euro 99.

Countdown to tomorrow for 2nd batch.

Most receiver will have either coax or toslink. Anyway, I'm using HDMI.

I'll give another week before cancelling my order. Really tu lan waiting for more than 1 month. iPhone 3Gs from Maxis also the same. Been registered on 31st July but have to wait until end of this month.

Same here. Item ship by dhl on 25/8.

I just got the xtreamer. For the noise, fan under medium is ok. You wouldn't hear the noise if you are more than 5 feet from the unit.

SMB sharing under Windows 7 had some problem. Need to do registry hack to access the share. Some of my 1080p mkv is not smooth through LAN. Suspect had to use NFS so will try out NFS server for windows.

As for TrueHD, currently not supported. Will give you invalid audio format. This is using either .TS or M2TS container.

Further testing confirm that DTS-MA is working but TrueHD is not. Most MKV is working fine except 1 or 2 movies. No big deal. Overall the Xtreamer meet my expectation for the first release and hopefully TrueHD will be added in near future than I would rate it at 9/10. Boot up is around 20 secs which is much faster than older generation Sigma chip which could take up to a minute.

This post has been edited by pierreye: Aug 27 2009, 09:20 AM

I just done a fan mod on the xtreamer. The original fan is faulty with grinding sound even on low fan mode. Lazy to send back for RMA. Cost to do the mod is RM 20 for 3.5" HDD cooler. Fan noise is very low and I can't hear it from 3 feet onwards. Fan set to high in the settings.

This post has been edited by pierreye: Sep 2 2009, 02:25 PM


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USB 2.0 is fast enough. Most high bit rate movie peak at around 40Mbps.

Just upgraded to 1.0.3. Still stutter when play high bitrate mkv and m2ts from network. Anyway, there is some improvement in movie playback. Now wait for ver 2.0 firmware which promise improve network throughput and finally High Def Audio bitstream. I'm using NFS by the way with Jumbo Frame enable.

Better through USB hdd but some complex scene still stutter. One of the scene is flock of birds flying in planet earth 1080p.

Firmware 2.0 promise to solve this issue. Will keep you guys posted.

I just try out 2.0b4 firmware (beta v2). Network speed issue had been solved. I try both high bitrate mkv and m2ts file (35Gb blu-ray movie) and it works without any stuttering. As currently it's not connected to my amp, I can't test the HD audio passthrough but TrueHD can be downmix to 2 channel output directly to tv.

I'm using wired connection. I only have G wireless so I don't think that would be enough bandwidth for 1080p. Didn't try planet earth but others 1080p mkv and m2ts is working fine. Previously all 1080p material will stutter on 1.0.3 firmware. I try both NFS and Windows share, no problem at all. Last thing to try is TrueHD and DTS-MA passthrough.