Dell Zino HD 410 HTPC Review

We have been using our media streamer test suite for the last few reviews in the HTPC / media streamer space. In v1.0.1 of the test suite used in the WDTV Live Plus review, we added DVD and Blu-Ray folder structures to the mix. In v1.0.2, we have added two Xvid clips (one with Q-Pel and another with GMC (Global Motion Compensation) with 3 warp points) and a MKV with forced subtitles. Recently, we added Blu-Ray and DVD folder structures to the mix in v1.0.3.

For the Zino 410, we used v1.0.3 of the media streamer test suite. Weights have been assigned to each stream based on how frequently one might encounter each type of file in a home theater setting.

We now have 50 streams in our test suite and a maximum possible score of 358. Presenting a table listing every stream would make this section messy. Instead, moving forward, we will only indicate streams which have playback issues. In addition to that, for HTPCs, we will also indicate all the different softwares / codecs used to enable playback of all the test streams.

The Zino 410 HD HTPC scored 328 out of a maximum of 358 in our test suite. Not all files were played back from the same software. It was quite difficult to find the correct splitter / filter / renderer combinations for some of the test streams. The following softwares were used to process our media streamer test suite:

1. Cyberlink PowerDVD 10.0.2025.52
2. Total Media Theater 5
3. MPC-HC with ffdshow Audio Decoder
4. VLC 1.1.4
5. Monogram GraphStudio with MPC-HC Matroska Splitter (for 024-1080p24.x264.DTS-MA.7Ch.mkv, which had minor stutters with the default MPC-HC combination used to playback other streams)
6. Monogram GraphStudio with Sage Mpeg Demux Splitter (for 042-1080p24.VC1.TrueHD.AC3, which the latest MPC-HC M2TS splitter couldn't split properly. VLC could play this back without bitstreaming, but GraphStudio, with the Sage splitter was able to properly deliver the TrueHD soundtrack to ffdshow for bitstreaming).

Let us take a brief look at the test streams which had issues:

1. 1080p60 8 reference frame H264 encode stuttered badly, and played back at a fraction of the expected frame rate. Full software decoding wasn't of much help either.
2. 1080p24 VP8 in WebM couldn't be decoded at full frame rate  in VLC using the CPU. (Appearance of multi-threaded VP8 decoders in VLC might help in the future)
3. 1080p24 RMVB couldn't be decoded at full frame rate in VLC using the CPU.
4. Quality of 1080i deinterlacing (H264 and VC1) in our deinterlacing test streams was not as good as the result from some of our other testbeds. MPEG2 software deinterlacing in VLC (Yadif2) was excellent without too much CPU usage.

The graph below shows how the Zino 410 stacks up against other SFF HTPCs with respect to media / codec compatibility. While it is obviously much better than the low cost Atom / Fusion solutions, it sadly falls behind the Core 100 by a little bit.

However, some video enthusiasts might still prefer the Mobility 5450 based Zino 410 to the Core 100.

Refresh Rate Handling

Many HTPC purists are concerned about the lack of support for proper display refresh rates. Intel's hardware bug in the Arrandales and Clarkdales (as well as Sandy Bridge) makes this one area in which ATI's efforts stand out. nVidia drifts the refresh rate back and forth to achieve 23.976 Hz when averaged over time, ATI maintains and locks the refresh rate perfectly. MPC-HC's statistics OSD indicates that the display correctly refreshes at 23.976 Hz with the 23 Hz setting for the Zino 410.

Reference screenshots for the Core 100 and Vision 3D are provided below: