ZOTAC ZBox ID-36 any valuable successor?

  • MY HTPC has now 7 years and some thinks i don't like.
    What I'm searching for is an nice small thin Media-PC with low energy consumption with blu-ray-slot, and more HDMI-CEC and/or infrared receptor inside.
    A Dreambox with Blu-Ray where a dream but.....

    Any suggestions?

  • Nothing comes with a BR drive so this is a DIY project, which means an Intel CPU base and currently there is no recommendation on the GPU to partner with. Intel continues to fluff the specs of its boxes; there is always something wrong/missing from the spec. nVidia is heading towards the landfill due to their continued insistence of following different standards to all the other vendors (we may have a fun choice to ditch support for them in the future). AMD appears to be in league with Intel. Even in the ARM space there are challenges; we are in the middle of rewriting Kodi-on-Linux graphics around V4L2 and currently none of the existing main players (Amlogic, Rockchip, etc.) have mainline kernels and the proper software support .. everything is still "work in progress" and it's too early to tell how things really play out.

    So, as what you seek is a unicorn that doesn't exist, pick up a cheap SBC device that will tide you over for a year or so until the real-world catches up with the dream-world.

  • So better i will stay with the Zbox and wait what is coming. Hopefully will work another year ;)
    Why it a lot of the same stuff on the market but something like these ZBOX, With HDMI-CEC and Infrared were be perfect.

    I can wait :D

  • "Stop updating" sounds a bit crude, your machine will work, just not with LibreELEC 10+ as it stands right now. Most add-ons should still be available and update-able in a standalone solution upto Kodi 18, but people using shared SQL Kodi video/music libraries will not be happy, all "thanks" to Nvidia's change of direction in video drivers, there is currently no viable successor for its VDPAU driver in LibreELEC/Linux.

    One alternative is a cheap Android box type of box, which performs pretty well these days graphics-wise. More and more support is in the pipeline as you already read in the new blog post.

  • I know. For this one of my Raspberry is sufficient. But this kind auf Machine is small, great WAF and all in one.
    My last bluray player (Sony) flu away at my window since he dont like to play my own video on DVD for reasons of no DRM.

    This one is Videostreambox for Streams from all over the world (TV is only showing regional Sony-Internet), Bluray/DVD Player for discs from all over the world (no region limits), playing all my own videos (all formats) grabbing TV and so on.
    Its one nice Box under the TV.
    Really i am looking for some similar with updated Hardware + Infrared Receiver and HDMI-CEC.
    Isnt exist an Open Bluray-Player with Harddisc and Linux-OS?

  • "Stop updating" sounds a bit crude, your machine will work, just not with LibreELEC 10+ as it stands right now. Most add-ons should still be available and update-able in a standalone solution upto Kodi 18, but people using shared SQL Kodi video/music libraries will not be happy, all "thanks" to Nvidia's change of direction in video drivers, there is currently no viable successor for its VDPAU driver in LibreELEC/Linux.

    One alternative is a cheap Android box type of box, which performs pretty well these days graphics-wise. More and more support is in the pipeline as you already read in the new blog post.

    Will Nvidia ION machines still have video acceleration in LE 10 ?

  • LE10 will add the nouveau driver so that nvidia users can see something on-screen, but most cards will run badly and nouveau is not a solution (unless someone has a eureka moment and figures out how to reclock nvidia cards). In reality LE10 will have no practical support for nvidia GPU cards. I will clarify the wording next time I write another development update.