Choice between Zotac AD04 Vs. AD10

[rishi.s]

Hi,

Am in the process of putting together an HTPC. Will be using it for HD movies and music (mostly FLAC). Am trying to decide between Zotac AD04 and AD10 for an OpenElec or XBMCubuntu based system.

While the configuration for AD10 seems to be better, it doesn't have an Optical Out. Would that impact the audio quality?

The OpenElec forums are not very clear if it will work with AD04. Anyone has any experience on setting it up?

Also, would it be possible for me to run XBMC (either OpenElec or XBMCubuntu) from a USB drive instead of investing in a hard disk?

Many thanks for your advice.

 

[manniraj]

Hi,

Am in the process of putting together an HTPC. Will be using it for HD movies and music (mostly FLAC). Am trying to decide between Zotac AD04 and AD10 for an OpenElec or XBMCubuntu based system.

While the configuration for AD10 seems to be better, it doesn't have an Optical Out. Would that impact the audio quality?

The OpenElec forums are not very clear if it will work with AD04. Anyone has any experience on setting it up?

Also, would it be possible for me to run XBMC (either OpenElec or XBMCubuntu) from a USB drive instead of investing in a hard disk?

Many thanks for your advice.

OpenElec can be installed on a USB drive. I have tried this and worked perfectly. But not sure whether it is the same case with xbmcubuntu. You can check on the net.
But I suggest you to use win7 + xbmc if you are going to watch HD movies with HD audio (presume you have a HD audio receiver). I dont think Linux based OS supports HD audio.

Thanks

 

[jatinmalhotra]

Even if you buy Zbox you still need to add ram and Hdd, My suggestion is to go to a pc market and get yourself a HTPC made to order. YOu have to anyway install OS separately.

Zbox 04 is bettter since it has E450 Apu against 350 of ad10 but both will be miles behind performance if you get a pc built yourself that is both cheaper and better.

On Linux You cant do HD Audio yet. Its only possible on Win 7 .....

As for Optical out what are you planning to connect it to anyway. If you can provide a little more info ?

Apart from cable difference there is no diff in audio quality in Optical over HDMI. Both are digital .
The only difference is HDMI can do 7.1 HD audio but optical can only do 5.1 DTS or DD.

You can run XBMCbantu Eden from Pendrive.

Hope this helps

 

[rishi.s]

Even if you buy Zbox you still need to add ram and Hdd, My suggestion is to go to a pc market and get yourself a HTPC made to order. YOu have to anyway install OS separately.

Zbox 04 is bettter since it has E450 Apu against 350 of ad10 but both will be miles behind performance if you get a pc built yourself that is both cheaper and better.

On Linux You cant do HD Audio yet. Its only possible on Win 7 .....

As for Optical out what are you planning to connect it to anyway. If you can provide a little more info ?

Apart from cable difference there is no diff in audio quality in Optical over HDMI. Both are digital .
The only difference is HDMI can do 7.1 HD audio but optical can only do 5.1 DTS or DD.

You can run XBMCbantu Eden from Pendrive.

Hope this helps

I have a 5.1 setup. An Onkyo 509 with Jamo speakers. By HD audio do you mean FLAC? Are you saying either OpenElec or XBMCbuntu will not play FLAC? Will I necessarily need a Windows system for that? Wouldn't that add to the boot time?

 

[sixthsense]

I have a 5.1 setup. An Onkyo 509 with Jamo speakers. By HD audio do you mean FLAC? Are you saying either OpenElec or XBMCbuntu will not play FLAC? Will I necessarily need a Windows system for that? Wouldn't that add to the boot time?

HD audio means DTS HD and DTS HD MA, which are the latest audio streams included in almost all new blurays. They are called HD audio and succeeds the older generation DTS 5.1 . Read more here DTS (sound system) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you have bluray playback then in my opinion you should go for the windows + xbmc setup as it can be tweaked to provide you hd audio output. For eden on Linux it's not possible yet. If you only download movies off Internet with DTS tracks then the Linux combination would work for you.

One more thing that this HD audio will only work through HDMI and optical can only do DTS 5.1 .

 

[rishi.s]

HD audio means DTS HD and DTS HD MA, which are the latest audio streams included in almost all new blurays. They are called HD audio and succeeds the older generation DTS 5.1 . Read more here DTS (sound system) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you have bluray playback then in my opinion you should go for the windows + xbmc setup as it can be tweaked to provide you hd audio output. For eden on Linux it's not possible yet. If you only download movies off Internet with DTS tracks then the Linux combination would work for you.

One more thing that this HD audio will only work through HDMI and optical can only do DTS 5.1 .

Hi, thanks for this. Great help! Just one more query. What about FLAC files ripped off CDs? Will there be a discernible difference with HD audio?

 

[jatinmalhotra]

Hi, thanks for this. Great help! Just one more query. What about FLAC files ripped off CDs? Will there be a discernible difference with HD audio?

You are confusing, Flac from CD is primarlily for Music.

HD audio is loss less format primarily for Movies.

Though interchangeable in many cases. Both are lossless and 1to1 Copy of master.