Intel is moving hard into small, low power devices and that was evident in what they were showing at CES this year. We started out with tablets, but the really interesting stuff started when the new Broadwell NUC came out. First we saw a demo of it running an incredibly slick picture/video manager that used to require a quad-SLI system […]
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There are a number of factors to consider when searching for an HTPC chassis–size, heat dissipation, noise level, materials, and construction are just a few–and the Perfect Home Theater (PHT) FLS-8 performs incredibly well in all of these categories. But is it truly “perfect”? Read on to find out. Specifications If you are a regular on Missing Remote you may […]
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A small home theater PC (HTPC) driven by an Intel Atom is not a new idea. Both NVIDIA’s ION and Broadcom’s Crystal HD offered solutions that coupled the chip’s TDP with specialized hardware that overcame its shortcomings–one with a complete GPU, the other providing just hardware accelerated video decoding. Neither of these products truly delivered on the concept of a […]
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For home theater PC (HTPC) “small” is another word for “compromise”. Thankfully, the amount required by our miniscule content consumption devices has decreased exponentially over the last few years. There is still a price demanded however, tiny systems require slower mobile integrated processor graphics (IPG) to drive them. We have to choose between size and performance; it is simply not […]
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When Intel brought out their Haswell Next Unit of Computing (NUC), inclusion of features like SATA made it clear that they had bigger things in store for the little system. They were honest that some of this promise will require 3rd party case OEMs to fully realize, but Intel quickly announced that they would be creating their own chassis with […]
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Zotac made a name for itself with small form factor (SFF) PCs, many of which were great for HTPC use. With competition in the SFF HTPC, and gaming, market heating up we stopped by their booth in the back of South Hall for a look at what they were bringing out this year. Zotac had several new systems on […]
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Gigabyte was focused mainly at the PC high-end, but there were a few tidbits for HTPC enthusiasts as well. The BRIX was probably the most interesting thing in the bunch though with several different options either just out, or coming soon. Gigabyte had two Thin ITX systems at the show, which was great to see. Unfortunately neither has the […]
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For home theater PC (HTPC) enthusiasts the news that Intel was leaving the retail motherboard market cut deeply. After all, many of the features we have come to expect, like an Intel network interface card (NIC), consumer infrared (CIR), and outstanding stability along with innovations specific to our market, such as the custom solutions (aka HTPC) header, looked likely to […]
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We saw Xi3’s unique brand of SFF at CES last year, and they created some buzz later by hinting that they were the Steam Box, but we didn’t have a date for when we could actually buy this miniscule PC aimed at gaming and media consumption. It looks like Xi3 has answered the date question with the quad-core PISTON available […]
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Fractal Design has made themselves a reputation for quality and attractive chassis that can serve as capable as a gaming system just as it would in your living room as your home theater PC (HTPC). With the Node 304 White enclosure, Fractal Design is offering a small form factor chassis with a lot of storage flexibility and still the ability […]
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