In case you haven’t noticed, there have been several posts of late regarding Xtreamer. We reviewed the Xtreamer Pro, as well as briefly discussed the recently announced Xtreamer Prodigy and Xtreamer PVR. One other new player that Xtreamer has lined up is the Xtreamer Ultra. The Ultra is a departure from the current line of Xtreamer media players since the Ultra is actually an HTPC. It will be running on the Intel Atom D525 / ION2 platform. The design of the Ultra is very similar to the design of the current Xtreamer 2.5 (obviously bigger though coming in at 5.65 cm(W) x 21.3 cm(H) x 14.2 cm(D) ). The Ultra will come with a Linux bootable 8GB USB thumb drive , 4 GB DDR3 RAM, MCE Remote Control, Mini wireless keyboard, and HDMI 1.4a cable.
- Couple all that flexibility to the Xtreamer’s great format support and decent performance, and it’s easy to see it finding favour with knowledgeable buyers chasing adaptability. However, first-timers will find the whole thing quite daunting: the menu structure is dense and the remote denser still (although an iOS app is.
- This driver package provides the necessary installation files of Xtreamer Ultra Realtek HD Audio Driver 2.55. If you already installed a previous version of this driver, we recommend upgrading to the last version, so you can enjoy newly added functionalities or fix bugs from older versions.
The Xtreamer Ultra 2 Barebone Edition is a partially assembled platform allowing more customization and lower costs than the Deluxe Ultra 2 system. It includes only the device housing and motherboard with built-in CPU and Geforce, WIFI and BlueTooth and an AC adapter. No DDR3 RAM included, No SSD module, No HDMI 1.4a cable provided. The Xtreamer eTRAYz is an ultra compact Giga lan based 2-Bay NAS solution specifically designed and optimized for local HD streaming over LAN. It can serve you even wirelessly as a personal web server in which you will be able to store and share PHP based applications like blogs, shops and forums.
I did notice that some changes have been made to the Ultra since it was first announced in February. For me the most important change I noticed is that reference to HD Audio support (i.e. bitstreaming of TrueHD and DTS(MA) ) has been removed from the specifications. When I first saw this announced to be honest I was quite suspicious as the ION platform has never been capable of bitstreaming HD Audio. After digging around I found out that supposedly the included Realtek ALC892 Sound Chip would make HD Audio bitstreaming possible. However, there was very little information on this chip and my understanding in order to bitstream HD Audio this would need to be done via HDMI (The Realtek ALC892 Sound Chip should only be for the analog and S/PDIF outputs, and the HDMI port would be tied in to the ION2 GPU which does not support HD Audio).
A few other changes I noticed. Previously the Ultra was announced to have HDMI 1.3a, but now it has been bumped up to HDMI 1.4a (presumably to add support for BluRay 3D via NVidia 3DTV Play).
XAIWI motion gaming has been added. I have never heard of this, but from the Xtreamer site:
The X-Aiwi is a unique software that is bundled on the boot OS USB stick we provide with the Ultra. It connects your PC (windows 7) to your iPhone/iPod touch or pc wimmote. Once they are connected, you can use your iPhone/iPod touch as a wireless keyboard or touchpad assist you in a presentation or anytime you wish to remote control your PC.
If you want to have fun, AIWI can switch your Xtreamer Ultra and iPhone /iPod touch into a Game Center. AIWI enables you to play games with body motions —SMASHING, SWINGING, STEERING!!!! You can interact with the PC games in sensitive touches and body motions that correspond to the games stories. Playing games is much more than pushing buttons!
If I recall when first announced the Ultra would rely on active cooling (i.e. fans), with the option to purchase a passive cooling accessory. It looks like now they have gone with a hybrid passive and active cooling system.
So if the Ultra was announced last month, why bring it up now? Well, just a few days ago Xtreamer announced promotional pricing (EUR 249 + EUR 35 shipping) on the Ultra, with shipping beginning the first week of May. That combined with all the fancy graphics in their advertising can really wow the consumer without fully understanding what they are purchasing.
First off, what needs to be understood is that the Ultra is an HTPC, not a media player in the sense of a Popcornhour, Dune, or Boxee Box. With an HTPC comes the typical PC type duties (managing software, drivers, etc…), and even if somehow Xtreamer is able to create a package that helps streamline this, nonetheless it is still a PC. I only bring this up because I have seen a few people ask exactly what the Ultra is, or try to compare it against a media player.
Another thing is to decipher the fancy advertising. One thing I noticed immediately is that with the Ultra you can either boot up to Linux or load a Windows O/S. If you go the Windows route you must keep in mind that you will need to provide both the Operating System as well as a hard drive to load it on, something that is buried in the Specifications.
The advertising is littered with icons of various applications such as FireFox, IE, Facebook, YouTube XBMC, Boxee, SageTV, etc…). If this was a media player you might be blown away by the availability of such a wide array of software. However, once again, the Ultra is a PC, so of course you should be able to install PC software on a PC!
You may decide to forgo the cost of running a Windows O/S and just go with the Linux bootable included. By doing this you may not realize that you will lose some of the advertised features. Just reading through the advertising both the X-Aiwi motion gaming and NVidia 3DTV Play software will only work with Windows 7.
One of the big new features advertised is 3D. However, you should realize that aside from having the appropriate hardware (3D TV and 3D glasses) you will need to purchase the NVidia 3DTV software (only a 14 day trial is included) and if you want BluRay 3D you will need to purchase compatible software as well (such a Arcsoft TMT5).
There is a lot of talk in the advertising about multitasking and everyday computing. Once again though, we are dealing with an Atom/Ion platform, which in many respects is a vastly underpowered PC.
I am not trying to be negative about the Xtreamer Ultra, as there is a lot to like here (one thing in particular I like is the ability to power on/off the Ultra directly from the remote, a feature I would love to have with my HTPCs). I commend Xtreamer for trying to think outside the box, and if they can somehow bring together all the benefits of an HTPC without the “PC” then they will definitely have an interesting product. If you are like me though when you first read the Ultra advertisement you were ready to take out your wallet and order 5. However, it is important to take a step back and dig through the details to fully understand what the Ultra is/isn’t. After you do that you can then assess what the “true” cost will be to you, factoring in potential additional costs such as Windows 7, an internal Drive, software, etc… Also, make sure that unless the Euro is your currency you adjust for your local currency’s exchange rate (the USD is currently priced at approx 1.42 to the Euro, so the EUR 284 total cost of the Ultra would in fact be USD 403, not quite as appealing).
You can find the full advertisement/spec sheet for the Xtreamer Ultra here.
Article by Damian
Xtreamer Ultra Specs Lg
Hi, my name is Damian, and I'm tech gadget addict! Although I always had some interest in technology, it wasn't until I got my EX470 and more importantly found Mediasmartserver.net, that my interest became an addiction. My goal, aside from world domination and to see the Mets/Broncos win another championship, is to set up the perfect digital home where all my media is available at the click of a button. When I am not writing for Mediasmartserver.net you can find me over at my blog at http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com or follow me on twitter
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