Tegra 2 Down for the Count. Boxee Box goes Intel

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Zachstar

[H]ard|Gawd
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http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/13/boxee-box-ditches-nvidias-tegra-2-for-intel-ce4100-pre-orders/

"The major problem we had with the Tegra 2 was support for high-profile HD playback," he said. "You can do high-profile VC-1 with Tegra 2, but not H.264." It was a problem of bitrate, he told us, and while NVIDIA's dual-core Tegra T20 was apparently not up to the task, the team had internally tested Intel's CE4100 decoding streams at up to 90 megabits per second.
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I have had enough of Atom's crap so I wont be purchasing the box anymore but I wanted to post it here to spit in the face of Nvidia who tried to pull a fast one on us all with an overwattage underpowered chip they claimed to give the world.

Tegra and Nvidia's involvement with ultra low power is finished. Nobody is going to take them seriously for set top boxes or mobile devices after this.

My guess is they will close up Tegra development or go for a hail mary and try for their supposed X86 decode plans for Tegra 3. Either way I wont be buying. :mad:
 
Interesting, i wonder how much this is going to delay development/software tweaks/bug fixes.

One thing i'm sure of, it's going to cause some sort of delay.

Can't wait till november/december/january for all the reviews to pour in to see what i'm going to buy, Google TV, Boxee Box, or some other competitor.

In the meantime i'll keep myself updated at the AVS forums.
 
That article makes it seem like all these companies just decided that Tegra 2 could do things it could not. And he has physic abilities.

That is NOT the case!

These companies and the public were told that Tegra 2 had FULL HD decoding notice they had to test before they learned the truth.

Tegra 2 and the Nvidia lies are going to cost companies ALOT of money before this is over and I suspect a nice multipronged lawsuit is incoming for Nvidia. Not only did they lie about its abilities but they lied about its power consumption as well. They had me fooled completely.

Now the Boxee box has to use an expensive Intel system and as a result of that soon enough the price will have to be raised to the 220s. Passing a phych barrier and loss of sales will result.

The Nintendo 3DS is said to be a victim tho learning of Nvidia's BS early enough to select another design. However as a result the system is seriously gimped.

The next gen PSP is said to have HEAVILY suffered and as a result is still in limbo. As a result and these shocking results Sony may have to go back to the drawing board.

Nvidia as a company needs to go bankrupt. Yes it will cause ATI to be unchallenged but another company such as VIA could gain its assets and start to compete without saying baled faced lies to customers.
 
Zachstar said:
Now the Boxee box has to use an expensive Intel system and as a result of that soon enough the price will have to be raised to the 220s. Passing a phych barrier and loss of sales will result.
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Not sure about your other info but i imagine the price eventually dropping below $200, don't forget this is going to be just another mass produced box by D-link, a mass produced box with some interesting capabilities.

Pre-orders at amazon are still at $199 if anyone's interested.

I may be wrong but i can also see used Boxee boxes going for around ~ $150 six months from now.
 
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That is the case now now but that price is extremely threatened due to the higher cost of the Intel subsystem.

Oh I forgot to put up an answer to what fanboys will surely yell about it.

"They would have saved money if they just overclocked the Tegra they just hate Nvidia and lie hurr hurr"

Its jest in most ways but fanboys have already flocked to other forums calling Boxee liars and that Tegra 2 can web HD just fine. However, Nvidia claimed FULL HD decode on stock speeds and on top of that overclocking a system does not magically give you Full HD decode support. Especially if it already needs more voltage to operate at even stock speeds. I am sure that if they COULD they WOULD because the higher cost of the Intel system is going to kill profits.

Economies of scale isnt working well for this Atom product. Its predecessor a 65nm SoC variant was almost nowhere to be seen and this is likely the first mass produced product with it. It will up up to Intel if this box remains below the phycological barrier of 199 which I doubt.
 
Yes, Boxee Box will eventually go up to $229, that much we know. I was looking further out in the future when both Intel and D-link hopefully ramp up production. And yes it looks like that Intel subsytem will complicate things pricewise.

Bargain hunters will have the used and refurb markets to find a better price in the meantime, we hope.
 
I doubt anyone paying 200USD (Double that of the Blu Ray player I got for my parents that is high quality and has Netflix and Youtube) for a device that has Webkit, FullHD decode with possibility of using Blu Ray drives in future as well as like incusions of premium content.

I doubt they are going into the bargain bin anytime soon. These arent Realtek chipset devices lucky to handle MPEG 2 but computers.

Infact I MAY be willing to reverse my decision not to buy this. It does not use crappy Intel graphics but a 3rd party solution. Perhaps when someone ports DOSbox to it I will be happy to have it for Netflix and some emulation of my old Dos games.
 
At first I was thinking it was bad dropping an nVidia solution for an Intel one because I sometimes have my head wrapped around the fact that nVidia makes superior graphics solutions and acceleration than Intel's GMA offerings, but when I read that the Atom and it's GMA could handle and support more than the Tegra2 could I was pretty surprised! Since when does nVidia put out inferior products? They seem to have went backwards from their fantastic ION/Atom platform to a pitiful Tegra2 platform.

I suppose it's also Intel's fault for kicking ION to the curb by introducing Atoms with GPU.
 
[troll]
i've had boxee since the early beta, but i still find it quite useless.

what's the point in getting a boxee box
[/troll]

but really, i still don't get it.
 
Azhar said:
At first I was thinking it was bad dropping an nVidia solution for an Intel one because I sometimes have my head wrapped around the fact that nVidia makes superior graphics solutions and acceleration than Intel's GMA offerings, but when I read that the Atom and it's GMA could handle and support more than the Tegra2 could I was pretty surprised! Since when does nVidia put out inferior products? They seem to have went backwards from their fantastic ION/Atom platform to a pitiful Tegra2 platform.

I suppose it's also Intel's fault for kicking ION to the curb by introducing Atoms with GPU.
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Intel did not kick Ion to the curb. Ion 2 is still around but few use it because they decided to charge even more than Ion 1 to OEMs with a GPU that takes more power than the ENTIRE northbridge of the old Ion.

There are times where Intel goes third party for its GMA system. Usually it is those times where its northbridges are actually decent for nonintense work.

PowerVR SGX535 Is the system on this one.
 
Zachstar said:
I doubt anyone paying 200USD (Double that of the Blu Ray player I got for my parents that is high quality and has Netflix and Youtube) for a device that has Webkit, FullHD decode with possibility of using Blu Ray drives in future as well as like incusions of premium content.

I doubt they are going into the bargain bin anytime soon. These arent Realtek chipset devices lucky to handle MPEG 2 but computers.

Infact I MAY be willing to reverse my decision not to buy this. It does not use crappy Intel graphics but a 3rd party solution. Perhaps when someone ports DOSbox to it I will be happy to have it for Netflix and some emulation of my old Dos games.
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The thing is with the Boxee Box it'll be able to play more locally stored file types than those Blu-Ray players.

It may not be "the product" for everyone since it includes features that cater to a niche crowd, people that frequent forums like this one that is.

But like i said before, i can't wait till all of the reviews & opinions pour in, not just for Boxee but Google TV and a few other similar products yet to be released. Trying to stop myself from pre-ordering it, but the lower initial price and anticipation tempts me.
 
SJetski71 said:
The thing is with the Boxee Box it'll be able to play more locally stored file types than those Blu-Ray players.

It may not be "the product" for everyone since it includes features that cater to a niche crowd, people that frequent forums like this one that is.

But like i said before, i can't wait till all of the reviews & opinions pour in, not just for Boxee but Google TV and a few other similar products yet to be released. Trying to stop myself from pre-ordering it, but the lower initial price and anticipation tempts me.
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If I were not planning a trip I would be glad to preorder this at this point.

They went Intel because they did not have a choice. And I am sure that if they could they would have gone Intel 330 + Ion1... However you cant get that new anymore... All current stock is in the hands of OEMs and Mobo makers. Ion 2 is a nogo..

Also because they have gone X86 they can go AMD at any time. Boxee Box 2 can easily use Ontario and Its APU at 9W to make a Box better than ever. With more 3D effects and it would be worth 250 or more.

I saw some stupid complaints about the box from the AVS forum.

#1 It does not have HDMI 1.4 or proper 3D.

NO STB has HDMI 1.4 right now. Only highly expensive BluRay players and new models of Sat boxes have the inner workings to do that.

Also why go 3D right now? The prices for 3D ready TVs are insane while prices for VERY good LCD 120hz 2D HDMI 1.3 displays are VERY good right now.

#2 It has a fan.. No thanks..

Anything so confined needs a fan. The case will push some heat out but no enough if not enough air is running around the inside transferring it. This is NOT an HTPC where a SIngle large slow fan can cool a multitude of components.
 
This is typical Nvidia - overpromise, lie, cheat, spin and underdeliver. The CE4100 and CE4200 SOC on the other hand are perfect for HTPC, which is the intended use of Boxee box and similar CE devices.

Tegra (for anything other than PMP) is a failure and so is Ion. Ion 2 has hardly anything to recommend it over Ion.
 
What is sad is that Tegra 1 and Ion one are bigger successes than their 2 counterparts. Ion 1 actually has better graphics and better power consumption than the 40nm Ion 2! And Ion 2 does not have the Northbridge part!

Nvidia is costing companies lots of money with their lies.
 
Zachstar said:
What is sad is that Tegra 1 and Ion one are bigger successes than their 2 counterparts. Ion 1 actually has better graphics and better power consumption than the 40nm Ion 2! And Ion 2 does not have the Northbridge part!

Nvidia is costing companies lots of money with their lies.
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True.

The only major design win for tegra 1 is the ZuneHD. Other than that its pretty much a failure.

Thing is that even 1st gen tegra, the 600 series IIRC was supposed to do 1080p, but it wasn't delivered.

ION was the best HTPC chipset ever. But now that sandy bride and Atom C4100 are coming, it just can't compete.

I had high hopes for ION2 and Tegra2, I'm really dissapointed for what nvidia delivered.

Tegra2 might still stand a chance with smartphones and slates, but I really don't think it will.
 
Tegra 2 is finished and now we learn that Nvidia has signed a deal with Globalfoundries to make arm CPUs which is obviously Tegra 3.

GloFlos 28nm has EXCELLENT yield results in testing right now. If that pans out Tegra 3 MIGHT be something to talk about. However that is late 2011 at the earliest.

Ion 1 can compete with just about any HTPC chipset today. However Nvidia shot themselves in the foot by keeping it rooted to Intel.

If they had annouced a partnership with Via and combined the Ion with a wide range of VIA CPUs the combo WOULD be the King of HTPCs. Sadly that did not happen and now Ion 2 is a mess.
 
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