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Shuttle DVO SG33G5M Deluxe Closeup!

Introduction

Written by crimson- and filed under Reviews > Barebones & SFF
Published on September 14, 2007, 4:58 pm

Comments(19)

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The Shuttle D'VO Series is the latest in home entertainment platform. Experience visually stunning High-Definition video playback, paired with the finest cinematic surround sound effects. Home theater is only a Shuttle D’VO platform away. Read More >>

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Comment by: sangpeiris on 21-Dec-2007 1:41 am

Deceptive marking will only get Shuttle so far....

Comment by: simplyadvanced on 20-Dec-2007 3:13 pm

everyone falls for the shuttle marketing thing once i guess..

i did, too. take it as a lesson learnt =)

Comment by: sangpeiris on 20-Dec-2007 11:38 am

I have Vista Ultimate installed. The machine is pretty unstable with Vista. It is pretty clear that Shuttle did not do enough testing before releasing the product. I'm very unhappy with Shuttle. All my other computers, Dell, HP, custom built etc. with old hardware is working fine with Vista Ultimate. No crashes at all. The Shuttle machine is a HUGE disapointment. I would strongly recommend anyone from buying this machine to run Vista.

Also, the ICE cooling technology is not effective. I have a Quad Core processor in this machine and under sustained full load, the CPU temprature is at around 70 C.

I still don't believe this machine should be given any awards till all these issues are resolved.

Finally, if Vista does not work on this machine, then Windows 2003 Serve is better than using it as a $400 door stop which is what this machine should be given an award for.

Comment by: Bigboysg on 20-Dec-2007 8:01 am

Which version of Vista are you using? My friend installed Vista Ultimate on his SG33G5M and it was unstable with periodic crashes/errors. He installed Server 2003 at the end and it has been rock solid since.

Comment by: sangpeiris on 20-Nov-2007 1:45 pm

This weekend, I did a fresh Vista Install with the new and updated drivers. Specifically, the new Intel video driver. Now the machine works as advertised.

I have played several Blu-Ray movies using a Pinoneer BDC-2202 Blu-Ray ROM and PowerDVD (latest Ultra Version).

Overall the machine is still a little unstable. Crashes most of the time when waking up from Sleep mode and hangs when screen saver is activated. Seems like some of the drivers still need some work.

Overall the the Hi-Def movie quality is acceptable. Not the greatest playback quality. Sometimes the video is jerky. The playback is not as smooth as when I use an MSI NVIDA 8500 GT card which is perfect.

I believe more time is required to iorn out driver instability before this machine is prime time.

Comment by: sangpeiris on 15-Nov-2007 1:44 am

I bought the computer from Shuttle. Not from Intel. Shuttle as the systems builder should make sure not to sell their products before all advertised features/functionality is available. Or at least warn customers that certain features will not be available until a specific date. Else, as Floppy states, Shuttle should not have released it without driver support.

Comment by: floppy on 14-Nov-2007 7:39 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by chms1986

I think it's pretty normal to have driver updates to fix issues.. and i think the issue is on Intel ... not Shuttle.. Intel is the chipset provider.. they should have fixed the issue earlier..

I think what sangperis meant was Shuttle released it without official driver support.

Comment by: chms1986 on 14-Nov-2007 4:31 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by sangpeiris

Floopy;

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. As you can see, the driver was posted on 11/13/2007. Why sell a machine if the software is not ready?

I think it's pretty normal to have driver updates to fix issues.. and i think the issue is on Intel ... not Shuttle.. Intel is the chipset provider.. they should have fixed the issue earlier..

Comment by: sangpeiris on 14-Nov-2007 3:49 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by floppy

Hi sangperis, just got some feedback from shuttle's tech support

http://global.shuttle.com/support_fa...I=784&PFI=1421

Floopy;

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. As you can see, the driver was posted on 11/13/2007. Why sell a machine if the software is not ready?

I've called and e-mailed shuttle TechSupport with no resolve. They could have told me the driver was going to be available shortly and all this dialog would not have been neccessary.

I will try this out this weekend and let everyone know if this works or not.

Thanks,

Comment by: floppy on 13-Nov-2007 6:17 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by sangpeiris

Thank-you. I would also appreciate if you note in your conclusion that this machine does not provide HD Play back as claimed by Shuttle or something to that order.

Honestly, I am really unhappy with Shuttle for what seems to be totally false adverstising. I have no recourse but to keep the machine. I have wasted my money with Shuttle for the last time. Others should be warned as well.

Hi sangperis, just got some feedback from shuttle's tech support

http://global.shuttle.com/support_fa...I=784&PFI=1421

Comment by: sangpeiris on 13-Nov-2007 1:01 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by floppy

I agree that it doesnt deserve the award. Will update it by today. many thanks for the feedback sangperis. apologies for the misight on vr-zone's part.

Comment by: floppy on 13-Nov-2007 11:07 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by sangpeiris

When do you think the update would be completed? Also, if shuttles claims of HD Play back can not be verified, does it make sense to give this machine a most innovative award?

Waiting for your update.

I agree that it doesnt deserve the award. Will update it by today. many thanks for the feedback sangperis. apologies for the misight on vr-zone's part.

Comment by: sangpeiris on 13-Nov-2007 5:46 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by floppy

Hi sangperis,

many thanks for the feedback, I did not do the review myself and I will verify when i get back to office this coming week. Will edit the review as per my finding.

Comment by: floppy on 04-Nov-2007 11:57 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by sangpeiris

Here is the quote from Shuttle Tech Support:

"The ALC888S did not support Dolby Digital / AC3 encoder . Please try to play DVD with PowerDVD or WinDVD ( support Dolby Digital ) .

Best Regards
PC-Tech"

The on-board Audio that comes through the on-board HDMI port running the Intel HD Audio Driver (downloaded from Intel Website) does support AC3.

Hi sangperis,

many thanks for the feedback, I did not do the review myself and I will verify when i get back to office this coming week. Will edit the review as per my finding.

Comment by: sangpeiris on 04-Nov-2007 10:35 pm

Comment by: sangpeiris on 04-Nov-2007 10:30 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by floppy

but blu ray H.264 did run without problems. It just did work out of the box with my BD Demo Disc, not too sure how did the dud happen if it is not compatible.

1. Which Blu-Ray ROM Player? Was it the Pioneer BDC-202?
2. Which media player software did you use? Nero, PowerDVD, WinDVD?

Both PowerDVD and WinDVD require a graphics card runing NVIDA or ATI drivers or the Intel 945/965 chipset. NOT Intel GMA 3100 Graphics Accelerator.

Here is the list of supported Graphics cards for Blu-Ray...
Intel 945/965 graphics
nVidia: GeForce 7600 GT, 7800 GTX 512, 7900 GX2, 7900 GTX, 7950 GX2
ATI: Radeon X1600 series, X1800 series, X1900 series, Radeon HD 2400, 2600, 2900 series
Video RAM: Graphics card memory requires 256 MB or above

Also, read the other review on the same machine which points out that the HDMI interface is pretty much useless as it does not support Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.

Also, there are contradictions between Intel and Shuttle websites. Shuttle claims on-board video supports ClearVideo and HD. Intel only shows the 945/965 as supporting ClearVideo.

Finally, even Shuttle seems to know that Blu-Ray Does not work using on-board video. When u go to order once of these machines from their website, they have a disclamer that says "Add on graphics card required for Blu-Ray" http://us.shuttle.com/ConfigurePacka...ge=SYG5-3300-M

Clearly this is a useless product that requires a graphics card and a sound card if you want to use Blu-Ray playback and playback of any normal DVD in Vista Media Center.

Shuttle should.
1. fix the problem or change the false advertising on their website
2. recall the product
Thanks

Comment by: floppy on 04-Nov-2007 11:52 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by sangpeiris

How is Blu-Ray playback achieved on this machine?

Both PowerDVD and WinDVD report the grapahics card (Intel GMA 3100) is not compatible with the player?

Don't beleive this review until they explain how they got Blu-Ray to work without an external graphics card. If you use an external gaphics card, then you run into Audio issues.

The Intel G33 chipset will support AC-3 playback. But, the RealTek ALC888DD will not support AC-3 playback. Therefore, when you use an external video card and the realtek sound, you can not play regular DVD movies with AC-3 encoding in Vista Media Center (or WMP11) as you will NOT hear sound. Uncompress sound will work through WinDVD and all sound formats will work through PowerDVD as it appears those software provide some level of decoding.

My experience is limited to using HDMI (with on-board sound pass-throug) out of an MSI 8500GT graphics card.

In my opinion, this is a pretty useless machine if you want Blu-Ray playback. You need an external video card and a new sound card to boot.

I am not too sure about the sound part, but blu ray H.264 did run without problems. Currently without a BD ROM and have formatted the previous hdd, will get one back to post the settings again. It just did work out of the box with my BD Demo Disc, not too sure how did the dud happen if it is not compatible.

Comment by: sangpeiris on 04-Nov-2007 5:54 am

Comment by: goldmercury on 31-Oct-2007 4:47 am

So how did you get blu-ray playback??? The onboard graphics is not supported under PowerDVD which I believe is the only software based blu-ray playback solution.

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