Nixeus Fusion HD Review
by Ganesh T S on March 4, 2011 3:26 PM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- Media Streamer
- Gadgets
Nixeus deserves praise for putting out a promising product first up. They have been very prompt in responding to user issues, and have had a regular firmware release schedule. Each of the firmware releases has improved upon the core functionality. The reviews on Amazon are quite positive too. We agree with all (and can corroborate) the comments made by the reviewers on Amazon. However, at AnandTech, we set the bar quite high.
When considering all the players in the market at the same price point, the Nixeus Fusion HD is not the best for the meticulous consumer. For example, the Boxee Box beats the Fusion HD in terms of codec compatibility, online media services and user experience. However, it does consume too much power and doesn't come with a hard drive slot (which might be a hard requirement for some consumers).
With no hard disk installed, the Fusion HD consumed less than 8W when playing 1080p H264 videos over wireless compared to the Boxee Box's 14W. Even with a high performance Barracuda XT 2TB drive, the unit never consumed more than 17.9W despite being stressed with demanding media streams. The noise from the fan might be a concern for those with very sensitive ears, but that is the case for almost all the streamer models out there with support for 3.5" internal hard drives.
Therefore, our concerns do not prevent us from recommending it in certain scenarios (as the media streamer test suite scores show). Discounting the user interface, we can even say that it is the best SMP 865x based media player in the market right now for local media playback.
Bundled with a hard drive of suitable capacity, it makes a very good gift to your parents or relatives whom you meet regularly with, and share your media. At any point of time, the unit can act as an external hard disk, and this makes it easy to update the hard disk contents from your own laptop when you visit them. They can also take advantage of their AV receiver setup because the Fusion HD does support HD audio bitstreaming from all possible containers.
To be taken seriously as a primary media streamer for everyone, Nixeus still has some way to go. There are a number of low hanging 'fruits' (bugs) which can be easily 'plucked' (fixed). These include:
- Recognizing more files with supported codecs, but unsupported extensions
- Handling PGS subtitles properly in both MKV and M2TS containers
- Fixing the MP4 and M2TS splitter issues
- Improving MKV chapter support
There are some difficult issues which might be left unfixed before the product reaches EOL:
- Blu-Ray ISO navigation with menu support or, at least, support for branched titles
- ASS (stylized and karaoke) subtitles (It is not claimed in the specs list, though)
- Premium online services such as Netflix
Nixeus has let us know that they are indeed working on the splitter issues, HD audio dropout, PGS and ASS subtitles and recognizing more extensions. These will be implemented in an upcoming firmware release, and given their track record, I would trust them. After all, they did agree that it would be difficult for them to get Netflix or full Blu-Ray ISO support and let us know that it is not on their radar.
Native Netflix support has almost become mandatory for most primary media streamers. It doesn't help Nixeus that it happens to be a startup (not the flashy Boxee kind of startup, making headlines everywhere), and Netflix doesn't get time to work with the small guys. This is more of a chicken and egg problem, but, hopefully, more and more SoC vendors take it upon themselves to obtain Netflix certification for their platforms in the future. This would really enable startups to come in and make a difference by concentrating on other aspects of the user experience. The web browser was intended to be a differentiating feature, but the SMP 8655 platform is too weak to provide a proper experience. There were some efforts to get YAMJ (a movie jukebox) working on the Fusion HD, but the end result was not satisfactory for many users.
All in all, the Nixeus Fusion HD has the capability to be a good fit for your needs, provided you know what you are buying into. If the issues outlined in the previous section are not a concern, we are sure you will enjoy the Fusion HD like many other AVSForum members.
Note: Thanks to Comp-U-Plus for providing us with the review sample of the Nixeus Fusion HD.
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SlyNine - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
Thanks.I've read that Ciniava is part of the Sigma chips features. What I wasn't aware of is if it's something the OEM can turn on or off. I'm also worried that some firmware update could activate it. You know how the MPAA and RIAA types are with pushing there DRM on people.
Also correct me if I'm wrong please, but AACS is the protection of the content on the disk and it's unlocked/decrypted before it ever gets encrypted in HDCP, so I guess there is no risk of it being implemented on the HDCP/HDMI end (TV's AVR's) Does this sound correct?
ganeshts - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
Currently, Cinavia can be implemented on some of the Sigma processors, but not on the 865x ones because they are not meant for Blu-Ray playback.There will be no firmware update for this or the WDTV Live whch can enable Cinavia. On this one, I am pretty confident.
Currently, only BDA (Blu Ray alliance) requires Cinavia, and the player detects the watermark, checks if the file being played back is protected by AACS, i.e, it is from a protected disc, not a bootleg copy or a copy made after removing the AACS using AnyDVD or other similar software, and then allows the media to be played back. Cinavia doesn't extend beyond the actual Blu-Ray / media player.
However, this doesn't discount the fact that in the future there might be AV receivers which, when being used for HD audio bitstreaming, might implement a similar sort of muting or stopping of HD audio decode if the audio is not coming over HDCP. Currently, this is NOT happening, and this is admittedly a far-fetched scenario, but it is not implausible.
Chillin1248 - Friday, March 4, 2011 - link
Can you review the Argosy HV335T 2TB in the near future?I have purchased four such units (actually 3, and one wireless version), and they function amazingly well for their price point, $170. Has a 1073DD chipset and a Samsung 2TB 2040UI HDD.
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http://www.argosyusa.com/hv335t.shtml?DefaultTab=0
"A perfect companion in your home theater setup, HV335T can play contents from internal HDD (optional), USB HDD/flash drive, or stream contents from another server in your home network. The player also supports uPNP and can work seamless with DMS (Digital Media Server). With DMS software running on a PC, such as PlayOn, HV335T can display internet video/audio supported by DMS directly on the TV. Selected internet services (Picasa, Flickr, Weather, Youtube, Last.FM, MediaFly, Internet TV, Internet Radio, etc) are also available directly.
Audio video output include Composite A/Vand Component output, HDMI output, and Optical digital output. HDMI output support up to 1080p resolution. HV335T supports Dolby Digital and DTS downmixing as well as digital pass through.
Managing the contents on the inernal HDD can be done either with direct USB connection to a PC or over the SAMBA networking connection. The UI also allow copying from USB drives and SAMBA servers to internal HDD or deletion from internal HDD."
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The reason I bring it up is since they are very supportive of the product (constant firmware updates with new features) and are very responsive to support emails; I wish to see such a company succeed.
Discombobulated28 - Monday, March 28, 2011 - link
Ganesh recently reviewed a RealTek 1283 based media player here:http://www.anandtech.com/show/4212/tvix-slim-s1-bi...
Which performs similar to the RealTek 1073DD chipset, but the RealTek 1283 has a bit more features... from my experience with RealTek media players they almost have similar GUI and similar features or shortcomings due to RealTek's SDKs... with the exceptions of good known brands such as AC Ryan whom are known for better support/quality...
Schugy - Sunday, March 6, 2011 - link
Would also have wiped out most limitations.hohowan - Monday, March 7, 2011 - link
Bug # 11 on the list is and continues to be, the deal breaker for me for any streamer on the market.(ASS subs (stylized and karaoke effects) are not supported properly.)
It is frustrating that no one seems to be able to do these subtitles as well as a standalone PC.
I've pretty up given up hope for a streaming device that works correctly with these kind of subtitles.
I guess I'm going to continue with a spare PC hooked up to the TV for *proper* playback.
ganeshts - Monday, March 7, 2011 - link
Have you tried Boxee Box? With the latest firmware, all the ASS samples I have seem to play OK (with karaoke effects)CrapONez - Thursday, March 10, 2011 - link
I own the Viewsonic NexTV VMP75. It has the same interface and remote as this, without the built-in USB dongle, HD bay, or bittorrent, but it does have Netflix. I've got an external HD hooked up to it with eSata for local playback. Do me a favor and get your hands on one so that Viewsonic addresses some of your bug reports and gives me a firmware update?!?ganeshts - Sunday, March 13, 2011 - link
Would definitely like that, but the problem is that the big companies don't pay attention to our bug reports, while the startups like Nixeus pay more attention.If you take a look at TViX Slim S1, we reported a big set of bugs, but not all of them were resolved.
Destiny - Saturday, March 12, 2011 - link
We finally have a test suite/bench mark/ something concrete to compare media players...HQV 2.0 serves what testing purposes for SoCs and Media Players?