Conclusion

At the time when the Xtreamer Ultra was announced, it looked like the HTPC that people were waiting for: an Intel Atom D525 CPU with a nVIDIA ION2 GPU on its side, 4GB of RAM, a wireless mini keyboard with an integrated touchpad and a MCE remote control that can switch on the Ultra from power off state. All this packed in a compact case with cooling plates on the sides that suggested a silent, passively cooled device for only 249 EUR. On top, a ready-to-boot operating system on a USB flash drive was shipped together with it, so customers could use the Xtreamer Ultra out of the box.

Okay, not everything was like I hoped when I held the Ultra in my hands. First of all, I'm a "silence enthusiast" when it comes to home theater equipment and the Xtreamer Ultra has vents on the sides for a fan. Of course this fan didn't put a bad first impression on me as the original Xtreamer MK1 did, but in the default settings the fan is hearable at nights, a few meters away. It can be tweaked in the BIOS to start spinning at a little slower rate and to reduce the maximum spinning speed a bit, then it's ok but on the cost of a little more heat that is.

Apart from the forgivable fan issue there are two other things I don't like so much: one being the design (which is a matter of taste, sure) as the Ultra looks a bit like a power amplifier from your pimped car. At the time when I saw the Ultra at the CeBIT in Germany, they also had the Xtreamer Prodigy inside a showcase and it had a much more modern design. Probably even enough space to fit in a 100mm fan. I don't understand anyway how manufacturers can build devices with a 40-50mm fan, as with such small fans you can take fan noise for granted coz it will always be cheap fans instead of fans from Noiseblocker or Scythe etc. Furthermore the fans often don't have a standard form factor so finding a replacement fan becomes a mission impossible. Well... I should probably stop talking about fans.

The other thing I don't like so much is that the Ultra OS (Xtreamer branded Ubuntu Linux), bloated with all possible software you can imagine, came on a USB flash drive. With this slow USB device the Ultra can never reach speeds that it was meant to reach, and the results can only be disappointing when using such a slow operating system. The original plan was to ship the Ultra pre-installed with a Mini PCI-Express 16GB SSD module and the Ultra OS on it. With this device the Ultra could have unfolded more of its power. So it's inevitable that you will have to either buy the Xtreamer SSD module or install another SSD in the Ultra to get satisfying speeds when using Linux or Windows or anything other than that. This will set you back at least 40 EUR or more if you plan to use bigger drives!

For some people another issue could be a drawback: the Ultra does not support bitstreaming of HD audio as the HDMI out is part of the nVIDIA ION2 and the ION2 cannot loop the HD audio signal through (I might be wrong with the technical details but I think that is the easiest way to describe why bitstreaming won't work). To release a bitstreaming supporting HTPC Xtreamer could probably think about AMD when planning their next PC.

So much for the negatives.

After some weeks of using the Ultra, my final result is that it replaced my Zotac HTPC. With the Zotac I always had to use the sleep mode to switch it on from the couch. The Ultra can be switched on with the remote control and with OpenELEC (XBMC) installed as the default operating system and media center, the Ultra is almost instantly ready to use after pressing the power on button. With optimal settings it boots into XBMC's home screen almost as fast as the Xtreamer MK1 into its home screen. Boot times with a decent SSD should be around 22-25 seconds from power off to XBMC (including the boot splashscreen or BIOS messages). This is amazing. And Xtreamer will put OpenELEC on their SSD module too, so you will have a fast booting, out-of-the-box working media player when you get yourself their SSD. I just think that it is a bit too small with 16GB, but that's just me. It is big enough for OpenELEC and Windows 7 and I've made a guide (click here) how to create such a multiboot system which definitely rocks.

For my DVB-T USB receiver I even found some Linux drivers that vpeter integrated into his OpenELEC build for me, so apart from Movies, TV Shows, Music and Photos I can watch Live TV on my Ultra. It is a cheap Freecom DVB-T USB receiver but you should be able to use a Yakumo USB receiver which was very popular too and should be identical in construction compared to the Freecom. If you can't find any of of these two cheap receivers anymore, make sure your receiver has Linux drivers and contact vpeter who can make your Live TV dreams come true :)

I've put the Ultra behind my TV so its design doesnt matter to me anymore and to avoid the very little fan noise, I even thought about putting the Ultra behind doors and use an external IR receiver, since the Ultra provides such a plug but then again with some tweaks in the BIOS it might be ok for most people as people's sensitivity for noise differs alot and I call myself almost over-sensitive when it comes to noise in the home theater setup.

Altogether the Xtreamer Ultra is a really great platform which provides a fantastic base for your desired HTPC setup. Of course at the end of the day it is a media PC among many others and you can choose yourself which operating system you will use with it to not be depending on a single company. The small features of the Ultra set it apart from other similar devices.

What could have been done better? From my point of view: the left side cooling plate should have physical contact to the internal heat sink which brings me to the next improvement. The heat sink looks like it's being made of simple steel! Aluminium could have worked wonders together with physical contact to the outer cooling plate. And... the 2.5" slot is just on the backside of the CPU/GPU, which I think could be unhealthy if a mechanical hard disk is inside the Ultra which runs 24/7 like mine, considering that CPU and GPU both idle at about 70°C. Lucky I have a PCI-Express SDD instead, huh? Other than that there isn't much I would change about the Ultra except probably another bigger fan but don't get me started on fans again.

My final thoughts about the Ultra: before I had the Ultra, the Xtreamer MK1 and iXtreamer were my main mediaplayer devices and the Zotac HTPC was used in addition to them sometimes. Now, with the Ultra I use this HTPC more often, still not as often as my iXtreamer but I'm slowly getting there: to call the Ultra my main mediaplayer in my small home theater. Do I recommend the Xtreamer Ultra? If you're not into HD audio bitstreaming or high end gaming and need a feature rich HTPC for your home entertainment, then it's a definite yes.