Shuttle XPC slim DH370 mini-PC Review: A Compact Digital Signage Powerhouse
by Ganesh T S on May 6, 2019 8:00 AM ESTDriving Three 4K Displays - There is No Free Lunch
The unique feature of the Shuttle XPC slim DH370 is the ability of the system to drive three simultaneous 4Kp60 displays from the integrated GPU. This is particularly useful for digital signage purposes. However, if one were to purchase the DH370, expecting it to playback three different 4Kp60 video streams on three different 4K monitors, the person is in for some disappointment. In fact, I actually tried playing back three different 4K streams on the three monitors, and ended up with stuttering videos in all three.
In order to study this aspect further, I fired up DXVAChecker's benchmark section and benchmarked each video in our decode / rendering test set for playback at 3840x2160. The first iteration was done with one monitor connected, the second with two, and the final one with three 4Kp60 displays being driven by the iGPU.
Benchmarking the VP9 Profile 2 HDR Stream with DXVA Checker
The best-case playback frame rate obtained for each video in the three different display configurations is presented in the table below.
| Shuttle XPC slim DH370 DXVA Checker Playback (3840x2160) Benchmark Best-case FPS |
|||
| Single Monitor | Dual Monitor | Triple Monitor | |
| 480i60 MPEG2 | 118.2 | 91.9 | 83.3 |
| 576i50 H.264 | 124.1 | 103.4 | 98.4 |
| 720p60 H.264 | 101.5 | 100.4 | 78 |
| 1080i60 MPEG2 | 114.2 | 102.7 | 91.4 |
| 1080i60 H.264 | 104.7 | 92.6 | 82 |
| 1080i60 VC1 | 115.6 | 109.5 | 98.1 |
| 1080p60 H.264 | 108.1 | 86.7 | 82.6 |
| 1080p24 H.264 | 107.8 | 97.3 | 78.8 |
| 4Kp30 H.264 | 91.1 | 82.8 | 75.5 |
| 4Kp60 HEVC | 84.8 | 67.1 | 61.1 |
| 4Kp60 HEVC Main10 | 66.6 | 68.3 | 55.6 |
| 4Kp25 HEVC HDR | 55.5 | 52.9 | 49 |
| 4Kp60 VP9 Profile 2 HDR | 55.3 | 51.2 | 47.2 |
The above numbers indicate that playback with a single monitor is fine for all the codecs (ignoring the VP9.2 video, as DXVAChecker was not able to use the ff-vp9-d3d11va decoder for the benchmarking). However, once more monitors are added to the fray, the ability of the iGPU to decode and play back the video at the required frame rate comes into question.
To be clear, the iGPU does not seem to have the ability to decode three simultaneous 60fps streams for any of the tested codecs irrespective of the resolution - the best case appears to be 124 fps for the 576i H.264 stream in the single monitor mode. That said, decoding three simultaneous 24 fps streams for certain codecs or some legal combination based on the numbers in the above table seems to be possible.
Driving multiple displays from a discrete GPU is relatively simple. The GPU has its own RAM where the frame buffers can reside. The GTX 1650, with its 128-bit memory bus, has a 128GBps memory bandwidth number. Contrast that with the Coffee Lake desktop processors, which, in dual-channel mode, have less than 40GBps available for both the CPU and the GPU together. It is likely that driving three 4Kp60 displays can take up a significant chunk of the available bandwidth, resulting in the performance loss that we see above.
The takeaway is that the Shuttle XPC slim DH370 can drive three 4Kp60 displays simultaneously. However, users must be prepared for some performance loss in this process.
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mikato - Tuesday, May 7, 2019 - link
Don't get me wrong, I would like that too. SilentPCReview.com needs to be revived perhaps. They, and their community, were the best. People lost interest I guess once storage drives, power supplies, retail computers, even GPUs improved noise by a lot. Plus other reviewers started paying attention to noise partly through their work. But with mini PCs and HTPCs maybe there is renewed thirst for noise analysis.The issue may be - how does Ganesh prevent outside factors and just the changing ambient noise level from influencing noise measurements? He would need some type of anechoic chamber and probably some audio equipment. Read this to see what goes into it, for removing outside influence and actually having a low enough ambient noise level for meaningful measurements - http://www.silentpcreview.com/anechoic_chamber_SPC...
Then there are logistics issues. Will Anandtech pay for or provide what may be needed? Does he do review work at his house/apartment? Is there an Anandtech central office? Do other Anandtech reviewers mostly live in the same area? Can someone rent an anechoic chamber? Keep in mind SPCR was mostly one guy on a mission, while Anandtech and Ganesh have plenty of other concerns.
Is there a spot in the middle where noise measurements are "good enough"? Any ideas? I do see noise measurements at other review sites sometimes, but I don't know if they are good enough for comparing among different product reviews that took place at different times and possibly at different places.
GDVX_111 - Monday, June 13, 2022 - link
This query comes 3 years later, so I know that the odds on a response are not good, but WHICH existing Shuttle model is going to have more than adequate HTPC chops and features, as well as the desired quietness, heat dissipation, and reliability characteristics ? (Regardless of price, even.) I say existing model because I like Shuttle, and I don't care to build something from scratch out of disparate parts that may be available. The SH67H3 cube that still serves as my desktop computer would certainly fill the bill, and is plenty quiet even a few inches away on my desk, but of course it is several times the size and would require space I don't have in either of my video stacks.Another design factor that struck me as being perhaps dubious in these more compact, digital kiosk or signage oriented models has been the move to outboard power bricks, rather than an integrated PSU. But perhaps that is unavoidable, given the compact size.
bill44 - Monday, May 6, 2019 - link
How about 3D BD ISO playback?Does it use LSPCon for HDMI?
timecop1818 - Monday, May 6, 2019 - link
Yes, it uses MegaChips MCDP2850 to convert DisplayPort to HDMI 2.0. You can see it on the motherboard photo in the QuickStart manual. What about 3D BD ISO playback? Why wouldn't that work?ganeshts - Monday, May 6, 2019 - link
3D is usually not supported if you have a LSPcon. I have reason to believe 3D is not supported over the HDMI 2.0a ports in the last two Intel platform generations.With the advent of 4K and HDR, the industry has got much more convincing features to make people upgrade their equipment (compared to 3D). Effectively, 3D is dead from an industry viewpoint. YMMV.
Opencg - Monday, May 6, 2019 - link
great example of a tech killed off by lack of content (i mean good content). too many movies were simply reprocessed without being produced from the ground up with the intent of 3d. the industry tried to charge a premuim for lackluster content with hardware implementations having support and quality issues. not to mention some big problems like focal blur guessing.i really hope vr doesnt go the route of 3d games and 3d movies. but yeah people dont seem to understand that the most important things are affordability and minimizing barriers to entry. also not having an industry clinging to ancient monitization practices helps.
Death666Angel - Monday, May 6, 2019 - link
I think it is more about the technology itself. In order for stereoscopic 3D to work well, you need to have most of your field of vision filled by the content. That is easily done in a cinema, where the screen is huge and the ambient lights are darkened and everyone is fine with that. At home, most people I know have their setup with a small TV (37" to 50") and it is in a corner somewhere it makes sense but is out of the way (since the TV may be on a lot, but hardly watched focused most of the time). Only some die hard movie people (like myself) have a large TV (55"+, preferably 65"+) that is not too far away from the main sitting position (couch). But even then, it is a bit too small for 3D to work well and immerse myself in it and I can't really darken everything down as much as in the cinema. And I have never had comfortable 3D glasses. They always either hurt my sides or my nose.VR won't go away as 3D will, since it has a much larger impact in the professional world (engineering, architecture, medicine, art...), but home VR has an uphill battle to fight still.
0ldman79 - Tuesday, May 7, 2019 - link
Honestly I'm kind of expecting 3D to come back again.They are now making fully transparent TVs.
Layer the screens and you can have actual 3D (at least two layers of depth) without glasses.
Death666Angel - Tuesday, May 7, 2019 - link
How would that work? You still need a way to block one eye from seeing the content the other eye sees. Doing it with a parallax barrier requires cost and doesn't work for more than one person without a lot of complications (which increase price, a lot). You also lose resolution compared to full 3D SBS and active shutter glasses.Or do you just mean 3D in a diorama way where you have discreet layers of content? That is not 3D.
bill44 - Monday, May 6, 2019 - link
Thanks ganeshts.I know it's a dead format, but I would like to use it as long as my TV lasts.
Hoping one day I can get a modern PC that has native HDMI ports (no LSPCon).
Does anyone know of TB3->HDMI adapter/cable that does work?