Video: VIA's VB8003 Mini-ITX board has dual-HDMI, could rock your HTPC's world

Remember when the PlayStation 3 was going to have dual-HDMI ports so that games could pump 1080p video to two displays simultaneously? Ahh, those were good 'ol days. That configuration obviously didn't come to pass, but VIA's looking to deliver dual-HDMI and more in its next integrated Mini-ITX solution, the VB8003, which also packs DVI and VGA ports, as well as an LVDS output, meaning it could control five displays at once (though with only four discrete signals). It uses the Trinity Platform with a 1.6GHz Nano processor, a VX800 Media System Processor, and an integrated S3 GPU, all paired with up to 4GB of memory. 1080p playback is said to be easily handled, with the system supporting resolutions of up to 2560 x 1600, even though such an onslaught of pixels would surely turn your HDTV into a smoldering ruin. There's no mention of price or availability yet, so you current set can relax -- for now.

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[(Unverified) Posted Sep 22nd 2009 9:23AM]

If this board can truely handle 1080p, it will be a no brainer for HTPC. I think I'll let http://www.silentpcreview.com review it before I plunk down my cash.

[glennS Posted Sep 22nd 2009 12:39PM]

SPCR is a great site.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 22nd 2009 10:02AM]

Looks awesome....where do I sign!

Having a single media centre pumping a feed to two screens at once would be pretty sweet. Maybe the new options of hdmi over network could lead to an elaborate home video network run out of a single box, without costing the earth...

One to keep an eye on....

[glennS Posted Sep 22nd 2009 12:47PM]

It sounds good if they can live up to the claims. However, I don't have much faith in VIA to deliver on those claims. I've never had an S3 GPU that failed to disappoint me. Their driver support is dismal in windows, and even worse on Linux. Try to download VIA drivers for Windows and you are taken to a web site that forces you to install some heinous 'auto update' program that is a be-otch to get rid of. The approach to video/3D graphics support on Linux is essentially, "We really want video acceleration for our products and we are hoping that the open source community will write it for us. Oh, and well get you those specs next Tuesday. Or, maybe not."